Review: Evercade Atari Collection 1

Evercade Atari Collection 1 Review

If you’ve listened to the latest episode of the ABCD of Gaming (and if you haven’t then why not?) you’ll have heard Adam talking about his brand-new purchase of the Evercade handheld console. Being easily led and a bit gullible, I thought it sounded marvellous, so went over to Game and proceeded to buy myself this lovely little handheld chock full of retro goodness for the princely sum of £59.99. The premium pack comes with the console and 3 game packs including, Namco Museum Collection 1, Interplay Collection 1, and Atari Collection 1, which will be the focus of this review. I’m not going to write too much about the console, as I think Adam summed it up perfectly on the show when he said it was a lovely little handheld. Instead I want to write about the game collections themselves. I’ve already started to go down a rabbit hole and bought the Namco Museum Collection 2 and Data East Collection 1. I intend to add a new collection or two each month until I’ve got them all.

I don’t have a real history with Atari as I never owned one of these consoles growing up. My cousins did, and I remember playing a few games such as Pitfall and Moon Patrol. There are 20 games included in this collection, some of which I’ve played and some I haven’t, so here we go.

Canyon Bomber – 1978

One of those games where I’m doing something, but I have no idea what! You and another plane/helicopter are flying over blocks and have to drop bombs. You don’t control the vehicle and it doesn’t appear as if you can damage the other person. You drop bombs and the blocks disappear. A score goes up, but I’m not entirely sure why, or what the object of the game is. 1/5

Night Driver – 1978

You control a race car (or something that resembles a race car) and have 90 seconds to get as far as possible. This is ok, but the main problem is the road. The car is responsive enough, but the only thing marking out the road are the pins on the left and right of your car. Because you race at night, there are no road markings so trying to stay on the road is really tough, and you end up crashing…. a lot! Throw into the mix other cars which you have to avoid, and this is one tough game. My highest score is 30. Let me know if you beat it. 2/5

Adventure – 1979

You control a little block which moves around various locations including a castle and maze. You can pick up different items such as keys and an arrow, which I suspect is supposed to be a lance. I only guessed this because when I poked it into a giant duck creature, it stopped moving. You wander around mazes trying to find different coloured keys and kill (or avoid) giant duck creatures. I was initially more compelled with this than I thought I would be. Yes, it’s frustrating trying to find your way around mazes, but I wanted to see what happened when I found all the keys. That was until I realised if you don’t kill the giant duck creature it will follow you until you can’t move and have to restart. 2/5

 Steeplechase – 1980

You race against three other horses and the first one to reach the finish line wins. Simple as that! Pressing the A button makes your horse jump obstacles. Mistime the jump and you fall which slows you down. The game speeds up as you get closer to the finish line making it more difficult and therefore adding a bit of tension. Despite the simplicity, I actually quite liked this game. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. 3/5

Video Pinball – 1980

It’s pinball! What more do you need to know? You can’t really go wrong with pinball games and this is decent fun. The pinball table looks a little basic, but the fundamentals are there. Left and right on the d-pad control your flippers and you pull back to release the ball. Speaking of the ball, boy does it shift! There were a few moments where I didn’t have to use the flippers because the ball was pinging around the place like a mad thing! 3/5

Asteroids – 1981

I would imagine most of you reading this will have played Asteroids. You control a little spaceship and must avoid and destroy the asteroids which are flying around. Pressing up on the D-pad propels your ship forward and pressing down sends you into hyperspace. The only problem with this is you can appear anywhere on the screen. You have a gun to shoot the asteroids and break off pieces of them until they are fully destroyed. You beat the level by blowing up all of the asteroids. This is still a lot of fun today and I spent quite a bit of time on this one. A classic! 5/5

Missile Command – 1981

Similarly, I would imagine most people have played Missile Command. My first experience was on an arcade machine which had a trackball. Imagine a giant oversize mouse and you aren’t far off. Set around the time of the cold war where East vs West was very much in the news, you have to defend your bases from attack. Missiles rain down from the sky and you move a cursor around the screen firing your own missiles to fend off the attack. The clever part of this game is you have to time your own missiles explosion with the trajectory of the enemy attack. Again, a classic! 5/5

Centipede – 1982

I’ve always thought Centipede was a fancy version of Space Invaders. You control a little block at the bottom of the screen and must shoot a centipede and other creatures which are trying to destroy you. The main difference between this and Space Invaders is you can move your character/ship a little bit up the screen. This is essential because when the centipede reaches the bottom, it moves back towards the top. Another fun game. 4/5

Swordquest Earthworld – 1982

This seems like an updated version of Adventure. This time instead of a little block you control a person who wanders around. There are four openings to the left, right, up and down. I moved down and a door opening visual happened. I quite liked this and was impressed for a moment. Then I appeared in exactly the same place except the screen changed colour. I kept moving down until I got a little musical jingle and then the game appeared to end! You seem to have items, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I can tell what they are or what they do. 1/5

 Aquaventure – 1983/2005

Based on the name, I was half expecting a shit sequel to Adventure. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Taking control of a deep-sea diver, you have a harpoon gun which you use to fight off various fish. You make your way to the bottom of the ocean to get treasure, then you must take it back to the top. Apparently, this was an Atari prototype which was unreleased until 2005. I’ve heard of development hell but that is ridiculous! Simple and fun. 4/5

