Homebreviews - part 24

Video Game Reviews

Entry posted by Nathan Strum August 27, 2008

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What did we ever do to outer-space? They're always trying to bring us down with their interplanetary attacks and endless hoards of invading aliens! Buncha jerks...
(Personally... I think they're after our CheeseKorn.)

Backfire
4/5

In most "shoot the aliens before they reach you and destroy you" games, you're completely outnumbered by the enemy. But in Backfire, you have two cannons at your disposal, and only one enemy attacking which never even fires a shot. Sound easy? Well, you're more likely to end up shooting yourself than the bad guys, since the shots from one of your cannons can destroy the other, or worse yet, bounce back off one of the enemy's shields and come right back in your face. And if one cannon bites the dust, so does the other. Lose them all, and lose the game.

Backfire was a very frustrating game starting out, since I tend to play this type of a game with a "shoot first, and forget about asking questions" approach. But with Backfire, patience and careful shotmaking are the keys. You have to be sure that if you miss your target, you aren't going to blow up your other cannon, or hit one of the many shields populating the screen and have your shot reflected back at you. You must always be aware of where your shot is going to go and where your cannons are at all times. Making the game even more challenging is that the shields are always in motion, so you can't just camp out in a comfortable spot and blast away. Plus, if the enemy ship gets too close to you, your ship shudders violently, making it a matter of luck whether you hit him or not. The enemy ship can attack either of your cannons, so you must switch control between them and shift your focus from one half of the screen to the other. And if that wasn't enough to deal with, there are bonus ships that fly across the center of the screen which make for tempting targets... and distractions.

Once I got over not being able to blast everything in sight, I enjoyed Backfire. I think it's still a very hard game, and there are times when it seems a bit unfair - such as if you get shot, you're momentarily incapacitated, but the enemy just keeps coming and you can easily lose two lives in rapid succession. Of course, the only way to get shot is by shooting yourself, so I suppose it's good incentive not to do that. There's not much sound in the game, and some audio cues for the enemy getting closer or the bonus ships approaching would have been a nice addition. The graphics are pretty good, although some of the colors don't have very good contrast. One complaint is that you can't start a new game with the fire button, so you're going to need to reach for the Reset switch quite a lot. Also, the collision detection is a little off, so your shots will pass right through the enemy ship's tail from time to time. Backfire is a good game though if you're looking for something that's a little different, and a definite challenge.

Inv+
3/5

Inv+ is all about aliens invading from space, and as always, you have to shoot every last one of them before they shoot you or land on your planet. But this time, there are more of them than ever!

Inv+ is a different take on the homebrew Space Invaders concept, where instead of trying to accurately re-create the look of the original arcade game, the focus is more on re-creating the gameplay and feel of it. The end result is the only 2600 invader game with all 55 aliens on screen. The way the graphics are handled keeps the aliens small and in proportion with the screen, but it also looks very blocky with each alien being only two rather chunky pixels wide. Obviously, this severely limits any sort of detail, but once you get past the looks, the game plays pretty well. The speed of the aliens feels right, the UFO scoring is patterned after the arcade version, plus there's a simultaneous two-player option and an invisible invaders mode. In the end, Inv+ does a good job of putting up a lot of enemies on screen and making it work. It's still basically just Space Invaders, but it manages to do that pretty well - if you can look past the blocky graphics.

Space Instigators
3/5

In Space Instigators, it's you against those pesky space-invading aliens again. Dodge their shots and shoot 'em all before they land or it's game over. And while this may all seem familiar, it's not quite the same game you remember playing on your 2600, or at the arcade.

Space Instigators is a homebrew version of Space Invaders written from scratch, with the goal of making a more accurate version than what Atari produced. Instead of just six invaders across, Instigators manages an impressive nine without any flicker. The sprites look closer to the original arcade version as well, although the bottom two rows aren't quite right, and the UFO that flies across the top of the screen is disproportionately huge. While the game looks pretty good on the surface, there are some shortcomings with it. First, the sound effects are dominated by a "popping" sound every time a shot hits something - like firecrackers going off. Second is the aforementioned UFO, which moves far too fast across the screen to really factor into the game; hitting it is more a matter of luck that anything. Third, there are no variations or options - just a single, one-player game. Finally, and most critical, is a limitation of the 2600 itself: the display area just isn't big enough. The aliens take up so much space, that it only takes the whole group a few steps to reach the edge of the screen, and within seconds of starting a game, they've already gone across and back. The strategy of moving into a clear area to pick off one column at a time suffers greatly, and while a large number of aliens may appear more arcade-like, the whole game feels out-of-proportion. Although an impressive programming feat, in the case of Space Instigators, more isn't always better.

