Atari 2600 Reviews Ss-Sz

Anybody still wondering why the video game crash of 1983 occurred needs to look no further than this pathetic piece of crapola. Sssnake is the kind of trash game companies spewed out by the dozens. In terms of gameplay, Sssnake is a poor man's Centipede. Your cannon moves around a small box in the center, shooting at creatures running around the screen.

The snakes look like dotted lines, and shooting them yields unpredictable results. Sometimes they become smaller and sometimes they split, but mostly your shots just go right through and nothing happens at all. There are other creatures as well that resemble pixilated blobs. The control is awkward, to say the least. Sssnake looks more like an unfinished project. It's gotta be one of the sssloppiest games I've ever seen. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Stampede is, without a doubt, one of the most underrated Atari 2600 games of all time. It never caused a big commotion like Pitfall or River Raid back in the day, but everyone who played it got a kick out of it. Like most Activision titles of its day, Stampede boasts clean graphics, smooth animation, responsive controls, and madly addictive gameplay. You'll find yourself hitting the reset button "just one more time" over and over again (a sign of any good 2600 game).

Controlling a cowboy on a galloping horse, you slowly move up and down the left side of the screen as groups of cattle approach from the right. Using your lasso, you must snag each one before it passes, and if you can't quite reach a group in time, you can still "nudge" them ahead to buy extra time. It's a pretty ingenious concept.

The game ends when three cattle pass, but you'll earn a free one every 1000 points. Complicating matters are cow skulls that trip you up and stationary black cows that you really need to keep an eye out for. It seems like every time you play Stampede you get a little better. And let's face it, any game that awards you a "free cow" is a winner in my book. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

Most first-person space shooters on the Atari 2600 follow the Star Raiders formula, emphasizing strategy over action. Starfire on the other hand lets you blast away like there's no tomorrow. Only your laser temperature gauge (which indicates overheating) prevents you from ripping the universe a new black hole. A scanner on the bottom lets you track enemy craft, and it's not uncommon for three or four large fighters to zoom into view at the same time.

Blasting them is easy and fun, and you'll also need to shoot down their missiles (or guide them off the screen). Once you've destroyed enough ships, a portal appears that whisks you off to the next stage (much like Star Voyager). I like how your score is displayed between waves, which also provides you with a short breather. The waves are manageable until you reach around 1000 points, at which time the missiles come in almost as fast as you can shoot them down.

Star Fire is really shallow but I like its bold, frenetic pace. The music on the title screen is wild. I can't decide if it's a brilliantly complex composition or just random noise. Another interesting aspect of the game is its familiar spaceship designs. It doesn't take much imagination to make out Tie Fighters (including the Vader model), Star Destroyers, Slave I (Boba Fett's ship) and even a Death Star. Rest assured, however, any similarities between this game and Star Wars are purely coincidental. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

This is one of those games that plays so poorly that if you didn't know any better, you'd think the cartridge was broken. Star Fox's graphics and sound are minimal, and its controls are utterly repugnant. A side-scrolling shooter, the idea is to collect blue "crystals" (flashing boxes) on the planet surface while avoiding (or blasting) black UFOs. Although your ship is equipped with rapid-fire, its movements are so spastic and squirrelly that you can never aim with any degree of precision.

Instead of being evenly distributed on the surface of the planet, the blue crystals mysteriously "appear" whenever you change direction, which is a serious crock of [expletive]. But what I hate most about Star Fox is how you inexplicably cannot move side-to-side while flying low on the screen. The instructions provide this half-assed explanation: "The energy crystals have ionized the gases to such an extent that your horizontal drives will be useless: you may not be able to move left or right at low altitudes." Give me a break! Why don't they just admit that the programmer stinks!?

To pick up a crystal, you must position your ship directly above it before landing, but your ship doesn't want to stay there, so you end up wrestling with it. The whole game is pointless and shallow. I love how the instruction manual attempts to build it up with lines like this: "Star Fox by Mythicon has a high level of computer intelligence built in. Your enemy is very smart and always knows where you are." Wow, I hope this cartridge doesn't suddenly become self-aware and try to take over the world! Quick - shut that damn thing off! © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

This first-person space shooter plays like Star Raiders, but I think it's much better. As in Star Raiders, you're trying to eliminate enemy forces in deep space, and you can dock with star bases to repair damage and refuel. But unlike Star Raiders, the graphics here are more detailed, and Star Master doesn't have as many boring lulls in the action. Instead of employing a bulky keypad, Star Master simply uses the black and white switch to toggle between the main view and the map screen, and it works fine.

The game keeps you on your toes. Whenever you hyperwarp to a sector, you have to avoid asteroid collisions along the way by dodging or shooting them. When you warp to your star base, you actually have to "dock" with it by centering it in your crosshairs, and this requires some skill. There's only one type of enemy ship, but it looks pretty cool.

Only one enemy appears at a time, and you can only destroy it if it's directly in your crosshairs. One thing that bothers me about Star Master's graphics is the erratic movement of the stars. Instead of smoothly moving towards the outer edge for the center of the screen, they move in an odd manner. Another flaw is the confusing evaluation system. Still, I'd take this over Star Raiders any day. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Of all the Atari carts I received for Christmas 1982 (including Frogger and Donkey Kong), Star Raiders was the "serious" game. The fact that it came packaged with a touchpad controller was living proof it was a sophisticated, 100% accurate space simulation.

Star Raiders was Atari's foray into the burgeoning first-person space shooter market. Other publishers were also jumping on board with the likes of Star Master (Activision, 1982), Star Voyager (Imagic, 1982), and Phaser Patrol (Arcadia/Starpath, 1982). The fact that Star Raiders came in a fat orange box helped it stand out from the crowd.

The player toggles between two screens via the pad: the "fore view" and the galactic map. The fore view is where you blast approaching asteroids and dogfight alien spacecraft that scale in and out. It's cool how you can fire two missiles at a time, which look like sizzling fireballs. Your goal is to blast a certain number of alien ships without being destroyed.

It's fun trying to maneuver those zipping alien spacecraft into your line of fire while dodging their shots. I feel like a boxer playing this, physically bobbing and weaving when the action gets intense. I notice Atari "borrowed" its ship designs from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.

The galactic map is a 4x4 grid that charts the position of your ship, your starbase, and the alien fleet. You'll want to warp to the alien location at the start of the game, and hyperwarp back to your starbase as needed for repairs.

The touchpad has twelve flat "keys" labeled by a Star Raiders overlay. It's a glorified version of the Intellivision keypad. One big drawback is how it requires the second controller port. I found its keys less-than-responsive; you really need to mash those things. No other game ever supported this piece of hardware.

The game itself isn't perfect. The galactic map adds little in the way of strategy and there's a lot of dead time waiting around for enemies to come into range. They appear two at a time, max, but tend to enter with guns blazing so don't hesitate to light them up.

At the end of each game you're given a rating from "cook" to "mystery rank". What captivates me about Star Raiders is the challenge. When you're down to three aliens left with your shield flickering and your blasters on the fritz, it's remarkably intense. And when your shield is depleted and you're staring into the desolation of black space, you feel resigned to your fate, knowing your next encounter will likely be your last. © Copyright 2022 The Video Game Critic.