Gravitar – 1983

A bit like Asteroids in terms of graphics and gameplay where you control a spaceship and must fight off enemies. The main difference being that you are constantly being pulled towards the sun which lies in the centre of the screen. The controls in general are very tricky to get to grips with as you are always fighting against them. There are various planets dotted around the galaxy and when you reach one of them you have to destroy their defences to move on. This is trickier than the main area as navigating a constantly moving ship around tight areas is nigh on impossible. This is very tough and quite a frustrating game. 2/5

Crystal Castles – 1984

I’ve always thought of Crystal Castles as an isometric take on Pacman. You take control of Bentley Bear who must collect all of the gems on each level. Bentley can also jump and he’s fairly quick which gives him an advantage, as he’s chased around by giant trees and other weird creatures. Crystal Castles is still a lot of fun to play and one of my favourites in the collection. 5/5

Tempest 1984/2005

According to the lovely little instruction manual you get with the cartridge, this version of Tempest was designed as a prototype but never actually released. There’s a very good reason for this, as it’s shit! You can make out the gameplay and graphics of Tempest is kind of there, but it’s very poorly implemented and not fun to play at all. 1/5

Desert Falcon – 1987

You are supposedly a falcon flying around a desert, although to be honest, you resemble a giant deformed moth! The game features an isometric viewpoint similar to Zaxxon. You fly around collecting items whilst avoiding buildings and random objects which are fired at you from off the screen. Because you can’t see them coming until the last minute, it makes it almost impossible for you to avoid them. Not a particularly enjoyable game, but I did appreciate the Egyptian sounding theme which played in the background. 2/5

Food Fight 1987

You play as Charley Chuck who is desperate to eat his ice cream. The only problem are the chefs and obstacles which are standing in his way. As the name implies there are bits of food lying around which you can throw at the chefs who don’t want you to eat your icy treat. My first thoughts when I played this were “what an odd game!” There is something strange about the oversized design of Charley’s head and the way he eats his ice cream. Quite comically his jaw extends and becomes a massive gob as he swallows the ice cream. I imagine he could eat a chef whole if he wanted to! It’s also quite funny as his eyes wobble around his head when he gets caught. Still, this is quite fun, and I enjoyed my time with it. 3/5

Double Dunk – 1989

The only basketball game of note which I’ve enjoyed is NBA Jam, so I was quite looking forward to trying Double Dunk. Come to think of it, how can you do a double dunk? Anyway, this is a two on two basketball game. Unfortunately the sprites of the players are so small it’s difficult to see what is going on. Also, the opposing player sticks to you like a limpet, which makes it even more difficult to see what is going on. Double Dunk won’t be knocking NBA Jam off the throne anytime soon. 1/5

Motor Psycho – 1990

A decent motorcycle racing game like Hang On. The graphics are ok with your bike looking quite good. The explosion when you hit something is also impressive. The backgrounds are a bit bland, but overall this isn’t bad for a quick blast. 3/5

Alien Brigade – 1990

Taking inspiration from the likes of Operation Wolf and Rambo 3 on the Sega Master System, this game features some impressive graphics for an Atari. The screen moves left to right as you shoot aliens and regular soldiers. There are also tanks and helicopters which attack you, but your machine gun dispatches them quite quickly. You have grenades, but I didn’t use them much. As with other games from this genre, there are civilians which pop up that you must avoid. This is my big problem with the game. I’ve reached the end of the first level a few times, but I always get ticked off by my Commanding Officer for disobeying my orders and killing too many civilians. I’ve tried not shooting the regular soldiers, but I still get this message. With so much going on, it’s difficult to see who the bad guys are and who are the real enemies. Maybe I’m the bad guy and the game is teaching me the morals of playing too many first-person shooters? 3/5

Ninja Golf – 1990

After many long years of ninja training, you are finally ready for the most difficult test of all…. nine holes of ninja golf! Imagine walking onto the fairway and being confronted by black clad ninjas kicking seven shades of shite out of each other as they throw shuriken’s around. It wouldn’t half put you off your swing! What an odd game this is! You start off by swinging your club and hitting the ball as far as you can. Then you must run to the ball and fend off other ninjas who are attacking you. You are also set upon by giant frogs! When you eventually reach the hole, the viewpoint changes to something like the bonus level in Shinobi. This time you are attacked by a dragon and must throw shuriken at it. The graphics are nice and clear, and it plays well enough. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever played a game which mashes together a golf game and beat em up. Good fun though. 4/5

Yars Return – 2005

Another one where I have no idea what I’m doing. You appear to control a spaceship which is being shot at by a static ship in the middle of the screen. The ship is surrounded by a shield which can be destroyed. There is a flashing mess around this shield which may or may not kill you. I can’t tell because sometimes I can touch it and survive, and sometimes I don’t. Not sure what the hell is going on! 1/5

Overall

There are some gems on this collection, some shite, and some downright weird games. I think my main problem is that I don’t have the affinity with Atari like some people. If you are a big fan of Atari and grew up with these games, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. However, for me it was just ok.

The Atari Collection 1 (and other retro titles) are available on the Evercade.

Review by Chris.