The Atari 50 collection is back now with 12 new games. Best of all though these games are entirely FREE! In a market where games are increasingly nickeling and diming the player this is a big deal. It takes a lot of guts to release new content and not charge anything for it. Releasing these games for free says a lot about Atari and Digital Eclipse’s commitment and understanding of their player base! I applaud both of them, and look forward to any additional content added!
Adventure II (2600 Homebrew): Adventure II as the name implies is very similar to the original Adventure. It still has you bringing keys to gates while being hunted by deadly dragons that look like mutant ducks, only this time it is even tougher. Adventure II is a labor of love that is clearly designed for players experienced with the original who want more challenging scenarios. I recommend newcomers start with the first Adventure game as this sequel is a challenging add on to the first game for veterans, rather than a new experience.
Aquaventure (2600 prototype): It surprises me that Aquaventure was never officially released. Not only was this prototype pretty much completed, but it also plays great. In Aquaventure you control a diver (who is depicted in the game’s art as a woman) seeking treasure deep beneath the sea. This game has you dive down and then return to the surface with treasure while also trying to avoid deadly sea life, jagged coral lined walls, and running out of air.
Aquaventure combines simple arcade style game play with the joy of exploration. It is very much a risk/reward type of game. While you are always racing an increasingly tight time limit (represented by an air meter) to get through a variety of obstacles, it is also important to be careful when exploring to avoid being hurt and to only use your spear gun sparingly. Aquaventure is not only creative and great to look at, but also a lot of fun and one of the best games added to collection.
Bowling (2600): At first glance it would be easy to dismiss Bowling as another terrible sports title for the 2600. This impression isn’t helped by the game’s graphics which are about as plain as they come (though shockingly they were originally praised by players), and its simple style of gameplay. Despite this Bowling is actually a really fun game. It has tight and fun gameplay and physics that holds up far better than most other sports games on the system. It is especially fun to play this game against a friend like a real game of bowling. Bowling is a perfect video game example of the adage, “Don’t judge a book (or game) by its cover.”
Circus Atari (2600): One of the games I was most excited to see added to this collection was Circus Atari. Circus Atari is a fun game with a premise similar to Breakout where you are hitting objects on the top of the screen. Instead of launching a ball with a paddle though, you are instead using a moving see-saw to launch a person at balloons. These changes result in a more challenging, fast paced, and exciting game. Also, like Breakout this game was designed specifically for a paddle controller, but is well adapted to more modern hardware. While I do still prefer playing Circus Atari with original hardware, it is an important and great addition to this collection.
Double Dunk (2600): Double Dunk is a game I have mixed feelings about. The first thing you will notice about it is that it looks great for a 2600 game, even for a late era game. Despite now looking ancient and lacking player animation, Double Dunk shows just how powerful the VCS could be, and even includes a title screen, a ball warping effect, and music (a rarity for the system). The gameplay is so much better and more advanced than many earlier Basketball games, and it works remarkably well despite pushing the console’s limits.
Despite being much much better than Real Sports Basketball, and having fun and frantic gameplay, being on the 2600 does still give this game some major limitations. Because it is so fast paced and complex it can be hard sometimes to keep up with the gameplay, especially with the game’s flat perspective and stiff designs. I had a hard time when I started figuring out how the game played and finding any fun in it, though I did eventually figure it out and then had a better experience. Despite its limitations I still really enjoyed Double Dunk. While it isn’t going to replace games like NBA Jam, it is absolutely worth a play especially if you enjoy basketball games.
Maze Craze (2600): Maze Craze is a simple, but fun game… if you have someone else to play with. Sadly, I do not. What I can say about this game of tag though is that uses very simple graphics and has tons upon tons of gameplay options. I’d recommend trying this with a friend, but by itself it is basically unplayable.
