The first thing that will grab you about playing Maelstrom, believe it or don't, is the inclusion of the maddening background two-toned theme endemic to the original Asteroids. At the earlier levels, before the action gets truly intense, it's a steady drone -- dun. dun. dun. dun. -- reassuring as a metronome. As you clear out the space of rocks, the tone speeds up almost imperceptibly, subliminally adding to the sense of urgency and frantic pace of the game. It's only when you've finally blasted the last asteroid, and the screen switches to the points summary screen, that the tones go away, and you realize how much they'd been affecting you. And then the next wave begins.

From the top: for those of you who might have been either living in a cave under the sea in the 1980s, or even not having been born yet, Asteroids, and hence Maelstrom, is a game in which you pilot a tiny spaceship around a small area of space. Into this area float a number of space rocks, which you must destroy with your ship's blaster. Once all rocks have been destroyed, the next level begins, adding more rocks. Nothing could be simpler. Maelstrom, however, ups the ante with the addition of new elements.

The first of these is the obvious update of the graphics. While there is some charm to seeing the vector-based outlines of Asteroids, the 3D-into-2D full-color update is just better. All that sharp contrast is hell on the eyes after a while. Maelstrom brings lovely explosions, better animation, and smoother gameplay to the standard mix.

As mentioned briefly above, the sound quality is improved as well, beyond the zombifying background loop. The crush of blaster shot hitting space rock, the announcement tones of different items coming into the space, the frequent soundbites of said items as they're either picked up or destroyed, all add to the fun.

The actual working of the ship is straightforward: thrust, rotation, shield, blaster. Space physics are in effect here: a light tap of the thrust key (whichever you choose it to be; all keys are programmable) pushes your ship forward and gets it moving slowly. It will keep moving forward until you fire thrusters in the opposite direction. Holding down the thruster will move you faster and faster until maximum speed has been achieved. In a cramped space like this, where moving off any of the four sides will warp you around to the opposite side, maximum speed is extremely risky. The blaster will fire shots as quickly as you can tap them. The shield will remain active only as long as you keep the shield key depressed, and it's finite.

The rocks that float through the area start large; one shot breaks them into two medium-sized rocks, and shooting one of those breaks them down into two or more small rocks. Each size, from large to small, moves faster than the previous size.

On the side of actual functional updates, we begin with the scoring system. Each destructible element -- rocks, other spaceships, etc. -- are a set number of points. At random moments during a level, a comet will shoot by. Nailing it quickly will net you a higher amount of bonus points than it will yield if you let it roam for a while. There is also a stationary point multiplier -- 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x -- that you can shoot for its benefit, and that gets calculated at the end of the level. Finally, there is a bonus point countdown in the lower right of the interface. If you manage to finish all rocks off before it ticks down to zero, that bonus is added to your score as well.

Other things that float by include flying saucers that move at a constant rate, taking shots at your ship the entire time they're on-screen. You can either wait for it to go away or destroy it yourself. Unlike you, the saucer won't collide with the rocks. Later levels feature saucers that are smaller, move faster, take more hits, and fire more rapidly.

Additionally, there are spheroid, metallic objects that move around the screen in the same way the rocks do, but they take a high number of shots to be destroyed. Moreover, shooting one of these propels it in the direction of the shot. You can influence its direction in this way, but it's a double-edged sword -- too many consecutive hits on the same side will move it forward at a high rate of speed, making it much more deadly. If one of these collides with you, it's a kill. If it collides with you while your shield is active, it will push you, but it won't be destroyed.

Additional threats include a swift ship-seeking object that takes multiple hits to kill; a supernova that takes a hit out of all rocks on-screen, making them wander off in new directions and faster speeds erratically unless you take it out before it can explode; and a black hole that sucks your ship into it, destroying it, unless you can destroy it first.

On your side, however, is a randomly-appearing canister with the Red Cross symbol on its side. Running over this object will confer a random benefit to your ship. Some of these benefits: a full recharge of your ship's shield capacity; a tri-shot upgrade to your blaster; an automatic fire upgrade to your blaster; a 1-up; a four-leaf clover that increases the chance that a canister will appear more frequently; and others.

The action just keeps ramping up and up with each successive level, until you begin seeing the Brownian motion of all onscreen enemies in your dreams. If this sounds like your kind of fun, grab the free Mac download or the PC version and immerse yourself in the paranoia now!