Review For: Critical Mass
Date Written: June 7, 2005
Compatibility: Linux/Windows/Mac
License: Open Source
Download/Site Link: http://criticalmass.sourceforge.net/ 
Rating: 4 out of 5

     Space shooters seem like they will never die, and the day people stop making them will be the day the world ends…or so it seems. Anyways, your planet’s resources have been stolen by “Space Critters” and it is your job to get some of those resources back. You have been given a very small ship to somehow kill as many “Space Critters” as you can to regain all those precious resources that were stolen. Hope doesn’t seem high, does it?

     Critical Mass required a very little learning curve, having only a few controls that can be easily changed. As a perk to the controls, you are even able to use only your mouse to control the game in its entirety. While playing, your ship is positioned towards the bottom of the screen, only being able to move left and right. Also, as you would expect from a traditional space shooter, there will be tons of little “Space Critters” that you must somehow destroy.

     During game play, every “Space Critter” will drop something when you shoot it such as small resources and big resources (which give you points), shields, and energy boosts. As for actually shooting, you have three different weapons: a normal 1 shot at a time gun-like thing, an attack which destroys everything to your left and right, and if you are playing in a mode above normal, a gun which shoots multiple shots at once all around you.

     Overall, Critical Mass is yet another one of those super addicting games that don’t necessarily have the best graphics or sound, but are simply just fun to play. The music does get annoying after a while though (unless you really like Trance/Techno), but there is a way to have it play your own music while playing the game (unfortunately, I never got this feature working due to lack of documentation). Of course, there is an option to turn the sound off completely (and then you could start up your favorite Jukebox program). Anyways, if you are bored and need an addicting game for a rainy day, give Critical Mass a try.