Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  
  • entries
    309
  • comments
    816
  • views
    55,561

About this blog

I review games... How original...

Entries in this blog

 

Sssnake (Data Age)

I am saddened by this game, since I can see a little glimmer of greatness in there but it is so masked by how garbage the rest of the experience is that it doesn’t really matter. Sssnake is an awful game that makes you feel awful when you play it and absolutely relieved when you turn it off. I’ll admit that this particular game is hard for me to review; it’s pretty well known that I do enjoy bad games, but those games are entertainingly bad, Sssnake is just… bad, so I’ll try to keep it brief (bu
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

2
 

Spike's Peak (Xonox)

Alright… So I promised that I would never review this game a long time ago in my Ghost Manor review but I feel that I now know enough about the game to give it a proper review. Spike’s Peak makes me cringe; I can find zero enjoyment from this game no matter how much I play it. Right now Spike’s Peak is the only Xonox game I have that I’ve yet to review and there is a very good reason for that, because playing this game puts me in a bad mood, so I must approach this game while already in a bad mo
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

5
 

Spider Fighter (Activision)

It’s time to play a true classic, a game that seems to stand above the rest with its fun and quality. SPIDER FIGHTER!!! Or as I call it ‘SPIDER FIDER’, a game that is both fun and cathartic because I don’t like spiders and would much rather beat them up. Your objective in Spider Fider is to shoot the crap out of insects and spiders that are trying to steal the fruit from an orchard, to stop them you shoot poison pellets from your Bug Blaster. The Master Nest will spew out ugly bugs for you to co
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

0
 

Spacemaster X-7 (20th Century Fox)

I’m going to try something a bit different today, I’m going to try and compress an entire review into one paragraph, let’s go. Spacemaster X-7 is one of the more original games released by TCF, and as far as I can tell it isn’t tied in with any known license. The main objective of the game is to destroy the star base in the center of the screen, by shooting it a whole bunch; this is made more difficult with an expanding and contracting shield that has ever shifting entrances. It’s not smooth sai
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

8
 

SpaceChase *Re-reviewed* (Apollo)

I’ve been thinking back to my Spacechase review that I posted all the way back in June, it was my second review and I feel it is one of my worst. There is almost no talking about the game itself just me bashing it for being a bad game, and holy crap the second and fourth paragraphs are just one sentence each! That’s terrible! So I think it’s about time to go back and give this review a facelift.   Spacechase by Apollo is an unabashed and shameless copycat of Demon Attack that totall- Wait what
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

6
 

Spacechase (Apollo)

I don't like this game, I REALLY don't like this game. This game takes the standard Space Invaders/Gorf/Galaxian move-around-on-the-bottom-of-the-screen-and-shoot-things affair and makes it worse. You fly your blue Christmas tree around the bottom of the screen and shoot enemy ships. That. Is. IT. Unlike Space Invaders which had impending doom as the enemy ships moved closer to the bottom of the screen and speed up as more of them were destroyed. Unlike Galaxian with enemies dive bombing you, or
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
 

Space Panic (Coleco)

I think it’s fair to say that the Colecovision WAS the home arcade system, Atari tried with the 2600 with mixed results, and around the time the Colecovision came out Atari tried again with the 5200, with… uh… even more mixed results. I suppose you could argue that both the Colecovision and the Atari 5200 had very similar flaws, in that the standard controllers were awful, either in design or build quality, or both. In the end the Colecovision was somewhat victorious, and then the market crashe
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

3
 

Space Jockey (Vidtec/U.S. Games)

Space Jockey is... a game... I think that's truly the highest praise I can give it, It does nothing new, it does nothing special, it is the most vanilla side scrolling shooter on the system. This is rather saddening since this game was programmed by Garry Kitchen... The same Garry Kitchen who programmed Keystone Kapers, Pressure Cooker, and Donkey Kong, I don't know what happened, but to see such creativity boiled down to something so basic is rather sad to see. Your first clue as to the basenes
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

