The incorporation of the touchscreen into these "vintage" video games adds a degree of accuracy to some, such as Breakout and Pong, making movements more precise and bringing a new element to the gameplay. Others games, however, have been somehow overlooked and offer no stylus-sensory interaction. Asteroids and Gravitar rely solely on the use of the D-Pad for control, and while satisfactory, don't gratify the urge for touchpad support.
Graffiti artists "remix" each game to give them a more contemporary flavour -- unfortunately, they're not very successful. While the classic versions are boxy and even dull -- using a lot of black, brown and orange -- the new-school versions are bright, gaudy, and cheap -- reminiscent of something created in Paint.
The desire to purchase Retro Atari Classics falls under the heading of "Ooh, remember that! How cool -- I want it!", followed by the after-thought, "But I don't really need it and it probably won't get much use". While able to spark initial interest, the game doesn't really have that much longevity. If you've got cash to burn and want a childhood flashback, this will suffice.
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23/10/2006, 12:38 PM
rating
3/10
Not true to the classics and remixes add nothing
For fans of the original Tempest, this version is broken in so many ways. It's sad to see Atari put such a half-hearted effort into porting these retro classics into this mess. How hard can it be to update 20+ year old games for modern systems? Also, the complete lack of configurable controls shows how little effort went into this package. The selection of games included is confusing: Sprint and Lunar Lander are classics? Why not Super Breakout? and Millipede in place of Centipede? Pole Position in place of Sprint? Atari should have put more effort into getting the originals correct and skipped the remix fluff.
Pros: A few of the games (Missile Command, Centipede and Gravitar) look and play mostly like the original.
Cons: Most other games either look wrong, have bizarre controls, or are too boring to play more than once (Warlords is just "done" after one round). The biggest problem I've seen: EVERY time I play Tempest, the system locks up after about 15 minutes.
All the "remix" versions add nothing to the games.
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