The Tail Of Beta Lyrae box art

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The Tail Of Beta Lyrae

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The Tail Of Beta Lyrae

Dec 31, 1983

Main game

2.50 average rating based on 2 ratings

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A horizontal scrolling shoot'em up written by Philip Price and published by Datamost for the Atari 8-bit home computers.
Developers
Publishers
Datamost
Platforms
Atari 8-bit
Genres
Arcade, Shooter
Themes
Action, Science fiction
Release Dates
Dec 31, 1983 Full Release (North_America)
Atari 8-bit
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User Stats
5
In Collection
2
Wish Listed
0
Playing
2
Backlogged
How Long Is The Tail Of Beta Lyrae?
No playthrough data yet
scoopings
scoopings gave Feb 5, 2022
scoopings gave Feb 5, 2022
Well-Made, Responsive Horizontal Scrolling Shoot Em Up
This review is for the Atari 8-bit version

Look: 8/10 The spaceship graphic is great, the UI is a bit over-the-top but great, the Atari colors are always nice, the dusk/night time vibe is my fave, and it is overall functional.

Sound: 8/10 Lol what in the world is this sound. I love the melody and the Atari crunch, the sound effects aren't too annoying, still so absurd. Reminds me of Superman and early Atari games heh, especially considering how critically acclaimed this game was it's nice to see other people appreciated the Atari fart crunch.

Play: 8/10 Well-made, responsive controls, top-notch horizontal scrolling shoot em up. Not my favorite of the genre, though critics seemed to feel that way, but it is clever with the Subsectors and Sectors that remind me of later console games. Not much to say: quality horizontal scrolling shoot em up sums it up heh. Pretty cool the layout is [allegedly] somewhat randomized.

Feel: 8/10 Again, not much negative I can say about the game except that I feel I've "been here before." Well-made shoot em up, nothing particularly special or innovative though. The look and sound add to a top-notch "feel."

Attachment: 7/10 Even tho I have nothing negative to say about …

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Look: 8/10 The spaceship graphic is great, the UI is a bit over-the-top but great, the Atari colors are always nice, the dusk/night time vibe is my fave, and it is overall functional.

Sound: 8/10 Lol what in the world is this sound. I love the melody and the Atari crunch, the sound effects aren't too annoying, still so absurd. Reminds me of Superman and early Atari games heh, especially considering how critically acclaimed this game was it's nice to see other people appreciated the Atari fart crunch.

Play: 8/10 Well-made, responsive controls, top-notch horizontal scrolling shoot em up. Not my favorite of the genre, though critics seemed to feel that way, but it is clever with the Subsectors and Sectors that remind me of later console games. Not much to say: quality horizontal scrolling shoot em up sums it up heh. Pretty cool the layout is [allegedly] somewhat randomized.

Feel: 8/10 Again, not much negative I can say about the game except that I feel I've "been here before." Well-made shoot em up, nothing particularly special or innovative though. The look and sound add to a top-notch "feel."

Attachment: 7/10 Even tho I have nothing negative to say about the game, I likely will stick to the horizontal scrollers I already fell in love with. This just doesn't do enough to separate it from the arcade games I've already played. I will say, it's impressive that they managed this on an Atari 8-bit, and I def can see why critics praised it. Plus, if I had to pay for these games, this being much cheaper and for a cheaper microcomputer is obviously a big factor. But in the modern times, with emulators etc, this just doesn't stand out enough to warrant a higher score. Play this, FOR SURE, if you are wanting to play early horizontal scrolling shoot em ups, though! This is among the best, for sure. It feels like a true arcade game ported to a microcomputer successfully, and that's impressive unto itself.

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