Rampart
Game: Rampart
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1990
Rampart is an interesting arcade/RTS/tetris hybrid which sees players building a wall around their castle, then placing canons to attack invading ships. Between rounds, damage to the player wall must be repaired, and expansion to other castles on the map is allowed, as long as they're full contained by a wall also. The more castles controlled by a player, the more canons available to them, the stronger their overall force and the greater their chance of victory.
There is however a time limit in the build and repair phase, and a harsh one at that. There's literally no time to expand your reach with the amount of damage that's usually done to your walls and castle, and sometimes there's not even time to repair the wall around one castle, resulting in a loss. Personally I'd have preferred a piece limit to walls; players could be give 10 wall pieces to place and left to determine the optimal placing for them. Because of this flaw in the game, progression is severely limited in later levels.
Graphically the game features some pretty basic visuals for 1990, though they fit the RTS style well. It can be a little difficult to aim the cannons at the moving targets of the ships with just a small targeting reticle, but generally spamming the fire button works wonders, even if most damage can't be avoided on walls. The music in the game is fitting for battles and gives everything a feudal tinge.
Overall Rampart could have been a far better game without the arbitrary time limits which were forced upon it because of being an arcade game. With a little time to plan an expansion players would have been able to strategise further into their battle and perhaps progress where running out of time ended their game. Good concept, bad execution.
Rating: 61/100
Grade: D
Road Blasters
Game: Road Blasters
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1987
Road Blasters is a game similar to OutRun except that players have the ability to shoot traffic out of their way, and are attacked by various enemies on their route. There are also special weapons which can give players a big advantage and help them to finish the stage within the time limit; these include a machine gun for the top of their car and a mega-boost.
Players have control of the steering and acceleration of the car as well as the weapons attached to it, and must make use of these three elements to weave their way through levels with enough fuel to survive. Some enemies will drop fuel powerups when shot, and many levels feature sections with fuel powerups to pick up.
Graphically the game looks very similar to a simplified version of OutRun with exclusively green fields as the scenery and some occasional background changes in the distance. The cars too look similar to Sega's title, though once mounted with guns have a more distinct look. Although there's no musical accompaniment to gameplay there's some funky tunes once levels are finished.
Overall Road Blaster can be a fun title to play around with, but getting seriously far is fairly difficult. The quick reactions needed to dodge everything thrown at players in later levels are probably only present in a small percentage of the population, but there's enjoyment to be had before the pinnacle of difficulty is reached.
Rating: 64/100
Grade: C
Robotron 2084
Game: Robotron 2084
Console: Arcade
Developer: Williams Electronics
Release Date: 1982
Robotron 2084 is a twinstick shooter which seems to have laid the groundwork for the later release of Smash TV. Both games feature the player being mobbed by enemies and needing to move and shoot separately in order to get away. The aim of Robotron 2084 is to save humans and eliminate robots, whilst avoiding contact with the robots yourself; points are scored for each human saved.
As the levels progress, different types of robots are added and the play area gets far more crowded. There's always a sense of immediate danger, but unlike Gauntlet, players have room to manoeuvre thanks to the controls separating the shoot and movement directions. There's no real sense of progression besides the levels becoming more packed with enemies and the difficulty spikes very quickly.
Graphically the game is a bit of a mess of small sprites, flashing colours and movement. It can be hard to keep track of what's going on, especially in the later more packed levels. There's no music to accompany gameplay and it can get a little lonely with just the shooting sounds.
Overall Robotron 2084 seems like a tech test for later games, and it's lack of defining features and mood really detract from the amount of fun that can be had with it. It's hard to blame the game entirely as twinstick shooters were in their infancy and for 1982 there's a lot of good stuff on show.
Rating: 59/100
Grade: D
Satan's Hollow
Game: Satan's Hollow
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 1983
Midway's second game on this supposedly Midway filled arcade collection, and once again we're met with a lack of quality and originality from the company. This was the first game released under the Bally Midway brand, and it's somewhat of a clone of Galaga and Space Invaders. Players can move left and right to shoot formations of gargoyles, with each wave beaten gaining them a bridge piece. Once the bridge is complete, players then face Satan before gameplay loops back to the start. As the game progresses there are a few more enemies that appear, but overall it's very samey.