Miniature Golf (2600): While most of the new sports games added have been vast improvements on the previous line up, this is not the case with Miniature golf. Even for the VCS this game looks ugly, consisting primarily of colored squares. While this could be forgiven if the game play was any fun, it isn’t. At best miniature golf feels more like playing a single ball (or in this case square) billiards game on some foreign planet. That is if you don’t shut it off or fall asleep. Avoid this game!
MotoRodeo (2600): MotoRodeo feels more like a tech demo then a game. To be fair it is one impressive tech demo which pushes the systems visually, has good representational engine sounds, and well-designed one player AI. My biggest issue with it is how repetitive it feels. Each race is relatively short and typically emphasizes a specific element. While it is fun in short bursts and impressive for the system, I often found myself not wanting to spend too long with MotoRodeo. These bursts were very fun and the way I would recommend playing this game. It isn’t an experience though that I would recommend spending long amounts of time with.
Return to Haunted House (2600 Homebrew): Like Adventure II, Return to Haunted House is a challenging sequel. Where it differs, however, is in its design. Return to the Haunted House feels more like another sequel to Adventure with a Haunted House theme, then a Haunted House sequel. Sadly, I don’t think it does either game justice. Return to Haunted House is all about finding and using (vaguely shaped) items to find a skull. The problem is knowing what to do and how to do it is difficult, especially when dealing with the game’s aggressive ghosts who are constantly chasing you. While it isn’t a bad game, it fails to live up to the premise of Haunted House or Adventure, and instead makes me wish I was playing one of those games.
Save Mary (2600 Prototype): Save Mary is a weird but fun puzzle game. In it you play a crane at a gorge. Your goal is to save a woman (Mary) at the bottom of the hole by using pattern blocks to build her a way up to safety as water slowly begins to pour in. Save Mary balances thinking about how to build structures with the physical timing of placing blocks so that they don’t crush Mary, while also making sure they don’t fall into the water. It is an interesting premise for a game that manages to work well with the hardware. Despite its creativity though, how much you will actually enjoy Save Mary depends largely on your enjoyment of puzzle games. If you like them (as I do) then I recommend playing this game, those who don’t though aren’t going to be swayed despite the creativity involved.
Super Football (2600): It is really hard for me to review a game like Super Football. It clearly is a major improvement on game’s like Real Sports Football, but still isn’t a game I enjoy spending a lot of time with. Graphically Super Football looks great. I especially love the use of an isometric camera angle which allows for neat strolling effects (a rarity for 2600 games). Its gameplay is fast paced and works well. One of my biggest issues with the game though is with the lack of quality of life features it has. Its really challenging to pass the ball, and also features a list filled with various plays that I didn’t understand at all. The result was that while not running or kicking off I was often stumped as to what I should be doing. Football fans will probably enjoy this game far more than I did, but I didn’t really get much enjoyment out of it. That being said I feel like the wrong person to be judging this game, and that sports fans should give it a chance.
Warbirds (Lynx): I can see why some people love Warbirds and why some can’t stand it. I do have to say that putting a flight combat simulator on a handheld console and making it actually work at all is quite impressive. Warbirds in many ways looks and plays like an older computer game. In it you fly a WWI style plane, and do dogfighting missions. While the graphics in this game might look very plain by today’s standards, they were incredible for the time, especially on the Lynx. This comes though at the cost of a sense of speed or control.
Despite being about dog fighting, Warbirds is often neither fast nor intuitive. Even in “arcade,” mode the game doesn’t feature an aiming radicle and moves fairly slowly. Finding and shooting at enemies is always a major challenge that takes serious commitment and practice to get anywhere with. How much you enjoy Warbirds is largely based on how much you enjoy old flying simulations and computer type games. Personally, I’m very much on the fence about how I feel about Warbirds as a game; I do think though that it makes an excellent tech demo for what the Lynx as a console could do. Even if you aren’t a fan of games similar to Warbird it is at least worth trying this game out if only for the graphical quality.
Secret House of Anime 