VIDEO GAME REVIEW

Classic feel

Remember the old days of the simple one-button joystick and two-color graphics? It’s hard to forget the classic period that spawned the now-obsolete Atari 2600, with games like Pitfall or River Raid providing hours of monotonous play.

Graphics have improved, sound has moved from cartridge-bound to CD-quality, and now you can even save your progress (imagine that, saving your game). But for those who demand absolution of their wrinkles, there are a few choice picks to veer toward.

Arcade Party Pak from Midway ventures into stand-up territory, transferring six of the most popular – and equally dreary – titles from the ‘80s to the privacy of a PlayStation disc. Then, for those gamers solely interested in surfing through a tidal wave of vintage console cartridges, Activision supplies relief. Thirty of Atari’s old-school romps are collected on Activision Classics, including Kaboom!, Stampede, Fishing Derby, Boxing, Tennis and Frostbite. Basically, that’s about a buck a game, which still might be hard to justify.

It’s funny to think that the Atari was once considered revolutionary. Sure, novelty has its place in the game industry, and that’s exactly what both of these discs can be categorized as: novelty. With Arcade Party Pak, there are a few more shades of color and better joystick handling, yet playing games like Rampage, Smash TV and Toobin’ is the equivalent of flipping through your high school yearbook.

"Wow, I can’t believe these games are so bad," says a reluctant gamer living in the past. Rummaging through the used game bargain bin is probably the only excuse to drop cash on these titles. Then again, that 99 cents could buy a Coney dog too.

Jon M. Gibson writes about video games for Metro Times.