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Game: Atari Anniversary Edition Redux
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Infogrammes
Release Date: June 28th 2001
Atari Anniversary Edition Redux is a games collection including old Atari greats of the past together in one place for what is presumably the first time. The collection has; Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Black Widow, Centipede, Gravitar, Missile Command, Pong, Space Duel, Super Breakout, Tempest and Warlords. I'll write up what I think of each game individually with a rating out of 10, as well as an overall rating of the collection.
Asteroids
A classic in many people's eyes, especially those old enough to remember its original popularity, Asteroids is a simple arcade space shooter where the goal is to destroy all of the asteroids on screen which split into smaller pieces when shot. There's also a spaceship that appears every now and then that requires you to shoot it. The concept is good and it plays well, and certainly when there was much less competition this would have been a superb game. It does get somewhat repetitive after a short while of playing and each level is basically the same thing. I understand the hardware limitations of the time, but as this has been put on Playstation, its not 1979 anymore and I don't think it lives up to its reputation beyond the first 5 minutes of play.
Rating: 6/10
Asteroids Deluxe
The second version of Asteroids on the collection features a new background for the game, blue coloured players instead of white, and some new opposition to shoot at. Apart from this it's essentially the same game. The new features don't really change the gameplay at all, the background makes it slightly harder to see, although the blue colour does its best to counteract that, and the new enemies make things slightly harder than before, as they head toward you like homing missiles. If anything I'd say this version is slightly worse as its less classic and plays about the same.
Rating: 5/10
Battlezone
Battlezone is a tank game featuring vector graphics, where you must listen to your radar to find out which direction the enemy is in. Having done so, you'll have to make your way to them and destroy them before they do the same to you. That's literally all there is to the game; when you destroy one tank, another spawns and your cycle of tasks resets. The bleeps from all of the different instruments onscreen is fairly irritating as if they want you to pay attention to them all at the same time. Games usually last around 3 minutes if you're lucky.
Rating: 4/10
Black Widow
With a good concept and great controls to go alongside, Black Widow is the first real enjoyable classic included on this collection. You play as a spider, defending its web, able to shoot in the four main directions. This is controlled by the buttons while your movement is controlled via the d-pad. Once enemies have been shot they leave behind "grubsticks" which give you points. There's also eggs which need to be pushed off the web before they hatch, and grenade bugs which must be shot with caution. With a larger amount of features and better gameplay than the games featured so far, its a fairly enjoyable arcade experience with more replay value than we've seen in the others.
Rating: 8/10
Centipede
A lot of fun to play, with well balanced difficulty and fast paced gameplay, Centipede still impresses on many levels. There's strategic elements to the game as well, and getting the high score requires total concentration. You attempt to shoot all of the pieces of a centipede which is making its way down the screen, taking a step down at every edge or mushroom, whilst avoiding and shooting a roaming spider, and other enemies. Each piece of the centipede you shoot will turn into a mushroom and thus make it harder on the next level, although you are able to shoot mushrooms also. You're also free to move about the screen as you wish; there's no being trapped at the bottom. Its a lot of fun and has good replayability despite similar gameplay levelwise.
8/10
Gravitar
Gravitar handles a lot like an upadated Asteroids in a way, you shoot a variety of enemies, and your ship floats like in Asteroids, but there's planets with their own gravity and entering each planet's orbit presents you with a challenge. When you get close enough to another space ship there's an almost movie-like cut to a one-on-one battle before the screen zooms out again. The handling in game is pretty difficult due to having to contend with the gravity mechanic, although it can be mastered. This game has a lot of depth when compared to some of the other titles in the collection, and I think it was a great concept which works well despite the difficult controls.
Rating: 7/10
Missile Command
Rating: 8/10
Pong
Yup, its Pong. There's not much else to say really, once it was the most exciting game in existance with several consoles with several variations of the game in production. Now although classic, its fairly uninspiring and this version is no different. Its pretty much the least amount of fun you can possible have while still actually having fun. Of course if they hadn't included it in the collection there'd be public outcry so I understand.
Rating: 3/10
Space Duel
Space Duel (or Asteroids II as it probably should be called, just so you know what you're getting) plays a lot like Asteroids, except that the asteroids have been replaced with colourful geometric shapes which split into smaller versions of themselves. There's a few improved features to the game but essentially its just another version of Asteroids on the collection. The disappointment here isn't in the game itself (it plays nicely), its more that Atari would include 4 Asteroids related games in a 12 game collection.
Rating: 6/10
Super Breakout
The controls for Super Breakout make this version all but impossible. Playing with the d-pad is very hit and miss, and in a game where you've got a small paddle with which to hit one ball, that's not great. Playing with the analog stick is a very bad decision and makes the paddle go at the speed of light across the screen, rarely hitting anything. With such poor controls, it makes the game very hard to play, let alone enjoy.
Rating: 1/10
Tempest
While it has a fun concept for a space shooter in racing around the outline of geometric shapes and shooting enemies that are getting closer in perspective, Tempest tends play best when holding the move and shoot buttons down and doing little else in the early levels, and the later levels are too difficult to really do anything in. The player shoots down the segment which is highlighted and can move between segments rapidly. Once a shape is clear, the player moves onto the next level. While promising, the difficulty of the game is pretty off and it's not as fun as some of the other titles included.
Rating: 6/10
Warlords
The final game included on the collection is Warlords, a sort of 4 player defensive pong competition. Your goal is to defend your warlord, inside of your fortified square as the damaging puck/hammer is thrown around by the paddles of each player. Once all other warlords have been hit, you win. You're also able to catch the puck and throw it at another player at a much higher velocity if you wish. I think this concept far outranks Pong on the scale of fun, and innovation, and as its 4 player instead of 2, there's even more enjoyment to be had.
Rating: 8/10
For every game there's adjustable settings, in case the difficulty is too high, or low. This is a good feature and while most games have a limited number of settings that can be changed, its better than none at all. Also featured on the disk are interviews from game designers and memorabilia from the games themselves. This rounds the collection nicely as not just a lot of Atari arcade games but almost a time capsule allowing the player to discover what things were like.
Overall the games in the collection vary from virtually unplayable to decent ports of their arcade counterparts with most falling somewhere inbetween. The games all look pretty good considering their age, and with original sound effects, there's not much praise or scorn to be placed upon the collection in that area. While they could have had less Asteroid/Pong based games included in the collection I doubt one without those games would have sold as well. In the end though its some of the not as often mentioned titles that make this a worthwhile play for me; Missile Command, Black Widow, and Warlords are all fun to play and most people haven't had the chance to originally.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
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