ExAndOh
1984
For Atari's final arcade title, this is a decent one to end their saga with. Pretty cool 3D graphics for the title relying on listening to what the eye says grabbing all of the red tiles to move on with the second half being a shooting segment which is pretty fun. It can be a bit much sometimes but still a decent way to end things here.
Kind of cool they added Doodle City here and called it an "ungame" too.
Kind of cool they added Doodle City here and called it an "ungame" too.
1983
Kind of a gorgeous game but feels way more elaborate than it needs to be sometimes. There's a lot of pick ups and obstacles to consider and hectic to the point it almost feels a bit fruitless most of the time. The beginning screens and the level transition look nice along with the sound but that's really it here.
1983
Really wanted to like this one but the platforming controls really ruin the experience considering how often you do it. The shooting segments are nice and the visuals are great with constant actions but the egregious platforming controls are the fatal flaw for this title.
1983
To my own chagrin, this was not based on the electronic music group "Crystal Castles" (obviously) or really even inspired them as it was a quote from She-Ra: Princess of Power instead of this game. The game itself is pretty cool visually and with a cool audio motif from the nutcracker when you finish a level. The biggest thing is the finicky controls for playing in a 3D space because for some reason, this bear is legit always acting like he has to use the restroom to the point it almost looks comedic when you move him around the area. Gotten myself killed several times because of this but it's a cool concept for a game and almost fun to play barring that.
1983
Pretty simple but cool in concept as your main objective is getting to the other side for that delicious ice cream. My main problem is how controlling your aim when you pick up something moves you in that same direction too which can screw you over when you got chefs trying to get you as well. The visual design is kind of cool though with the kid and how the food looks nonetheless.
1983
For it being one of the earliest twin stick shooters, it's actually pretty good. Controls feel smooth right off the bat with nice looking vector graphics. Bugs get really difficult later on but the overall experience is tight.
2022
A cool twist on an arcade shooter that alternates through two main mechanics: Shooting big zones at faraway threats and zooming in when danger close. The enemies are pretty fast so expecting to be zooming in a lot but I can say it's interesting this never saw the light of day until now.
1982
Pretty cool trackball vector game where you have to trap particles in your line to score points. Right amount of difficulty ramp up and a fun gameplay loop got me until I got the top score that you can actually sign your name instead of the usual three letter initials. Feels like I've seen this concept somewhere in the future but I can't remember.
1982
A cool spin on Missile Command where you're raining death instead of the other way around. No weird separate base button for this version as in you just aim and fire with some shields to boot. Decent time but gets hectic fast.
1982
Centipede with a bit more to it and a bit more challenging. The bombs around the map help but it's still annoying how shooting actually works in this game for how much more fast paced this is.
1982
I can definitely respect trying to go for a more open ended approach to Asteroids with the variety of specific challenges this one wields but I think it's even more unwieldy than regular Asteroids that I feel like I couldn't really control the ship at all for amount of precision it needs.
1982
Honestly not fond of this as it's just Asteroids with a co-op gimmick similar to Fire Truck in that you have the other player tethered to you while playing for some reason. The colors aren't that great too and even attempting to play with with two ships by yourself is a disaster.
1981
I actually don't think this isn't too bad for what is essentially Pac-Man with more steps and weird maze layouts that are constantly changing. I do like the notion of firing shots to stop enemies other than completely destroying them for a little more freedom in movement but the constant shifting maze layouts makes this a bit more tedious than it should be.
1981
Starting to see a personal trend playing these titles and being reminded of when other games did it like the hacking mini game in Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal being a different spin on it. A really cool fast paced shooter with some cool concepts like choosing your difficulty right over the bat, gorgeous colorful vector graphics and unique shaped levels that keep you from being complacent.
1981
Actually reminds me a little bit of Space Invaders and feels pretty fun to play barring one real weird quirk with how the bullets shooting seemingly being only one one on the screen at the time or something because of the rate of fire being faster shooting at something close compared to far and the game taking a bit before you can shoot again. It kinda just throws you off a bit but still a solid experience despite that.