The Help Force

Welcome to another post of the series CP Knowledge. This is a series where I will talk about every single minigame on Club Penguin, continuing today with Astro Barrier. The posts include how you play the game, its history, stamps, trivia, and a personal review of the game! Hope you enjoy it!

GAMEPLAY

Astro Barrier is a single-player arcade minigame located in the Arcade, formerly the Dance Lounge. The game is played on the green screen of the Astro Barrier arcade machine. Despite the buttons featured on the machine, this game purely relies on using the keyboard. Pressing left/right will move a spaceship left or right, and the space bar will make the ship shoot. The spaceship is seen at the bottom of the screen, and in the middle/basically everywhere else is a series of targets that move back and forth along rails. Each level has its own layout, and a number of available shots, ranging from three to ten. Upon shooting all targets, you’ll move on to the next level. Using all shots without hitting all targets will cost a life and result in a restart of that level. 

   When a target is shot, it will turn red and stop moving. The only exception is when there are multiple targets on the same rail, which only happens once in the game. In that case, that target will turn orange but all the other ones will stop in its place.

   Worth mentioning is that some targets can only be aimed at through a small gap. If you hit another target in front of them it will then be impossible to complete the level without restarting. It should also be noted that it takes some time for the shot to travel from the ship to its target, hence requiring careful aiming and timing. 

   The game ends after successfully completing forty levels, or earlier if you lose all your lives. You will start with two lives, and have multiple chances to get more. 

TARGETS

SECRETS

• The Secret Levels in Astro Barrier are accessible before level eleven starts. When the screen is showing instructions about the orange switch, wait for twenty-five seconds and shoot the blue ship that will appear. After completing the ten Secret Levels you will continue from level sixteen. 
• The Expert Levels are accessible before level thirty-one starts. Just like the Secret Levels, wait for twenty-five seconds and shoot the blue ship. After the ten Expert Levels, you can shoot five score targets, which will earn you a total of 2500 extra points. The game is then won.
• It is possible to skip levels right after clicking start. Click the ‘1’ on your keyboard to go to level 10, ‘2’ to go to level 20, and ‘3’ to go to level 30. 
• Before proceeding on to another level, a loading box will appear for about 4 seconds. This box isn’t a real loading box. If you press enter, it will disappear and you will progress to the next level.

HISTORY

Astro Barrier is one of the five original games on Club Penguin, meaning it got released on October 24, 2005. The beta testing started on September 21 the same year. The game was updated on December 30, 2005, and the Expert Levels were added. The Secret Levels were part of another update, released on July 21, 2006, when blasters also made their debut. Originally, everyone was able to play all of the levels. On July 26, 2010, that changed, and only level one to five was playable by non-members. Astro Barrier was designed to be a very early arcade game, which is why it relies solely on sound effects and has no backing track. 

STAMPS

Astro Barrier has a total of 12 stamps, but don’t let yourself be fooled by the relatively low number. In my opinion, Astro Barrier is one of the hardest games to earn all stamps on. There are two easy stamps, six medium ones, three hard ones, and one expert stamp. 

TRIVIA

• During the April Fools’ Party 2008. Astro Barrier and Thin Ice were not playable as they were merged into a game called Thinicetrobarrier. 
• Both the white and blue ships resemble the Snowspeeder from Star Wars. 
• The game is featured on the Astro Barrier Card-Jitsu card.
• It could possibly be based on the real-life arcade games Galaga or Space Invaders. 
• There is a pin called Astro-Barrier Ship pin, which is based on the spaceship used in the game. 
• The spaceship also appears on the Lace Background. 

PERSONAL REVIEW

This game can be incredibly hard and frustrating sometimes, but it is nonetheless a fantastic game. There are lots of different levels that vary in difficulty. The game involves thinking and strategizing and, best of all, secrets. Getting all the stamps is a real challenge, and I believe Astro Barrier is one of the games that I never managed to get all stamps on. Despite it being hard and frustrating, it is still very fun to play. Therefore, this game gets 10/10 from me. 

Did I miss anything? What do you think of Astro Barrier? Comment below!

That’s all for me today, hope you enjoyed this post! See ya next time!

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