Atari Classics Evolved

"So many things wrong with it"

I wasn't planning to buy this collection because most of these same few arcade games have been in so many compilations before. My sister wanted me to get it though, so she could play Asteroids on my PSP, and it was on sale for 10 bucks. Sure, why not, right? Well, let's just say I'm glad I didn't pay any more than that. It seems like each game has some sort of glaring flaw, whether it's awful controls, flawed graphics or both. With one exception, none of the games' controls can be changed, aside from an almost useless sensitivity adjustment.

Each game has both a classic and evolved mode. The evolved modes feature new graphics, sound, and added music. Each one has four awards to achieve by completing various tasks in evolved mode. Getting all 44 awards unlocks the Atari 2600 with 58 games.

Asteroids / Asteroids Deluxe:
(Single-screen shooter with 360 degree movement. Destroy all the asteroids and avoid getting hit by them.)
Well, I really don't have anything bad to say about these two. They both play pretty well and look okay in both classic and evolved modes. The only thing I could really say is that text is small and hard to read in the classic mode, and it would've been nice to have the control scheme from 2600 Asteroids as an option for people who are used to that.

Centipede / Millipede:
(Single-screen shooter that takes place in a garden rather than space. Shoot the titular myriapods that split apart when hit while also being attacked by spiders and other bugs.)
Because the arcade games used vertically oriented monitors, these two are played with the PSP rotated 90 degrees. I don't mind that, and it's something I wouldn't mind seeing more often if it would benefit the game, but AS AN OPTION. It just wasn't necessary in this case, as the original games would've fit fine in the PSP's resolution. (This would be especially significant if you play your PSP on a TV, which is not nearly so easy to turn on its side.) The graphics are also scaled up to fill the screen, without anti-aliasing, so it just looks bad. A few video options would've been nice. A guide is displayed on screen to show what the buttons do, but the buttons are arranged as if you were playing horizontally, which is a really sloppy oversight. The original games used a trackball for control, but honestly I have no problem using the dpad.

Tempest:
(Tube shooter.)
Another game that makes you hold the PSP vertically. That's fine for the classic mode, but the evolved game just would've been better horizontally. This one also has the incorrectly oriented on-screen guide. (What the hell, didn't anybody actually playtest this?) The original game used a dial or "paddle" controller, but I've never played Tempest in an arcade, so I can't tell you how much worse this is or isn't. Seems to work alright to me though.

Battlezone:
(The first FPS? Shoot the enemy tanks before they shoot you.)
I think this game holds up the worst out of any of them. It's just not that fun to me. Plus the evolved mode's graphics take away any charm the original had. I'll give it credit for being the only game with more than one control scheme though.

Warlords:
(Defend your castle and try to destroy others by whacking a ball around.)
This game suffers from the lack of the dial controller the arcade version had, but at least it's playable. (Have fun trying to enter your initials using the dpad though.) It has one of the better evolved modes.

Pong:
(Digital Ping Pong.)
This one has by far the best looking evolved mode. Actually, it has 4 evolved modes: Ping Pong, Pinball, Air Hockey, and Neoclassic (now with bloom, to make the ball extra hard to hit). You can flip through the modes in the middle of the game, even though each seems to work in a slightly different way. Unfortunately, the lack of a dial controller makes the game pretty much unplayable in classic and Ping Pong modes, with the tiny ball and paddle.

Super Breakout:
(Destroy a wall by hitting a ball into it.)
The lack of a dial controller makes this one practically unplayable in classic mode, but the evolved mode makes it worse by making the ball glow and throw sparks everywhere. This is too bad, because Super Breakout is probably my favorite game in this set. There's really no excuse for the controls. People have made perfectly playable games in this style using dpads for decades, notably Nintendo's Alleyway. Argh.

Missile Command:
(Shoot down missiles before they level your cities.)
This one originally used a trackball, and classic mode suffers for it. The evolved game is a little more controllable, but the gameplay is more annoying. (A missile waits until it's too late for you to hit it, THEN it splits in 3 and destroys 3 of your cities. Oh really?) The graphics aren't that great in either mode, with the classic mode being stretched poorly (it's just less noticeable than in the 'pede games) and the evolved mode falling somewhere between uninteresting and too flashy.

Lunar Lander:
(Make a safe landing without using too much fuel.)
This is the one game here that I'd never played before in any form. It seems to have a pretty steep learning curve. I'd hate to have had to pump quarters into an arcade machine to practice. Once you get used to it though, it is fun. The gameplay gets old pretty quickly though. In a shocking twist, the graphic effects in the evolved mode actually help rather than hinder you. Landing spots shine lights upwards so you can actually see them once the game zooms in.

2600 / Awards:
Perhaps the worst thing about this set is how you unlock the 2600 games. The awards range from somewhat challenging to freakin' impossible. Worse, you need to do ALL 44 OF THEM to unlock the games, rather than getting a few at a time. A casual gamer who just wants to relive some childhood fun with this set is NOT going to be able to pull off more than half of them, let alone all 44. Fortunately, you can download a save file with them unlocked. Unfortunately, if you're like me and would still like to at least try, you'll have to switch back and forth between your own and the downloaded file if you want to play those 2600 games.

The 2600 games are a mixed bag, with some working pretty well and some just ruined. The sound emulation is pretty bad, so any game with a lot of shooting (Asteroids, Yar's Revenge) is going to be kind of annoying. Adventure is extremely buggy - just plain broken, and has some problems with color and visibility. Games that originally used the paddles are worse off without them, but it seems like they aren't as bad off as the arcade games in this regard, except for Warlords, which is even worse for some reason.

The games feature a 2-player control scheme where player 1 uses the dpad to move and the L trigger to fire, and player 2 uses the buttons to move and the R trigger to fire. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. Or it would be, except all the games default to this 2-player control scheme (including the ones that are 1-player only), so if you'd rather use the more natural 1-player controls you have to switch it back every time you start a game, since it doesn't save your preference. What's more, some games inexplicably use the player 2 controls for player 1, which you can fix by playing in "flipped" mode. Why the hell should you have to do that though? Why couldn't they just make it so all the games just work? It doesn't make any sense!

Conclusion:
Is this set worth it? For the most part I'd say no. It's kind of awful, with much of it seeming really half-assed and few "what the hell were they thinking?" parts. Still, there are a couple of games on here that turned out okay, so it might be worth picking up if it's really cheap and you're a fan of Asteroids.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/08

Game Release: Atari Classics Evolved (US, 12/19/07)