Parsec 47 is a retro arcade shooter in the vein of Galaga, if Galaga was on an acid-trip that is. Parsec is an insane game in most respects, it tests your reflexes by throwing out as many enemies and projectiles as it can. All the while jumping to a cool techno-beat to match it's Tron-esqe graphical styling.

Where Parsec 47 stands out from games like Galaga is the simply astounding amount of enemies and projectiles it throws at you, every ship that appears on screen to oppose you spits out torrents of projectiles that all have a unique movement pattern. Needless to say it can get quite hectic and will slow down an older machine easily.

The other area in which Parsec stands out is in it's inclusion of "bosses". At the end of every parsec (presumably there are 47 in all), a larger ship will engulf the screen, each of it's individual polygons (which make up it's shape) will fire at you, turning the screen in to an ocean of death for your tiny ship. Luckily each part can be destroyed and is represented by it's own health bar at the top of the screen.

The controls are simple enough, which is a good thing for a shooter. You will navigate with the arrow keys while you fire with the Z key, sending your projectiles in five directions in front of your ship. The only other key used is X, which engages your ships roll attack. During the time that you hold the key your ship will be engulfed by a spinning energy which will draw in the pieces of your enemies ship providing you with points, and upon releasing the key the energy will fire straight forward.

Sadly Parsec supports no multiplayer, which is a huge loss as it could have made an already great game that much more fun. The game does however have four modes of difficulty and will allow you to start from a previously reached parsec if you wish to continue rather than begin anew after you've died you died.

So if you've ever played an arcade shooter and enjoyed it, this game is more than likely right up your alley. Highly addictive and highly insane your guaranteed some retro fun. Forty-seven intense parsecs await you.