How to play Laser Blast online
- Start the game: up arrow, or F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Fly your ship: arrow keys (up raises the ship, down lowers it)
- Aim and fire: hold Space to lower the laser, move left or right to aim it, then release Space to fire
- Choose one of the four games: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
The difficulty switches do nothing in this game.
Gameplay
Each wave brings three mobile laser bases along the ground. They track your ship with radar and shoot back, so staying still is dangerous. You fly one ship at a time, with the rest of your fleet waiting in reserve at the top of the screen. Destroying a base earns points, and later bases are worth more but are harder to hit.
Two things make the game unusual. First, every new wave has a stronger force field that pushes your ship further from the ground. Flying low keeps you under the enemy radar, so as the field grows you are forced up into easier view. Second, a hit is not quite the end: your burning ship falls, and you can steer it into a base to destroy it and still collect the points. You earn an extra ship for every 1,000 points, with room for up to six in reserve. The game ends when your fleet is gone.
The four games
The Select switch picks a rank: Cadet, Lieutenant, Captain or Commander. The only difference is how quickly the enemy’s speed and rate of fire increase. On Cadet the toughest waves are eight times harder than the first. On Captain they reach 32 times harder. Commander jumps to that top level from the second wave onwards.
Tips
- Keep moving. A hovering ship spins in place and is quickly lined up by the enemy radar. Crane’s own advice was to fly, shoot quickly and move on.
- Fly low while you can. Early on, hugging the ground keeps you under the radar. Enjoy it, because the force field will take that away.
- Aim while moving. Holding the button and steering sideways lets you line up the beam before you let go.
- Use your falling ship. When you are hit, steer the wreck onto the nearest base for a last kill.
- Learn on Cadet. The manual itself suggests mastering Game 1 before trying the higher ranks.
The story behind Laser Blast
David Crane had left Atari in 1979 to co-found Activision, and Laser Blast was one of his first cartridges there. A prototype dated 8 August 1980 and labelled “Lazer” survives and is almost identical to the finished game. Activision promised a patch, membership of the “Activision Federation of Laser Blasters”, to anyone who sent in a photo of 100,000 points or more. If you max out the score counter at a million, the digits are replaced by exclamation marks, and there was a special patch for that too.
The game received an honourable mention for Best Science Fiction Game at the 1982 Arkie Awards, and it was later included in the Activision Anthology collections.
