My Black Widow Video Review Thingee - in HD!

Decent? Coming from someone who LOVES Radarscope, Popeye, and TRON, I guess this is par for the course ;)

I love BW and play it every year at CAX. Great game for sure!

How's your "Jams" collection coming?

What's wrong with Popeye, Radarscope and Tron!?!?
 
I really like BW. Very fun game play IMO. Just got my high score of 427,000 last night as I discovered the dip switch settings for advanced play upto level 53.
It's really remarkable how different Gravitar and BW are. Gravitar is almost a "cerebral", "thoughtful" game. Slow moving and methodical.
BW is just an adrenaline rush, quick reflexes game like Robotron or Stargate; fast moving and exciting. Both games are great in their own way.
The real problem with Gravitar wasn't how "hard" the game was, it was that you couldn't start the game at an advanced level. So all that work you put into getting to the second solar system is lost when you lose that last ship. You have to start the game from scratch again with a new credit. This is weird, since many Atari games of that time (including BW) had an advanced start play option. It would be the one thing I would change in Gravitar, allow advanced game play, so I could maybe FINISH the second solar system. I may never see the third solar system in person in my lifetime...

Yeah, I agree! Well, they kind of did have a warp but you needed to clear the reactor core level to warp to the second dimension. And, that was no easy feat!
 
BW is a fun game in its own right to be sure...many just dismiss it as "vector Robotron" but it has its unique aspects as well. For instance, look for a "flashing" bug on each level. If you can kill him and retrieve the "$" before the competing bug gets it, you get a successive point amount starting at 600 points, then 650, then 700, etc. I think it maxes out at 800 points. But if the competing bug gets to a "$" before you do, the point counter resets to 600. So it's like a game within the game :D .

It also gets MUCH harder than Robotron...my high score is around 500K (starting from level 1 and ending around level 60 or so) and it is simply insane at that point...virtually unsurvivable actually...although I'm sure they're are/were players that are/were better then I.

In answer to some of your questions/observations in the video:

1. The red web lines allow your spider to cross only from out to inner web area, but you cannot cross from inner area to outer.

2. The green web lines allow your spider to cross either direction, but they do not allow the enemy bugs to cross from inner to outer web area. This can be useful to fend off bugs on later levels.

3. The indestructible bug is somewhat useful in that he will destroy any red web lines should he cross them in his pursuit of your spider. So if a red lines is in your way, you can use him to take it out. He can be killed but only if he is the last bug on the screen (at which point he will also try to escape).

Enjoy!

Jon

Wow, dude! This is crazy helpful. Thank you very much!!!
 
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