Take Star Raiders, remove all of its strategic elements, saddle it with the most hideous graphics ever conceived, and voila, you have Star Ship. Yes, I know this game is really old, but I still can't resist cracking on it. The main game variation is a first-person shooter in the loosest sense of the word, where you try to blast as many big blocky aliens as possible within 2 minutes 16 seconds. Some variations allow a friend to control the aliens you target. Believe me, if you make someone play Star Ship with you, they won't be your friend for long!

There are some other incredibly lame variations in which you just try to avoid oncoming squares - umm I mean "asteroids". And the "lunar lander" variations are truly pathetic. You simply move your little ship to the asteroid and push the button. Incredibly, there's no gravity, and hence, no challenge! What an embarrassment! No wonder Atari yanked it from their lineup. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Much like the climax of the first Star Wars film, Star Strike places you in the trench of an evil battle station, where you attempt to save the Earth from imminent destruction. Looming large at the top of the screen, the Earth gradually moves into targeting range. In order to save the planet, you must bomb eight vents that cycle below. The illusion of movement through the trench is fairly well done considering the vintage 1982 3D effects.

You view the action from just behind your ship, and flying saucers sneak up from the rear as meteors approach from the front. Shadows on the surface help you determine your position relative to these hazards. Taking a hit will temporarily send you out of control, possibly crashing into the trench below, which ends the game. Although you can fire forward, there isn't much to shoot, and targeting is difficult. Flying low in the trench automatically puts you into "bomb mode".

Gameplay is mainly a matter of dodging projectiles while occasionally plunging into the trench when a vent comes into range (a series of beeps will warn you). While its gameplay is simplistic and no score is provided (you either win or lose), Star Strike did manage to hold my attention for a little while. I was intent on beating this thing at least once, and it took some perseverance. Win or lose, you're treated to a short ending sequence. The difficulty switches allow you to configure four skill levels. There's not much to Star Strike, but the challenge might just keep you coming back for more. © Copyright 2002 The Video Game Critic.

This game pretends to incorporate strategic Star Trek elements, but it's really just another mediocre shoot-em-up. The screen is divided into three areas: a status screen (mainly composed of colored blocks), a radar screen (providing a third-person view of the action), and a viewer (to help you aim). The are six stages in each level: 4 Klingon encounters, an asteroid field, and a boss. The Klingon ships are very easy to blast, and as long as you keep moving you'll avoid enemy fire. The rocks in the asteroid stage are easy to dodge and Nomad the boss isn't any more difficult than the Klingons. Star Trek comes with an unnecessary joystick overlay so you won't forget which button is used to fire (hint - it's the RED one!). With lackluster gameplay and only one skill level, not even a trekkie could love this one. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

This is yet another Star Raiders-inspired first-person space shooter, but it's one of the better ones. Star Voyager doesn't waste time with fancy maps, shields, or damage indicators. Instead, the emphasis is on shooting enemy ships, which I think is a good idea. Your ship is equipped with two types of weapons.

You trigger the secondary weapon by pressing the fire button on the second joystick (I like to use my toe for that one). Your lasers are far more powerful than your photon torpedoes, but consume ten times more energy! Once you expend all of your energy, the game ends. After shooting down each group of enemy ships you have the opportunity to fly through a portal and replenish your energy.

The graphics are fairly minimal, but the colors are vivid and the explosions are amongst the best I've seen on the 2600. There are two skill levels along with a two-player cooperative mode. Star Voyager is a heck of a lot of fun, and seriously underrated in my opinion. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Man, this is so lame! An instantly forgettable shooter, Death Star Battle puts you in control of a tiny Millennium Falcon. Inexplicably, you're confined to a cramped area on the lower half of the screen! A partially completed Death Star is visible at the top, behind a rainbow-colored shield. If you don't remember this from the movies, that's because it wasn't in the movies.

You can blast passing Imperial vessels, but it's hard enough to avoid colliding with them because they appear from out of nowhere. If you're looking for a cheap way to inflate your score, just wait for Vader's shuttle to cruise by - it's worth a cool 3,000 points (compared to a paltry 100 points for the others). Periodically a "hole" appears in the shield, a temporary gateway to the second (and final) stage. Here, the Death Star is presented as an ugly, gray, blocky monstrosity -- with a red dot in the center.

Avoiding a roving laser, you must wear down the outside of the Death Star to expose its core. It's Star Wars meets Breakout, and it's not a pretty sight. After shooting the core, you must dodge a series of fireballs before the Death Star finally explodes. The explosion isn't bad (by Atari 2600 standards) but then it's back to the beginning for another uneventful round. Playing Death Star Battle is a shallow experience, lacking any sense of strategy or fun. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

When I see the word "prototype" I don't expect a fully-realized game complete with four variations and difficulty settings, but that's Star Wars: Ewok Adventure. You could make a case that this is far more impressive than the two Return of the Jedi games that actually were released: Star Wars: Jedi Arena (Parker Bros, 1983) and Star Wars: Death Star Battle (Parker Bros, 1983). In this game you play as an Ewok on a glider, but frankly it looks more like a yellow snowspeeder.

The moon of Endor is a set of contiguous vertically-scrolling screens, and a bunker is located at the top of one of them. Enemies like AT-ST walkers, stormtroopers, and speeder bikes move down each screen. The stomping sounds of the walkers and whizzing sounds of the speeder bikes are amazing. Your only means of attack is to toss rocks. It's kind of lame, but still satisfying when enemies go up in flames.

Your rock supply is limited to nine but can be replenished by hovering over rock piles. That's easier said than done because controlling your glider is a source of endless frustration. It's hard to gain altitude when you're too low and hard to lose altitude when you're too high. The thing just seems to have a mind of its own.

One remarkable aspect of the game is your ability to commandeer walkers and speedbikes - usually by accident. The bikes tend to veer all over the place (as in the movie), but it's always fun to use an AT-ST to take out other walkers. When an alarm sounds that means you can fly into the bunker to blow it up and complete the stage. I can understand why Ewok Adventure was never released, but if someone could have devised a decent control scheme this would have been one heck of a game. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

Who's bright idea was it to put two Jedi knights into a game, arm them with powerful lightsabers, and then keep them separated for the entire frickin' game?! Jedi Arena is so bogus that it's not even funny. It's very loosely based on a brief scene from the first Star Wars film. You may recall when Luke was practicing his saber skills on a floating metal orb inside the Millennium Falcon.

In Arena, this orb shoots electrical charges and floats between these so-called Jedi. Actually, these competitors look like more two fat guys cooped up in boxes, protected by a four-layer shield. Using a paddle controller, you swing your saber from side to side - too bad it doesn't stick out far enough to touch anything!

Jedi Arena's control scheme is counterintuitive (to say the least). You use your saber to block the orb's charges, and press the fire button to initiate charges toward your opponent. Blocking is easy enough, but aiming your shots is awkward - I could never get a feel for it. Every now and then the orb goes nuts and starts shooting charges in all directions. It's a big, confusing mess. Jedi Arena is a real dud and a complete waste of the Star Wars license. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

It's remarkable that Parker Bros was able to squeeze this multi-stage, vector-graphics game into an Atari 2600 cartridge. Although simplified, the visuals are still impressive. I love how you can see the nose of your ship on the bottom of the screen, along with two guns in the lower corners (none are shown on top). In the first stage, you fire at Tie Fighters zooming across the screen, but the clumsy crosshair control proves a liability.

