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not much fun

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: March 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I ordered this game so there would actually be something I could play on my sons' playstation and possibly beat them. I was excited waiting for it to arrive. When it got here I was very disappointed. The graphics are bad, the games aren't much fun and I don't even play it now.

Very Disappointing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: January 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was so excited to get this game! I was all nostalgic about my own video games as a child and wanted to get it to share with my son but it was awful! My son was not interested at all and it was hard to maneuver the ships etc. We were both disappointed...Please get something else....

Don't even think about buying it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 12
Date: January 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Don't even think about buying it. Even if you were addicted to Atari when you're kid you would find boring playing with your PS and LCD TV.

for nostalgia (overrated) collectors only

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: January 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I loved these games as a kid in the 70's and have not gotten into being a gamer since those days but either I just don't enjoy them anymore or their renditions for the Playstation2 are not very good.

This item seemed like a good deal for a bunch of games that I didn't need directions for on one DVD for $15 however it is not a fun treasure of games for both myself and my 3rd grader. The Jampacks are much better for me and Super Monkey Ball or EyeToy games are much better for my daughter for multiple games on one game purchase.

Disappointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 15
Date: January 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was really disappointed with this game. The videogames were grainy and just not what I had anticipated. I purchased it with the hopes of playing PacMan and was, again, disappointed...there was no PacMan.

Atari does NOT make a good transfer to PS2 here

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 17
Date: January 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought "Atari Anthology" primarily for "Asteroids" and "Tempest". While I must admit, it was definitely fun to see these games again, they were somewhat of a disappointment. Not that I've been spoiled by PS2's recent high tech games of 2003-04, but because the game play from this Anthology was just bad. First, on "Tempest" as well as "Asteroids", there's a huge blue inanimate bordor around the screen. Thus, it makes my 36 inch TV screen look like a 27 inch. Second, when I pressed the buttons on my PS2 controller, the games just didn't move very well for me (while playing "Tempest", the little thing you have to move around in a circle/shape is very hard to do utilizing all 4 PS2 buttons on the controller). Other games featured this useless bordor as well, and others (mostly) from the Atari '2600' system did not. The picture itself seems dull. I remember "Asteroids" being so basically simple - yet the little triangular white ship and the white boulders flying across the screen were so sharp against the black background. My 20/20 eyes don't see these shapes very sharp (almost blurry) at all on this game. The sound is also lacking... like it's totally MONO sound quality. The cover of this game boasts 85 game titles (18 of which were actually found in the arcades)... but after you play a majority of them once, I guarantee you'll probably never look at them again. Definitely a fond throw back to see games I grew up on; like "Missile Command", "Battlezone", "Red Baron", "Centipede", and even the grandaddy of them all, "Pong". However, as stated before, the game play is difficult on most, the picture quality is average at best, and the sound is poor... overall a poor representation for PS2. Looking for a halfway decent attempt to bring back some of the old classic games - check out "Museum" by Nameco (featuring "Galaga" and "Dig Dug" - both look and sound great).

Rose-colored glasses for some, rose colored stop light for me.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: June 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Atari 2600 was a great system. Atari was a great company, almost unquestionably the most important in turning video games into commonplace items. There are some games for the Atari 2600 that, true to their old school arcade roots, are all about challenging, addicting game play. Atari developed very few of these. This could have been a great collection if they had also snatched up the rights to excellent third party games like Reactor and Solar Fox, but instead you're mainly left wondering where those nostalgic feelings for Circus Atari came from. Two Stars, one for the Swordquest comic, and the second because Tempest is still incredible. Go buy the Activision collection instead.

Great games, terrible interface

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have never seen a menu system come so close to ruining a video game. It seems designed to make it hard to find any game, much less the one you are looking for. Add to that the loose controls and reduced access to multiplayer and I wish I had never bought this game. That is in spite of the fact that many of the games included here are still a blast to play on a good emulator. If anything, get this to look at old games rather than to play them.

85 Games That Started a Revolution!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 82 / 85
Date: August 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

[From: Atari (dot) com (slash) us]

85 Games That Started a Revolution!

It's the largest collection of classic Atari games ever! Take a step back in time to the early days of video arcades with an unmatched compilation of unforgettable and authentic Atari titles. All of the games are faithfully reproduced with the great sights, sounds and fast action that made them so popular. Whether you played these games in their original arcade cabinets or on an Atari 2600 console, you're sure to find a favorite.

