Yars' Revenge

"One of Atari's Best"

Back in the days of the 2600, Atari was king of the video game world. Although it was a simpler time than today, many would-be classics would be created that astounded the people who were newly exposed to video games and what they are all about. One of these titles was Yar's Revenge. While being a simple game, keep in mind that this was released in 1981, where video games didn't need to be so complicated. Anyway, on with the review!

Story

Like all Atari games, Yar's Revenge tosses you into the action with no present story or even a simple tutorial to boot. In Yar's Revenge's case, not even the instruction booklet outlines any story of some sort. However, there was a short comic book that outlines the story.

Basically, there is a species of flies called Yars, which were mutated from the common house fly after radioactive exposure. These Yars have to power to fly from planet to planet, eat through any substance, and shoot powerful enegry missiles. They inhabited a plant known as Planet IV and lived there peacefully, until their enemy, the Quotile destroyed it. Before the Quotile's attack, the Yars were in the process of creating a weapon known as the Zorlon Cannon to protect Planet IV. Sadly, it was not complete when the Quotile struck. In order to avenge the lost planet, warrior Yars are sent to the Quotile in order to fight it.

When I first started playing Yar's Revenge, I had no idea that there was any possible way for it to have a storyline, but the comic proved me wrong. For that time, where ingame cut scenes didn't even exist, such a story is highly impressive.

10/10

Gameplay

When the game starts, your Yar begins in front of the Quotile, who is located on the far right of the screen. Your job is to eat away or shoot at its shield until you create a hole. At this point, you must summon the Zorlon Cannon by touching the Quotile or eating a portion of the shield. Obviously, the Quotile isn't just going to sit there and let you attack it freely. in retaliation, it shoots its own missles and occasionally turns into a swirl, which will leave the safety of its shield and hurl itself at you. You are invulnerable from the missiles in the ion zone, which is represented by a flashing, multi-colored segment in the middle of the screen, but the Swirl can kill you anywhere. In order to kill the Quotile, you will have to use the Zorlon Cannon. Supposedly, the Cannon's aiming has not been perfected, so you have to align yourself where you want your shot to go, then push the fire button to launch it. After this moment, it will head in your direction, which is your cue to move out of the way unless you want to be hit yourself. If you successfully hit the Quotile, you are congradulated with an explosion that takes up the entire screen (You survive and are able to move around for a few seconds). The screen then goes black and displays your score. Pushing the fire button at this moment continues the game, where, GASP! The Quotile is back for another beating! This goes on until you ending dying one way or another. Although repetitive, this is actually fun. The Quotile swaps between two different shield types and if you're good enough, the ion zone will disappear, which keeps the game fresh,

9/10

Graphics

This game appeared on the 2600, so I won't be so critical in the graphics and sound department. Still, the graphics aren't as impressive, even for the primitive time in which it was introduced. The screen is just a black void containing the ion zone, your Yar, and the Quotile. The explosion that occurs when you kill the Quotile is however pretty cool, considering how old the game is.

5/10

Sound

The sound in this game is EXTREMELY limited. There is the monotonous beeping in the back as you fight, the sound of the Yar eating, the sound of the Yar shooting, the Zorlon's Cannon sound, the Yar dying, and the explosion, which adds up for a whopping 6 sounds. It does add some tone for the game, but does not do much.

3/10

Replay Value

Since this is an Atari game we are talking about, there is no actual ending. However, if you find yourself sucked into playing this game, the replay value is near infinite. You can spend several potential hours trying to beat your high scores or just to see how far you can make it until your reach your demise. If you easily get bored because of repetitive concepts, you won't find much reason to play this for hours unless you find yourself bored with nothing to do.

8/10

Reccomendation

If you find this at a garage sale or somewhere online, I recommend it. It's fun and lets you take a look back into the past, where the games were simpler, but the fun factor was soaring through the roof and the whole family could gather around the TV and enjoy a good game together. If you find yourself without an Atari 2600, don't fear! There are many Atari compilations and joysticks that directly plug into your TV, most of them containing Yar's Revenge.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/08

Game Release: Yars' Revenge (US, 1981)