Not particularly responsive, the cursor has some kind of delay mechanism that's really annoying. The Tie fighters are nicely rendered; however, their missiles look more like big fuzz balls. You'll need to neutralize these, but that's less fun than targeting Ties. Eventually the ominous purple (?) Death Star moves into view. Next, you find yourself flying over the surface of the Death Star, trying to shoot the tops of pillars without running into them (what movie was that from?) Your crosshair not only aims, but also guides your ship - which is somewhat awkward.

The final stage places you in the Death Star trench, avoiding barriers and incoming missiles long enough to blast the exhaust port. It looks surprisingly good, with wire-frame 3D visuals that convey both depth and speed in a convincing fashion. Once you shoot the port, you're treated to a rather unspectacular explosion, before starting over on a harder level. Star Wars: The Arcade Game has two levels of difficulty. Casual gamers may not be impressed, but Star Wars aficionados will certainly appreciate this ambitious cartridge. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

This fast-action shooter recreates the battle of Hoth from the popular Star Wars film. Any game based on Empire Strikes Back qualifies as a bonafide "winter" title by definition. There's an exhilarating sense of speed as you glide a little snowspeeder over the icy tundra. Although blocky in appearance, the advancing Imperial walkers are nicely rendered with animated heads and legs. Your goal is to keep them at bay for as long as possible.

Your scanner indicates their position and should one of these hulking behemoths reach the right edge, the Rebel Alliance is toast. Fighting a walker is a high-tech game of cat-and-mouse. They can be destroyed by shooting one 48 times. That's right, I said 48 times. The walker's color reflects its level of damage, and the use of yellow and fuschia tends to undermine the sense of realism.

Every now and then a flashing pixel indicates a weak point, making it possible to destroy the walker with one well-placed shot. Unfortunately the spot only appears momentarily and is hard as [expletive] to hit. Walkers unleash laser blasts that are really hard to avoid. Fortunately you can land to repair your ship (twice per ship).

Should you manage to keep a ship intact for two minutes the rousing Star Wars theme kicks in and you're awarded with 20 seconds of invincibility (yeee-ha!). The game offers expert variations like "solid walkers" where you can't fly through the AT-ATs (although you can fly through their legs). The "smart bomb" variations cause AT-AT missiles to chase you around and it will drive you nuts.

I'll stick with the default variation which is hard enough, thank you. What I like best about Empire Strikes Back is how it conveys the tension and suspense of a real invasion. I actually got a blister playing this game. It seems shallow on the surface but Empire delivers satisfying twitch gameplay and relentless challenge. © Copyright 2017 The Video Game Critic.

Stargate, also known as Defender II, is a far cry from its predecessor, which to many is regarded as one of the most disappointing Atari 2600 carts of all time. Atari's programmers must have learned quite a bit between programming the original Defender and this masterpiece. Stargate's graphics are high in resolution with smooth animation and arcade-quality sound effects. Better yet, no controls were sacrificed. In a wise design decision, the second joystick activates smart bombs, "inviso-shield", and hyperspace. All of the enemies are present with minimal flicker. Stargate is so good that it's actually difficult to believe this is an Atari 2600 game! © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

For such a rare title, Stargunner is a respectable space shooter that resembles Defender at first glance. Your skinny red ship fires left or right, and when it flies off one side of the screen it reappears on the other. Upon hitting reset you're greeted with a tiny explosion that's guaranteed to elicit these words, "What? I'm dead already?" The idea is to blast invading aliens that materialize and dart around in erratic patterns.

Adding challenge is a droid at the top of the screen who suffers from a terrible case of spastic colon syndrome. He frantically drops bombs while moving from side-to-side, and unfortunately he's out of your shooting range. The first wave spawns one egg-shaped creature at a time, but as waves progress new shapes (like linked squares) appear in greater numbers. I like how the waves become increasingly chaotic.

New aliens are composed of four parts that fly in from different angles, and sometimes you can gauge where they will materialize for a quick kill. I usually opt for the hardest variations in Atari 2600 games, but the medium difficulty on Stargunner kicked my ass. In the hard level, the only points I could score was for colliding with aliens! Stargunner is pretty shallow but I enjoyed its quick games and twitch gameplay. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

Well-designed and expertly-programmed, Stay Frosty 2 is one of those quality homebrews that elicit reactions like "this is an Atari 2600 game?" The original Stay Frosty appeared in the Stella's Stockings (Atari, 2007) compilation and really stood out as an innovative little platformer. The idea was to use a snowman to squash flames without completely melting.

This ambitious sequel takes the concept to the next level and really cranks up the difficulty. Special items give you the ability to do stuff like toss snowballs and even double-jump! Hard-to-reach gifts provide "glory seeking" opportunities that net big points. The animation is smooth and I love how the snowman changes facial expressions when standing still.

The music is slightly muffled but the fact that it plays a different Christmas tune for each screen is pretty remarkable. Each level is like a puzzle, and some can be a little onerous. My disdain for invisible mazes is well documented, and I also dislike having to deliberately melt to squeeze through certain passages. There are a lot of narrow platforms that are hard to stay on.

It's no cakewalk, but clearly a lot of thought went into each screen. The manual is pretty sweet too. Stay Frosty 2 is an exceptional technical achievement and a good choice for players who prefer their snowman games extra hard. Note: To properly enjoy after the holidays, move the right difficulty to A to disable the music. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

This Sears-exclusive title makes for some surprisingly fun four-player action. I pulled this one out when some friends were over, and we all had a ball! Four horses run across the screen and jump hurdles of various sizes. Using the paddle controllers, you adjust the height and timing of each jump, but it's not easy. The first horse to reach the right hand side wins. Three computer skill levels are included, but playing against three humans is the main draw. The only fault with Steeplechase is that the jump height indicator is on the far right, and it's tough to keep an eye on both that and your horse. But if you're looking for some unique four-player action, Steeplechase is worth checking out. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

This five-in-one holiday cartridge was released by Atari Age to coincide with Christmas 2007, but it arrived about a month late if I recall correctly. Oh well! Stella's Stocking boasts some excellent production values. There's a hottie on the label (in stockings no less), a colorful manual with fun illustrations, and a gorgeous "fireplace" title screen.

The first game, Stay Frosty, is an interesting platformer where you control a melting snowman. Each screen presents a bunch of small fires you need to extinguish while collecting ice cubes to maintain your solid form. The crisp controls and sharp graphics are commendable, but the action is a bit easy and repetitive.

The second entry, Tossing Cookies, is a bit of a throwaway title (pun intended) played on alternating screens. In the first screen you guide Santa around on his sleigh as he collects cookies, and on the second screen you toss them at reindeer. The graphics are rough, and the lack of a score limits the fun. Perhaps there's some kind of special ending when you complete all 12 rounds, but we'll never know.

The next game, Elf Dash, is my favorite. You control an elf in an out-of-control toy factory consisting of six floors and several constantly-moving elevators. You must collect candy canes, presents, ornaments, and other seasonal icons while avoiding patrolling tanks, teddy bears, and of course the obligatory AT-AT Walkers. If you complete the game within eight minutes, the remaining time serves as your score - a pretty neat idea!

Grandma's Revenge is an irreverent take on the "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" song, and it has an Indy 500 vibe. Controlling a marauding sports car, you run down waves of reindeer, causing the screen to become cluttered with blocky road-kill obstacles. It's pretty crazy, and fun power-ups can cause your car to become huge or transform it into a snowmobile.

