In the Fall of 1977, a little video game system called the Atari 2600 was released. Little did anybody know, that this was just the start of something big. Who would have thought that video games would have become as big as it has. And we can blame (or thank) Atari for over 30 years of the ability to playing video games from the comfort of our homes. Although Atari was finally trumped by Nintendo, they put up a pretty good fight.

Atari had what seemed to be thousands of games in it’s library when I started playing video games around 1984/1985. Some of the most interesting titles were developed and/or published by Activision. Probably the best known title for the Atari 2600 was the side-scrolling action game, Pitfall it’s sequel Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. At least I thought they were the best known titles. I can remember watching the goofy commercials for these games growing up. At the time they weren’t goofy. They made me want to run out an buy the latest game. It was an exciting time to be a kid. I can only remember a few other times that gaming was exciting. The Sega vs. Nintendo era (SMS vs. NES), Round II (Genesis vs. SNES), the Sony Playstation release, and the launch of the Sega Dreamcast. Nothing else has captured my attention like these particular periods of time.

Anyway, I stumbled across this compilation of Atari 2600 games originally published by Activision all packaged on a single UMD disk for the Sony PlayStation Portable titled Activision Hits Remixed. So I decided to give it a try.

INCLUDED GAMES…

Atlantis
Barnstorming
Beamrider
Boxing
Bridge
Checkers
Chopper Command
Cosmic Commuter
Crackpots
Decathlon
Demon Attack
Dolphin
Dragster
Enduro
Fishing Derby
Freeway
Frostbite
Grand Prix
H.E.R.O.
Ice Hockey
Kabobber
Kaboom!
Keystone Kapers
Laser Blast
Moonsweeper
Megamania
Oink!
Pitfall
Pitfall 2
Plaque Attack
Pressure Cooker
Private Eye
River Raid
River Raid 2
Robot Tank
Sea Quest
Skiing
Sky Jinks
Space Shuttle
Spider Fighter
Stampede
Starmaster
Tennis
Thwocker


VISUALS

The graphics are a bit dated, as you could expect. The majority of these games were released in the early to mid 1980’s during the height of the system. The graphics back then were not too stunning either. But the visuals weren’t horrible either. Nintendo beat Atari in visuals with the introduction of the NES. The graphics are somewhat reproduced accurately on the Sony PlayStation Portable. A little over 20 years ago the graphics were very “pixely”, and with the high resolution screen on the Sony PSP the pixels are worse. You have the option of playing the games in their original “full screen” mode, or you can switch to widescreen. Which is not really a good thing. The visuals are stretched, causing things to become distorted. I prefer to play the game in the original mode.

Games like Tennis, Pitfall (and it’s sequel), and Chopper Command have all been preserved nicely (graphics wise). It’s fun to play and see these games after years of playing modern games. It’s also a treat to see some of the first " 3 Dimensional " games. Like Starmaster, Robot Tank, etc.


AUDIO

Audio is what you would expect. If it were changed, I would have been upset. All the original bleeps, blips, and electronic glitch noises are all intact. Also, Activision has added a soundtrack feature to the package. You can listen to “classic” 80’s songs in the background while you play your favorite games. It’s kinda’ nice, because many of the games don’t have a lot of sound (or if they do it get’s annoying after awhile).

I would have chosen some different songs to the mix. I do like the inclusion of bands like Twisted Sister, Berlin, Talk Talk, A-Ha, and of course Soft Cell. But there a couple songs that I would have left out, just because I have never liked them. Mainly the inclusion of the song, PULLING MUSSELS (FROM A SHELL by Squeeze. I had almost forgotten that this song existed, until I heard it again here. I can’t stand that song, but maybe others who play this compilation do….(I am really sorry…) But you gotta’ love playing old school games, while listening to WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT by Twisted Sister. I sure do!!!


GAMEPLAY

Gameplay is pretty basic. Most games are translated well on the Sony PSP, despite not being able to use Atari’s analog “paddle” controller. The gameplay on a lot of the games is pretty stiff, and not as fluid like the originals. Tennis is an example of a game that was fun, but now isn’t. It’s become hard to control, and the difficulty level is increased because of it. But games like Oink! play fairly well, even though an analog controller isn’t present. Games like Boxing haven’t aged well. The controls are hard as well. Many of the shooters like, Beam Rider are still addicting, as well as River Raid. The Astroids-like Demon Attack is pretty addicting to play.