The game comes in a plastic VHS tape box, with a nicely printed cover insert. At about 50¢ each, it's a good solution for affordable homebrew boxes. I didn't really care for the cartridge being held in place with Velcro, but having a box didn't have any bearing on this review one way or the other.

This Planet Sucks
3/5

This Planet Sucks is a port of the vintage Taito arcade game Lunar Rescue. Your mission is to land on a planet, rescue trapped colonists, and then blast back up to your orbiting mothership before running out of fuel. You can only carry one colonist at a time, and there are three to rescue per level. If you lose all three colonists, or crash all of your spaceships, the game is over.

This Planet Sucks is a pretty good translation which captures a lot of the gameplay of the original. The animation of the panicky colonists running around (or writhing on the ground if you land on them) is pretty funny, and reminiscent of the arcade version. What's lacking however, is the ability to shoot at the orbiting asteroids and enemy spaceships on your way back into orbit. This was a big part of the original, and it's really missed here. The graphics look good, although the garish colors may give you a headache (an option to play the game in the original arcade colors would have been welcomed), and the sound is adequate. There are no game options or variations, such as different platform locations or shapes, difficulty settings, or two-player modes; and you can't start a new game using the fire button. There's also a bug that will pop up from time to time: if you crash into the top-most asteroid when descending, the game will instantly reset - even if you had multiple lives left. Still, This Planet Sucks doesn't suck - it's a nice throwback that manages to capture some of the fun of those early video games, and it's one of the better bargains in the AtariAge store.

Asteroids DC+
3/5

Asteroids DC+ is a hack of Asteroids that uses the Indy 500 driving controller to rotate the spaceship, rather than just the left/right directions on a joystick. The gameplay has also been made slightly harder, and the sprites have been changed to look more like vector graphics. The graphics changes look pretty good, but seem to have caused a problem with collision detection where your shots will occasionally pass straight through some of the smaller asteroids. Also, a black and white mode would have been a nice option, to better resemble the arcade graphics.

There were no instructions included, so I guess it's presumed you either already own Asteroids, or can look up the manual online. But you'll have to also look up the hack's webpage to discover that the driving controller needs to be plugged into the right joystick port. Once you've done that, the driving controller spins the ship very quickly and accurately. The problem is, if you expect to be able to actually play the game beyond just spinning and firing, you'll need to combine the driving controller with some sort of multi-button controller (similar to the arcade game) in order to have enough buttons to thrust, fire and activate hyperspace (or shields). Do that, and you'll end up with something that works very well - like the arcade versions of Omega Race or Cosmic Chasm. However, if you go to the trouble of buying or building a five-button controller, you might as well just use that since the driving controller doesn't really improve on it much. If you don't already own a copy of Asteroids, you might consider buying Asteroids DC+, but be prepared to buy or build an additional controller (in addition to getting a driving controller) to really make it work. But if you already own Asteroids, save your money, get yourself a five button controller, and skip this edition.

Missile Command TB
5/5

The underlying question of a hack is: does it improve the game enough to make it worth buying again, if you already own the original? With Missile Command TB (for use with the Atari Trak-Ball) the answer is "yes". The arcade version of Missile Command used a Trak-Ball to aim with, but the 2600's joystick control always fell short. Missile Command TB solves this by bringing Trak-Ball control home.

Prior to this hack, you could already plug in a Trak-Ball and use it with the 2600 version of Missile Command, but it wasn't true analog control with variable speed and direction. Instead, it simply reproduced the eight directions and one speed of a joystick, no matter how the ball was rolled. But now Missile Command TB allows you to switch the Trak-Ball from Joystick mode to true Trak-Ball mode, and gain full analog control over the aiming cursor. Speed, direction and distance all respond exactly the way they should. This really transforms what was already an excellent game into a much more satisfying arcade-like experience, giving you incredibly responsive and precise control. There were no instructions included with Missile Command TB on how to select different Trak-Ball speeds, or choose any other game options, so you'll need to go online somewhere and dig that up. Still, not only is this hack worth buying, it's worth buying a Trak-Ball for, too.

Up next: Fun things to do in the backseat of a car.

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