Man a biological "spaceship" and get ready to shrink down to microscopic size - you're going on a voyage through the human body! Blasting away viruses and disease cells, and leaving the body's natural defenses intact, you're going to give the immune system a little bit of a boost - at least until a disease cell takes out your micro-ship. Based on the 1966 movie of the same name. Raquel Welch not included. (20th Century Fox Video Games, 1983)

It's a Vanguard clone. That's really always been my first reaction to the very sight of Fantastic Voyage. Now, it's not a bad idea for a game, nor is it even a bad license, but...it's a Vanguard clone. And in any event, the save-the-patient-from-disease genre already had an all-time winner at the top of its list: Imagic's Microsurgeon for the Intellivision. Now, to be fair, versions of that game were announced, but never released, for other platforms (with the exception of a rare version for the TI 99/4A computer) - this genre wasn't exactly tapped out on the 2600. But I would've hoped for something more than a Vanguard clone.

To be fair, though, Fantastic Voyage sports a finer graphics resolution, and it's a lot more colorful, than 2600 Vanguard. But then, 2600 Vanguard was only trying to look like the arcade game, not a wacky, use-the-full-spectrum-of-Technicolor-just-for-the-hell-of-it big screen movie. (At least the game makes a good attempt to live up to that pedigree with its startlingly colorful graphics.) In the end, they're both decent games, so it's really down to a matter of personal taste. And since the 2600 library is full of play-alike games, I can't count off too many points just for that.

Rating:  Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and addictive game.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster