Often referred to as "Combat in space," Space War is not as fun or as versatile as the popular tank game. Each player controls a thrusting, rotating, Asteroids-like ship, and the objective is to shoot each other. Unfortunately, there are very few course obstacles, and ship control is unresponsive. The primarily black playfield does have a gravity-infused space sun, which effects ship motion, and a star base, where missiles and fuel are replenished. However, these are not enough to save the game from mediocrity. The one-player mode, which involves docking with a floating space module, is little more than pointless. From a historical standpoint, Space War was heavily influenced by Computer Space, which was the very first coin-operated arcade video game.