Game Review: Linux Game - PowerManga Shoot-em Up

15 June 2006

Powermanga is a great retro styled game reminiscent of the Arcade SpaceCraft games circa 1980's. Rather than try and modernise it they've even given the graphics the look of a TV based game like you may have seen on a Sinclar Spectrum, Commodore 64 or Atari.

The game is provided free under the GPL and should work on all machines with at least a 386 (or equivalent PowerPC etc.).

There is a little story in the documentation, but quite frankly you just want to get in the ship and start blasting. There appears to be only a couple of rules, blast everything in sight and don't get killed. You can also collect gems which give powerups or in some cases just blast the enemy away.

They keys are easy enough to figure out. Arrow keys move around, space shoots and CTRL uses the current highlighted power-up. As you progress you get more guns, which just help you blast away even faster.

The links to rpm files appear to be a bit outdated. So if you want an rpm, you may be better off just going straight to rpmfind.net. I installed the latest Mandriva package which downloaded and installed in minutes putting an icon on the start menu.

Give it a go and relieve the 1980's classic arcade game era.

Powermanga from TLK Games

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