Kaktus

The Good
Kaktus is a refreshing change from the many clones of various arcade shooters, such as Space Invaders and Scramble. It is an addictive shooter by Brian Cotton, who also programmed the VIC-20 and Plus/4 versions.

The player controls a missile base that must go above ground through two holes in the soil and shoot insects that threaten to destroy the base of a cactus. They defend themselves by releasing droppings. Although these are lethal, they can actually be used to your advantage if a mole comes along and seals the holes. If you are too slow to act, you will be trapped above ground and have to wait until the droppings deteriorate the soil until a hole large enough to get through is created. Coming into contact with any of these critters or allowing the cactus to fall over will result in a loss of one of your lives, and the game ends when all of them are lost.

From level two onwards, things get much harder, with buzzards flying past and releasing “super-droppings”. These are the same as the droppings the hornets eventually release, but they are capable of ricocheting off the soil. If you happen to be in their way, this will also result in a loss of life. Moles also appear more frequently than usual. I found myself going under ground every five seconds to deal with them.

Graphically speaking, sprites are not just random characters stuck together. I just found two of them questionable. One is the missile base, which looks like more of an octopus than the base in Space Invaders. The other is the cactus itself, which opens up like a flower if the base has been destroyed instead of falling down. There is only one piece of music, and that is the nice classical piece on the title screen. The sound effects are not bad, with telephone rings (?) that serve as missile fire, and a low hum that plays when a mole appears.

The Bad
I can’t think of anything; Cotton has made sure that there are not any programming errors.

The Bottom Line
Kaktus is an original game that ought to have made its debut in the arcades. Rather than shooting aliens, you are killing insects that destroy the base of a cactus. You also have to deal with other creatures that prevent you from achieving your goal. The game is addictive and frenetic, and anyone fed up with clones of arcade games should give this game a go.

The Good
I have played many VIC-20 games that ought to have made their debut in the arcades back in the ‘80s, and one of these is Kaktus, an addictive game from Supersoft. It is a difficult game where your attention must be focused on both sides of the screen. Wasps and hornets, your main enemies, make their way down to the bottom of the cactus (the eyesore in the center off the screen), and your job is to kill them before they take a chunk out of its base.

The wasps and hornets are a lot different than the ones in real life. You see, as part of their defense they have the ability to launch droppings down at you. Coming into contact with any of these droppings results in a loss of life. If that isn’t enough, moles occasionally pass by and attempt to seal off access to the outside, and from level two onward, you also have to deal with buzzards that drop eggs that will ricochet off the sides of the screen.

Supersoft is one of the few companies that designed the game’s graphics outside of the VIC-20 character set. Every sprite is detailed, they are not just random characters stuck together. The thing you control looks like some sort of creature from outer space, while the lethal hornet droppings actually look like snow as they move about on the screen. While you are shooting at the hornets, the corner of your eye is always focused on the cactus. When it has been destroyed, it pretends to be a flower blooming.

The only piece of music in the game is a classical piece which I heard before, but I have no idea who composed it. (I don’t listen to classical music as much these days.) While you are shooting at the wasps and hornets, you hear what appears to be a telephone ringing for some reason. And you always know when the mole appears on the screen.

The Bad
When you lose a life as a result of coming into contact with the droppings, they don’t disappear after the life is lost. This means if you have 50 of them dropping down, this makes it difficult for you to achieve your goal.

The Bottom Line
As I said, this game should have made it debut in the arcades. It follows a simple objective like good early arcade games do, and that is to protect something from a bunch of enemies. The graphics and sound are great, and if you're the kind of person that is into shooters, this game is highly recommended.