3
 

Space Invaders (Atari)

Space Invaders? Classic! At least the arcade version was, but how does the 2600 killer app stack up today? Well... when compared to the other versions that have come out since, and even the sequel that was released on the 2600, not well. This game has really dated, but I'll try to be as fair as possible despite not being a very big fan of the game... I prefer Galaga to be honest... but there doesn't seem to be a Galaga port on the 2600... yet at least. How are those graphics?   Basic... Very b
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

4
 

Space Cavern (Apollo)

While Space Cavern can only really be considered an 'Average' game, I find that it's actually kinda good, at least for Apollo. It's nothing too special just a guy running around on a rather cool gradient floor shootin' monsters... Huh? What? those aren't monsters? they're... *picks up manual* Electrosauri... whose horns generate.. uh... electr-ro molecular charges capable of disintegrating you? Huh... Well, it seems that more effort was placed into writing the story and drawing the box art than
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
Space Attack (M Network)

Space Attack (M Network)

So I’m gone for over a week and what do I come back with? Space Attack, a very bad idea from Mattel. Mattel’s MO was to make, slightly inferior perhaps, ports of their Intellivision games and release them on the 2600 to entice people over to the Intellivision, whether it worked or not is anyone’s guess. Most of the games Mattel ported were simple shooters that didn’t require much use of the Intellivision’s keypad controller, Space Attack, or Space Battle as the INTV port was called, is the major
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

4
 

Sorcerer's Apprentice (Atari)

Sorcerer’s Apprentice is an odd one to say the least. This was the only one of the four planned Disney games to be released on the 2600; it seems the market fell out from under Atari very soon after this game’s release. What year did this game release on? 1983? Oh, that would explain it. The three other planned Disney games were Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Donald Ducks Speedboat, and Dumbo’s Flying Circus, if you were wondering. All of these games have been recovered and it seems that they
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
 

Sorcerer (Mythicon)

So we're back here again... And so soon, it's almost like I'm running out of ideas! Almost. I'll get around to mocki...reviewing Mythicon's other opus Star Fox, but for now we're looking at Sorcerer, which is arguably Mythicon's best game, it's the king of the crap. I recently bought a boxed copy off of Ebay for a fairly decent price, and have received on the night I'm writing this review, now I wasn't originally going to review this game, but it has something that none of my other Mythicon game
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

5
 

Something odd...

So today I did something that I've never done before. I took a broken, non-working system, specifically an Atari 2600, and fixed it. I bought the system and box together (matching serial numbers), with no inserts, paperwork, or controllers, at a highly reduced price. The last time I snagged a matching SN console and box it was a Vader with the box only and working for 90$, this time I got lucky and got this non working four switch Woody for 50$, and considering this guy sells working 2600's at 4
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

2
 

Solaris (Atari/ Douglas Neubauer)

If you were to ask me what the greatest game on the 2600 is from a graphical, technical, and gameplay standpoint, I would hands down say ‘Solaris’. This game squeezed every drop of potential the 2600 had then added in a splash of its own, and the result is something that one would assume could only be created for a much more powerful system. As you would likely assume, ‘Solaris’ is a Red Box game and as such was released late into the 2600’s lifespan, even though it was 1986 I get the feeling 26
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
 

Solar Storm (Imagic)

IT’S PADDLE TIME!!! If you ask me the Paddle is one of the most under-utilized controllers ever made, there just weren’t enough games made that use them, and even fewer actually used them to their fullest potential. Unfortunately the game we’re looking at today doesn’t use the Paddles in any new or interesting way; actually I don’t think I could classify any of this game as ‘new or interesting’ in fact it’s somewhat generic which is weird from a company like Imagic. Yeah this is an Imagic game,
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

2
 

Solar Fox (CBS Electronics)

This arcade conversion- wait... this was an arcade game? Huh... never heard of it, but if it's as decent as the 2600 version is, it must have been fairly popular... Okay, so I just looked a klov.com and this is one of the least common and/or popular arcade machines on there. Hmmm... Well it seems, for once, the port is better than the arcade game it was based on. This game was put out by CBS, who, as far as I can tell, has one of the best records in the 2600 library, no major stinkers whatsoever
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

3
 

Sneak 'N Peek (Vidtec/U.S. Games)

Why was this game made? I have no idea... but I do know that Sneak 'n Peek from Vidtec/ U.S. Games, is one of the worst games for the system. I mean... Hide and go seek on the 2600? This kind of formula wouldn't even work today. I'm gonna keep this one short, because this game just makes me mad.   Graphics... Now this is what makes me angry! Why does this game have some of the best visuals on the system?!? The opening screen is a large well brawn house with smoke smoothly rising from the chimn
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

0
 

Snail Vs Squirrel (Bit Corporation)

This game has been on the docket for a very, very, long time, but for the longest time I was completely stumped by it. I simply couldn’t play this game properly, until recently when I sat down and just played it, and looked up the manual on Atarimania but that isn’t important, what is important is that this is one of the strangest and most unique titles on the 2600, whilst having one of the most unique titles on the 2600. Snail Vs Squirrel or Snail Against Squirrel, or just Squirrel, it doesn’t
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

4
 

Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (Coleco)

Style over substance, an unfortunate vice that seems to grip many games released nowadays, as it seems all of the budget for them went to making the game look good not leaving enough for a developed plot or characters. We’ve seen this most recently with the Star Wars Battlefront games from EA, which, while being absolutely gorgeous have some of the most lackluster gameplay I’ve ever witnessed. There are games that do the opposite though, games like Stardew Valley and Terraria have very simple gr
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

3
 

Sky Skipper (Parker Brothers)

Children’s games are nothing new, just about every console has them and most of them suck due in large part to them being far too simple and condescending for even children to play, but that hasn’t always been the case. On many of the older consoles, especially the 2600, you had games made for both adults and young children at the same, the one that comes to my mind is Missile Command where it has a disclaimer printed on the box that it has additional versions for young children, even Draconian
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

0
 

Sky Jinks (Activision)

Of all the ‘Avoid-it’ games I think I have the most experience with Sky Jinks, after my furious battle in last year’s HSC I can firmly say that Sky Jinks is one hell of a fun game. In essence Sky Jinks is a giant slalom; you must guide your little plane around the colored pylons whilst avoiding strategically placed obstacles. The graphics are rather plain, the only thing I thinks is worth noting is the shadow that your plane casts gets further away from you as you gain altitude, otherwise there
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
 

Skiing (INTV)

Since I mentioned it earlier in my Skiing review, I feel rather obligated to review it now. The Intellivision also has a skiing game called ‘Skiing’ and in my opinion, despite being on a far superior console is nowhere near as good as the 2600 version. Despite most of the game being identical to the 2600 version, the Intellivision’s Skiing has some flaws that completely kill the experience for me. Just a note before I dive into the review, actually this is something that kinda confuses some new
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

0
 

Skiing (Activision)

Okay, uh, so I have just realized that I haven’t written a single review about an Activision game, holy crap, how did I even manage that! Apart from Atari Activision has released the largest amount of games for the 2600, well let me rephrase that, Activision has the largest third-party game library on the 2600 with a whopping 46 released games (correct me if I’m wrong), more than any other third-party. I suppose Activision had a leg up in the competition being the first ever third-party game pub
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

1
 

Skeet Shoot (Apollo) Again!?!

A little while back I decided to get ambitious and start putting some of my reviews of Gamefaqs, because I thought they were good enough for the greater internet community, it seems though that my second iteration of my Skeet Shoot review (the first was three paragraphs of me laughing) was rejected as trolling as I was perhaps a bit hard on the game. I rewrote the review to be more professional and lo and behold they snapped it right up. This is my professional take on Skeet Shoot... The game's
DoctorSpuds

DoctorSpuds

0
AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...