Exterminator

A faithful conversion of Gottlieb's 1989 arcade game that was practically unknown outside Germany. Exterminator is an unusual shoot'em up with some nifty ideas, although it may be too strange for most people.

The plot in the game is similar to Disney's Arachnophobia: you are an "exterminator" who must travel from room to room, and house to house, to rid the neighborhood of a locust plague. You view the action from a first-person perspective, looking at your disembodied hand on the screen. At the top of the screen is a display which shows your "juice" meter, current score, and which house you are currently working in. To complete a room and move on to the next you must change all of the tiles in one lane to your color, while dealing with locusts that will sting you (hence reducing your juice) once they fly clost enough. There are many ways to get deal with locusts: you can squish them, pound them, or shoot laser at them. If you complete all the houses you will face the Ultimate Challenge, with a 500,000 point bonus prize. The game ends when you're out of juice and all your credits are used up.

Despite a unique premise, Exterminator gets old very quickly as each house (and even room) looks the same as the previous one, with no new surprises in store. Worth a try for a few minutes just to see how strange it is, but not much longer. Incidentally, this is the only arcade conversion ever published by Audiogenic.

Review By HOTUD