Atari Collection 1 (Evercade Review)

The first Atari collection for the Evercade contains twenty game split across the Atari 2600 and 7800 systems. These two systems aren’t ones that appear too often in terms of collections so it provides those interested in a slice of gaming history a different place to start. That said, whether having a collection 2600 arcade ports is something the gaming community wants or needs is something else entirely.

The 2600 games are a mixed bag in terms of quality and many of them simply don’t hold up well anymore. This isn’t a greatest hits collection by any means and many of these wouldn’t be troubling the tops spots on any Atari 2600 games list. Gravitar, Missile Command Centipede and Asteroids offer speedy, solid representations of their arcade counterparts but the two standout games are Adventure and Aquaventure.

Adventure does an excellent job of creating an engaging quest with minimal graphics and is rightly regarded as something of a land mark title. Aquaventure has you descending into the depths, avoiding enemies so that you can grab treasure and then trying to get back to the surface in one piece. It’s remarkably addictive and will have you returning long after the novelty of many of the other titles has worn off.

The standout among the 7800 games is Ninja Golf. A crazy mix between golf and a scrolling fighter, it has players running to where they have hit their ball while fighting off a wide variety of enemies such as ninja’s, snakes and sharks. The environment and enemies change depending on if you are in the water, rough or on the fairway and once the green is reached you face a showdown with a dragon from a first person perspective. It’s the sort of hidden gem we would like to see more of on the Evercade. Unfortunately the other 7800 games aren’t anything really to write home about.

Overall, the first Evercade Atari collection is a mixed bag. There are only three games here that we would whole heartedly recommend but they are real highlights. The cartridge is interesting and does showcase an often overlooked part of gaming history. The relatively low price does make it easier to recommend in order to get hold of Ninja Golf, but there’s no hiding the fact that there are far better examples of the 2600 and 7800 out there that could have been included. A cautious thumbs up for retro fans then.

 

Game Ratings:

7800                                                                     

Ninja Golf         5/5                                                  

Alien Brigade    2/5                                           

Food Fight         3/5                                                  

Motor Psycho    3/5                                            

2600                                                                              

Adventure         4/5   

Aquaventure     4/5

Asteroids          3/5

Double Dunk    1/5

Centipede         3/5

Crystal Castles 2/5

Canyon Bomber 2/5

Desert Falcon    3/5

Gravitar             3/5

Missile Command 3/5

Night Driver     1/5   

Steeple Chase   2/5

Swordquest      3/5

Tempest           2/5

Video Pinball   2/5

Yars Return      1/5                                  

Nintendo Switch Roundup 3: Roguelikes

Dead Cells

An early contender for the systems ‘indie darling’ Dead Cells has continued to expand and develop since its release. There is certainly a lot of game here for players that click with its action platform groove. The different areas are varied and offer just the right amount of risk reward to entice players to explore for hidden treasures (and probably die in the process). The only major issue we had with it was that the games frame rate stutters at times which can lead to confusion and often death. The bosses are also particularly challenging and will see many hit a substantial wall that stops them progressing on to see all it has to offer.

 

Moonlighter

For those that like their adventuring more from the top down point of view Moonlighter represents a charming time sink to get into. At night you explore one of four themed dungeons retrieving loot and slaying beasts and by day you put things on sale in your shop to raise gold. It creates a compelling loop that allows players to feel like they are progressing even when life in the dungeons isn’t going well. Even with upgrades to equipment there is still a good level of skill required to overcome the games gigantic bosses but the challenge is never overwhelming to the point that you are likely to give up and dedicated players will be onto new game+ before they know it. It’s a unique mix of styles that works well and should be sort out by the adventurous types out there.

 

Downwell

A simple, yet effective, platformer of sorts, Downwell is a pure shot of adrenaline which works perfectly in small sessions. Players have to guide themselves down a well while using there gun boots to blast away at rocks and the many enemies they encounter. A host of new power ups and styles are available and the action is always intense and fast moving. It’s also unbelievably cheap to get hold of (around £1.99), and really there is no excuse not to give it a try.

 

Void Bastards

Just to prove that rogue elements will work in just about any genre here we have a FPS take on it heavily inspired by system shock. Players must guide their ramshackle ship along a galaxy map stopping at derelict vessels to scavenge for food, fuel and parts to continue on. The cartoon style of the graphics and sharp script create a game both funny and terrifying in equal measure and help to ease the pain of the many deaths you will encounter. Creatures and ships are varied and fun to explore, though we did find ourselves in later levels running onto a ship, grabbing whichever part we needed and legging it a little too often. The occasional frame rate glitch is also present but in this case rarely causes a problem. It’s not overly long either which means you’ll be diving into the challenges and other extras while you are still hungry for more.

 

Black Future 88

If you like your roguelike set in a dystopian future inspired by Blade Runner then Black Future 88 may well be the game you’ve always dreamed of. Glowing neon and pounding synths accompany players as they have minutes to make it up a procedurally generated tower and topple the evil Duncan. The action is insanely intense and unrelenting as you blast and slash your way through a crazy assortment of enemies and bosses. There a numerous weapons and buffs that can be unlocked along the way and countless different systems you will have to balance out to have a decent shot at getting to the top in one piece. The only down side is that there is so much going on that when played in handheld mode it can get difficult to see at times. This really is an overlooked gem that everyone should experience.