Classic arcade hits:
* Asteroids
* Asteroids Deluxe
* Battlezone
* Atari Black Widow
* Centipede
* Crystal Castles
* Gravitar
* Liberator
* Lunar Lander
* Major Havoc
* Millipede
* Missile Command
* Pong
* Atari Red Baron
* Super Breakout
* Atari Space Duel
* Tempest
* Warlords

Atari 2600 titles:
* Atari 3D Tic-Tac-Toe
* Atari Adventure
* Atari Air*Sea Battle
* Asteroids
* Atari Video Cube
* Backgammon
* Battlezone
* Blackjack
* Bowling
* Breakout
* Canyon Bomber
* Casino
* Centipede
* Circus Atari
* Combat
* Crystal Castles
* Demons to Diamonds
* Desert Falcon
* Dodge 'Em
* Double Dunk
* Flag Capture
* Football
* Fun With Numbers
* Golf
* Gravitar
* Hangman
* Haunted House
* Home Run
* Human Cannonball
* Atari Math Gran Prix
* Atari Maze Craze
* Millipede
* Miniature Golf
* Missile Command
* Atari Night Driver
* Off the Wall
* Atari Outlaw
* Quadrun
* Radar Lock
* Realsports Baseball
* Realsports Football
* Realsports Tennis
* Realsports Volleyball
* Sky Diver
* Slot Machine
* Atari Slot Racers
* Atari Space War
* Sprintmaster
* Star Raiders
* Atari Star Ship
* Steeplechase
* Stellar Track
* Atari Street Racer
* Atari Submarine Commander
* Atari Super Baseball
* Super Breakout
* Atari Super Football
* Atari Surround
* Swordquest: Earthworld
* Swordquest: Fireworld
* Swordquest: Waterworld
* Video Checkers
* Video Chess
* Video Olympics
* Video Pinball
* Yars' Revenge

Features:
* 18 Classic Arcade Games - The most memorable games ever to hit the arcades including Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Liberator, Crystal Castles, Missile Command, Tempest and many more that haven't been seen in years!
* 62 Atari 2600 Favorites - The most addictive games ever designed including Gravitar, Millipede, Super Breakout, Video Pinball and Warlords
* Five Bonus Games - Available for the first time since the 1980s - Off the Wall, Blackjack, Steeplechase, Desert Falcon and Sprintmaster
* Challenge Modes - New challenges including timed hot-seat competitions, the psychedelic Trippy Mode, Double Speed games, Time Warp games and Time Challenges that test players' abilities to the extreme
* Incredible 3D Interface

(c) 2004 Atari Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

A good collection, but lots of problems

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First off, I want to note that this collection doesn't include Pac-Man, Pole Position, Space Invaders, etc., despite what some reviews might suggest. None of those games were developed by Atari (Pac-Man and Pole Position are Namco games, while Space Invaders is a Taito game). It is unclear whether Atari could have released the licensed home versions of these games (Space Invaders was very good, Pac-Man was one of the nails in the coffin for the company), but in any case, the games present have been included in a "review" (in the loosest sense of the term - really, it's just a cut-and-paste job from an Atari website) near the top of the page, so I won't repeat that.

With 85 games present, it is impossible to give in this limited space an accurate review of everything found here. I'll limit myself to some of the gems present (there are a few), and some of the bombs (of which there are many).

First off, Atari has included 18 original arcade games in this collection, which is a pretty nice number. There are some classics present (Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, and Crystal Castles are my favorites), some interesting titles (Tempest was one of my favorites as a kid, while Major Havoc makes about as much sense now as it did then), and some duds (Red Baron and Black Widow just don't make the grade). Most of the games show off the "vector" technology that seemed poised to dominate the market in the early 80's - but fell off the face of the earth quite soon. While these games are fun, there are serious control issues with many of the games. Centipede was originally designed with a trak-ball controller, as was Crystal Castles; the joystick doesn't quite get the feel right (particularly with Crystal Castle). The games also come equipped with special modes, such as (the aptly titled) trippy mode, where motion is blurred, a double fast mode (self-explanatory), a time mode (which alternates randomly between slow and fast), a time trial (in which the player must reach some milestone in the allotted time) and a hot seat (which is pretty difficult to describe, but basically switches games randomly). With the exception of the Double Fast mode, I found these annoying.

After this, there are 67 Atari games present. Here are many, MANY duds. Atari made a lot of bad games. I'll focus instead on some of the strongest titles. In my opinion, Atari Adventure was the best game released for the system. Despite horrendous graphics, the game was fast-paced and difficult. Haunted House is a great title as well, and Atari's version of "Centipede" is more fun than the arcade game, in my opinion (again, despite horrible graphics). Unfortunately, some games which should be good aren't, mostly due to severe control issues. Demons to Diamonds was a decent shooter game for the paddle controller. Unfortunately, the joystick is horrible for controlling your "spaceship". A more egregious example would be Circus Atari, which is almost unplayable with a joystick. There are about 10 other games on here that are decent, in my opinion, and the rest are junk.

SO, all in all, that makes about 20 or so games that I like to play, out of 85. For 15 bucks, that seems like a good deal to me. Is it overrated nostalgia, as one reviewer commented? Probably, but at this price, who's complaining? I mean, it's essentially lunch for one day. Seems reasonable to me...

Happy gaming!

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