Earlier in the topic someone linked to "
Ambush at Sector 9"
. It was an old-school SHUMP best described as a mixture between Asteroids and Galaga and was a hell of a lot of fun.
Now the developer of that game has taken that down and put in its place the FAR superior sequel, "
Return to Sector 9"
.
RtS9 is essentially the perfect freeware SHUMP. You start with only the Return mode and one ship unlocked. Return preserves the gameplay of AaS9 very well but improves the graphics and gives it some progression with a level based design. In each level there are a few stages each of which has a few different waves. You shoot automatically and control your movement across the screen and your rotation. Each level ends with an insanely hard boss.
If you get enough points in Return mode, you unlock Ambush mode, a graphical touch-up of the original. It controls and plays like an endless stage of Return and still a good deal of fun.
Get enough points in Ambush, you unlock Windmills, essentially a better looking Missile Command.
Get enough points in Windmills and you unlock Rescue. Rescue is a lot like the first two modes but tasks you with rescuing free-floating survivors as you constantly move through space in the direction you're moving.
Last Stand is unlocked once you get enough points in Windmills. It's a bit like Windmills in that you control a stationary turret but rather than exploding the bullets simply travel in a straight line at the endless squad of aliens attacking you. You need to survive for 72 hours, but you likely won't get past four minutes.
Protection is unlocked once you get enough points in Last Stand and is much like Ambush but you can get extra points by stopping the Earth Fleet ships from being captured.
Jellyfish is unlocked when you get a good score in Protection and predictably has you controlling a man-eating jellyfish shooting at hunters with an inexplicable laser weapon apparently filling the hole where most animals have a brain. Eat 5 people and you'll transform temporarily into a huge jellyfish that is not only invincible, but can swallow enemy ships whole for 10,000 points each.
Doomball, unlocked after you float your way through a good run in Jellyfish is a surprisingly fun and refreshing take on the color matching genre. Having more in common with a SHUMP than Bejewled, you'll control a ship that automatically grips a colored ball when you collide with it and you must smash it into another ball of the same color. If it collides with a ball of another color you lose a life. Doomball, along with Return is one of the most fun game modes you'll find for free anywhere.
Gold Rush is unlocked after a good Doomball run and follows the Rescue template fairly closely but instead of rescuing helpless survivors you'll be trying to get your greedy little hands on as many gold nuggets as humanly possible.
In addition to unlocking modes you'll also unlock new paint jobs, ships, special weapons and more. The amount of pure STUFF here is impressive. Not quite up to the standards of N and certainly nowhere near DROD, but it's impressive nonetheless. You can find it
here.
____________________________
Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions
