Exterminator

The Good
Exterminator is a fantastic clone of Centipede that was released for Commodore’s 8-bit computers, as well as the IBM PC. Back in the day, it was very common for game companies to produce clones of games that already hit the arcades, with most of them pathetic. I can’t recall the number of times I played and reviewed the several bad variations of Skramble. If you were born in the Nineties or later, chances are that you probably have not heard of Atari’s popular game.

The player is battling it out in a garden where a centipede makes its way down the screen. Each of its sections need to be destroyed in order with your laser to proceed to the next wave, but stopping you from achieving your goal are various critters such as mosquitoes, scorpions, eagles, and tarantulas. Touching any of them will result in a loss of life, and the game is over when your lose your last life.

The game is very faithful to the original arcade game. Exterminator opens up with a nice yellow screen with the title standing out flashing, in a multitude of colors. This is followed by a screen that tells you how to control the game, and it also serves as a score advance table where there are great animations of the critters you have to deal with. Then you have a nice attract mode where the computer plays itself and wastes all its lives on purpose.

The controls are easy to get used to. Pushing the joystick left and right moves you in the respective directions. As per the original arcade game, you can also move up. In my opinion, this makes it easier for you to kill the centipede, but you have to make sure not to collide with the eagle. The sound effects are on par with the original arcade game as well. I like the noise coming out of the eagle as he flies around the screen, as well as the mosquito’s metallic sound.

The Bad
Gameplay is quite slow.

The Bottom Line
Exterminator is a great clone of Atari’s popular arcade game. It boasts the same mechanics, it has good animation, and the sound effects have the quality that you’d expect from a classic game. Gameplay is quite slow, although the speed can be adjusted if you are running the game with an emulator. There is a sequel to this game called Widow's Revenge, also developed by Nüfekop, where you do the same exact thing, but you fight a spider instead of a centipede.