| Communist Mutants From Space |
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STORY Aliens from the communist planet of Rooskee are invading peaceful, democratic planets and turning their inhabitants into "bloodthirsty communist mutants." The communist mutant armies are controlled by the Mother Creature, a strange alien who has gone mad due to irradiated vodka. The story is obviously aimed towards anti-communism, although it's unclear whether this was meant to be taken literally or ironically. GAMEPLAY Communist Mutants from Space is ostensibly a typical 80s-era Space Invaders-inspired space shoot-em-up. The player starts off with three reserve cannons. The object is to destroy the mutants aliens and, most importantly, the Mother Creature. The mutants hatch from moving eggs at the top of the screen. Because the Mother Creature replenishes eggs when they hatch or are destroyed, it must be defeated before the player can advance to the next wave. If a mutant or a bomb thrown by a mutant comes into contact with the cannon, the cannon will be destroyed and a reserve must be called up. A new cannon is awarded on every other wave. This game implemented the Starpath Supercharger . Game menu Communist Mutants from Space is perhaps one of the (if not the) first console video game to offer a detailed menu of options. While many Atari games of the era offered alternate versions (which were, in reality, little more than minor changes to the core gameplay), Communist Mutants from Space offered changes to the game which actually did alter the feeling of the game considerably. For instance, the menu allowed the player to toggle the shield option on or off. If activated, "shield" mode allowed a player to press down on the joystick to become invincible for a short period (only one shield was alloted per level). Another feature was the "time warp," which allowed the player to press up on the joystick to temporarily slow down the passage of time for his opponents (i.e., they move slower than usual). Additionally, the type of shot fired could be changed by activating the "penetrating fire" option (which enhanced the beam fired so that it could withstand hitting two mutants rather than a single one) and/or the "guided fire" option (which caused the beam to be moved with the joystick rather than firing in a striaght line). The menu also allowed for multiple players (up to four) to be entered into the game. Players one and three shared the first joystick while players two and four shared the second. EASTER EGG Communist Mutants from Space was released back in a time when programmers were very rarely allowed credit for their work. In the tradition of Adventure , Steven H. Landrum, the project's programmer, hid an Easter egg in the game in which holding fire and the power switch of the Atari 2600 would cause the "HI" on the high scores screen to change to "SHL." WHY COMMUNISM? By conventional standards, Communist Mutants from Space contains some odd subject matter. The game was made while America was still in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union (and, by extension, Communism ). It's therefore hard to tell if this game was meant to be a legitimate attack on communism (albeit a shallow one) or was intentionally campy, in the fashion of low budget 1950s horror movies and Pulp Comics involving invaders from space who embody something mainstream culture abhors. Whatever the case may be, communism is a fitting ideology for the unwanted creatures of this game -- the game could simultaneously be making an anti-communist message or mocking anti-communist messages through the use of Satire . It should be noted that the game itself makes little reference to communism. The mutants appear to be generic, ''Space Invader''-like aliens; in fact, if one were to remove the title screen (which simply reads "Commie Mutants") and ignored the packaging/instruction manual, this game would have virtually nothing to do with communism. It's possible this game was conceived as a generic space shoot-em-up which later had the communist theme added to draw interest or to make the game seem more unique. FAN REMAKE On May 29, 2005, fangamer Jeff Silvers released a remake of Communist Mutants from Space. This new version of the game retained the general feel of the original and featured updated, original graphics. The game featured three modes of play: solo (like the original), team (a "co-op" mode with two players on screen at the same time), and gauntlet (a one player mode wherein the mutants are more aggressive and more numerous, and the player is alloted only a single life). Story Taken directly from the story sequence at the beginning of the game: In the year 3000, Earth is in the terrifying grips of the Space Cold War with the Union of Mutant Socialist Planets, a communist group which has been inflicting terror on peaceful, democratic, freedom-loving planets and turning their inhabitants into COMMUNIST MUTANTS! Their leader is the Mother Creature, a mutant who has been driven insane from years of consuming irradiated vodka. As Captain Harry McCarthy of Earth's Anti-Communist Force, your task is clear: destroy the Mother Creature and the Communist Mutants before Earth falls victim to their evil, gift-economy ways! This plot is very similar to the original, but differs in that the mutants no longer hail from "Rooskee," the space pilot now has a name, and you're now working for the "Anti-Communist Force of Earth." It also differs in that this plot is obviously meant to be taken ironically rather than literally. EXTERNAL LINKS
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