Mike Dubno has done a remarkable job in designing a home game that has so much of the excitement and fun of Atari's coin-op star, Centipede. While it is easy to fault Megasoft's decision to follow an existing title so closely, there's no possible way to quibble with the quality of the execution. Megalegs will surely give every other program of this type, including Atari's own personal computer edition of Centipede, a run for its money.

In Megalegs, the player gets a base at the bottom of the screen. It is possible to move horizontally and vertically while shooting missiles at the various creatures and mushrooms that inhabit the playfield. The goal of the game, as usual, is to score the maximum number of points. At 10,000, the player is given an extra base.

The driving force behind Megalegs is the fact that the game is progressive. As one plays and scores points, the difficulty increases. The way this game builds difficulty is astounding. Players can fire unlimited missiles, which destroy all in their path. The best strategy is to get the centipede-like creature that moves across the screen. The little turtles and dropping objects also yield the higher points than the stationary mushrooms.

This game is addicting. The integration of the joystick into the game is excellent. The graphics are smooth, flicker-free and quite well done. The objects are a little bigger and clumsier-looking than Atari's own graphics, but all in all, Megalegs holds up well in the playing.

The only complaint that has arisen from other arcaders, is the fact that one could hang out at the bottom of the screen and get the turtle-like creatures and falling mushrooms if the last section of the centipede has not been destroyed. Once the last part's eliminated, the screen changes colors and the centipede begins its journey down the screen again.

All in all, Megalegs is an excellent new game for the Atari computers. It boasts some of the finest programming seen so far for these machines. Don't miss this one.