Armor Ambush

"Combat on Steroids"

M-Network, the not-so-secret identity of Mattel Electronics, makers of the Intellivision, brought several Intellivision ports over to the 2600. Today's subject was a port of Intellivision's answer to Atari's ''Combat'', ''Armor Ambush''. Although this port doesn't come close to achieving the depth of gameplay provided by ''Armor Battle'', it's a decent port, and definitely provides much needed depth to the ''Combat'' formula.

Graphically, the makers attempted to wrangle as much detail as the Atari 2600 was capable of providing. The playfield is a randomly generated field of open fields, paved roads, thick brush, and water, populated with buildings. The types of terrain are represented with very basic differently colored pixels, but the creativeness with which these elements are combined provides a much more vivid background than many other games of the period, and certainly trumps the stark mazes of ''Combat.''

Sonically, the game doesn't improve much on the ''Combat'' formula. At least the incessant rumbling tanks are gone, replaced only with the driving rumble when you or your opponent moves a tank.

Gameplay. Wow. This is where ''Armor Ambush'' really shines. Had Mattel just settled for the graphic improvements, slapped the ever present score bar on the top and marketed this as ''Combat II'', it still would have been a pretty good game, but they really upped the ante here. Both you and your opponent command two tanks at once, switching between them by pulling down on the joystick. This adds some very strategic elements, as either the active or the inactive tank can be targeted by your opponent, and it makes moving and strategic positioning a HUGE factor in this game. Furthermore, you and your opponent start out with a total of 25 tanks, and the last man with tanks left is the victor. Every time a player loses both his tanks, the number of tanks remaining for each player is shown, and play resumes on a new map. So, between the dual tank strategy and the constantly changing terrain, you have a game with a depth of gameplay that holds up pretty well even by today's standards. This isn't ''Advance Wars'' or anything, but, for it's time, it was a remarkable achievement in video gaming.

When talk turns to the games of yore, people are quick to bring up the blockbuster titles, like ''Pitfall'', or the notoriously horrible games, like ''E.T.'' Very little discussion goes on about games like ''Armor Ambush,'' which gave an early display of exactly what the 2600 was capable of in terms of gameplay. M-Network proved that strong concepts could be achieved on the limited hardware of the 2600, and also showed that larger graphical concepts could be relayed to the player through limited graphical resources.

Now, if you've got a buddy, a 2600, and a case of beer, ''Armor Ambush'' could be a good way to kill an afternoon. At least until the NBA season starts.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/02, Updated 10/07/02