2012/1/22: Atari 2600: Jr. Pac-Man, Pigs In Space, Superman

[VideoGameCritic]

Maybe I will go back and lighten up the tone a bit.

[VideoGameCritic]

Taking my cue from unhappy readers, I revised my Superman and Jr. Pac-Man reviews.  The wording is less over-the-top, although the content is basically the same.  Let me know what you think!

[Jake]

Wow, big improvement over the original. I'd play these if I never tried 'em before.

Supermans grade is maybe, a letter grade too low in my book... but that's me. At least not a D-, as the game below is Surround at a D.

[CSly1]

I completely disagree with your assessment of Superman. The non-linearity of the game world's layout is one of the game's greatest strengths and a brilliant bit of game design. Requiring the player to construct a mental map that accounts for the geographic peculiarities of the game world makes the game world feel much larger than it would if the player could simply rely on an instinctual sense of 2-D navigation. Remember, Superman is a timed game, and learning to navigate it's unique geography with temporal efficiency adds an additional layer of depth to the gameplay. If the game world was linear and one could simply fall back on instinct, then a unique and challenging element of the gameplay would be completely lost. And, honestly, the layout isn't hard to comprehend, or, indeed, memorize. It seems to me like a petty thing to complain about.

Regardless, the game also includes several other elements of strong design that deserve recognition. There are 14 game objects and 10(!) independent actors in the game (not including the player) all following their own agendas in a dynamic multi-screen gameworld where events continue to occur off the main game screen. Granted, the flicker can be extreme at times, but few VCS games can equal Superman's dynamic complexity. Moreover, I believe Superman is the first [u]ever[/u] video game to create a gameworld where events continue to occur off-screen. On that point alone, it should be given proper credit and hailed as an innovative and pioneering game. Also, the subway system in the game acts as a warp screen, another video game first.

Furthermore, the player has two fundamental tasks in the game:

1. Round up Lex and his gang and put them in jail.
2. Gather and reassemble the three pieces of the bridge.

In another brilliant bit of design, those two tasks actually work at cross purposes to one another. If you concentrate on rounding up the villains, the helicopter will have an opportunity to disperse the bridge pieces, making it difficult to rebuild the bridge in a timely fashion. If you focus on reassembling the bridge, Lex and his gang will scatter to the far corners of the game world making it harder to nab them quickly.

All of these innovative design elements being present in a [u]4K[/u] game from 1979 is astonishing! Add in the fact that the game is immensely fun to play and maddeningly addictive, and you've got nothing less than a masterpiece, a game I consider to be the 2nd best on the VCS, and probably still the best Superman videogame ever made.

[Lucky Man]

Those are much better now. Thanks Dave!

Although I do still see a mistake in Superman: You repeat 'they all' twice.

[Fingers dripping ink]

Jr. Pac-Man has always been my favorite of the VCS Pac-games, although it's widely considered hard as hell. It was one of the first games I really loved, and really got yelled at for playing too much

Thanks for the re-review. It brought back some good memories.

[Jake]

[QUOTE=CSly]I completely disagree with your assessment of Superman. The non-linearity of the game world's layout is one of the game's greatest strengths and a brilliant bit of game design. Requiring the player to construct a mental map that accounts for the geographic peculiarities of the game world makes the game world feel much larger than it would if the player could simply rely on an instinctual sense of 2-D navigation. Remember, Superman is a timed game, and learning to navigate it's unique geography with temporal efficiency adds an additional layer of depth to the gameplay. If the game world was linear and one could simply fall back on instinct, then a unique and challenging element of the gameplay would be completely lost. And, honestly, the layout isn't hard to comprehend, or, indeed, memorize. It seems to me like a petty thing to complain about.
[/QUOTE]

Ah, that's what I was trying to say... yes, it would be far too easy to just have a simple maze... and it's complicated for a reason.

Some gamers seem to miss the point.

What's good about this very old Superman game is, even if you don't wanna learn
the complex layout, you can fly quicky around the terrain, 'til you find where you need to go.

[Matt]

I only played Superman as a kid. I traded a game with a fellow classmate to get superman. Since it was so long ago, I haven't played it in years. But I remember it as a rousing good time. I immediately had to beg my Mom to buy it, since all the other kids wanted to trade for it too. She did, and I have many great memories playing it!

[Hagane]

Jr Pac-Man is very difficult, but I used to play it a lot in my childhood.

[matmico399]

I think it's long overdue for Superman to get a re-review. Back around 1981 shortly after I got my first 2600, I traded a game of mine to a classmate and he gave me Superman. I was absolutely obsessed with that game. The maps aren't especially hard so I'm not real confused with the situation. Although I played it for months and months and even requested it for my birthday as I had to give the game back. I thought it was so fun. Not Adventure but my second favorite for going to contiguous screens. I hope more people will appreciate this game.