Asteroids

In many ways, Asteroids is the classic video game. Long before the graphic rich environment of flash and java games were developed, this simple black and white, monoline plot game captivated a nation. Millions of people plunked down twenty-five cents to try and blast away at oblong, ameba like images that we were told to believe were killer asteroids. Our "star ship" was nothing more than a line drawing of the letter "A." The weapon? A space bar produced period.

Yet now that the game is available as a free mobile game, it is making a comeback. More and more people are reliving their youth by playing on their phone or PDA while waiting for a bus, a dentist appointment, or a boardroom meeting.

Yet Asteroids is not just for those over forty. Even twenty-something -- who have grown up in an age where you need three days to learn how to play the latest twenty gigabyte games -- are turning to Asteroids. Maybe it's the simplicity they crave. The game can be learned within ten seconds. Make that five. Yet it is challenging and addictive. I am waiting to finish this review so that I can give it one more shot.

Don't ever count a game out because of its age. Games like Pac-Man, Asteroids, and Star Gazer have a lot to offer. Think about it, if millions of people spent countless hours playing this game when it cost money, isn't a few rounds with a free mobile version worth your time? What they would have given in the seventies to carry a version of Asteroids with them on a cell phone. Now that to me speaks of the progress that gaming has made. Keep your Unreal Tournament, I will stick with the intergalactic battle of Asteroids!