Clown Down Town

"I used to love this when I was three. What happened?"

I played this game the first time in the early 90's back when I had an Atari 2600. Later, in like 1996 I got myself a small controller that could be plugged into the TV and had like 100 Atari 2600 games pre built into it. Although I had a PS, I played with this controller far more often. Anyway, there was a game that was missing in that device, and it was Clown Down Town. Then about a year ago, I started downloading ROMs for different systems and I finally got ahold of my long time favorite game, Clown Down Town. Why am I telling you this? Well because I have to have some kind of introduction for my review, and beause my review has to be 400 words in length. So anyway let's talk about the game now.

Story: 5/10

As with many Atari 2600 games, there is no evidence of story in the game itself. All you'd ever know was either in the game title, or in the manual, or from what you're doing. Since I don't have the manual, we'll judge the story from the title and actions in the game. The title has a cool flow to it, and in the game you control a clown and you have to go to a theatre (maybe) and there are these dudes that try to hit you and you have to escape from them. It's decent I think.

Graphics: 9/10

Excellent graphics. The clown and enemies are nicely done and animated, but the bakgrounds take the cake. In every screen there are very nice backgrounds like cars or scenery that has stuff moving and is very very cool. One of the best on the system.

Sound: 10/10

By far the greatest aspect in the game, and probably why it was my favorite when I was a kid. The music is soooooo good and isn't the least bit annoying or repetitive. Magnificent work, and is good reason alone to play it. The sounds of jumping or getting hit is cool as well. Awesome.

Gameplay: 4/10

This is what you do: Move to the right and jump over the dudes in your way before time runs out. That's it. Some dudes move towards you and some stand still. Some screens have one person, other have two and one has three. Once you reach the theatre the game puts you back in the first screen and you start over with a harder difficulty (faster moving dudes and less time to finish each screen). Not much but the music makes up for it.

Replayability: 7/10

The game keeps getting harder and harder and the gameplay is simple enough to be fun but yet not boring. Also the music will make you keep playing so you could listen to it.

Final: 5
Simple and fun, with cool music. Thing is, it's too simple, even for an Atari 2600 game.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/06