Free Game: Beta Blocker

[DenKirson]

In my zany travels into the very depths of the dark and scary side of the internet, I find all kinds of cool things.
I came upon a discussion about space combat/sim games, and one guy mentions:
"Beta Blocker".

Beta blocker is a neat 2D space flying game where you take on the role of a generic freelancer who starts with a little scuttleship and can build up to being an awesome starship pilot in some renowned space faction. Or stuff.

In the beginning, you will usually do a few transport missions in your little minivan, upgrade to a scout-type fast craft, do more carry missions just to get βeta, space currency to buy yourself better guns and ship upgrades. Then join a faction and do some combat missions. The help menu tells you the basics, it doesn't tell you most of the important buttons, so press esc and check the controls in the options menu.

If you're in your beginner ship and hear that combat music, you'd better haul your cargo outta there, because one outlaw will take you out with an infinite barrage of magnetic missiles the moment he gets within two kilometers of you. The enemy is absolutely without mercy, and running like hell is a tactic one will come to get used to. That, or blowing up.

Combat, once you get a number of nifty gadgets and weapons in your better ship, is intense, Asteroids-style movement with about three thousand lazer bolts and missiles flying all over the place at the same time.

While the "beta" refers to the currency, the game is still a beta, and there are a few memory crashes every now and then (a lot when you get destroyed by the enemy and go back to the main menu), but luckily saving is automatic and often. Whenever you land at a planet or station, the game will save when you launch.

At fourteen megabytes, this game has a lot more than you'd think, and fighting on even terms with the enemy is just awesome. This is a great little game and is one hell of a time killer for those guys who are all alone in Ventrilo at those odd hours of the day.