When I was a little kid back in the 80’s, going to an arcade was a family event. My mom would hop on over to the Frogger machine, and I could be found over by Pac-Man of course. But my dad’s favorite was Centipede, and he’d always make a beeline for it (pun intended). Now a new generation of gamers can blast hordes of bugs with Centipede: Infestation for Wii and 3DS (Wii version reviewed here).

In the game you play as Max, who lives in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where bugs grow to giant size. And it’s up to you to destroy them all. Later you’ll be able to unlock other characters to play as. But who cares about the story, the horrible voice acting made me skip all the cutscenes anyway. Infestation plays more like Robotron than Centipede, however. You move around with the nunchuck stick and fire and aim with the Wii remote. You can also use the Classic Controller if you like. Shoot bugs until the end of the stage to win, simple as that.

Spiders will drop power-ups when you shoot them. Collect two of the same kind to upgrade your power-up. Activate it by pressing one of the directions on the Wii remote’s D-pad for a temporary boost. Other insects, like purple ladybugs, sprout stationary gunner plants or bomb flowers when killed, and those can help you zap stray enemies for a while. Defeated centipedes drop mushrooms that you can use as a shield. As you play, you’ll unlock movies, music tracks, and concept art plus other goodies.

Centipede: Infestation may not be as good as the original game (too bad you can’t play that one on here), but it does hearken back to a simpler time. The game may not be very deep, but there are dozens of levels and it’s mildly entertaining if you enjoy mindless blasting. Plus, the game was made by WayForward (Shantae, BloodRayne Betrayal), so you know it’s at least halfway decent.

Kid Factor:

Centipede: Infestation is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Animated Blood and Fantasy Violence. You do shoot insects and there are a lot of green bug guts, but that’s it. I’d be OK with any kid playing this, but the later levels do get tougher so younger gamers might get frustrated. Luckily, two players can go at the same time, so parents and families can play together. Reading skill is helpful for some of the text instructions, but most everything is easy to figure out on your own.

Tags: Game Reviews