Hectic Space Walkthrough [Guide]

Hectic Space is, at a glance, a classic video game lover’s dream come true. It melds elements of Galaga, Space Invaders, and other retro titles together in order to create an amalgam that will bring tears to the eyes of those that love nostalgia in their games. That feeling of remembrance will quickly be replaced with challenge and frustration, however, as Hectic Space also brings the difficulty of old school gaming along with it. Do you think that you have what it takes to get the highest score? Read through this guide to bring you up to speed.

Gameplay
Hectic Space is an arcade style space combat game where in players must try and survive for as long as they could against enemies. The goal, aside from survival, is to try and score as many points as possible by shooting down enemies as they fly across the screen. Controls are pretty basic as your ship can only fly up and down, and shooting is automated. Powerups may be acquired that will provide your ship with special ammunition and even shielding for a few seconds.

Health
Players get to start each game with three health points, signified by hearts, on top of the screen. Each time players take damage, and heart would be deducted, and the game will end once all hearts are gone. With this, players can pick up health powerups that will add hearts to your ship. A good thing about this is that there’s no cap to your maximum health as you can still benefit from additional hearts even if you have not yet taken any damage. Take note that both projectiles from enemies as well as crashing through enemies themselves will incur damage to your ship.

Powerups
Powerups are special items that you can pick up as you play along. The most common powerups are ammo which can turn your firepower into powerful versions of itself for a limited period of time. These include rapid fire lasers, scatter shots, to exploding shots, and many others. Take note that these are only activated for a few seconds, so make them count. There’s also a shield powerup that will be able to resist damage for a limited time. Make it a point to pick up powerups whenever they appear and whenever you are not in danger of taking damage.

Scoring
Theoretically, surviving for longer will mean that you will score higher. However, this will not be the case if you just try and avoid enemies without destroying them. Not only will shooting at enemies increase your total score, but destroying them in rapid succession will allow you to earn combo bonuses which would in turn result in bonus points awarded. Getting hit, however, will terminate your combo, which means that you would have earning regular points until you are able to get your combo going again.

Ads
Hectic Space is free to play, although there are times when popups would come out from time to time. Although these ads can be easily dismissed, this can be removed entirely be paying a small fee. This decision would depend on whether you have the budget to spend or if you find the ad popups to be entirely disruptive to your playing experience.

Tips and Tricks
Keep an eye out for any projectiles that are colored red. These symbolize enemy gunfire and must be avoided at all costs. You can run through your own gunfire, but getting touched by red projectiles will hurt you, unless you have a shield activated. Likewise, trying to get a powerup in the middle of a tense firefight will be based on your best judgment as, although you might get your hands on a powerful weapon, you might also risk getting damaged on the way there.

Also, always keep the screen at full visibility. Use just one finger to guide your ship and keep everything else away from the screen. Always make sure that you have a clear line of sight between your vessel and any projectiles or ships coming at it. Lastly, make sure that you get as high a combo as you possibly can as this will be able to get you the highest score possible. Once you get hit, get right back up and do it again so that you can lead other players in the leaderboards when it comes to dominating the game.