The controls are decent enough, but it plays just like the shooting from Space Invaders mixed with the gameplay of Galaga. Because of the lack of y axis movement, it's far easier to get hit than it should be, and with ever growing groups of gargoyles, later levels become almost impossible. There's little to no motivation to progress through the game, and even facing Satan himself is fairly boring.
Graphically the game looks basic and even slightly glitched thanks to the lack of detailing on the water and in the sky next to the castle. I don't expect much from games released in 1983, but this seem to just be laziness on the developer's part. An 8-bit rendition of Ride of the Valkyries precedes gameplay, but there's only shooting and explosion sound effects within the game itself.
Overall Satan's Hollow is aptly named, as there's very little beneath the surface as an arcade shooter. Progress is not only frustrating to make, there's hardly any incentive to do so, and players are constantly unfairly killed with multiple enemy divebombs and a lack of being able to avoid everything thrown at them.
Rating: 30/100
Grade: E
Sinistar
Game: Sinistar
Console: Arcade
Developer: Williams Electronics
Release Date: 1982
Sinistar initially appears to be a frenzied clone of Asteroids where enemy ships can outrun out but don't seem to be particularly concerned with crashing into you. Upon closer inspection however, it appears that players are intended to mine crystals from space rocks, collecting them before the worker enemies can. While the workers and other low level enemies can be shot at and destroyed, this is usually only done when completely necessary.
As crystals are mined and collected by the player, Sinibombs are created. As crystals are collected by the enemy workers, the Sinistar boss is built, consisting of 13 pieces including his face. As such, players will need 13 Sinibombs in order to defeat the Sinistar. This necessitates a balance between shooting the space rocks, mining, and ensuring enemy workers don't collect more crystals than have been collected by players.
Graphically the game is fairly basic, but the Sinistar still manages to have a somewhat scary face. It's usually the fast pace of the game which makes it difficult to tell what's going on, rather than any graphical issues. Interestingly there are voiced lines spoken by the Sinistar to indicate when it has been built, which add to the game's tension. There's nothing worse than hearing "Beware, I live!" with less than 13 Sinibombs.
Overall Sinistar is a fresh and interesting arcade space shooter concept, and even though it's slightly difficult to successfully play in the way it was intended, it's still refreshing to see a game which isn't simply based on shooting all the enemies, wave after wave. With a little more polish on the controls and a slower movement speed overall, this may have been a true classic.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Smash TV
Game: Smash TV
Console: Arcade
Developer: Williams Electronics
Release Date: 1990
Perhaps the finest twinstick arcade shooter of all time, Smash TV is a fun and challenging run through a murderous gameshow which challenges players to fend off hordes of attackers as they progress through the rooms towards the bosses. As they go, players collect money and prizes which include VCR's, ride on lawnmowers, televisions and a year's supply of meat. The humour in the game is evident as the host announces "Total carnage! I love it!".
As shooting and movement are independent of each other players are able to outmanoeuvre the incoming enemies, and still keep their guns trained on them. There are four bosses overall, and although the game gets very difficult towards the end, it always feels as if it's worth playing. Power-ups are scattered throughout levels which give players access to grenade launchers, spray guns and rockets to cause even more damage.
Graphically the game presents the gameshow setting well, and clearly displays enemies for optimal decision making and fast paced gameplay. Power-ups are easy to identify and although the game is challenging, any player deaths tend to be from bad choices rather than being the fault of the game. Fittingly energetic music plays behind gameplay, although it can get somewhat lost behind the rumble of gunfire.
Overall Smash TV is a wonderfully executed concept for an arcade game with intuitive controls which allow players to plan and strategize within the fast paced shooting environment of the game. The presentation as a television show contributes to the overall humour and gives players incentive to go for a high score, with bonuses awarded at the end of each round for the prizes collected. With wonderfully violent gameplay, gory animations and overpowered bosses this is arcade gaming at its finest.
Rating: 90/100
Grade: A
Splat
Game: Splat!
Console: Arcade
Developer: Williams Electronics
Release Date: 1982
Around 1982, Williams Electronics must have had a real thing for twin stick shooters as Robotron 2084 was released in the same year with a similar concept. In Splat, players take on the role of an anthropomorphic foodstuff engaged in a food fight with other enemy foodstuffs. As movement and aiming are controlled separately players have a chance to defend themselves from incoming food whilst still attacking other enemies.
Gameplay can be a little chaotic, especially as more enemies appear in later levels. If players are hit by an opponent's throw their head comes off, and they have a chance to get their head back before they're shot at again. Players can only lose a life if they're hit whilst headless. Conceptually it's well themed but a little bit off-the wall in execution.
Graphically the game's anthropomorphic foods are kind of creepy, losing their heads as they're hit and juggling food around. There's a weird atmosphere to the game as a whole with a beat which plays behind gameplay and it's sound effects. The relative quietness could have been improved with a basic tune of any kind, and it wouldn't have been too hard to implement, even in 1982.
Overall Splat! has the feeling that it could be improved, and indeed it was likely contributing to Smash TV's release 8 years later with the parts of the game that worked well. Unfortunately as a stand alone it's not quite the full package, and there's some frustrating gameplay in places.
Rating: 56/100
Grade: D
Spy Hunter
Game: Spy Hunter
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 1983
Spy Hunter is part of a genre of video game which has players avoid traffic and attempt to make it to the end goal. Players also have the luxury of weapons to take out cars that are in the way, as well as some enemy cars. Unlike many of the games in this genre though, shifting into high gear almost guarantees an unavoidable crash, and staying in low gear allows indestructible grunt cars to knock you off the road. Both of these are annoying and will happen incessantly.
In 10 tries at the game, none of my turns lasted longer than a minute thanks to the horrible combination of controls and speed management by the game. Because there's hardly any chance to see what's coming up next, steering is a guessing game, and it's so easy to get knocked off the road by opponents, there's little chance bothering to do the same to them, especially when ganged up on.
Graphically the game is pretty average, much the same as any other driving game of its type. There's engine and shooting sounds, and even a range of weapons, but players hardly get to use any of them because of the short turn length. Attempting to gain new weapons by driving into the weapons van may as well also be impossible, as instead players will end up shoved into the bushes at the side of the screen.
Overall I'm not sure whether it's just this particular version of Spy Hunter that's broken or whether it's just another poor Midway game. Spy Hunter II sat just as badly with me when I played it in the second Midway Treasures collection, so I can only think that's just a poorly designed and executed arcade game.
Rating: 24/100
Grade: F
Super Sprint
Game: Super Sprint
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1986
I previously looked at Championship Sprint in an Atari arcade games review and concluded that whilst the concept was sound and similar to that of later Micro Machines games for the Mega Drive, that overall the control was too fidgety and caused players to have undue trouble making it around corners, leaving them too far behind to catch the AI on difficult circuits. Super Sprint is the game released before Championship Sprint and I see no indication of these issues being exclusive to the later game.
Turning is extreme, and done so that a left on the analog stick will turn the car to the left from the direction it's facing, leaving players to work out which way they need to turn at each corner of the looping circuits. The harder they get, the more impossible making it around any of the corners becomes yet the AI seems to win with ease.
Graphically the game looks okay though I distinctly remember Championship Sprint also looking very much like this, so it's possible that Atari didn't do much to the visuals between the games. As this is the earlier game of the two, I suppose it should get the credit for looking good in 1986. Soundwise there's high pitched engine noises as you'd expect.
Overall Super Sprint is fairly poor in terms of arcade racers, while based on a good concept. The turning is awkward and the game runs far too fast for players to react to the circuit. The first few tracks are bearable with wide turn radii, but as soon as obstacles and special features are placed on later tracks, the game becomes frustrating and almost impossible.
Rating: 29/100
Grade: F
Root Beet Tapper
Game: Root Beer Tapper
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 1984
Root Beer Tapper is a relatively simple multi-tasking game which has a few flaws stopping it from being as enjoyable as it could be. For a start the movement is clunky and it's hard to tell when beers are full or half full, especially with many customers. Secondly sometimes patrons leave a tip a long way down the bar, forcing players to risk losing a life for a point bonus, and lastly; collecting the empty beer glasses sometimes gets timed in such a way that there are two falling off the counter at once, literally guaranteeing a life lost for the player.
While some of these elements are a good idea within a multitasking concept, customers appear so quickly at the bar, and return within such a short space of time that pouring and collecting effectively is near impossible. The third or fourth level seems to be the absolute limit of the game, meaning most play sessions are under 2 minutes in length.
