Asteroids on
Acid. That's all you really need to know. Spheres of Chaos is a shareware game for multiple OSes, controlled using the
mouse (to turn, fire and thrust), Ctrl (to
warp) and Alt (to
brake). As well as the standard asteroid adversaries, you have to contend with several varieties of alien
spaceship (the one breaks up into millions of
stingray-shaped things being the most bastardly*).
The game is 2D, and uses filled polygons for the ships, and an insane amount of particle effects for explosions and vapour trails. The sound seems to be generated by MIDI (or at least sounds like it), with chimes and bells indicating collisions and explosions. There are loads of different power-ups, and optional Space War style gravity. The game is highly configurable.
The most striking aspect however is that you can apply different filters to the visuals, resulting in hypnotic pulsating patterns being formed as the action takes place. The best of these is probably Fluid mode, which is really bad for the eyes.
Download it today: http://www.chaotica.u-net.com/home.htm
*and the horseshoe-shaped mine dropping one. Son of a bitch!