Astro Attack is the new retro space shooter taking the App Store by storm

Astro Attack is a vertical-scrolling retro space shooter from Blocky Pixel, available on iOS. It’s a pick-up-and-play title, with one touch controls. You have to navigate a spaceship through wave after wave of aliens, that come down from the top of the screen in a manner reminiscent of Space Invaders. The gameplay is fluid and refined. The player and the enemies have funny animations, the game and menus use a pixelated, retro-graphics style similar to NimbleBit titles. The sound is a mix of synth sounds from the 80s, and the lasers firing and dying aliens together almost sound like a dance track.

You have to pick up power-ups, which give a range of weapons tied to a timer that resets to the default weapon. Power-ups can be chained together to create more potent combinations. There are also coin drops, which can be collected to unlock ships. The ships themselves are shout-outs to video game history and various pop culture elements. There is a GameBuddy ship, that looks suspiciously like a Game Boy. Those who liked Nyan Cat!,  Techno Kitten Adventure, or cat lovers in general will love the Nekoship, which is a flying space cat with confectionery body that shoots lasers. For Doctor Who fans, there is the TARDAC, which is basically the TARDIS with wings for spaceflight. Astro Attack is free, so there is no reason not to try it.