Pterattack

Introduction

Pterattack is a revamped game, now sporting new graphics and slightly different game play from it's previous version. Take control of a green Pteri flying through canyon taking out enemy Pterodactyls and the rampaging Grarrls. With 4 different weapons to take up, blast your way to fun.

Controls & Instructions

Use the arrow keys to move around the screen, and the space bar to fire off your shots. You can keep it pressed down to keep a steady fire going.

There are four total different ammunition, each of them available in 4 upgrades:

Enemies

There are 2 types of enemies in this game:

Pterodactyls: These come in a variety of colors, starting with brown and a slightly more resistant green. They then increase to blue, yellow and red each requiring more shots of the basic blaster to take them out. However, they are all worth only 5 points each. The brown ones only need to be short by any of the weapons at basic level to be taken out, green ones require two basic shots, blue ones require three shots of the basic weapon, and so on. Increasing the strength of your weapon makes taking them out easier. At the second level, your weapons kill both brown and green Pterodactyls with one shot for instance.

Red Grarrl: Worth ten points if you shoot it, it will come up from behind you stomping down villages. Somewhat dangerous to shoot without diagonal or horizontal weapons.

Tips & Strategies

You may find yourself frustrated early on by not being able to fire your gun rapidly especially as enemies start to close in. Level one weapons only allow two shots to be on screen, meaning, your shot has to clear the entire screen, or hit an enemy, before you can fire again.

I recommend using the FireBall or PterBoom weapons, as their rate of fire and dispersal is good enough to clear yourself an opening and mow down plenty of enemies. But as always, whatever suits your style of play and works well is best for you.

Playing near the top increases your rate of fire and danger just as much. Hitting enemies before they even pop into view increases the rate at which you rack up points, but becomes harder and harder as the level increases. Past Level 5, as the blue Pterodactyls appear, you'll need your weapon at it's highest level. Staying in the middle allows you to take out more enemies if you use the wider spread weapons, and you can avoid the Grarrl easily as well as the occasional large clump of enemies. On the higher levels, drift in and out of the pack taking out the right targets such as lower level brown or green Pterodactyls.

Pterattack only has seven levels you can achieve based on the amount of points you obtain. As you earn points, you can also gain an extra life (500 points, 1,500 points, 3,000 points etc)

Dealing with Grarrls

Dealing with the Grarrls can be tricky unless you're using a weapon that strikes off to the sides, as getting in behind the Grarrl can cost a life for a mere 10 points.

Lining up to the side of it, out of his biting range, you can take him out using the basic (second and third power level) PterPod, 2nd power level (and above) FireBall, or 2nd Level (and above) PterBoom. Using the PterShot or a basic FireBall, PterBoom, you'll need to crawl in behind the beastie to blast him.

Conclusion

The game starts off simple and easy, but progresses rapidly on higher levels where you must learn to decided on which section of the screen to take up, and you have to actively think quickly as to whether you have enough power to cut through the oncoming enemies swarm or whether you have to get out of the way to avoid losing a life. Practice will make that easier, since as you keep playing at a glance you can tell whether you're in trouble or whether you're safe without as much effort.