A Trip Into The Old Atari Days!

This game may not appeal to everyone. I'm giving you fair warning. If you are not a fan of games that were made in an age when no one knew what the hell "graphics" were, you will not want to play, rent, buy, or even see this game. Midway (the people behind some of the greatest arcade games of all time) went into their vast collection of arcade game and put six of them on one disc. These are games that rivaled Pac-man for video game superiority (Pac-man is still one of the best games to play today). They are Defender, Defender 2, Sinistar, Joust, Bubbles, and Robotron. Now, I will give you a rundown of how each game plays:

DEFENDER: In this game, you pilot a small spaceship and you have to blast the alien ships to stop them from taking your planet's inhabitants (or something like that). This is one of the games that everyone who has ever owned an Atari 2600 (like yours truly) has had in their collection at one time or another. The gameplay here is very solid (just like all of the other games on this disc). But, this really shouldn't be a problem since this is an 8-bit game and you're playing it on a 128-bit system. So, anyway, this game is sorta fun. The only problem is with the sound, but that I will cover later in this review.

DEFENDER II: This one puzzles me. It plays exactly like the first Defender game, with just a few different aliens to blast and new planets to blast them off of. If you liked playing the first Defender game, you won't have a problem playing this game. With gameplay (and minimal plot) that was also in the first game, it's sorta like the old "it is, but it isn't" sort of thing.

SINISTAR: This one is sorta like "Space Invaders" meets "Asteroids". You fly around in your spaceship (NOTE: 20 years ago, most games involved spaceships and aliens. Just thought I'd let ya know) attempting to get to the evil Sinistar (the game's boss). As you fight to get there, you have to blast away his alien minions as well as dodge and destroy asteroids that hurtle your way. I am yet to get to Sinistar, but the game itself is loads of fun. But, that's because I grew up on an Atari, and have always loved the classic games from that system. If you rent or buy this game, you should give this one a shot.

JOUST: This one is a staple in the video game world. The object is you ride a birdlike creature (I didn't read the manual, so I don't know what the Hell most of these things are called) and survive the deadly Joust. To do this, you must take out your opposing jousters by hitting them on the head as you fly over them. Also, you have to dodge different perils that will invade the battlefield as time goes on. Sure, it sounds silly, but you'll be hooked on it. Hell, Joust is the one game I always wanted (but never got) for my Atari as a lad, so now I play that one (second only to "Bubbles") the most on this disc. Only one word describes this game, classic. 'Nuff said.

BUBBLES: In this game, you are a little bubble (sorta like a Scrubbin' Bubble) and your job is to clean all of ants, dirt, and other disgusting things from the sink. As you consume these enemies, you will grow (and get a real goofy smile on your face), and you'll be able to take on the bigger objects in the sink (before, they would pop you and you would be dead). Again, I know that the plot to the game is extremely goofy, but that's the beauty of these classic games. You can play them, know they are goofy as Hell, and still have fun playing it.

And finally, we have:

ROBOTRON: In this game, you play a robot/human (again, I'm not real positive on this one, folks), and you have to destroy all of the robots and things around you. No real plot here, and it's real confusing. You can only shoot forward, and you start in the middle of the screen. This means that you have to maneuver yourself into position before blasting your opponents to Hell. This is the one game that I play rarely.

Now, earlier I mentioned sound. Well, since this is a 128-bit system, all of the odd blasting noises do a strange thing to the screen. What type of strange? Let's experiment.

First, find a vaccum cleaner or blender (whichever one is just lying around). Next, turn on said appliance near the TV. Go ahead, do it right now (NOTE: The TV has to be turned on for this to work). See those little lines. That is what you see every time you fire your lasers on all of these games (except for Joust and Bubbles, which don't use lasers). These can get annoying, so prolonged gameplay really isn't the smartest option.

Overall, loyal reader, if you are a fan of classic arcade games, then I suggest that you buy this one as soon as humanly possible. And, for those of you who feel that old games like these should never be seen again, I warned you earlier. Why were you still reading?

But, seriously, this game should be owned by all those Dreamcast owners who remember the good ol' Atari days, and want to re-live the magic.

Trust me on this one. You'll thank me later.