Combat

Well now, isn't this interesting. I'm doing another review!!!!! This time it's about a game with tanks!!!!!!!

... on the Atari 2600.

Hey! Just because it's an Atari game, it doesn't mean it's not good!!!!

Metal Slug - Stage 1

Now, my first atari game review. How would I do this? Well, I guess I'll just wing it as I go along. FIRST SOME HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!1

History:

In 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found the company known as Atari.

Have you played Atari Today?

As the famous artist Pablo Picasso once said...

"Good artists copy, great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso

Since video games are now officially considered an art form, you could say the people at Atari were artist. And like Picasso said, great artist steal, and steall they did!

The same year that Atari was founded, their first video game Pong came out as one of the very first video arcade games.

Pixels so big that the ball in itself was a giant square. I shit you not.

The game of pong was basically a rip-off of the tennis game program for the Magnavox Odyssey release in, wouldn't you know it, 1972.

You should be thankful for this thing. It's basically the reason you're able to play your Xbox 360s and PS3s.

So how did Atari steal the idea of Pong? Well, as the story goes, Nolan Bushnell went to an electronics trade show where a demo of the Odyssey was also present. After playing the machine, Bushnell wasvery impressed with the tennis program for the system. He proposed the idea for an improved version of the game to the company and by November of 1972, Pong was released.

In a wierd twist of fate, the Odyssey went on to dismal sales numbers while Atari made shit-tons of money off their arcade game and went on to create their own home system, the Atari 2600, in 1977.

One button and a joystick, that's all you'll ever need.

And with the Atari 2600, at least in the early years, came the game of Combat.

You know, Combat. *pew, pew, pew*

NOW ON TO THE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Gameplay:

It's playable.The only downside is that you need two players to play the game. You see, unlike today, video games didn't come programmed with AI for characters. If it was a two player game, there was no one player setting. The only thing moving the other character on the screen was a friend or a family member that could put up with you long enough to not punch you in the face.

They might look like they're having fun, but on the inside they want to punch each other.

Even though they didn't program an AI for the second player, they did program mainly two different alternate game modes. Tank mode...

and plane mode...

By the way for you hardcore Atari nerds. I know that there's supposed to be 27 video games in one on this cartridge, but they are all variations of the tank and plane versions of the game.

To go into all the different game modes would be too much to do so I'll talk generally about all of the game modes as a whole.

For the tank mode, the joystick is used to turn and move the tank while the button shoots. If you shoot the enemy, then you get a point and the enemy is placed at a random point on the screen. The obstacles on the screen are used as cover to hide from the enemy and the enemy's tank fire.

As for the plane mode, the planes are in constant motion so the joystick only has the purpose of turning the plane. The obstacles in this case are clouds. You hide under them to try to confuse the enemy as to where you are on the screen. And if you shoot the enemy, you get a point and the enemy is randomly transported to a point on screen.

The controls, although they're a little awkward and hard to get used to at first, they are pretty good for an early Atari 2600 game. They really do show off the Atari's capabilities really well. Too bad they replace the game in the 80s with that horrid Pac-Man game.

This game is bad, and the creators should feel bad.

Bleeps and Bloops:

Really? Are you sure you want to hear this crap? It's an Atari game for fuck's sake! There's nothing worth listening too! Alright, if you insist.

I warned you. There really isn't much. Atari tries really hard to make quality engine (yes, those are supposed to be engine sounds)on their system, but the system limitations wouldn't allow it.

Conclusion:

In the end, it's a good Atari 2600 game but not a very good video game. You really need to be into retro video games, specifically the Atari era, in order to appreciate the "quality" of this game. If you are a true, hardcore retro gamer then pick it up. There are millions of copies out there and you could buy one amazon or ebay for about 5 bucks including shipping and handling if you're lucky. If your a casual gamer looking for an older game to pass the time, DON'T BUY IT!!!! YOU WILL HATE IT!!!!!!
For a score, I give it a 6/10. Good, but not great.

Well, that's it for this review. This is MisterBo signing off.