Lunar Lander (1979)

Out of most of the games that continue to frustrate me, Lunar Lander is one of the worst. Not that it's really a bad game but that out of all the games that I don't like, this one almost takes the cake.

Nobody likes this kind of "winner."

Before reading about the games history, the vector graphics did not really appeal to me; though it did make it look interesting, in my opinion, they could have easily done this with a conventional graphics system for the time. After learning about it being on early computers years before making it to the arcades it did make sense, for convenience sake, to make it a direct port.

Crap, crap, crap, CRAP!

This game takes a lot of concentration, taking both the conditions you're under (gravity, atmospheric friction), the velocity of the craft, the altitude, the desired landing site, fuel level, etc. I feel like a real astronaut trying to land a spacecraft safely (and find the nearest McDonalds); for that reason, I feel totally unqualified to make a landing. At least, I get that feeling by the tenth attempt. On the training level.

No one can hear you scream in space...as you blow this landing AGAIN!!

One day I will muster the fortitude, patience, and concentration to finally land this thing anywhere and not be so bitter. Until then, I will continue to say this game is inaccessible due to its difficulty and the number of things that you have to be watching.


Final Judgment: 5/10

Battlezone (1980)

In my youth, many ages ago, I owned an original Game Boy, one of those big, black-and-green graphic relics of old. Of course I only owned a handful of games, one of which was deemed too violent for my age and consequentially banned from. And while I still hold on to several of these priceless games, both the original Game Boy and one game in particular went missing, lost to the four winds.

One day I'll send some young adventurer on a quest to find it.

The one classic I happen to be missing would happen to be the double pack Breakout/Battlezone. Breakout was straightforward and easy, thus boring and never played. Battlezone, however, was the boss of this duo. You took the perspective of a tank gunner, rotating the tank gun and moving forward and backward to evade fire from another tank or putting yourself in position to take one out. I can only imagine what this was like in the arcade cabinets; with the size of the screen of the Game Boy, it was easy to become entirely enveloped in the whole experience: watching the radar, hearing the warning that an enemy was in range, performing evasive maneuvers, taking cover behind some random geometric shape, and praying for that direct hit.

He's coming right for us!

As with other games of it's age, this game had no end, forever spitting enemy tanks your way until you eventually died on the battlefield. This only intensified the feeling of the game; the constant stream of enemies kept you on your toes and had you thinking about where the next guy was coming from and if you had run before they caught you by surprise with a clever flank or back stab. Hard to argue with a simple game that kept you busy while being pretty fun along the way.

Final Judgement: 8/10

On a side note: does Battlezone remind anyone of Space Paranoids from Tron? Or vise versa?

Tempest (1980)

A famous game in the realm of arcade gaming, Tempest became infamous for its simple gameplay and unique experience. In a downward tunnel lie enemies that climb towards you, firing their blasters at you. Your goal is to use your ship to navigate around the pit and fire your own blaster before they can make it to the top and attack you directly. You are also given a select number of Super Zappers to destroy all the ships on the screen.

Above: Your impending doom from the abyss.

Though unlike the other games reviewed so far, this one has a unique appearance due to the vector graphics that project the tunnel, ships, and blaster fire with lines. This was probably the more noteworthy aspects that really allow for the believability that enemies were coming up the tunnel in addition to being pretty freaking awesome to watch. One initial problem I had with gameplay was the fact that holding down the fire button fired an almost constant stream of lasers. Though this does make fighting the endless waves of enemies manageable, it does make early states as simplistic button mashing and holding a single direction. However, in later stages this becomes difficult and almost essential.

Soon their fire is less of a threat and instead the only reason they're alive.

Soon the tunnel starts taking on different shapes, making maneuvering much more difficult up until you are on almost flat plane that doesn't allow for circular travel. This almost makes this button mashing and constant fire useful if not necessary as the difficulty rises. Overall I'd have to say that I enjoyed playing this for its different and interesting presentation.


Final Judgment: 7/10

Missile Command (1980)

Nothing can get as straight forward and intense as the classic Missile Command. Your objective: Protect your base from incoming missiles by setting the sky on fire by firing back with the missiles you have at your disposal.

Light up the sky!

The control was as simple as point and shoot. A missile flies to the coordinate and detonates, creating an explosion that can destroy incoming projectiles. While creating a wall of explosions will work in the first few levels, later ones start requiring you to pick out targets and chain together explosions. Shooting down the random bonus aircraft or UFOs also becomes essential when they fire of a shot or two as well. As with most games at the time, Missile Command didn't ever end; it instead just fired more, faster missiles, some eventually dividing into multiple missiles or not having a contrail as to disguise its position. The game taught you fairly well to watch your missile consumption as well because, if you spend those too liberally, you could be left with none to defend yourself, leaving the cities you were trying to protect at the mercy of your enemy. The game over screen took me by surprise as well when one final, giant explosion sound filled the speakers and consumed the screen with a blinking "THE END" as if I had allowed the end of all existence in my territory.

Oh, the HUMANITY!

Honestly in this day in age, a screen like that would have put this game off the market for seizure concerns. However, I could have easily got lost in this game trying to get farther in the levels and racking up the highest score. A truly unique strategy game and a precursor in the tower defense genre.


Final Judgment: 8/10

Adventure (1979)

As part of my latest class, Video Games: Art, Culture, & History of a Medium, I will be reviewing various video games, ghosts of the past that have defined the market ever since. In this review, I'll be putting in my thoughts on three very early titles from what may seem ages ago.

Above: My reaction to a class devoted to video games.

The year 1979 saw the release of Adventure, a title for the Atari 2600 and one of the first action adventure game. Once could not expect much out of such outdated hardware but I've certainly seen some games from the Atari that did very well in producing somewhat recognizable shapes and objects. Unfortunately for Adventure, developers were still getting their feet wet with the hardware capabilities.

Look at those cutting edge graphics! Crysis eat your heart out!

From what I understand, you are a dot on a quest to retrieve a chalice with the help of keys that can open certain castles all while trying to slay man eating ducks (or perhaps dragons?). This game was difficult for me to get behind not so much because of the graphics but how the game was controlled. While picking objects was as easy as touching them, trying to handle one object at a time could get frustrating as I'd be trying to run off with the key and instead grab the magnet as I ran by it. This was even worse when I found myself in the narrow labyrinth trying to run with a key, trying not to touch the bridge, and running from a dragon. A fair amount of knowledge was necessary in order to understand what and how certain objects acted or behaved. Hitting the dragon to slay it was easy; maneuvering the sword to the correct side of my character by dropping it and running to the other side of it was not. And of coarse these ducks were not ones to let an opportunity as a bumbling adventurer screw around with his sword go.

WHAT ARE YOU?! LEAVE ME ALONE!!

This game was frustrating and had some difficulties in how objects interacted, but it still managed to keep my attention. After all, you couldn't let those mutant Big Bird clones get the last laugh!


Final Judgement: 6/10