Ludography
Laser Blast cover

1981 · Arcade · Shoot 'em up

Laser Blast

Atari exclusive

The object of Laser Blast is to destroy a series of land-based enemies. The player controls a fleet of flying saucers, operating one at a time. On the planet surface below are a group of three mobile laser bases, guarded by an invisible force field that prevents the player's saucer from getting too close to the surface. Both the player and the enemy bases are armed with laser blasters, which may fire a single continuous beam at a time.

Released
1981
Platforms
Atari 2600
Genres
ArcadeShoot 'em upShooter
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Country
United States
Age ratings
ESRB E

About

Laser Blast is a shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Activision in March 1981 for the Atari VCS console (renamed to Atari 2600 in 1982). Designed by David Crane, one of Activision's co-founders, it places players in control of flying saucers attacking land targets.

Keywords

  • ufo
  • high score
  • explosion
  • never-ending

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The object of Laser Blast is to destroy a series of land-based enemies. The player controls a fleet of flying saucers, operating one at a time. On the planet's surface below is a group of three mobile laser bases, guarded by an invisible force field that prevents the player's saucer from getting too close to the surface. Both the player and the enemy bases are armed with laser blasters, which may fire a single continuous beam at a time.

If the player's saucer is hit, it will lose altitude and crash to the ground, but the player may direct this fall, potentially into one of the bases, destroying it as well. Each succeeding wave of enemy bases moves faster and targets the player's saucers more quickly, while the force field becomes stronger and decreases the amount of space in which the saucer can move.

Reception

Laser Blast earned an Honorable Mention for "Best Science Fiction Game" in 1982 at the Third Annual Arkie Awards.

Legacy

Activision re-released Laser Blast as part of its Activision Anthology video game, made available for a number of consoles at various times in the 2000s.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Atari 260031 December 1981North America

Editions and related releases

Included in
32 in 1A Collection of Activision Classic Games for the Atari 2600Activision AnthologySuper Action PakActivision Hits RemixedActivision's Atari 2600 Action Pack 2Activision Anthology: Remix EditionAtari Flashback 8 Gold: Activision EditionActivision Collection 3

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.