The final entry, Cold War, is a two-player snowball shootout where both players control a pair of snowmen. I like the idea, but the unconventional control scheme is hard to grasp. None of these games really stand out, but they're all pretty inventive and you can't beat the variety. If you're looking for some Christmas fun, Stella's Stocking definitely has some holiday cheer in store for you. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

I was expecting an epic galactic odyssey from Stellar Track, but all I got was a bunch of text-only strategy crap! Yuck! The object is to maneuver your ship through a series of space maps and destroy alien invaders. Think Star Raiders minus the graphics. Games like this were common on personal computers back in the early 1980's. Usually written in BASIC, they tended to employ overly complex control schemes to compensate for the lack of graphics. There wasn't much software back then, so we inflicted games like these on ourselves voluntarily. Well I'm sorry, but this just isn't going to cut it in 2001! I don't have the patience to master the confusing, non-intuitive user interface. Stellar Track is a lost relic that should remain that way. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

This appears to be yet another one of those cheap shovelware titles that flooded the market back in 1983. I doubt this PAL conversion was ever released in the States. Normally I trash games like this, but Stone Age made me sit up and take notice!

You play the game using the second joystick for some reason. You're a chunky caveman in the center of the screen wearing a fashionable red loincloth. The screen is strewn with yellow blocks and there's a small dinosaur in each corner. I call them "dinosaurs" not because they look like dinosaurs, but because the label has a dinosaur on it, so I just assume that's what they are!

Much like Pengo (Atari, 1984), you can push these blocks around, crushing the rampaging dinosaurs if your timing is right. If the block can't be pushed because it's pinned against a wall, it is destroyed. This caveman is one strong bastard. Each stage has a different layout of blocks.

The concept is sound but the animation leaves much to be desired. The characters just sort of hop from space to space and the poor collision detection causes objects to occasionally pass right through one another. The background "music" sounds like a siren.

But the gameplay is actually very interesting! It's fun to methodically kill two or three dinosaurs. The problem is, the remaining dinosaur will suddenly go buck-wild, homing in on you like a heat-seeking raptor!

But I discovered a strategy. Instead of going for the kill, I first try to box in one or two before killing those on the loose. The trapped ones are then at my mercy. The only problem with this strategy is that sometimes a trapped dinosaur goes completely ape-s**t, busting through blocks and occasionally even crashing the game.

Despite being primitive, buggy, and probably unfinished, Stone Age is still worth a look. Taking it from a guy who's played more shovelware games than you could shake a stick at. Which is - incidentally - exactly what a caveman would do in this situation. Think about that. © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

Strategy X is one seriously ugly game, but its extreme challenge keeps things interesting. You control a tank moving up a vertically scrolling screen, blasting enemy cannons while maintaining your fuel supply. The screen is littered with blocky green "bogs" that slow you down and consume extra fuel. Besides your moving tank treads, there's not much to see.

You can speed up, slow down, or move side-to-side, but the lack of diagonal movement makes the animation look choppy. The enemy cannons look rough, but at least they explode nicely. Enemy shots travel fast and are difficult to elude. Fuel towers can replenish your fuel supply, but these are also vulnerable to shots fired from the cannons.

If you make it to the "triumphal arch" at the end of the stage, you'll advance to stage two. This time, you face a squadron of bombers that fire wiggly lines, and it looks even worse than the first stage. All in all, Strategy X is low in quality, but there's something addictive about its gameplay that kept me coming back for more. © Copyright 2002 The Video Game Critic.

I remember way back in the 1980's when my little sister was into Strawberry Shortcake big time. Naturally, I would make fun of all of those sissy characters of hers. Little did I know that twenty years later I'd find myself playing Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-Ups on the Atari 2600! Fate can be a cruel, twisted thing. Anyway, this was one of the first games marketed to little girls (4-7 years) and evidently video game reviewers (30+ years).

The screen displays a mixed-up character with the head, body, and legs of six random Strawberry Shortcake characters. We're talking about all your favorites, like Purple Pie Man, Lime Chiffon, and Huckleberry Pie. You need to combine the correct character parts in a certain period of time.

The characters are large and colorful, and each has its own cute little theme song. Would a young child enjoy this game today? It's not beyond the realm of possibility, but the thrill wouldn't last. Once you memorize all the body parts, the game loses its replay value. Plus you can't blow up anything. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

I remember buying this cartridge as a kid, partly because I wanted another paddle game and partly because it was on sale for $19.95. Street Racer gets a bad rap for its eye-rolling-bad graphics, but it does offer variety and fast action. The screen is divided in half by a thick bar. Each game is a head-to-head contest lasting two minutes and sixteen seconds or until a player scores 99 points. In most variations you steer with the paddle and use the fire button to moderate your speed. In the "Street Racer" variations you steer a car from side-to-side while avoiding oncoming traffic.

I use the term "car" loosely, as these are the worst looking automobiles I have ever seen. Next, the "Slalom" variations let you ski through blue gates, and some precision is required as you "whoosh" from side to side. In "Dodgem" you drive your car up the screen while avoiding green blobs. Did I say the cars in the first variation were the worst I had seen? Make that second worst, because these cars look positively atrocious. I'm starting to think the programmer had never actually seen a real car.

"Jet Shooter" lets you fire slow-moving missiles at descending planes, but there's no challenge to it. "Number Cruncher" was always the most popular variation in my household, mainly because the games were so short. The idea is to catch falling digits with a guy in a wheelchair. In "Scoop Ball" you catch "plus" signs and deposit them into pieces that fit. The fact that it's not completely mindless gives it a leg up on the other variations.

These games tend to be awfully repetitive, and after playing one variation you're ready to move on to the next. Up to four players can participate, but the concept of "stacking" two players on each side doesn't work well. The one-player modes are a joke, as the CPU opponent just sits there. Street Racer's six-games-in-one combo may have been a decent value at one time, but this game has aged about as well as fake wood trim. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.

This ultra-rare space shooter is repetitive but challenging. You control a hot air balloon with an appendage that can fire missiles up, down, and diagonally (but not sideways). Jellyfish ascend from below, and you'll need to shoot fast and perform evasive maneuvers to avoid their onslaught. You can only fire one shot at a time, but hitting the fire button will "cancel" your current shot (a la Gorf).

A three-layered rotating shield eventually appears on the bottom of the screen, protecting a small Mexican woman. Okay, that object is supposed to be the "stronghold", but it's not very imposing. You can poke holes in the shield, but keep in mind that if you eliminate an entire layer it will regenerate. When the woman lines up directly beneath you, she'll unleash a huge blast in your direction. Wow, this lady is pissed!! You'll also need to contend with red drones and rotating blue number eights that float around the screen.

The action is pretty frantic as you scramble around while hoping one of your shots will thread the needle and take her out. She tends to follow your movements so you can use this to your advantage. Each wave is the same, but a little harder. There are 16 variations, but even the easiest will give you a run for the money. A variety would have been nice, but gamers looking for a challenge may find this appealing. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

My initial review of Sub Scan was brief and dismissive, writing off the game as a plodding waste of time. But like so many unassuming retro titles, it really isn't so bad if you're willing to give it a chance. Sub Scan puts you in control of a red ship on the water surface, slowly moving back and forth while dropping depth charges to the left and right. The charges sink slowly so you'll need to "lead" your shots to hit the submarines traveling in both directions below.