Some games focus on “button mashing”. Decathlon is an example of this. You build up your power meter by rapidly hitting the left and right buttons on the paddle (or in this case the L and R buttons on the PSP) and then hitting the X Button (on the PSP) to jump, throw, or whatever your task is for that competition. Dragster is another button mashing game.

Crackpots is a favorite of mine. You play a guy trying to protect your house form spiders. You stand on the roof and drop potted plants on top of spiders trying to climb up into your windows. Too many get in, and you lose a section of you house. Oink! is similar to this game, except you are a pig trying to lay bricks every time the big-bad wolf eats a brick from underneath your feet. If he clears a big enough whole, he extends his super long tongue (which would make Gene Simmons jealous) out to eat you.

Bridge is still boring in my opinion. I guess it’s because I really don’t like card games like Poker, Bridge, etc. But surprisingly it was a fairly popular game when it came out, because it was a fairly accurate computer simulation of a Bridge game. Fans of the game used it to train for real life Bridge tournaments. But these kinds of people also are the same ones who look at the Bridge or Poker puzzles in the New York Times too. Checkers is fun for a couple minutes, and then get’s old. But It’s nice to see these games preserved in some form or another.

Activision added the ability to Save game progress as well. If you get tired of playing, you can back out of a game and move onto another, leaving where you left off in the “memory”. This is pretty nice because the save feature was not included in any of these games when they were release. I always hated as a kid getting a high score, with all my lives left and having to either go to bed or work on something my parents wanted me to do.

One of the best things they did with this compilation, is the ability to unlock classic TV commercials of several games, as well as Club “Patches”. Many of the television commercials are goofy and over dramatic. But had a fairly high, and well done quality to them. The commercial for River Raid is kind of fun. It’s silly, overdramatic, and features a mock red alert situation. Starmaster has an eerie tone to it. It’s like watching an 80’s sci-fi, horror movie. Guy walks in, turns on the game, get’s too involved in playing, goes into a daze, and then finally gets sucked into the television.

Another cool features is the ability to unlock virtual “patches”. At one time if you got a high score, or did something cool in a game, you could take a picture of the screen or document your score and wrote in to the publisher, you could earn club patches of the game. I remember having friends, and seeing others who were a little older than me send in for these patches. They used to sew them onto their backpacks or jackets. At the time it was a nice way for the developer to have some contact with the gamers and fans.

Something that I really like is the inclusion of the “original” game manuals in the menu. Although they have been edited in a way, that reflects the gameplay and control scheme on the PSP. But the screen shots, diagrams, and other pics are all original. As well as the language and misprints in the manuals. It’s also fun to see the original manuals featuring the pictures and signatures of the game developer. As well as their encouraging words.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

Overall I would have to recommend picking up this compilation, even though it’s pretty dated. If not for the retro commercials included, buy it for the historical nature of it. I picked this game up fairly cheap and brand new. EBGames/Gamestop at the mall had their annual sale where everything in the bins is super cheap. I picked up the game for only $9.99 and it was well worth it. Now I am just waiting for a Sega Master System collection. That would be cool. Sega did release the Genesis Collection, so who knows…someday it might happen. Especially since Sega has re-registered the Dreamcast name and some rumors of a Dreamcast ׀”.

If you are a fan of retro games and want to re-live some of those memories…grab this game. If you have never played or heard of these games, it might turn you off if you play these games. They are very dated. But then again, you might be surprised at some of the innovations that have inspired many game designers today.



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[TITLE]:
Activision Hits Remixed

[PLATFORM]:
Sony PlayStation Portable

[DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER]:
Digital Eclipse/Activison

[YEAR of RELEASE]:
2006

[GENRE]:
Retro/Arcade/Shooter/Multi-Genre

[ESRB RATING]:
E for Everyone


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© Copyright 2008 Chris_Billings





Recommended: Yes