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Absolute Garbage

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: March 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I picked this title up for one reason only Atari 2600 games! It says they are in there on the box and in the instruction manual yet I have yet to see them. Why? because they are locked and nigh impossible to unlock due to the need to complete specific tasks in the "evolved" versions of the arcade games to earn 44 awards then and only then will you get to the good stuff.
This is completely unacceptable it is not enjoyable, challenging or fun, the need to unlock vast portions of your game needs to end now. I paid for the game therefore I should have access to all features of said game.
For example how would you like to purchase a new car and not be able to use the power windows,power seats,and air conditioning because those features are "locked" until you drive the car a certain way to unlock them that sounds rather stupid and unreasonable doesn't it? so why do it with games? Bottom line lose the locked garbage and you'll have great game in your hands.

Poor conversions of good old games.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a mediocre collection of many good games, hampered by numerous interface and design problems:

The "evolved" games use the same ugly graphics as the XBOX 360 arcade ports. That's well and good, but I really expected better treatment of the "classic" games, since we've seen good collections from Namco and Capcom. For both the "classic" and "evolved" versions, of the arcade games, the graphics are letterboxed so the once-beautiful vector lines are rasterized and almost as ugly as the GameBoy Advance collection of Atari games. The PSP is capable of so much more.

Compared to the Atari Anthology collection on PS2 and XBOX a few years ago, there are multiple games missing, such as Space Duel and Red Baron. However, there are multiple ways to play Pong on this disc.

The vertical games (Tempest, Centipede, Millipede) are vertical ONLY, requiring you to rotate the PSP in an awkward position like the *optional* modes in some other PSP games. Even in this orientation, they still don't scale up to fill the whole screen like the Namco Museum Battle Collection did so many years ago.

One of the major points of interest for me is that there are over 50 Atari 2600 VCS games on the disc. There are some good Atari properties missing (Star Raiders, Secret Quest, and Solaris are sadly absent, for example). That's not a big surprise, but the disappointing part about this feature is that the player must "unlock" these old games -- all at once -- by laboriously getting EVERY award from EVERY arcade game, 44 in all. I suspect that any arcade fan with that level of skill or interest would already have these games in another format by now.

Considering Atari's financial state, I worry that this could be the last major retro release from the company. It's a shame, because the company has released vastly superior products in the past, namely:

- The Atari Flashback 2 plug-and-play console, with 40+ new and old games with authentic controls;

- The Atari Anthology collection for Playstation 2 and XBOX, with more arcade games, better graphics, a more reasonable unlocking scheme, and 1080i resolution on the XBOX (and XBOX 360 compatible) version.

I suggest passing on this retro collection in favor of the better packages out there: Capcom, Namco, Taito, and Activision have all done a better job on the PSP, in my humble opinion. This one is for completists only.

Could be better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am not sure what they were thinking here. You do get a decent batch of games (some of which translate to the PSP better than others - for example, centipede, you have to play with the PSP in a vertical position - understandable, but uncomfortable), but there are unlockable games that you can only get after achieving goals for all the present games. Atari fans buy this because they want a "grab and go" game - they don't want to have to spend 50 hours slogging through them (especially the games you might not like) to unlock the next batch, you know? I hope there is an unlockable cheat available sometime soon so I can decide whether or not to even keep this.

Some of the "Evolved" versions are nice - Asteroids in particular, and even Pong, if you get tired of the classic simplicity of that one.

Too difficult to control

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love classic gaming, and would enjoy this collection very much if it wasn't so difficult to play with the PSP controls. The games where you have to turn the PSP sideways are especially difficult for me. Using the directional buttons, you can't control the speed of your ship or paddle as in Breakout. And the small button joystick is too difficult to use for precision movements when the action gets going. Lunar Lander and Asteroids are fine, but be aware that Super Breakout, Centipede, and Millipede are frustratingly difficult because of the controls.

Booooo

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Way to hard to unlock at 2600 titles. The nostalga wears off pretty fast.

Nice idea, bad execution

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Who wouldn't want these games in their back pocket to play at any given moment, right? And at that price, it's got to be a steal!

Hold on to those nine bucks, friends: this game has two distinct problems, one in every version and one specific to the PSP.

The general problem is that while the game touts Atari 2600 games at your beck and call, you have to unlock them by playing the marquee games. And not incrementally, but en toto. You have to clear ALL of the roadblocks for ALL of the games or you don't get any 2600 games at all. So even if you NEVER liked, say, "Warlords", you have to jump its hurdles to get any 2600 games to unlock.