The "action" begins slowly. Heck, it takes a while before a sub even appears! A Defender-style scanner on the bottom of the screen indicates when subs are about to enter view, and there's something to be said for sinking a sub just as it appears on the screen. The game ends when ten subs cross safely, and the pace gradually picks up as you go.

Adding some much-needed spice are yellow "bonus subs" that periodically cross the very bottom of the screen. They're worth big bonus points, but much like the mothership in Space Invaders (Atari 2600, 1980), they tend to distract you from the job at hand. If you could only drop one charge at a time Sub Scan would be excruciatingly boring, but in fact you can drop four at a time, allowing you to "spray" them around to some extent.

The controls could be better and I often ended up tossing in the wrong direction. One unexpected visual highlight occurs when the game ends. Your ship is inexplicably ripped in half, as if some kraken emerged from the depths to suck you down into Davy Jones's Locker. Or maybe I've just been watching too many pirate movies. Sub Scan has no variations and the difficulty switches have no effect. It's bland to be sure, but I think you'll discover that a certain amount of technique is required to net a high score. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

How could it be that this submarine shooter remained off my radar for 30 years? Maybe it was the "Sears" brand name? Playing Submarine Commander was an eye-opening experience. It's an exciting first-person shooter with just enough strategy to make things interesting. The screen depicts a green ocean, blue sky, and several gauges. Enemy boats move across the horizon, and there's a modest sense of 3D as distant boats are smaller than the massive, chunky ships up close.

Despite the pixelation the ships are brightly-colored and even generate a little wake in the water. The controls are responsive and unique for a 2600 game. When you move up and down the screen scrolls slightly, so you never see the complete picture from your "periscope" view. You can fire a pair of torpedoes at a time, and they're spaced apart, so timing is critical. It's fun to watch the ships sink into the depths, and it's especially satisfying to sink two at once!

Gauges indicate engine temperature, fuel, torpedo status, sonar detection, and depth charge detection. To be honest I don't really have a firm grasp of what all of these mean, but it's that subtle complexity that makes the game so intriguing. Submarine Commander demands frantic shooting and quick maneuvering at times, but you need to know when to let things cool off. When you're out of fuel, a wild laser sound effect lets you know your game is over. Fast, fun, and unique, Submarine Commander is probably one of the more underappreciated Atari cartridges. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

As a big Imagic fan, I can't believe it took me so long to review this game. If I was waiting to obtain a complete copy of the game first, that's not going to happen (this game is rare). Imagic was known for its well-programmed, visually-appealing software, and Subterranea fits that description. You control a ship that can freely move around the screen and fire rapidly to the left or right.

The first screen pits you against a truly hideous beast called a "Hexuplex". This green monstrosity roves around the bottom of the screen, deploying killer "aerobots" that try to ram you. The best strategy is to keep your distance from those things so you can get a clean shot at them. I also noticed a pixelated pattern across the top of the screen that looks like an ominous figure looming over you. After blasting so many aerobots a hole appears that lets you descend into the depths. It really sucks that you can't kill that ugly Hexuplex!

The next two stages take place in side-scrolling caverns where you shoot chomping creatures. There's not much to see but I like how the cave walls are lined with human skulls. Between stages an "electro gate" appears, and you must time your descent to avoid its charges. Subterranea looks and sounds nice, but it's not particularly fun. By the time the screens started to repeat, my heart really wasn't in it anymore. © Copyright 2014 The Video Game Critic.

If you've mastered Adventure and are looking for some real punishment, Suicide Adventure is for you. Let me tell you, this thing is relentless! Not only are the rooms reshaped and often cluttered with obstacles, but the dragons are truly ferocious! You can't outrun them and they snap their jaws in an instant. This game may be a little bit too hard, but it makes for some exciting, fast-paced action. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Suicide Mission is a cassette-loading game by Starpath which owes more than a little bit to Asteroids. It even manages to simulate low-quality vector graphics. The objects look rough, but at least they move very smoothly. The background story involves a microscopic submarine injected into a patient to destroy viruses. That would explain why these asteroids look like shape-changing amoebas. Your sub has substantial firepower, so you can shoot several shots at once (nice!). Your sub controls are similar to those in Asteroids, but instead of hyperspace, you have a shield, and thrusting gives you no momentum. Suicide Mission isn't very original, but it's a perfectly respectable shooter with some innovative graphics. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

I own so many versions of Summer Games that I completely overlooked this remarkably good Atari 2600 edition! Not only does it offer seven unique events, but two players can go head-to-head in five of them! Up to eight players register themselves as athletes from the USA, Japan, Italy, France, U.K., Greece, Canada, Spain, and the now-defunct USSR. The events are so short and sweet you can breeze through them all in just a few minutes.

The opening event, hurdles, is not the joystick waggler you might expect. Instead you hold the joystick right, tapping up to hop the hurdles. It plays very well but why is my athlete decked out in black pants and dress shoes? Two swimming events let you propel yourself through the water by pressing the fire button in a rhythm. You get a satisfying boost with a well-timed kick off the wall. Skeet shooting is a simple aim-and-shoot affair that might be a bit too forgiving.

The 100 meter dash requires you to jiggle the joystick (you knew it was coming). Fortunately the race only lasts about 15 seconds so the chances of breaking a joystick (or shattering a wrist) is well under 20%. Gymnastics is the single dud of the bunch, mainly because it's so much more complicated than the others. One-third of the instructions are dedicated to it!

The competition winds down with a rowing event that lets you move the joystick in rhythm with the oars. The tournament concludes by displaying the top three countries, but some overall scores would have been nice. Still, Summer Games is an impressive technical accomplishment and a lot of fun. And I love the idea of playing an entire Summer Olympics in under ten minutes. © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.

What's so "super" about this? All Atari did was take Realsports Baseball, turn up the contrast, and slow down the action to a crawl! If this was Atari's attempt to fix Realsports Baseball, then they shouldn't have bothered. Super Baseball looks and plays nearly the same as its worthless predecessor, but the colors are deeper and the players are shorter.

The insipid gameplay has been left intact, and the players look slightly worse as they are now rendered in a single color. They do move faster - faster than the ball in some cases! In fact, it's more effective to have your outfielder run around the bases tagging runners out than to throw the ball! Throws don't go sailing over basemen's heads as often as they did in Realsports Baseball, but batted balls are still hit to the same spots over and over.

Unlike Realsports, you have the additional annoyance of having to wait for the batters lounging to and from home plate These guys are so slow that it's comical. My buddy Scott and I were literally rolling on the floor laughing as we watched these guys literally crawl to the batter's box. You could heat up a pizza in the oven in the time it takes for one of these slackers to step up to the plate! The CPU opponent is nearly invincible, and playing against a human opponent is just plain unpleasant. There's a nice title screen, but it can't hide the fact that Super Baseball is repackaged garbage. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Atari is famous (infamous?) for its elaborate label illustrations that radically overstated the content of its games. Super Breakout was a prime example, showcasing an astronaut floating in space and smashing a rainbow-colored force field with a damn stick! I'm sure there's a Space Shuttle floating in the background somewhere. Equating this game to a perilous space adventure is a stretch, but they had to put something on that damn box.

