Category Archives: News and updates
Some Atari Let’s Plays I’ve done
So I obviously haven’t reviewed much recently (though I’ve got a few in the pipe). As an alternative, however, I offer some videos from a recent Let’s Play channel called “The Player and the Doodler” that I’ve been doing with an artist friend, where I play a game while he draws something related to it, and we show the drawings off at the end. We’ve done a lot of older games, including many of the games I’ve reviewed on this site. Here, for example, is us playing Bruce Lee:
All of these can be found on the Player and Doodler website under the Atari category. So far the Atari 8-bit games we’ve done are Asteroids, Ballblazer, Bruce Lee, Bumpomov’s Dogs, Claim Jumper, Dog Daze, Dog Daze Deluxe, Joust, M.U.L.E., Mario Bros., Mouskattak, One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Pacific Coast Highway, Race in Space, Star Wars, Tuk Goes to Town, and Wizard of Wor. Check them out while you’re waiting for the next text review to pop up here!
(Note: this is different from the video reviews I did years ago.)
New domain name
Just a quick note: I’ve changed the URL of this site from atarieviewer.com to atarireviews.com, mostly so people can spell it. The old URL should also work until mid-April, so update your links before then!
Letter Ratings instead of Numbers
I swapped the site over to letter grades instead of the old number (x/10) ratings I’d previously used. This is mostly because people seem to be more OK with a game being rated, say, B-, instead of 5/10. This also gives me a little more nuance, especially on the lower end of the system (most of the previously 2/10 games now range from C- to D-). Let me know what you think of the new system! And check out the ratings page for a little more in-depth explanation.
A word about ratings
Note: this post has been superseded by a new rating system. For more information, check the ratings page.
So I’ve gone back and added scores out of ten to each game I’ve done a text review for so far (excluding the L.E.A.P. disks) and I will continue to do so for the rest I plan on reviewing. However, I’d like to explain a little about what the numbers actually mean.
First of all, the score is an overall score of how much I would recommend this game to someone who has never played it before. This doesn’t necessarily mean it was or wasn’t a groundbreaking or famous game, or that its graphics/sound/music/etc. were great/crap, but that the overall experience was good enough that I hope you’ll check it out, or bad enough that I’d say “don’t bother.” Also, I’m grading on a true ten-point scale, which means that 5 is average, not bad; and that 7 is pretty good, not just average. Or, in other words:
- Don’t bother. This game sucks and you suck if you like it.
- Not really recommended for anyone.
- I didn’t like it much, but you may.
- Eh, it’s OK. Play it if you’re bored.
- This game is average. I’d play it every so often, but I probably wouldn’t seek it out.
- Above average. This game probably made it into my regular Atari-playing rotation.
- Very good. You will most likely enjoy this quite a bit.
- Excellent! A top tier game.
- Games that make it here are the cream of the crop. If you haven’t played this game yet, stop reading and go get it!
- So far I have only given out two 10’s. Both of them are games I still play today, even though my main Atari-playing days are behind me. Everything — the graphics, sound, music, controls, gameplay, replayability factor — all comes together perfectly, resulting in nothing less than the most stellar game it could possibly be. (As a side note: if I were to review M.U.L.E., it would also receive a 10.) (Also as a side note: one of the two games I gave a 10 to I readily admit I am heavily influenced by nostalgia and you may disagree with my rating. The other one, though, I think most people should agree with.)
These are all subjective, of course, and you’re welcome to disagree with any of them. Also, keep in mind that these scores are specifically for the Atari 8-bit versions of these games. If you’re mad that I gave a low score to, say, Pacman, keep in mind that it’s just because this specific version wasn’t all that great. There may be better versions out there for different systems.
New domain name
I changed the website URL to atarieviewer.com, mostly because the previous one was spelled slightly differently (and had wordpress.com in it, but that’s neither here nor there). Update your links!
Remixes
I’m going to retroactively add remixes to many posts, just for fun, and in preparation for my next reviews, which will be a little more verbose than usual, considering the games on the next disk are some of the most impressive in the entire Atari 8-bit pantheon. Most of them will probably come from http://remix.kwed.org/, even though they mostly house C64 remixes, as there is a lot of crossover and there really isn’t a site for Atari 8-bit remixes, other than a few subsections on vgmusic.com and the like.
Enjoy!
Video reaction
The reaction to the video has been generally positive; however, I haven’t quite found the format with which I want to continue them quite yet. I’ll be experimenting with different ways to do them and if I find one I like better then I’ll go ahead with more of them.
Atarieviewer 