Graphically the game is pretty simple, even for 1984. The animations are incredibly basic and there's a feel of cheapness to gameplay which is difficult to explain. The music featured behind the game is nearly exclusively mangled versions of classical tunes which aren't too kind to the ears. It's nice to have some in game music, but when it's of this quality, I'd rather go without.
Overall Root Beer Tapper is not only too simple of a game to be even slightly replayable, the multitasking element is overcomplicated by a huge difficulty spike, and players are unfairly punished for slight judgement lapses under the game's fast paced pressure. Perhaps pouring an accidental drink in an empty lane should subtract points rather than taking a life, for instance.
Rating: 37/100
Grade: E
Toobin'
Game: Toobin'
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1988
Toobin' is a very original arcade game in that it features a race between 2 characters, riding inner tubes down a river. The controls require players to paddle as if with their hands to move their character, steering left and right down the river to avoid obstacles and pass through gates for points. Hitting too many obstacles will cause the player to sink and lose a life, and hitting the edge of gates causes them to go down in point value.
While there's another character onscreen to race against, they seem to work fairly independently of players, occasionally throwing things in your general direction. The main issue with the game is that when the opponent is too far back, players are kept from progressing forwards, in order to keep both characters on the screen. Once the opponent starts to move again, players can rocket forwards and hit anything without it being their fault.
Graphically the game looks pretty nice with almost Super Nintendo levels of visuals on display. The river layouts are varied though a little uninspired considering what can be done in other racing games. While the climate and obstacles change around players, it's mostly a straight path down to the finish line in every river. There's some almost funky music when the game begins, though the bass becomes slightly out of tune later on, which may well bug gamers as it did me.
Overall Toobin' is a good concept with some good gameplay ideas and even some enjoyably different controls. It's just a shame that once the novelty wears off the gameplay, there's no real long lasting fun to be had. The steering feels pretty spot on for movement in water, but any kind of water controls end up grating eventually. With the strangely out of tune soundtrack and other slight issues, it's just not quite up to scratch.
Rating: 61/100
Grade: D
Vindicators
Game: Vindicators
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1988
Vindicators is an ambitious tank shooter where players make their way to the end of a level through
waves of enemy tanks, turrets and other dangerous obstacles. Players have control of the tank tracks, acceleration and turret rotation as well as shooting, giving them a lot of control, but also a lot to potentially get wrong. Much of the time I found myself attempting to correct a wrong move and getting into further difficulty because of the multitude of controls.
I'm sure that with enough practice, manoeuvring the tank would be easy, and potentially far more precise with this control setup, but it's an arcade game which you'd expect to be instantly playable and provide more than a few seconds of awkwardly controlled gameplay. Perhaps the game would have functioned better as another twinstick shooter, allowing the tank to move and shoot independently, and keeping the track rotation automatic.
Graphically the game looks pretty groovy with a nice colour scheme and simple but contrasting tank designs. It's easy to see where is best to move, it's just not so easy to pull off the moves to get your tank there. Sound effects in the game are fairly average, but the soundtrack does a good job of keeping players invested in the game despite the tough controls.
Overall Vindicators is a good concept and an ambitious idea, giving players complete control of their tank's movement, rotation and turrets. With enough skill and practice the game becomes playable and likely enjoyable, but it's the difficulty threshold that prevents this from being an instantly accessible and enjoyable game.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
With the final game on the collection reviewed, we can finally take a look at the proportion of actual Midway games on this collection compared to Atari and Williams Electronics. Here are the final results arranged neatly for comparison.
| Games | Average Rating | |||
| Midway | 4 (17%) | 33.75 | ||
| Atari | 10 (41%) | 66.6 | ||
| Williams | 10 (41%) | 62.7 |
As can be clearly seen, not only do games which had nothing to do with Midway outnumber the games Midway produced, on the compilation, they've of far better quality too. This shouldn't reflect on the compilation as a whole, other than to wonder why Midway are attempting to take credit for the entirety of the release when 82% of the games aren't even theirs.
Disregarding this, there's a fair amount of quality to be found on this arcade collection, bringing together some of the best Williams, Atari and Midway games from the 80s, and arguably the best twinstick arcade shooter ever. There's not too much in the way of extras or unlockables, but that's somewhat acceptable for the fact there's already 24 games included.
Collection Rating: 66/100
Collection Grade: C
Collection Grade: C