In retrospect Super Breakout isn't as great as I remember. For one thing I don't think its graphics even measure up to the first game. The playfield is more narrow and instead of a smooth gradient there are only four colors over eight rows. I'm not a big fan of those black dividing lines either. The audio is definitely its strong suit, as whenever you press reset it selects a different sound type to be used. Some remind me of the twang of a guitar string, others are soft, and others are harsh like sheet metal. The metallic sounds are so futuristic that you'll feel like you're back in the eighties for crying out loud!

The first variation is your basic Breakout - one ball and one paddle. Why was this even included? The "double" variation is the main event, with two balls and a pair of stacked paddles. Playing this feels like juggling! Scoring is doubled when two balls are in play, so would it make sense to lose a single ball on purpose when you're just about to break through?

The third variation is called cavity. Here you begin with one ball but can dislodge two more stuck in the wall. This one has an all-or-nothing quality. It's dull from the start, fast when you release the balls, but you tend to lose them in a hurry. The progressive variation features multiple walls gradually bearing down upon you. It's pretty intense but for some reason this particular variation didn't function correctly on my "heavy sixer" unit, rendering the controls unresponsive. I've never seen that before.

Overall Super Breakout is decent but there were many missed opportunities. Couldn't they have fine-tuned the control so you're not at the mercy of the predetermined angles? Where are the four player, coop modes, and breakthru modes? Atari got a little lazy with this one, shipping something that was not as super as it could have been. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Classic gamers have fond memories of Super Challenge Baseball - best known as M-Network Baseball. Compared to Atari's minimal Home Run (Atari, 1977) Super Challenge is a full-blown baseball extravaganza. The simple fact that there's a diamond and eight fielders (no shortstop, sorry) was notable for its time. The pitching and hitting controls are simple enough. You can throw a pitch far outside, only to curve it in to catch the corner of the plate. You control where the ball is hit by swinging early or late.

Every ball put into play is treated as a grounder, although home runs occur if the ball travels off the screen. Things get complicated when you need to take control of the correct fielder, which requires a complicated combination of button and joystick movements. It's not insurmountable but the learning curve is steep. Couldn't they just select a fielder for you? It is fun to throw the ball around the infield and tagging out a runner is especially satisfying because he disappears with a *zap* - like he was vaporized!

Be sure to set both difficulty switches to A which allows you to control the lead runners. These guys are slow so it's rare to stretch a hit into a double. Stealing a base is nearly impossible but at least you can lead off. The graphics are substandard - even for a 2600 title. Brent marvelled how the numbers are so sharp and well articulated, yet the field is an unadulterated mess.

Scott speculated that M-Network devised a special algorithm to make the graphics extra blocky just for this game! That diamond is jagged as all hell and the fielders resemble men's room symbols. At least the flicker is kept to a minimum. Like most M-Network titles this game lacks a single-player mode. Super Challenge Baseball isn't as super as it used to be and the real challenge clearly lies in grasping the controls. © Copyright 2019 The Video Game Critic.

In its time, this was easily the most popular football game for the Atari 2600. Super Challenge looks absolutely terrific with its side-scrolling field, full set of hash marks, and players that look somewhat realistic. The play-calling procedure has a slight learning curve, but in time it becomes second nature. Before each play, your quarterback instructs each teammate to block in a certain direction, go out for a pass, or act as a decoy receiver.

On defense, the safety assigns each teammate to rush or cover a receiver. It's actually quite ingenious when you consider all the possibilities. Interceptions are possible, but there are no kicks, punts, or running out of bounds. The game's most famous (or perhaps infamous) feature is the ability for the defender to run off one side of the screen and reappear on the other. It's pretty silly, but sometimes the only way to catch a breakaway receiver.

It's also not uncommon for the guy with the ball to "fake out" the defender - leaving him in the dust! Super Challenge Football plays very well, but the lack of crowd noise makes the game far too quiet. The down and quarter indicators are displayed in the center of the screen, but these are awfully small. A single-player mode would have been nice. But all things considered, Super Challenge Football is a lot of fun, and it's one of several quality football games for the 2600. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

Scramble was an exciting arcade shooter I played as a kid at my local bowling alley. In it you guided a spaceship through side-scrolling caverns while unleashing bombs and missiles on rockets and fuel depots. Its sequel Super Cobra basically replaced the ship with a chopper, but this 2600 edition is weak! It reminds me of those type-in games you'd find in a Compute Magazine circa 1985. The terrain is just a bunch of horizontal lines (not even solid blocks) and the jerky scrolling is hard to stomach.

Your tiny chopper moves in leaps and bounds, making it hard to squeeze through narrow passages with any precision. The fire button alternates between the missiles and bombs, but you can only fire one at a time. You need to be dead-on to nail your tiny targets, and this really undermines the all-important destruction factor. When you blow up a cannon a pixelated 100 (points) appears, and guess what - you can blow that up! You can blow up a score! That sounds like something Chuck Norris would do!

There are eleven stages but not much to see. The section with the floating oranges takes forever, probably because they only appear one at a time. During advanced stages rockets begin to launch and the audio effects are alarming. But overall Super Cobra is a marginal translation that fails to capture the essence of the arcade. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

40 years running and the Atari 2600 system continues to astonish. Super Cobra is the most intense shooter I've played on the system since River Raid (Activision, 1982). As you weave a chopper through perilous caverns and futuristic cityscapes you'll methodically blow up rockets, cannons, and dancing aliens. Holding the fire button unleashes a steady stream of shots along with pairs of bombs. Staying low to the surface lets you inflict maximum damage but sometimes it's wise to remain out of cannon range.

The standard mode is easy enough to work through the 11 stages (with continues), but on advanced you'll be lucky just to make the high score screen with 10K. Navigating the narrow caverns requires finesse and taking out cannons demands pinpoint timing. Each stage offers a unique challenge and I love the use of color in this game. I had my young nephew try this and even he appreciated the look of this game. The multicolored explosions are satisfying even if they sound like trash can lids banging together. Blowing up depots lets you maintain your fuel supply but frankly I never felt as if it was in jeopardy.

In addition to its excellent gameplay Super Cobra Arcade offers a slew of bells and whistles. You get limited continues, gamepad support (Genesis controller), a pause function (b/w switch), and the ability to save high scores via the Atarivox attachment. Super Cobra Arcade comes in a glossy box and includes a slick comic book-style instruction manual. Crafted with the highest standards, this is a first-class title every 2600 fan should cherish. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

It's a shame this cartridge was released near the very end of the Atari 2600's lifecycle, because it really knocked my socks off. Super Football is the missing link between the early "flat" football games and the Genesis Madden titles. Its vertical-scrolling field is rendered in a pseudo-3D style, with small players that actually scale as they move in and out! The five players on each team are rendered in multiple colors, but the colors selected by the programmers were ill-advised to say the least. Not only are the two teams hard to differentiate, but the two user-controlled players wear different uniforms as well! That's just too many colors on the screen at once.

The play-calling scheme is rather complex, and you'll need to consult the manual to select formations and receiver patterns. Once again, the incompetent folks at Atari really let us down with regards to the remarkably cheap instruction booklet. If you're not going to include a quick reference sheet for plays, at least list the offensive and defensive formations on adjacent pages! As it is, the two players not only need to constantly pass the instructions back and forth, but they need to flip through the pages as well! The action on the field is pretty decent. The ball moves in a nice arc, but completing passes to those tiny receivers is tough.

