Surviving A Pterattack

     Pterattack is one of the many games available and is a fairly straight forward game. I enjoy it a lot because it is a quick game that requires lightning fast reflexes. The games don't also last a long time, so you won't be sinking hours into a game only to lose at the last minute before a trophy. You can play many times in a row in rapid succession. Once you master it, this means you will get your maximum NP per day pretty quickly.

     The basic idea of this game is that you are playing as a Pteri and you are attempting to survive an onslaught of pterodactyls. They are rushing at you at a moderate pace at first, but as you progress through the levels they get faster and stronger. You'll have a variety of weapons at your disposal in order to defeat them and build up as many points as you can.

     Controls

     The controls are simple, you will be using the arrows keys to maneuver your Pteri around the screen and the space bar to fire off shots. I like to stay a little bit above the bottom of the screen (you'll find out exactly why later on), and just move to the left and right. I move up and down to avoid power-ups as necessary, which you'll also found out about later.

     Enemies

     You'll be taking on mostly pterodactyls. At first they are tan and green. The tan is defeated with one shot, while the green will require two shots from the level one weaponry to defeat him. As you upgrade your weapons you will be able to take out the higher level enemies with fewer shots. This is really important because the enemies get faster every level.

     As time goes on you will encounter tan, green, blue, golden, and red pterodactyls, in that order and in that progression of strength. There will also be the occasional silver pterodactyl that flies by sideways from the left side of the screen, this one won't hurt you and only serves as a distraction. Every kill is worth five points regardless of its color, so don't feel like you have to focus on taking out a certain strength.

     If your weaponry is weak, it's best to avoid the stronger enemies at all costs. Requiring two shots to kill at the higher levels is impossible because of how fast they move. At some point your screen will just be full of enemies flying at you and you'll be shooting as fast as you can.

     You'll also come across a giant Grarrl that will sneak up behind you from the bottom of the screen. That is why I don't like to play completely at the bottom, so I can get a heads up if he's coming. You can actually attack him with your weapon and defeat him, gaining ten points, but he isn't gone for good. He will continue to pop up throughout the game no matter how many times you defeat him.

     The last enemy is often not thought of as an enemy: the wall! A lot of people are probably confused right now, but the wall in this game can actually take one of your lives away! It isn't just a stopping point, it will harm you. Be very careful moving back and forth because one wrong bump and you just lost a valuable life.

     Weapon Upgrades

     You begin the game with a simple blue laser beam but as you kill enemies you will notice that occasionally a glowing orb will drop off of them. These are weapon power ups and also give you a bonus ten points. In the beginning it can be useful to pick up whatever power up appears and will help you level up, but I prioritize the fireball which you'll read about below. Beware that if you level up a weapon and then touch a new power-up you will reset to level one. So once you upgrade a weapon you are happy with, AVOID ALL OTHER POWER UPS.

     Blue orb with lines across it: This is the "PterShot". It is the blue laser beam you start off with but as you upgrade it will add more forward-facing lasers that are stronger. This isn't great because it doesn't offer a lot of defense if the pterodactyls are coming just to the left or right of your beam, they are still able to clip your wing and damage you.

     Green orb with dots inside: This is the "PterPod". On the first level you will shoot a total of three pods, one pod straight forward, and then one on both the left and right side straight out. Upgrading this to level two and three will cause it to fire two pods instead, at an angle to the left and right of your Pteri. This one is tough to use if you are going against a swarm of enemies as it doesn't offer much defense.

     Purple orb with a boomerang: This is the "PterBoom" and is a favorite among a small group of players. The first level releases a boomerang that waves back and forth a little bit as it travels, meaning you don't need perfect aim to get the shot. Upgrading it will add a second boomerang, but once it is upgraded to the fourth level you will have a giant boomerang instead. The giant boomerang is very useful to taking out a group of enemies. This leaves you a little bit open so be careful.

     Red orb with a fireball: This is the "FireBall" which is hands down the best weapon. It starts like other weapons with one shot, then upgrading has two shots, level three offers three shots. Level four is where it becomes a game changer and totally unstoppable. It launches off three wave-like beams, kind of like the shape of an "n". This creates a shield in front of you and is capable of taking out a LOT of enemies at once.

     Be careful because you cannot rapid fire weapons though. You can only shoot off so many times at once so it is important to be strategic rather than just spamming the space bar while you play. Movement is key to winning and finding the right place to hang out is important. Early on I play in the lower third of the screen, but once I get a level four fireball weapon I like to move up closer to the top left corner.

     Hopefully with this breakdown you will be well on your way to a new trophy for your cabinet!