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Star Castle remake - Star Citadel - modern variant - gallery 5

My fifth Star Citadel gallery. By this time the game is starting to become more challenging. Just like the original Star Castle arcade game, everything has started to move faster: the rings rotate faster, the energy projectiles fly faster, the cannon rotates faster, and the mines home in quicker too. All of this makes everything harder to destroy and/or avoid.

Note that Star Citadel has two variants: a modern version, from which these screenshots are taken, and a classic version, which is designed to play as much like the original Star Castle as possible.

Click on the images to see larger versions.

PLAY GAME

Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Not a single shot lands on target.
The world's most ineffective Star Castle attack run. No hits although, as the shields expand, it's likely that at least a couple of those shots will do some damage.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Later on in the same level; some damage to shields.
Same level a bit later on. You can see I've managed to do quite a bit of damage to the shields, but the game is becoming more challenging. I'm running from an energy projectile, and there's a mine closing in nearby.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Lucky shooting destroys a couple of mines.
Amazingly a couple of my last few wild shots have found their mark and I've managed to waste a couple of the mines.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - A more circumspect approach to try and avoid the cannon regenerating a new shield ring
Not much progress here and the issue is that, with only a couple of shield segments left in the outer ring, there's a danger that I'll inadvertently destroy them, which will allow the cannon to regenerate a whole new shield ring, just like the original Star Castle arcade game.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - A narrow escape from a minue.
I've just destroyed a mine here but, given I'm sat right in the middle of the explosion, you can imagine exactly how close a call that was. I'm also going to have to dodge incoming fire from the cannon.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - A lucky shot from the player annihilates the cannon.
Still, managed to get a lucky shot in there and the cannon is toast. Oh yeah!
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - An attack at the beginning of a level that's on target and looks like it'll do some damage.
The start of a new level and this is a bit more like it - most of these shots are on target or close to. I should do some damage here.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Solid damage inflicted to the cannons shields whilst they're still expanding.
Looks like I've managed to get some solid hits on the shields, although I haven't worried the cannon itself.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Already the player has managed to punch through the outer and middle shield rings from that early attack.
Here you can see how effective an initial strike on the cannon whilst it's still materializing can be. Note that not only have I managed to destroy several segments in the outer shield ring, but I've also weakened a few of the segments in the middle ring.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - A strong attack run but it looks like a lot of the shots are running wide of the cannon
This is OK. It's not exaclty on target but you can see that I should be able to punch a hole through the inner shield ring, which will make the cannon vulnerable.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - The inner shield ring has been penetrated but the player turns to run as the cannon fires back
Yep, punched a nice hole through the inner ring, and I'm bugging out because the cannon is firing.
Screenshot of Star Castle/Star Citadel - Another attack run ensures the shields take a further shredding.
Back in for another strafing run and I've taken out one of the mines. In the original Star Castle you didn't get any points for destroying mines; in this version you get 1 point. Yes, that's right, one point. For some reason, whilst I was happy for destroying them to be largely worthless (apart from for self-preservation), I still didn't want to award nil points for it.