506 Reviews liked by Jamesbuc
Canyon Bomber
1979
Yep, you are certainly bombing things in a canyon, but there's not much to it. You just press a button, and the game does the rest for you, so there is no real feeling of satisfaction here. I could probably get more satisfaction if I actually went and bombed a canyon myself. Wait, maybe I shouldn't have said tha-
Game #214
Game #214
Centipede
1983
(played as part of ATARI 50)
Definitely superior to the original version, in my mind. Loses a bit of the charm of its inventive visuals (which, to be fair, was one of the big selling points of the arcade game), but offers a more focused and tightened gameplay experience in its place. With apologies to Dona Bailey, I would rather play this one, for sure.
Definitely superior to the original version, in my mind. Loses a bit of the charm of its inventive visuals (which, to be fair, was one of the big selling points of the arcade game), but offers a more focused and tightened gameplay experience in its place. With apologies to Dona Bailey, I would rather play this one, for sure.
Food Fight
1983
If I witnessed an actual human being eat anything the way Charley Chuck eats an ice cream cone I would call the authorities immediately.
Cute game though.
Cute game though.
Food Fight
1983
We need more games about being a devious lil trickster procuring ill-gotten treats (imo)
Food Fight
1983
Solid game. Its a mix of a bunch of stuff you've seen before in a quirky new package. You are simultaneously avoiding other people who are intent on flinging bananas and stuff at you, trying to take out a few with your own edible projectiles and dashing across the screen to gulp the ice cream in one unceremonious bite. Weird but it works.
Missile Command
1981
Wow.
You wanna talk about a perfect port? This is it. Missile Command for the Atari 2600. It just works, and you've got different options to start at different levels if you want.
There's even a children's mode.
They made a difficulty for children. For Missile Command.
I love video games.
You wanna talk about a perfect port? This is it. Missile Command for the Atari 2600. It just works, and you've got different options to start at different levels if you want.
There's even a children's mode.
They made a difficulty for children. For Missile Command.
I love video games.
Motor Psycho
1990
You might think this is like a proto-Road Rash based on the title but nope, it's just another mediocre motorcycle racing game, and a very choppy one at that
Tempest
2016
Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?
Video Pinball
1980
Sometimes, it's good to remember how far video games have comes in a scant half-century. And we've come a long way since Video Pinball.
Video Pinball
1980
Thank you Atari for capturing why people love pinball: waiting for 2 minutes to hit the ball while it avoids the flippers like the plague.
Look I completely understand the history and competitons, with this being the first entry within the quadrology. This game just feels bad to play nowadays, now it's cool that each new room to explore has a new minigame, but ever since the competition ended there's really no point in playing this other than wanting to play tedious minigames with cryptic clues and objectives, with the only really interesting thing being the comics and rewards people who played this who enter the competition got. Earth World is meh.
Played on Atari 50.
Played on Atari 50.
Yars' Return
2005
So, I think this is the correct game, but just to be clear, I am reviewing the version of Yars' Revenge from the Atari Vault collection on Steam. It has a different box art and is listed as a 2600 game.
A lot of what I have to say about Yars' Return is the same as my Revenge review so check that out if you are interested. However, I don't find Yars' Return nearly as strong as Revenge because of the change of level layout. Return is such a tedious game. On the levels where you have a block to shoot through, it takes ages to beat. Usually its not hard to dodge the projectiles, but it takes ages to tediously blast through all of the blocks to land your shot. This applies as the game gets harder. You have a bit less wiggle room, but fundamentally its the same pattern of going back and forth to finish off the center. The original is simple, and that worked in its favor. This just gets tedious and clunky and I would recommend the original over this any day.
A lot of what I have to say about Yars' Return is the same as my Revenge review so check that out if you are interested. However, I don't find Yars' Return nearly as strong as Revenge because of the change of level layout. Return is such a tedious game. On the levels where you have a block to shoot through, it takes ages to beat. Usually its not hard to dodge the projectiles, but it takes ages to tediously blast through all of the blocks to land your shot. This applies as the game gets harder. You have a bit less wiggle room, but fundamentally its the same pattern of going back and forth to finish off the center. The original is simple, and that worked in its favor. This just gets tedious and clunky and I would recommend the original over this any day.
Galaxian
1979
It's a "Space Invaders" rip-off. Period. Namco would go on to define their own classic arcade shooter a few years later in this game's sequel, "Galaga," which I actually think is far superior to "Space Invaders." However, this first outing in the series is frankly pretty shameless in its pale imitation of a far superior and more original arcade juggernaut. Nothing to see here.
Galaxian
1979
I can't bring myself to give it lower than a 5/10, but there's really no reason to go back to it with Galaga out, which came out a mere 2 years later. Revolutionary for its time in hardware, Galaxian is fun enough to play but incredibly simplistic and clearly lacks the polish of Galaga.
Only being able to have one shot out at a time gives it less of a free flowing feel, no power-ups, less interesting patterns, it ends up with only half the shelf life of Galaga.
Only being able to have one shot out at a time gives it less of a free flowing feel, no power-ups, less interesting patterns, it ends up with only half the shelf life of Galaga.
Mappy
1983
Game itself is fine but clunky for its 19 level loop, Mappy-Land is definitively a better experience with the series. It gets an extra half a star because you can drop a Mappy down a pit if you let the trampolines break. Officer down indeed!