Play ShockWave Online

I first played ShockWave on the Amiga back in 1990, a game from Digital Magic Software Ltd. It came out during a time when the Amiga was full of creative, often experimental titles that tried to blend genres in new ways. This one stood out for its mix of strategy and action, asking you to defend a prison colony from alien invaders over ten distinct waves of assault.

You control a lone defender, switching between an overhead map for turn-based resource management and a third-person view for direct combat. Your main job is to protect four resource zones by allocating energy, building defenses, and then jumping into the fray yourself to shoot down the aliens. The game uses a day and night cycle that affects visibility and enemy behavior, and one hit from any enemy means instant death, which keeps the tension high. Moving between careful planning and frantic shooting gives the whole experience a sharp, unpredictable rhythm. It feels like constantly balancing on a knife's edge, where every decision matters right up to the final wave.