Atari 7800 Reviews A-E

I love the concept of resurrecting old arcade games that have otherwise faded into obscurity. I don't remember Astro Blaster from the arcades, but my friend Scott says he does recall playing this 1981 Sega coin-op. When I first turned the game on I was startled by its amazing voice synthesis. "Fighter pilot needed in sector wars... play Astro Blaster!" I can't emphasize enough how cool this voice is. It sounds like the guy who used to do movie previews ("In a world...") speaking over the intercom of a space station. The game itself is one of those old-fashioned balls-to-the-wall space shooters. Similar to Megamania (Atari 2600, 1982), you move a cannon side-to-side blasting formations of pulsating geometric shapes. Holding down the fire button unleashes a steady stream of rapid-fire shots, but when you see the overheating warning you'll need to give your cannon a rest. Another original feature is the "warp" control that puts enemies in slow motion for 10 seconds. This can be used not only to pick off pesky targets, but also to allow your cannon to cool off. If your joystick doesn't have a second button, pulling back will initiate your warp (sometimes accidentally). My friends have mixed feelings about the whole overheating element. Brent described Astro Blaster's gameplay as "stop playing for a second... stop playing for a second..." The overheating does disrupt the flow, but it also adds an important strategic factor and ratchets up the challenge. Astro Blaster is a lot more than meets the eye, and it's only on the Atari 7800. This cartridge is available from Atari Age. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

When I was growing up the wall of arcade games at the local bowling alley was a source of endless fascination. I watched all the heavy-hitters rotate in and out: Frogger, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Missile Command, Vanguard, Phoenix... you name it. Yet the most unpopular game remained a permanent fixture. A simple space shooter with monochromatic enemies, Astro Fighter lacked the sex appeal of the cutting-edge arcade games. I remember one kid making disparaging remarks about Astro Fighter before my friend Sean came to the game's defense, tossing in a quarter and touting its virtues. Funny the stuff you remember. Decades later I find myself looking at the game in a similar light. At a glance Astro Fighter seems downright bland as you fire single shots at alien ships slowly drifting down from the top. If you don't pick them all off before they reach the bottom, they reconstitute on top. Sometimes it actually makes more sense to ram that last ship than let it pass! While dropped bombs aren't hard to avoid, the diagonal shots are tenacious in this game! There are also some distracting comets worth 60 points a pop. Complete a wave and the next begins immediately, providing a different style of alien ships that move in their own distinctive manner. I personally prefer the "tie fighters" which are easier to hit because they tend to bunch up. After every four waves there's a boss encounter in what appears to be the trench from Star Wars. The boss itself is just a spiked box moving side to side with the letters GS stamped on it. What does that stand for? The normal difficulty is calibrated just right, offering enough resistance to keep you hitting reset again and again. It's the challenge that makes this game enjoyable, so don't ruin it by playing the easy difficulty! My friend Chris said that if he owned an Atari 7800 he'd probably want this, and that's quite the ringing endorsement. © Copyright 2017 The Video Game Critic.

As the owner of a Crystal Castles coin-op machine, this homebrew was something I just had to own. The arcade game featured a walking bear collecting gems in pseudo-3D mazes. Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest is more of a conventional side-scrolling platformer, incorporating elements from the 1983 game like skeletons, animated trees, honey pots, bees, witches, and vertical centipedes. Beware of the jumping skeletons - they have the highest vertical leap of any undead I've ever encountered in my life! The gameplay is deceptively simple as you hop between platforms while flinging gems at enemies. The layered forest backgrounds and harmonized music are inviting, but... why is this so hard to play?? The default two-button scheme takes a lot of getting used to, with one button to jump and the other pulling double duty as both run and shoot. Trying to use a 7800 joystick will have you in a world of hurt. Thank goodness the game also supports a standard Atari 2600 joystick, where you push up to jump. The stage designs demand a cautious, almost timid approach. New enemies are dropped on the right side of the screen, so you're always in stop-and-start mode, creeping forward to trigger them. Just getting past the first stage is a monumental accomplishment. Why? Because each stage is eight rounds long! It doesn't help that the first stage is littered with rocks that send you reeling back for no reason. At first I didn't like Crystal Quest, but when I finally mastered the controls it began to grow on me. I like the way the difficulty ramps and gradually introduces new enemies. There are plenty of hidden goodies to discover including Super Mario Bros-style warps! The game has endless continues, so you can practice those tricky levels until you get it right. Crystal Quest is hard to play, but if you can come to terms with its unique style you'll find yourself using that continue feature. A lot. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

I've always admired this innovative combat/rescue side-scroller, which is far more involved than your garden-variety shooter. This Atari 7800 version is substantially better than the one I played on my Atari XL computer as a kid. UN diplomats have been taken hostage in a hostile country, and you must fly a chopper in and out of enemy territory to save them. While the country is never identified, the barren desert and Arabian architecture suggests the Middle East. Getting the hostages to safety won't be easy. As you fly over enemy lines, you're greeted with roving tanks, jets, and guided missiles. You actually need to blast open enemy strongholds to release the hostages, and then land on the ground long enough for them to climb aboard. The longer you're on the ground, the more vulnerable you are to roving tanks. The hostages are all black guys, probably because pasty white people would have blended into the desert sand. Choplifter can be a bit cheap at times, with tanks and jets tend that appear without warning, giving you little (if any) time to react. Should you return to headquarters in one piece, the hostages exit the chopper and you score one point for each. Yeah, the scores tend to be pretty low, with anything over 50 considered pretty impressive. As for the graphics, the vehicles are large and detailed, and I like how the helicopter tilts realistically as you fly forward. The American headquarters looks more like a little schoolhouse, but the landing pad and that large fluttering flag look nice. There's only one skill level, which I would describe as "moderate". With appealing visuals, an intriguing premise, and intense gameplay, Choplifter is ideal for arcade fans looking for a bit more substance. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

Retrogamers will recognize this as a remake of Night Stalker (Intellivision, 1982), a likeable maze shooter that pitted you against spiders, bats, and robots. While fun, its arcade style was undermined by hand-cramping Intellivision controls. Thank goodness Dungeon Stalker lets you effortlessly traverse the same rocky corridors using your favorite joystick. The maze has the same asymmetric design with a safe zone, spider webs, and dead ends. Your character is agile enough that he can often hug the wall to let projectiles pass by. Just be sure not to touch any explosions. You have a limited number of arrows (eight) so you're constantly having to reload by grabbing a new quiver. Touching the sword makes you temporarily invincible and a chalice awards you with bonus points. Objects are nicely animated and that twitchy, hairy spider looks particularly menacing. In a nod to Wizard of Wor (Atari 2600, 1982), each level culminates with an encounter with a teleporting wizard. The action is somewhat repetitive and the game awards you with too many lives. One cool bonus is how Dungeon Stalker incorporates voice synthesis and high-score keeping via the AtariVox peripheral (also available from Atari Age). The voice has a gurgling quality, and the first time I turned it on my friend Scott said "Dave, you're console just threw up a hairball." The robotic voice punctuates the action with comments like "terminated" and "jackpot". That's cool but he won't shut up and you'll tire of hearing "out of ammo" and "more arrows" over and over again. I do really like the ability to save the top five high scores at every skill level. Dungeon Stalker won't win any awards for originality but I like how it takes an old favorite and injects it with new life. © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.