Phaser Patrol

"Arcadia Gets their Supercharger off to a good start"

Picture this: It's 1981, and you're a happy kid who owns an Atari 2600 console. You love it, but you sometimes wish it could do more, that the games were more complicated, That the graphics were better. All of a sudden along came this company called Arcadia (it changed its name to Starpath later) with the answer, the SUPERCHARGER!!! A nifty little gadget that plugged into the cartridge slot of your 2600 and loaded games off of cassette tapes, featuring games with Better graphics, more complex gameplay, and the flagship title and pack-in for this truly remarkable piece of technology was a little old space shooter called Phaser Patrol.

Gameplay: 7/10

It doesn't really show anything revolutionary in terms of how it plays, it's a first person game that puts you in the cockpit of a spaceship and has you shooting at other ships. You warp from Sector to Sector, trying to clear them all of enemies. There are 36 sectors in all, and the map will show you (sometimes) what's in them. Some have enemies, some are empty, some have friendly starbases, and some are "Unknown." Basically, it may not be revolutionary, but it's still fun and addictive.

Graphics: 8/10
They don't exactly stretch the Supercharger's capabilities, but they're still much better than regular 2600 graphics. My only complaint is that the numbers on the bottom of the screen are a little bit small to be easily seen on a small TV.

Music/Sound: 4/10
Standard Atari buzzes and bleeps.

Story: 7/10
It seems there are these Ugly (and absolutely Fearless) nasties named "Dracons" flying around plundering planets. According to the manual. "While pretending to sign a peace treaty, the devious Dracons launched a surprise attack. And they've virtually captured the Federation's farm galaxy. Victory seems so close the Dracons can practically smell it with their hideous nostrils. One lone defender stands between them and control of the human food supply. You." Okay, it gets the job done.

Control: 6/10

Unfortunately, it's one of those complicated games that makes you sit next to your 2600 and flick the switches on the console to do things in the game. It takes some time to learn, but it's worth it.

r8ing: I like it.

Buy?
Hmmm... I would tell you to buy it, but it's hard to find. The supercharger and tape together will cost you some money. It's fun to play, but you need to decide yourself if you want to spend all that money on it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/05