Let me know what you think my these new Odyssey 2 reviews. Out of this World/Helicopter Rescue is a re-review, while War of Nerves is all new.
I also took the opportunity to paragraph-ize the whole Odyssey 2 section. Fixed a lot of typos and may have even adjusted a few grades...?
2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
- VideoGameCritic
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
Awesome to see these on the site this morning -- I always love Odyssey² reviews!
I've never played War of Nerves, but your take matches the other review I've seen, i.e. that it's a remarkably early example (maybe the first) of an RTS-like game on the console. Both you and the other reviewer agree that, sadly, it's also borderline-unplayable.
It's been probably a decade since I last played Out of this World/Helicopter Rescue, but I remember Helicopter Rescue as being particularly pathetic. There are a few games on the Odyssey² that fall below the level we usually see from first-party releases -- Atari, Mattel, Coleco, etc. usually made an effort to push even their weaker games beyond "early tech demo/early alpha" tier.
Not much left to review on the system other than edutainment -- just the two board games, really. In other regions there's more, of course, including Loony Balloon, one of my favorites on the system. Do you have the multicart?
I've never played War of Nerves, but your take matches the other review I've seen, i.e. that it's a remarkably early example (maybe the first) of an RTS-like game on the console. Both you and the other reviewer agree that, sadly, it's also borderline-unplayable.
It's been probably a decade since I last played Out of this World/Helicopter Rescue, but I remember Helicopter Rescue as being particularly pathetic. There are a few games on the Odyssey² that fall below the level we usually see from first-party releases -- Atari, Mattel, Coleco, etc. usually made an effort to push even their weaker games beyond "early tech demo/early alpha" tier.
Not much left to review on the system other than edutainment -- just the two board games, really. In other regions there's more, of course, including Loony Balloon, one of my favorites on the system. Do you have the multicart?
- ASalvaro
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
when i was a teenager i had a huge Intellivision collection of games and my best friend had a huge collection of Odyssey 2 games..i used to hate staying by his house because the Odyssey games bored me to tears compared to my Intellivision games...altho i did like the game Turtles! lol
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
ASalvaro wrote:when i was a teenager i had a huge Intellivision collection of games and my best friend had a huge collection of Odyssey 2 games..i used to hate staying by his house because the Odyssey games bored me to tears compared to my Intellivision games...altho i did like the game Turtles! lol
The Odyssey² does have a few games I've really enjoyed, like Pick Axe Pete, Smithereens, Killer Bees, and the aforementioned Loony Balloon. Lots of duds, though.
- BlasteroidAli
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
Wow the Philips Video pac never got any good games. Two more snore fests... I stand corrected by the fans of the system that it did have some good games released for it. I liked the heritage of the system and if I had more money back in the day I would probably have got one just to test it out.
Last edited by BlasteroidAli on April 18th, 2021, 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
Like others mentioned above, it's always good to see new Odyssey 2 content. I'm a big fan of the system...almost bought one when they were new (my Dad was convinced it was a computer, too, as it had a keyboard). We went with the Atari VCS instead though. I found a boxed console for $20 about 15 years ago and still play it often. I especially like "Attack of the Timelord", "Smithereens", "Quest for the Rings" and "KC Munchkin."
I imagine most everyone at a site like this knows that two guys, Ed Avertt and Sam Overton, programmed pretty much every game for the system (with a few exceptions). Mr. Avertt in particular is owed a debt of thanks by Odyssey 2 fans...he saved the system in '78 by convincing Magnavox not to pull the plug on the console and that there was in fact a market for home video games! It's an interesting story:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/faq/essentials/#4
I imagine most everyone at a site like this knows that two guys, Ed Avertt and Sam Overton, programmed pretty much every game for the system (with a few exceptions). Mr. Avertt in particular is owed a debt of thanks by Odyssey 2 fans...he saved the system in '78 by convincing Magnavox not to pull the plug on the console and that there was in fact a market for home video games! It's an interesting story:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/faq/essentials/#4
- GeoX
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
Notice how the figures are exactly the same as the ones in “Take the Money and Run”?
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
GeoX...very true! Here's why...
"The Odyssey 2 Intel 8244/8245 chip had an embedded ROM with 64 pre-defined objects (i.e., sprites), such as the alphabet, symbols, numbers, and basic objects. Anyone who played on the Odyssey2 would recognize these as they would appear in several different games, such as the “tree” and “man” objects. From this library, the Odyssey2 could display up to 12 of them at the same time. This is one of the reasons why you will see several Odyssey2 games with the same look and feel. The other reason is that they were usually written by the same person or team (e.g., Ed Averett was the main programmer for the Odyssey2 and wrote 24 games himself), and they re-used parts of code that were used in one game into another."
https://hardwaresecrets.com/inside-the- ... -odyssey2/
"The Odyssey 2 Intel 8244/8245 chip had an embedded ROM with 64 pre-defined objects (i.e., sprites), such as the alphabet, symbols, numbers, and basic objects. Anyone who played on the Odyssey2 would recognize these as they would appear in several different games, such as the “tree” and “man” objects. From this library, the Odyssey2 could display up to 12 of them at the same time. This is one of the reasons why you will see several Odyssey2 games with the same look and feel. The other reason is that they were usually written by the same person or team (e.g., Ed Averett was the main programmer for the Odyssey2 and wrote 24 games himself), and they re-used parts of code that were used in one game into another."
https://hardwaresecrets.com/inside-the- ... -odyssey2/
- ASalvaro
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
here's a good read..an interview with Ed Averett
https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/AVERETT.HTM
https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/AVERETT.HTM
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Re: 2021/4/18: Odyssey 2: Out Of This World/Helicopter Rescue, War of Nerves
ASalvaro wrote:here's a good read..an interview with Ed Averett
https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/AVERETT.HTM
Excellent article, ASalvaro...thanks for sharing!