Cosmic Crusader

Cosmic Crusader is a video game in the action genre developed by Funtastic, Inc. and published by Funtastic, Inc. originally released in 1982. It is currently playable on DOS.

Ah. . . the memories. Cosmic Crusader was the FIRST IBM PC game I ever played. It was one of the preloaded programs on our brand new IBM 8088, which ran at a whopping 8Mhz:)

The game itself is nothing new: it's a standard sci-fi shooter that Space Invaders fans will instantly recognize. Shoot the army of invading alien ships before they shoot you dead or crush you when they get too close. I've seen it, I've done it.

While it doesn't look like much fun, Michael Abrash's magic is at work again this time. For no apparent reason, I stayed up late at night, for days/weeks/months at a time just to play this incredibly addictive game. I can't explain why the game is so addictive.

Maybe it's the addition of power-ups, such as a shield that can help you in tough times. Maybe it's the wonderful animations and the very good graphics (which use 4-color CGA to great effect).

Maybe it's the fun surprises that each new level brings, like the giant alien ships that appear from time to time to give you a chance to get a big bonus.

Or maybe it's the fact that Cosmic Crusader was one of the 3 games I had on that computer, and the other 2 are absolute crap:)

Whatever the reason, I simply can't find any fault with this underrated shooter.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.