"For those unfamiliar with the genre, Centipede (and MaggotMania) cast you in the role of defender of the garden, a sort of Buck Rogers meets David Bellamy, who has to fight off hordes of maggots, spiders and snails. The maggots are merely intent on eating you, and waltz their way about the screen cannoning off any flowers that happen to get in their way.
You, being a lesser creature, cannot cannon in the same way, as any collision on your part with a flower results in the loss of a life. Spiders enjoy similar luxury to the maggots, and they make occasional forays into the garden in the hope of bumping you off.
The snails aren't particularly dangerous, and provide you with a 1,000 point bonus should you hit one before it destroys too many flowers.
In action, it's a none-too-inspiring version of an arcade favourite, and on the 64 comes out looking more like a shoddy version of the rightly popular Gridrunner, from that company obsessed with Llamas.
Your little creature is confined to the bottom few rows of the screen, and when some of the maggots inevitably get past you, they race about at breakneck speed in a frantic effort to collide with you and thus lose another of your lives.
Response from the joystick is quite reasonable, but overall the sound and use of graphics are merely hinting at the power of the 64, and are by no means using anything other than a fraction of the capabilities provided.
A poor game, considering what could have been done. Stick to the arcades, if you like demolishing maggots, spiders and snails: a gastronomic delight."
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