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Retro Atari Classics
Available on:Nintendo DS
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27-04-05 Review for Nintendo DS
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04-27-05 DS review: Retro Atari Classics
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Review
Retro Atari Classics (Nintendo DS)
concept
5.5
graphics
4.5
gameplay
6.5
sound
5.5
57%
Have you just bought the new DS, with its new original properties like two screens and a touchscreen ? That you probably won't be happy with Retro Atari Classics, a bunch of old games that come from the ancient Atari age, on 1 cassette ported towards DS. However, we need to give each game a fair chance at Fragland so let's see whether this title is worth anything.
From the rather unattended cover we can gather that we'll be able to reply 10 old Atari games in their original form, but also in a completely new graphical jacket, done by 3 graffiti legends. Which 10 classics do we get ?
Since these games are older than myself I didn't really know most of them and was quite curious. That the original games wouldn't look up-to-date was to be expected, but that the Remix Mode with renewed graphics weren't much better did disappoint me.
I'm not really familiar with the graffiti world, but if the 3 people who did this are being called legends, I don't even want to see the beginners. The average walldrawing you find under bridges looks better than this. But ok, I'll see a bit further and check out the gameplay.
The 10 games have a very simple concept and can easily be played by the smallest child. The action is divided over the two screens and almost everything is done with the styles and the touchscreen. Some games like for instance Missile Command look like they've been made all those years ago with already a touchscreen in mind, others on the other hand are hardly playable.
The least Atari could have done was a decent highscore list since the point of most of these games is to break highscores. The only thing you now get to see is your ne score with the highest ever in little letters next to it. Also the sound could use some more attention. I personally would have preferred a nice beat that replaces the irritating blieps over the graphical work of 3 failed graffiti "legends".
Retro Atari Classics may be nice for a while, especially with games like Centipede. Other games on the other hand could have easily been left out because they're no fun or - as is the case with Sprint - unplayable. The true retro gamer will love this, a normal gamer should save his money for something else.









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