La Mulana (Switch Review)

La Mulana has been around for a long time. The Wii was the first console to get a port but now we can pull our hair out wherever we are with this portable version on the Switch. It may seem a strange choice but La Mulana is a perfect candidate for on the go gaming – even if it is still incredibly difficult.

For those unfamiliar with the game it follows an intrepid archaeologist as he drops into the legendary ruins of La Mulana. It’s a puzzle platform game in the purest sense with block pushing and weight placing high on the agenda. There’s lots of whipping, pinpoint platforming and traps galore. There are also massive great boss monsters and lots of death.

There’s no getting away from just how difficult the game is. Especially when you first start it can seem overwhelming and any hints at what to do are obscure to say the least. Once you break through the initial barriers things do get much better for players though. It took us about an hour and two wasted save files to really get going. The third time we started it all began to click and we would recommend any player to use a guide for the first couple of areas if you feel you aren’t getting anywhere.

Once we had gathered the warping Holy Grail, bought a symbol decoder from the shop and got past the first boss it became a much better adventure. It’s all about getting your head around what you need to do and once that happens it reveals itself to be an excellent platform adventure. By the time we reached the second proper area everything was fine and it felt we were really getting into it.

Level design is strong throughout with areas different enough from each other in terms of enemy type and design. There are fiendish puzzles and riddles to solve but the core dynamic is based around placing weights on pads to make things happen in the environment. Weights can be picked up on your adventure but it’s normally best to buy a hefty amount at the village shop before diving back into the depths.

Once you have the Holy Grail you can warp to any discovered Grail points which makes life a bit easier. We did have an issue with certain points disappearing from our warp list though – if this is a bug or something we haven’t worked out mechanics wise remains to be seen. There’s a host of different equipment and weapons to buy and you need to make sure you are well prepared to have any chance at all. What makes life even more difficult is that you don’t really know what order you should be attempting the areas (and you really do need to get through them in the right order to stand a chance).

Indeed, There is very little signposting at all. The first time we played  we didn’t even work out that each area needed to be completed and subsequently dived down as deep into the ruins as far as we could go and had to restart our save file as we just couldn’t get back to where we wanted to be. It's also slightly annoying that the game comes with borders either side of it. Making a Switch game and then not adjusting the port to the systems native aspect ratio is somewhat bizarre to say the least.

Overall, there’s no denying that La Mulana is both an excellent platform game and a great addition to the Switch catalogue. However, it is very tough and obscure at times. It’ll certainly appeal to the Spelunky and Super Meat Boy crowd but requires a more patient and thought-out approach.  If you stick with it you’ll find a great adventure game. Many though may well be put off by all the barriers it throws up for players and that’s a real shame.

Overall 7/10

Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo Review (Switch)

Following on from the excellent Shooting Stars Alpha we now have another six shooters packaged together to offer further blasting fun on the go. Like before this can be purchased as a special edition but we will be focusing on the games here. The Bravo collection compiles two series with Samurai Aces 1-3 and GUNBIRD 1, 2 and oddity GUNBARICH included.

As you would expect, all six of the games are worth playing but there is perhaps less variety between them than in the previous collection. Gunbird 1 and 2 are fairly similar and allow players to pick from a selection of colourful characters who fly horizontally up the screen blasting away looking for tech bonuses. Characters range from a witch on a broom to a steampunk robot and each plays significantly different from one another to make repeated visits enjoyable. As you would expect, bosses are excellent and the look and design of the levels keeps energy up and makes them a delight to look at.

The first of the Samurai Aces games pretty much takes the 1945 template and changes out the planes and setting for that of flying ninjas and ancient Japan. It also turns the action up significantly and the game is pretty full on compared to the others in the two collections. Again, the interesting visual design helps to keep the interest and dedicated players up for a challenge will find much to draw them back in time after time.

Samurai Aces 2 and 3 change things up a bit and scroll horizontally instead of vertically. Characters have a few different attacks here aside from just the standard ‘shoot’ and ‘bomb’, such as a charge attack and it allows for a more flexible approach to the action. The games are still absolutely solid though so don’t expect to be sailing through the stages anytime soon. Clever use of the charge shots can also reap huge points as well for the expert players out there.

The oddity of the bunch is GUNBARICH which isn’t really a shooter at all but something much closer to ball and block games such as Arkanoid. Players still have control of a whimsical fantasy character but now instead of shooting you have to flip a ball back up the screen to destroy all the blocks. Your character can move around a fair amount of the screen with the aim being to remove every block on the stage before moving onto the next. It is a fun diversion but it’s certainly not up there with the likes of Arkanoid itself or other games that have put their spin on this genre such as Kirby’s Block Ball.

Like with the Alpha collection the biggest potential issue is that the games don’t really have much in the way of extras. There are a few display options (yes, you can play with the Switch vertical), but nothing in the way of museum extras of other interesting information. When you consider the detail that has gone into some of the other collections on the system then this is a noticeable omission. If you get hold of the physical release there is a ton of stuff to go through there but that does come at a premium price.

Overall, we are more than happy to dive back into another six of the best from Psikyo. This is a great way to give the games a higher profile on the Switch and the nature of them means they are perfect for playing on the go. The GUNBIRD games especially are long time favourites of ours and we would recommend this to anyone looking to scratch that blasting itch.

Overall 8/10