Retro Atari, Nintendo DS
Posted: June 2nd, 2006, 1:29 pm
Another opinion:
Retro Atari Classics; Nintendo DS : C-
Since the critic doesn't have this on his feedback site, I felt I had to comment here. I do not advise paying full price for this but I picked it up today for $15 and at that price I found it does do enough things right to be worth it.
The good: As someone who has searched for decent BREAKOUT, ASTEROIDS, CENTIPEDE and other classic games for the GBC/ GBA, I feel I must defend the "classic" mode of these games here. Ok, Centipede is a bit mushy with too-large sprites and the need to use the shoulder buttons to fire. But ASTEROIDS and MISSILE COMMAND and SPRINT are all right on target and play very well with the buttons. And at last, a decent version of BREAKOUT (along with a fair update with colored walls and character "paddles")....as we know you need a paddle or analog for BREAKOUT but the touch pad serves quite adequately! Sadly, PONG uses a vertical format (!?) and Tempest is worthless. But WARLORDS is good too, so HALF the games on here are the BEST portable versions I know of in the ORIGINAL mode (Asteroids, Missile Comand, Sprint, Breakout and Warlords).
The bad: The other five games are junk and only BREAKOUT and ASTEROIDS are at all playable in the updated modes. The critic is right on about the garish graphics of Centipede: OHMYGOD! BARF! I think the designers were REALLY abusing substances and wearing heavy shades! And no Button control on Tempest? WHY even attempt LUNAR LANDER and GRAVITAR on such a tiny screen? There are a slew of old atari coin-ops that would have been far more playable!
So, in the end, if you find this on sale as I did and enjoy playing any or all of the five games mentioned, grab it! Just don't expect all the games to be fun and stick to original mode on everything but Breakout and Asteroids (why they got decent updates on those two while the rest sucked tar through a straw I'll never understand...maybe the mushroom smoke was wearing off
by then?)
Retro Atari Classics; Nintendo DS : C-
Since the critic doesn't have this on his feedback site, I felt I had to comment here. I do not advise paying full price for this but I picked it up today for $15 and at that price I found it does do enough things right to be worth it.
The good: As someone who has searched for decent BREAKOUT, ASTEROIDS, CENTIPEDE and other classic games for the GBC/ GBA, I feel I must defend the "classic" mode of these games here. Ok, Centipede is a bit mushy with too-large sprites and the need to use the shoulder buttons to fire. But ASTEROIDS and MISSILE COMMAND and SPRINT are all right on target and play very well with the buttons. And at last, a decent version of BREAKOUT (along with a fair update with colored walls and character "paddles")....as we know you need a paddle or analog for BREAKOUT but the touch pad serves quite adequately! Sadly, PONG uses a vertical format (!?) and Tempest is worthless. But WARLORDS is good too, so HALF the games on here are the BEST portable versions I know of in the ORIGINAL mode (Asteroids, Missile Comand, Sprint, Breakout and Warlords).
The bad: The other five games are junk and only BREAKOUT and ASTEROIDS are at all playable in the updated modes. The critic is right on about the garish graphics of Centipede: OHMYGOD! BARF! I think the designers were REALLY abusing substances and wearing heavy shades! And no Button control on Tempest? WHY even attempt LUNAR LANDER and GRAVITAR on such a tiny screen? There are a slew of old atari coin-ops that would have been far more playable!
So, in the end, if you find this on sale as I did and enjoy playing any or all of the five games mentioned, grab it! Just don't expect all the games to be fun and stick to original mode on everything but Breakout and Asteroids (why they got decent updates on those two while the rest sucked tar through a straw I'll never understand...maybe the mushroom smoke was wearing off
by then?)