The game incorporates kick-offs, punts, and field goals, making it the most comprehensive football game for the system. Yes, you can actually see the football sailing through the uprights! Heck, you can even have a player in motion at the line of scrimmage! The black and white console switch serves the purpose of a pause button, and that's really handy. The single player mode boasts four skill levels, including a novice setting where the CPU selects your plays for you. Extremely ambitious and fun to play as well, Super Football really pushes the system to its limits. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

Released in 1978 (!), it occurred to me that Superman may just be the very first superhero video game! All things considered, it's not bad. The action begins with villain Lex Luthor blowing up a bridge. Your goal is to rebuild the bridge, transport five crooks to jail, and report back to the Daily Planet as Clark Kent in the shortest possible time.

Playing the role of the Man of Steel, you can freely fly around town, snatching up crooks and bridge parts. The city of Metropolis is spread over 29 screens and there's even a subway system. By holding the button and pressing the joystick, you can see what's going on in screens around you (super vision I suppose).

The graphics are blocky but I like the multi-colored characters. The henchmen are armed with Tommy guns and Lex Luther flies around via a little helicopter contraption. Lois Lane is kind of cute. The game does struggle mightily with multiple characters/objects on the same screen at once, causing them to blink like crazy. Not only is it hard to watch, but it becomes difficult to pick up and drop items.

But my main issue with Superman is its screen layout. Like Adventure (Atari, 1980), you move between contiguous screens, but they aren't logically arranged. It's possible to move off the right side of the screen to enter a new screen, then move left, only to find yourself on a third screen. Online maps of the game only serve to reinforce the head-scratching design.

It doesn't help how the screens all feature similar generic "skylines" and subway entrances are easily confused with phone booths. Navigating the city is the most challenging aspect of the game. Picking up a crook is easy enough, but finding the jail is another matter. And if you take too long he'll escape your grasp.

I used to dismiss Superman as a wild goose chase, but then I discovered a "system". The subway is basically a stack of empty colored screens, and exiting certain colors from certain sides will place you close to your destination. For example, exit the blue screen to the right and you'll be a few screens from the bridge. Exit the green screen downward and you'll be close to the jail. Exit yellow to the left and you'll find the Daily Planet. These "shortcuts" make all the difference.

Beware of floating kryptonite which tends to gravitate towards you, and sometimes appears on you when you enter a new screen. Touching it will "ground" you until Lois Lane can restore your mojo with a kiss (accompanied by a cute, high-pitched ting). On difficulty B Lois shows up right away, but on A you'll be looking for her all over town!

There's also a helicopter that redistributes items at random, much like the bat in Adventure. Superman has a lot in common with that classic, but feels less polished. Still, you have to appreciate how it incorporates so many comic book elements. The game may be flawed yet it's still worth obsessing over. © Copyright 2023 The Video Game Critic.

A surfing game for the Atari 2600? Yeah, and it doesn't look half bad! I stumbled upon Surfer's Paradise while perusing the ROMs on my Harmony Cart. You're a purple dude riding the crest of a big chunky wave that rises and falls the height of the screen. An ominous shark lurks in the water behind you. You rack up points for remaining on the wave, occasionally jumping the shark fin when it dashes towards you. Clouds, seagulls, and the sound of rushing water help paint a picture of a fun day at the beach.

Fall off the wave and you enter an undersea maze composed of the remnants of a sunken pirate ship. As you swim through the wreckage you'll need to avoid wandering jellyfish. The longer you're underwater, the redder you become until you suffocate, adding tension. Sadly, the maze is poorly-designed. Most of it is inaccessible and the jellyfish move in predictable patterns. Make it to the far side of the maze, climb onto your board, and it's back to the wave.

I enjoyed tinkering with this game but once I got a feel for it, it became repetitive. On the easy skill level wave riding is too easy, but bump up the difficulty and it becomes impossible to outswim the jellyfish in the shipwreck. Surfer's Paradise isn't much of a game but I've played worse surfing games - and on more advanced systems in fact. Note: This game is in no way affiliated with the 1995 hit song by Coolio. © Copyright 2023 The Video Game Critic.

Surround is one of the earliest Atari 2600 games, and you'll believe it when you witness its archaic graphics and beeping sound effects. After playing a few rounds with a friend, we were pretty much at a loss regarding how to grade it. There's not much here to criticize, but there's nothing to get excited about either. The bottom line is that Surround doesn't have much in the way of substance.

Two players guide blocks around the screen. Each block leaves a wall behind it, and you win when your opponent collides with a wall. Although it's sometimes possible to cut the other guy off, winning is largely a function of not dying before the other guy does. Twelve variations include diagonal movement, an erase option, and "wrap around", which allows you to move off one side of the screen and re-enter on the opposite side.

The best option is "speed up", which gradually increases the pace of the game. The computer opponent is a complete idiot, but Surround is mildly amusing with two players. And let's not forget the "video graffiti" variations that let you paint blocky pictures on the screen. It's hard to believe this was once considered entertainment. Surround was one of the first Atari games to be discontinued. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Spawned from the depths of hell, Survival Island is one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had to endure. I'd prefer to be marooned on a deserted island and beaten savagely by a band of apes every day for the rest of my life than play this masochistic piece of garbage again. Survival Island is one of those tape-loading games, and there are three separate nauseating stages. The graphics aren't bad, but the gameplay is vomit-inducing.

In the first stage you swim in an ocean with a volcanic island in the background. The smoke rising from the island looks nice, and I like how the island looms closer as you swim towards it. Unfortunately, that island is a lot farther away than it appears. You'll have to push against the top of the screen for what seems an eternity as you slowly swim toward the thing. You'll find supplies floating in the water, but you must avoid the occasional shark and some green thing that resembles a snake. If they touch you, you die instantly and have to restart this brutal ordeal from the beginning. It's awfully laborious, and there's little strategy involved.

But if you thought that was bad, wait until you play the unforgiving second stage, where you aimlessly wander the island in search of a temple. The instructions recommend "mapping" your journey, and I can see why. The island is a maze of paths that all look the same with invisible death traps all over the place. You can go into "search mode" if you want to be extra careful, but then it takes an eternity just to walk across one screen! You can move reasonably fast, but instant death is around every corner. Only by noting the exact trap locations on each screen will you possibly survive.

Lacking the intestinal fortitude to continue, I quit in disgust at this point. No, I never saw the third stage, but if the instructions are any indication, I didn't miss a thing. Basically it's one of those much-maligned first-person mazes with invisible walls (yuck), one-way walls (ugh), and transporters (arrgh!!) all over the place. Once again, you're forced to map your progress - not my idea of a good time! Then again, it's an appropriate ending to an absolutely abysmal excuse for a game. I can't believe the 2600 Connection gave Survival Island four out of five stars in 1993. What the [expletive] were they thinking?! © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

I used to think this first-person shooter was pretty cool, but in retrospect, Survival Run is average at best. More sophisticated than your garden-variety 2600 shooter, you use a crosshair to navigate 3D passages and shoot bat-like creatures. Your goal is to exit a maze before you run out of fuel. The complete maze is displayed on the top on the screen, and you'll need to keep an eye on it to prepare for your next turn.

Occasionally you'll encounter a flickering force field you can deactivate by shooting its "switch", which takes the form of a block placed in a random spot on the screen. To be honest, it's hard to tell if you shot the switch in time or ran into the force field. Poorly defined, blocky creatures scale in from the distance, but they're easy to shoot thanks to your rapid-fire gun. Unfortunately, you'll want to minimize your shots because they drain your energy.

