Overview
El Fin del Tiempo is an arcade shooter. The game consists of five distinct stages: a horizontally scrolling cavern section in which the player’s rocket navigates asteroid fields and must destroy depots marked with “F” to gain fuel; a meteor-and-missile stage in which an invincible planetoid orbits overhead and a second button enables laser fire for a timed survival segment; a drone stage where the player pilots an unarmed drone to retrieve fuel from the planet surface while avoiding retracting alien vines and patrolling robots; a formation-combat stage in which waves of enemy ships must be destroyed; and a final stage featuring a large alien mothership and escorts that drop bombs which will destroy the player’s city if they reach the ground. After completing the final stage the game repeats at higher difficulty.
Players control a rocket (and, in stage 3, a small unarmed drone) through a mixture of horizontally scrolling and discrete-screen sequences. Fuel is a gameplay resource in early stages: depots marked “F” must be destroyed to replenish fuel, and running out of fuel costs a life. The second button becomes active in the meteor stage to allow laser fire for that segment. Stage objectives vary by level—survive a timed meteor barrage, retrieve fuel with the drone, clear enemy formations, and prevent bombs dropped by the final boss from reaching and destroying the city. Points are awarded for destroying enemies and completing stage objectives; play continues through increasing difficulty loops until the player’s lives/credits are exhausted.
