Vanguard

"A very cool Defender clone"

When I played this game, I told myself that it would just another clone of tried and true game, but was I wrong. Sure, the Atari 2600 is considered inferior in every possible way to say, a Coleco Vision (I mean back in the day). Most games did not have music and the sounds were just a bunch of bleeps and bloops. I remember in Defender, you saved people (were they people? They looked like a block or something). Main difference in this game compared to Defender I or Defender II was that in Vanguard you can shoot in all directions (except for angles). Pick it up now.

Graphics 6/10
The graphics in Vanguard do not make you think what are you and what were you are shooting at. The spacecraft looks like, well, a space craft and the enemies were little thingies that would blow when shot at.

Sound 5/10
Not a whole lot of sounds, just the usual Defenderesqe sounds. There was no music, as this was the Atari 2600. It was just bunch of skish and crashing sounds, which were semi cool and semi wierd.

Control 5/10
The control at first was awkward at first, but once you get used to it, it became some what smooth. One nusance was with the firing, it just got frustrating after a while.

Gameplay 6/10
The gameplay was alright for an Atari game. It just gets harder and harder every level you go to, same amount enemies, now there faster.

I found it a good game, but not as a classic as Defender or Defender II. You should try this one out if you can find it at some garage sale (you may never know what people try to get rid of). I also suggest you play either Defender game, if you did not already play it. Which I know you played it, right?

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/00, Updated 03/05/00