Should you reach the end of the maze, you'll encounter a boss that you'll need to pump some serious lead into. Once again, it's difficult to tell if you defeat him, since the game abruptly switches over to a new maze. I wasn't thrilled with Survival Run, but it might be more interesting to play with the special controller the game was originally packaged with. According to the instructions, the "Cosmic Commander" required four "D" size batteries, and featured light and vibration special effects. If I ever get a hold of that beast, I'll update this review. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Unlike most Atari 2600 games, Sword Fight features some tall, well-animated fighters. It's a shame the developer couldn't secure a Star Wars license, because it would have made for a perfect lightsaber battle game. From the minute you see those swords "power up", the Star Wars influence is obvious. Heck, even the game description was written as if to avoid a lawsuit: "Two knights face each other at the edge of the universe. Gripping their 'laser swords', they advance, prepared to fight to the death...". Sword Fight was programmed by one of Mattel's famous Blue Sky Rangers, Steve "Don't Sue Me" Tatsumi in 1983.

While it was never released by Mattel, Retrotopia thankfully resurrected it in 2000. The joystick allows for three types of attacks (overhead, right, left), and three types of blocks. You can advance and retreat using the fire button. According to the manual, "once players get familiar with the moves, long and challenging battles are possible". I have to agree - the game is confusing at first but it's not bad once you get a handle on the controls. Sword Fight is an innovative title unlike anything else I've played on the 2600, and collectors should definitely try to pick up a copy. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Starpath was a company that released a series of games on cassette tape that had to be loaded using their Supercharger attachment. Most were of high quality, so what the heck happened here? Something bad! Sword of Saros starts out promising enough. The object is to escape from a series of mazes while being pursued by a wizard and a bat. Pressing the fire button displays a menu of items, including crosses, scrolls, and rings.

Your tiny character can quickly scamper down hallways, but it's far too easy to get hung up on the corners. Scattered throughout the mazes are rooms, and entering each one switches the game to a full screen view. Here you'll see treasures and items lining the top and bottom of the screen, and a monster lurking in the center. These creatures are hardly intimidating, and some look downright goofy. While in these rooms, the control is atrocious. Your character moves sluggishly, and inexplicably pauses every few steps.

There's no strategy involved in avoiding the monster, which moves in the same stilted manner. Worse yet, to grab an item you must press against it for a few seconds - not fun when you have a monster bearing down on you. Adding insult to injury, the exits are unmarked and can only be located by pressing against the walls. These sequences alone are sufficient to downgrade the game to an F. The maze section isn't bad, and I do like the idea of using items, but these room encounters are simply too painful to endure. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Swordquest was designed to be a four-game series, each with its own puzzle, and solving all four games would reveal a monumental secret. Unfortunately, the series began prior to the big video game crash of '83, and as a result only Earthworld and Fireworld were widely released. Waterworld is an extremely rare collector's item, and the fourth title, Airworld, was never even made.

In light of those events, I think it's safe to say the project was a resounding failure. So I don't feel too bad about trashing this horrendous game. It's designed to be used with a comic book, an idiotic idea if I ever heard one. You control a man who looks a lot like Mr. Rogers in a light-blue sweater and light green pants. Wandering aimlessly from room to room, you will find many useless, boring objects.

Some rooms provide challenging mini-games with some of the most heinous graphics and gameplay ever. That's about it. This is some ill-conceived garbage. The sad part is, this was supposed to be the sequel to Adventure, one of the most beloved Atari 2600 games of all time! But these Swordquest games are only of value to collectors. Steer clear. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Here's the second title of the ill-conceived, ill-fated, and just plain ill series of Swordquest games. In this unexciting chapter, your man is a solid color (no blue sweater!), and the rooms all contain CIRCULAR obstacles this time (wow).

The method for manipulating items is the same as in Earthworld, but it doesn't matter because you don't care about those worthless things! You just want to play those mini-game challenges! And boy oh boy do we have some stinkers here. Whether you're catching birds with a Mexican blanket, or shooting turkeys with a slingshot, the medieval fantasy theme really shines through.

Of course, these are just my interpretations of the poor graphics. I'm sure other people could come up with even more imaginative stuff, but you get the idea. This game is one of the absolute worst, and should be the object of much ridicule. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Going into this, my friends had an irrational fear that this game was somehow related to that Kevin Costner Waterworld movie. They should be so lucky! Scott said he knew something was up by the devilish grin on my face as I inserted the cartridge. Suckers! What a total farce the Swordquest series turned out to be. The first game, Swordquest Earthworld (Atari, 1983), was a pretty pathetic excuse for an adventure. Atari must have been delusional to think they could have passed off three more of these games which share 95% of the same code.

As the third and final chapter of the short-lived series, Swordquest Waterworld was only available via mail order from Atari Age magazine. The poor schmucks who ordered this hunk of junk ultimately got the last laugh, as it has since become a super-rare collector's item. In Swordquest Waterworld you explore seven item rooms and three action stages. Not even gaudy color schemes can hide the fact that the rectangular item rooms are super boring. Some even have invisible walls - the bane of my existence!

Black objects litter the rooms. There's a doll, shoes, chair, pineapple, necklace, crown, and other random shapes. The goal is to place the correct combination of items in certain rooms. These reveal numbers that reference words in the included comic book, spelling out a secret message. The game also dispenses clues in the form of item pairs on the bottom of the screen. I honestly tried to solve the puzzles but scribbling down the clues is a real pain in the ass because so many of the objects look similar.

The trial-and-error gameplay gets old in a hurry and the "action" stages don't help. In one you must swim past sharks, and it sucks how you always get nailed just as you're reaching the right edge of the screen. In another stage you hop between ice floes, and it's frustrating because you need to be so exact. In the third stage you get knocked around by a school of red squid. In 1983, Swordquest Waterworld may have held some degree of mystery, but now it feels like a pointless exercise. Where the hell is Kevin Costner when you need him? © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.

If you've ever tried to play a musical game like Donkey Konga, Samba De Amigo, or Dance Dance Revolution without the special controller, you know that's no fun at all. Sync tries to incorporate joystick control into the popular rhythm/reflex genre, but it doesn't work very well. There are tons of variations, but just because you throw a lot of stuff against a wall doesn't mean something will stick. In "Mantra" and "Jitter" you must quickly respond to a sequence of directional arrow and button prompts. "Flow" is a puzzle game where you stack bars around the screen in order to clear out adjacent stacks. "Four" is a collection of marginal mini games, including 1K versions of "Jitter" and "Flow".

On a positive note, the user interface is well constructed, with a nifty menu system that makes it easy to navigate the game types and adjust your skill level. A few of the game variations are playable, but none are particularly enjoyable. In terms of audio, Sync plays impressive layered melodies during the menu screens, but the audio during the games is very repetitive. As for the AtariVox support, a robotic voice utters some gibberish whenever you make a successful move, but that gets annoying after approximately five seconds.

My friends really hated Sync, and Scott lamented it was "so bad it gave me cancer". I suspect he was exaggerating, but there's no question that Sync lacks that addictive quality desirable for any rhythm-based title. Everyone raved about the cartridge label and manual however, which look extremely attractive and professional. Clearly some talented people were involved with this project, but I'm afraid they need to find some better material. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.