Page 38 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #6

Many tanks
Many tanks Strategy X

Many tanks
Many tanks
Many tanks
Many tanks
Strategy X
Combat
Combat
Combat II
Combat II

2600 2600

Probably the most common video game A really ugly game. Very blocky.
cartridge of all since it was the original pack-
in game (#2601) with the Atari VCS. Some Your tank looks like some sort of insect.
collectors have so many copies that they 2600 The trees look like green stop signs.
could use them, instead of Legos, for building Konami had to start their home games
blocks. Not that this wasn't a good game, The long-lost prototype has been found somewhere I suppose. Anyhow, this is a
because even though it was very simplistic, it and placed in the public domain on the vertically scrolling game. There are
was still a lot of fun. Plus there are many Internet. It is currently downloadable and walls to break down and tanks to kill for
variations on this cart besides tank battles. playable on a PC via an emulator. Later on points. Both can be avoided if you don't
There are various combinations of air battles it will be available in cartridge format, but mind a low score, because the objective
from biplanes to jets. Besides the regular is to reach the fortress and complete the
tank games, there is Tank-Pong, Invisible right now, the only playable game is level. You should try to pick them off if
Tank, or both. On some games, shots can be Tanks. The sequel does have improved you can because they fire a constant
straight, guided, or billiard (bounces off graphics; instead of just walls, there is a barrage. A big problem is that you move
sides). The billiard shot is the most fun be- variety of terrain and background scenery. in the direction you are firing and this
cause you can play bank shots to reach your can turn out to cause a collision if you
opponent. The only drawback to this game is
that once you get hit, you lose a life and spin This one would rate an incomplete. are too close. There is no standing still
around, and it takes too much recovery time. because the screen continues to scroll.
Also, for some strange reason there is a 2 There is a fuel limit, but reserve gas
min. 16 sec. time limit on most games. This There are more screen shots and another cans are scattered about and generally
game is recommended, but like Rodney Dan- review by Keita Iida on accessible.
gerfield, “it gets no respect” because it is so http://www.atarihq.com.
common. There are a number of label varie- Rating: D
ties, but I have never seen one with a picture -Al
label. -Al

The tank battles rate a C. The air battles
are better and worth a B.
-Al
Battlezone
Battlezone Battlezone
Battlezone
Thunderground
Thunderground

Arcade 2600

2600 One of the first truly 3-D games, Battlezone This is Atari's loosely translated ver-
has attained truly legendary status. Its modern- sion of their hit arcade game. The origi-
A Sega release. This one has ele- day remakes haven’t really served it well nal vector graphics had to be replaced
ments ofCombat and Dig Dug. Basically (actually, they hardly have anything to do with with color rasters. What you have here
the original aside from the title), and even the
the objective is to tunnel a path to the best emulators and package titles haven’t dupli- is a first-person perspective looking
targets on the top of the screen so that cated the realistic controls or the wonderfully through the front port window. This en-
they can be destroyed. Two tanks pop immersive feel of the lumbering giant that was ables you to get your bearings and aim
out at the top of the screen and try to the game’s arcade cabinet. But it still stands as the cannon. You could say the controls
stop you. There is one hidden icon on a fine example of the genre – and, some might were a little too sluggish ( like a wet
each screen that is worth bonus points. argue, unsurpassed. sponge), but then a purist would say
Some screens have blue tanks that can that was the way a tank should feel
hone in on you if they detect you. Later Rating: A+ when you drive it. But face it, this is a
levels may add another tank or play out -Earl game, not reality. You want your reac-
in the open. tions to register immediately. If you can
Atari created a version of Battlezone for the compensate for this, the game is defi-
Rating C+ Army for use as a training device. This game nitely playable. The visuals are pretty
-Al was thought to be extinct, but recently an actual sharp. The radar screen is a plus, be-
Bradley Trainer turned up in California intact in
its original arcade cabinet. You can check out cause you also have to watch your
the pix and accompanying article in SYZYGY back.
Magazine #2. A 5200 prototype exists that is
incomplete and tries to simulate the vector Rating: C
graphics of the original arcade game.
-Al -Al
Classic Gamer Magazine Spring 2001 38