The PSP specific problem is that some of these games are cocktail table style, which means you have to turn the PSP on its end to play some of the games. Ever tried playing something on its end that's not designed to play on its end? It's excrutiating!

A better buy on a console platform all the way. On PSP? Skip it. As much I want more PSP games, this one is too little of a good thing.

Great games -- frustrating unlockables

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The idea for this game is fantastic. Take a bunch of classic arcade games we've all played a million times before and update them with newly improved, "evolved," graphics. And they rock! The graphics are great, the sound effects are sufficiently retro without sounding silly, and the games retained their same heart. Overall, a really fun PSP game.

Having said that, however, there are two distinct problems. First, if you have XBox Live Arcade, you'll recognize all these games as the same ports that have been trickling onto XBLA for the past year or so. This UMD is a much better deal, though, getting them all in one package instead of $5-$10 each through XBLA. However, the PSP controls are just a little too wonky for the games that require more precision, such as Missile Command or Battlezone, especially when you compare them to the X360 controls (which, granted, weren't that precise to begin with, but they are better).

Second, the game makes a big deal about containing over 50 Atari 2600 games available to be unlocked. However, instead of unlocking them a few at a time as you make incremental progress through the new-and-improved games, the developers decided to make them ALL unlockable once you achieve EVERY goal in EACH evolved game. So basically, the unlockable Atari 2600 games are an all-or-nothing deal. Stuck on the last achievement? Tough! You'll NEVER play ANY of the 2600 games until you get that last achievement. And that makes getting any of the achievements that much less of an accomplishment than it should be.

If the unlockable games had NOT been included in this package, it would be a sweet deal all on its own. If you want to play these classic games, get this UMD. Just be prepared to be playing ONLY these 12 games until you unlock all 48 achievements.

Fun for classic video game fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I think this game is most enjoyed by people who appreciate classic Atari games. You get 11 games to start and have to unlock 50 more. The evolved versions play exactly the same way but with beefed up graphics. There are 2 drawbacks to this game: 1. The play control for roller ball/paddle games is sub-par with the psp controls.(pong, centipede, etc) 2. Its entirely too difficult to unlock all 50 games. They should have made it where you gradually unlock the games. Other than that, its a fun game and I recommend it for the price.

Unlock This...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In my opinion this is the one of the best conversions of Arcade games for the psp, maybe even better than Namco's arcade port. The collection of games and the fun they provide are just so top drawer. I really like when the various companies reproducing arcade classics for ports onto various computer and gaming interfaces get creative and make up new versions of the of the old game and add them into packages with the classics. There was a killer new take on Centipide for the PC once, the Atari jaguar nailed Tempest to the wall, and Namco's new recipes for their psp port is still the king. This is not quite the case this time, the evolved portion is more like a facelift rather than a new girlfriend. Kind of like skins, don't get me wrong the evolved versions are definately graphics upgrades, but they just don't radically change the way the game is played. In my opinion if you go down the list of games offered up here, you will find steller versions and hours of fun.

There is a catch and that is for those of us who have their eyes on the Atari 2600 unlockable prize. These arcade games are really tough quarter eaters and I doubt many people can make it past pong and superbreakout with those tiny paddles even if they can get the 36 challenges. The best thing that Atari could do with this is post a cheat code or a downloadable patch to correct this oversight quickly. Remember consumers relisting item in online auctions compete with fresh from the factory resale units. They didn't set very realistic goals with these unlockables and 44 challenges is a lot.

By the way warlords is such a blast here as is tempest, I love them to death. Battlezone even makes a rare appearence here. Everyone I let play this game loves it. I'd upgrade my 80% score to a 90% or better once we get a 2600 patch or cheat code out of these people, sorry guys evolved with better graphics is not as run as the 4 revisions on the Namco title.

Last thing I feel is essential to the PSP medium is portability, how well does the game fit into traveling or commuting. I think it excels, the games are tough and you can fit in a quick game in here and there when on the run. I love a quick game for the psp and this fits the bill.
I wish they would have given us a space duel instead of doubling up on asteriods.

Fun Classics Are Improved

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was really undecided on this product but am very happy with this purchase now. While it's true most people won't be able to unlock the 2600 games in this UMD, the 11 arcade classics are fun, well done and worth the price. Some of the evolved classics actually provide improved game play and are more than just a graphics update. All that being said, as with most classic video game collections the PSP controls are not a perfect match to the original games, but many other PSP games the also suffer from controls that are less than ideal so...... that's just part of having a PSP. Four stars until Atari "wakes up" and provides a cheat for all owners to unlock the extra 2600 games (if that ever happens then 5 stars for this product).

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