Atari 2600 Games Review Lot #1

Game: Battlezone
Console: Atari 2600
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1983

Battlezone appeared recently in my Atari Collection review, albeit in a Vector-like version. The Atari 2600 graphics are more colourful and although basic, you can see what you're doing a whole lot better in the game. The difficulty in the game is decent on the first difficulty level, although higher levels get almost impossibly difficult. Due to this, games tend to be quite short, despite the 5 lives you're given and I've only experienced 3 enemies in the whole of my time playing.

The radar works more nicely than the on featured in the Atari Collection for PS1, and the explosion effects are pretty nice for 1983 also. While it can be fun to play, the game's short and repetitive nature doesn't lend itself to much replaying or challenges on the highscore. Overall it's five minutes of fun if that.

Rating: 16/100
Grade: F

Game: Space Invaders
Console: Atari 2600
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1978

Although its not the version that looks anywhere near the arcades, Space Invaders on Atari 2600 provides a fair amount of fun, with adjustable difficulty (your ship gets bigger or smaller, or you can make the invaders fast, or even invisible). It plays well although you're not allowed to shoot all that often, and the best part of the game is that you can play with a friend, competing for scores but wiping out invaders alongside eachother instead of taking turns.

The visuals may let it down a little, as the invaders look more like aztec paintings than the aliens in the more well known artwork. Also strange is the fact that the invaders shots down at you move almost as if there's a wind blowing across the screen, which adds an extra factor of difficulty. The player's defense turrets also move across the screen in the same sort of fashion. Overall its a decent version of the classic that doesn't play exactly like the best known version, but provides fun nonetheless.

Rating: 45/100
Grade: D

Game: Asteroids
Console: Atari 2600
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1981

A pixellated take on the vector classic, Asteroids isn't quite as smooth or fun as in the arcades, and the sound definitely isn't as good, but the main ideas are all there and it plays decently enough, especially for the time of release. The colours are bright and vibrant; sometimes a little too much so since they're shooting around the screen at speed. Shooting the Asteroids breaks them apart in a fairly smooth animation.

Two player turn-taking gameplay is allowed and other modes include harder variations of the game. It's disappointing not to see a two player mode where you can compete at the same time, but programming limitations may have put a stop to that sort of idea. Overall there's a fair amount of gameplay and it's nearly as good as playing the arcade version of Asteroids.

Rating: 33/100
Grade: E