Thank you Black Shell Media for sending us this game to review!

The original Asteroids game was released in 1979 by Atari and it was available on the 2600 as well as a standalone arcade game.  CMYW has a similar look and feel with a simple spaceship in the shape of a triangle.  With the lack of detail, it’s hard to distinguish which side of the ship is forward until you fire at the incoming asteroids.  

There are two different game modes and both of them involve destroying asteroids heading your way.  In the cooperative mode you have to protect your own ship and the base.   If your ship gets destroyed, you have a limited amount of time before your astronaut runs out of oxygen to make it back to the base to get a replacement ship.  Up to four players can work together in blowing away asteroids, but only one can get a replacement ship at a time.  Since there’s a slight delay in getting a new ship the chances of surviving while waiting are slim.  

Sometimes asteroids leave behind minerals or power-ups after being obliterated.  Your ship has a limited number of inventory slots so it can only carry five mineral ores at a time.  Be sure to return the ores to the base to free up more space.  The power-ups include enhanced shields, multi-shot bullets, an axe attack, and homing missiles (my favorite!).  

The longer the game lasts, the harder it gets.  The asteroids vary in size and speed, and there are other projectiles to worry about as well.  In order to keep your base safe, you cannot stray too far from it.  The concept is simple, but this game is quite challenging.  After you die you’ll see your score and vow to do better next time.

The controls are easy, but take a little getting used to.  To accelerate your ship simply press the A button and you can use the joystick or Dpad to adjust the direction.  Firing is done by pressing the X button.  My son and I grasped the old school controls just fine, but my daughter got frustrated with them.    

While CMYW is fun to play by yourself, it’s more fun with more people (provided they’re not whining about the control scheme).   In the co-operative mode the final score is broken down by contributed most to it.  The competitive mode requires more than one player (logically) to enjoy.

If you’d rather shoot your friends out of the sky, the competitive game mode is what you’re looking for.  In this mode all of the ships are deployed in the center of the screen with an asteroid strapped to them.  Whoever survives the longest wins.  Death can be caused by having your asteroid destroyed or by running into another object or player.  

Even though you can die and kill others in this game, it’s still pretty family friendly and safe for people of all ages to enjoy.  I look forward to enjoying more gaming sessions with my son.  The price is a reasonable $3.99 and is worth picking up if you have friends nearby who appreciate nostalgic games.