Beamrider on the C64 provided some old school arcade fun, but not for very long.
Your ship runs a a grid. You can move left and right, and you can only stay on the the vertical lines. The alien ships coming at you are also moving from beam to beam as they approach you. You'll also have to contend with them shooting back at you, as well as other projectiles heading your way.
There's only ever 3 alien ships on the screen, but their speed and the number of other obstacles onscreen increases as you go up in levels.
Every now and then a mother-ship will fly by the top of the screen, and you have limited torpedo's available to shoot it down.
WHY PLAY IT?
If you want an exciting straight forward, shoot to kill experience, you'll find it here. It's full of knee-jerk reactions for someone that wants to show off their keen vision, fast reflexes, and expert timing.
WHY AVOID IT?
Although things can get pretty intense as you progress through the levels, the excitement it provides is soon overshadowed by the repetitiveness. You never get new weapons, and the grid of beams you ride on never changes. You're always doing the same thing level after level, only faster.
The game is only 10 levels, and after the last level, the game just stops. No reward for you. This can be disappointing as you would have to be really good to get to the end.
FINAL WORD:
If you're really good, you can get through all 10 levels in under 10 minutes. However the game-play may not warrant the time necessary to get good enough.
It should provide a quick fix of fun for the first few levels though.