This is an example of some of the most bizarre licensing tangles in the video
game world. Midway long ago bought the unit that was once Atari's arcade
division, while Atari's home video game unit was sold to various parties, the
latest of which is Hasbro Interactive. So, while various parties like Hasbro
and Activision have been releasing vastly update version of Atari chestnuts like
Pong and Tempest,
Midway still has the rights to the original arcade games - and so we get this
very nice collection of arcade emulations for the Playstation.
(Midway [developed by Digital Eclipse], 1996)
There are a few minor drawbacks. As nice as the emulations of Atari's vector
graphics games (i.e. Asteroids, Battlezone, etc.) are, it's hard to
match the sharpness of vector graphics on a raster screen, even the best of
television sets. MAME has an advantage if one has a good VGA monitor, but with
no such display at its disposal, the Playstation can only do so well with vector
emulations.
Centipede, Missile
Command and Super Breakout fare quite a bit better, since those
games were always based on a raster display. It's a pity this collection came
out in 1996, before the analog joystick controllers which are now ubiquitous for
the Playstation. They're as close to a trakball as one can get on this system,
which comes in very handy for vaporizing killer insects or incoming
missiles.
What The Atari Collection might lack in minute nuances of game play
and graphics, it makes up for with a vast mountain of bonus material. A
positively huge video interview with Atari's earliest star designers can
be viewed all at once, or can be viewed in snippets through the details table of
contents. There is also a healthy complement of the usual arcade collection
extras, namely game cabinet artwork and early design sketches, but the video
piece alone is worth the purchase price. It's further justification that PBS is
missing the boat by not turning J.C. Herz' Joystick Nation into a TV
series.
Rating:
Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and
addictive game.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
Games emulated (links lead to reviews of the original games):
Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and
addictive game.
