How to play Universal Chaos online
- Steer through the streets: arrow keys (holding a direction speeds you up that way)
- Fire the photon cannon: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Restart after a lost game: Space bar
- Choose a game option: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
According to Telegames’ instruction sheet, you pilot a “battle coupe” through the streets of the city of Phenix, which has been invaded by Mortii spacecraft. Your craft keeps moving in the direction you last pushed, so the game is about steering and timing as much as shooting. You can only have one shot on screen at a time: the cannon cannot fire again until the last shot has hit an enemy or a wall.
As you thin out a wave, the ships that are left get faster and better at homing in on you. Now and then the Mortii Warlord comes out of his hidden headquarters, and the sooner you destroy him, the bigger the bonus. Clear the whole wave and you earn bonus points and warp to another part of the city, where the next wave is tougher still.
Tips
- Shoot at close range. With only one shot at a time, a miss down a long street leaves you defenceless until it hits a wall. The manual itself advises waiting for short shots.
- Keep your speed under control. Holding the joystick makes you faster, which also makes it easier to run into an enemy at a junction.
- Take your time with the last few ships. The survivors of each wave are the fastest, so line up your shots instead of chasing them.
From Targ to Universal Chaos
In Exidy’s arcade Targ, you drive a craft called the Wummel through a maze while enemy Ram ships hunt you. CBS Electronics worked on a 2600 version, and a prototype survives. According to AtariProtos, the hardware forced the arcade’s nine-by-nine maze down to five by nine, and the CBS prototype lacks the Spector Smuggler, an extra ship that now and then emerges from the maze in the arcade game. That ship is present in Universal Chaos, which suggests the CBS version was not finished when it was shelved.
Because of licensing issues, Telegames had to change the name and graphics before releasing the game. AtariAge notes that Telegames no longer has records of how it got the code, and compares it with Glacier Patrol, another unreleased game that Telegames brought out. AtariAge rates the cartridge as rare.
Similar games to play next
- Wizard of Wor – another CBS Electronics maze shooter, with a wizard of its own
- Glacier Patrol – another shelved game that Telegames released later
- Night Stalker – a Telegames maze shooter, the PAL release of Dark Cavern
- Berzerk – shoot robots in a maze before they get you