Functional but boring. Still worth recommending for a couple of reasons.

Mainly, it's the first arcade/highscore game I've played that allows save states. That's worthy of high praise in itself.

As for the game itself, I got bored rather quickly. All the enemies are the same whereas Space Invaders at least had a UFO to shoot.

The paddle controls well and is responsive. I mention this becasue what should be basic has been missed in recent iterations on NG.

There are a variety of powerups and I like how you can use Laser Beams on command. This way I can use it on whole rows rather tham a couple of ships.

One strong complaint I have is that certain powerups are on a timer. That in itself is fine but I would like to have seen a countdown timer somewhere on screen - or even the ball flashing - to show when the powerup ends. It's bad because you might get the Steel Ball and expect it to go thru only to have it bounce back suddenly, miss the ball and lose a life.

Also, afaik, there's no keyboard pause button. That means you'll have to wait till you have enough space to move the mouse all the way to the top of the screen and press the menu button.

Nice work!! There is a lot going on in this game and I like the paddle behavior.

I suspect you'll get some negative reviews because the game is "too simple" or "not original", but for what this is, a solid arcade-style game, it's very solid. I will say it's more of an Arkanoid Space Invaders than Arkanoid Defender... but that assumes you were using the word "Defender" in reference to the game, which could be incorrect.

In a game like this, mechanics are everything. This has smooth paddle control, good physics, and solid angles on the bounces. It's challenging, but I never fight the paddle to catch up with the ball, object to the direction of a bounce, or curse because the ball passes through the edge of the paddle. The graphics are simple but the colors are inviting, and the sounds effects are satisfying.

Some of the little touches are nice. I like how the Big Paddle power-up slowly reverts back to original size instead of just blinking back when some unseen timer is exhausted. And I like the laser beam mechanic. Not enough beams to really abuse, but it helps to clear out the bottom of the screen if you run into some bad luck.

A few suggestions:

1. Some people will probably ask for background music. More power-ups too (sticky paddle, temporary guns, etc), and possibly some avoidables (shrink paddle, for example).

2. Instead of an infinite game, why not separate it into levels with different ship patterns to destroy? Might give the player something to reach for instead of just the score. If not, how about having the background change ever 3000 points or something?

3. How about introducing new enemies after hitting certain scores? It would keep the player engaged if new enemies starting appearing at the top of the screen. You could even make them bizarre or funny. Wouldn't it be cool if, by 10,000 points, the old ships were gone and the screen was filled with mutants?

Well executed for what it is, but without any kind of progression as far as upgrades/difficulty/etc. the desire to continue playing falls pretty quickly. With a bit of expansion I think this could be a solid game.

This is really cool! It reminds me of galaga and pong. Good job :)