Note: There are two ways to play this game by using either your mouse or your keyboard. I used my mouse so if you are looking for keyboard tips or have keyboard tips to share, please check the forum.

The Controls:
The mouse controls are very intuitive' Move the mouse to move your fighter. Use the Left-click Button to fire your weapons and your right-click button to fire your Missiles.
Note: If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you are GOLDEN! The click wheel can be used to scroll through your missiles to choose which type to fire. (More on that later.)

TIP: You don't have to click repeatedly to fire! Just hold that left-click button down to release a steady stream of bullets, lasers, whatever! This saves your mouse and your hand from repetitive stress!

The Basics:
Well, the basics are pretty basic. Your goal is to NOT GET BLOWN UP! Since this game harkens back to the old-school arcade games of my infancy (Thank God I have an older brother!!) one of the best ways to do this is to concentrate more on the missiles and laser fire that's coming at you rather than the enemy ships themselves. That way, you can dodge stuff coming towards you while still hitting the enemy.

The Bonuses:
Every once in a while, you'll be able to snag a bonus after destroying an enemy ship. Bonuses are usually extra money or missiles but you can also get special shields that make you invincible for a short time or repair bonuses to your shields. The key is to snag the bonus without getting hit by enemy fire. The best way to do that is bide your time' you'll have a little bit of time to snag the bonuses so wait until it gets a little closer and then zoom in, grab it and zoom back out.

The Upgrades!!
The thing that makes AstroAvenger better than the old-school shooters it pays homage to, is the fact that you can upgrade your ship and your weapons as well as buy more missiles!

The Weapons:
There are five different weapons that have 5 levels of strength each they are (In order) the Driller, the Separator, The Damager, the Crusher and the Executor. Every time you upgrade your weapons (no matter which one) it adds an extra direction of weapon fire coming from your ship so even if you only have the Driller, you can still do heavy damage with it when it's maxed out.

TIP: I learned the hard way that it's a bad idea to upgrade to the next weapon name unless you have enough money to upgrade the new weapon a couple times too. For example: I had the driller maxed out and I was kicking ass so I upgraded to the Separator only to go up against a 'boss' ship (more later). Needless to say, I only had the two little bullet streams and not enough $$ to upgrade the new weapon and I wound up losing a ton of extra lives blowing up that one ship.

The Missiles:
There are 5 different missiles you can buy (or earn as bonuses). As you can probably guess, they increase in price and damage factors. NOTE: The prices I'm listing are different that the prices in the screen shot.
They are:

• Straight::Cost = $120 ' This fires two missiles in a straight trajectory so you need to be lined up with your target.
• Smart::Cost = $400 ' The Smart Missile seeks out the enemy target on it's own
• Medusa::Cost = $750 (approx) ' Bigger missile causes bigger damage.
• Swarm::Cost = $1200 ' The name says it all. This unleashes a swarm of short-range missiles that do heavy damage
• Nuke::Cost = $2400 ' This is the Big Kahuna! These are expensive so save 'em for the bosses.

The Ship Upgrades:

Shields ' Not only can you upgrade your shield but you can pay to repair damaged shields and bring 'em back up to full strength. NOTE: It's a good idea to make sure you are at full strength every time you dock. This small check can save you having to lose a ship!

Batteries: I gotta be honest. I never bought the battery upgrade' I like to live dangerously! So please, anyone who wants to tell us why we need to upgrade the batteries, please feel free to add to the forum!

The Boss:
Every round, you'll come up against a bigger enemy ship that's hard to destroy. This little sucker will dart around and fire three different weapons at you:

• Straight Lasers: Two solid streams of lasr fire that last for a few seconds. These lasers are spaced pretty close together so if you try to position yourself between them, no dice' your wings get fried!
• Scatter shot ' A bunch of lil' green plasma balls' There's pretty much no way to dodge these but the damage is less than the straight lasers.
• Missiles ' A slew of missiles that fly in arrow formation. Chances are that you'll be able to dodge most of 'em but dodging all of 'em takes skills!

The key to destroying the boss is to learn the timing of each weapon being fired at you and dodging as much fire as you can while laying down some thick weapon fire while blasting it with your missiles.

TIP: This is when having the click-wheel on your mouse really comes in handy, you can scroll thru your available missiles without taking your eyes off the screen.