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Funkmaster V Reviews
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7800 Rank: Not Ranked
Genre: Directional Shooter
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Here's a Level That Plays Homage to the Atari 2600 Game, Combat |
Pros:
Many Unique Levels, Faithful Arcade Controls
Cons:
Bad Color Schemes, Repetitive Gameplay |
And This One Kinda Looks Like It Came From Dodge 'Em |
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Overview: Armor Attack II is an unofficial homebrew sequel to an archaic and curious looking arcade title from Cinematronics. Cinematronics is an arcade company that released vector graphic games and that really funky- cool video game system donned "Vectrex"... Most of their games render amazing vector graphics, to the oooohs and the ahhhhs of the retro lovin' gamers of the world. In the original arcade game, Cinematronics tried to be cute and combine vector graphics with a painted boundary
overlay. This created an odd looking marriage. The combination of a painted overlay with vector graphics underneath looks gimmicky now, and probably was thought of to help sell this dated-looking game in 1980. Keep in mind, in 1980, we saw dazzling masterpeices such as Pac Man, Phoenix, Battlezone and Berzerk hit the arcades. The Vectrex version is all about pure vector graphics, and that port looks the best of the three. If you want, you can put a translucent overlay on the Vectrex monitor for more of that retro arcade feel, but I preferred to leave that overlay in the lurch. With Bob Decrescenzo (PacMan Plus)'s Armor Attack 2, we have a game that kicks the Vectrex graphics to the curb... yet feels less like a proper sequel to Armor Attack, and more like an uglier, more muscular, big brother.
Graphics: No attempts at fake vector graphics to see here, folks. That sounds unfortunate but it probably is a good thing in the end. Atari 7800 hobby programmers have historically had a hard time making fake vector graphics look good anyways. What we have here is Bob's re imagining of what Cinematronics was going for in the first place. The bad news is that there is a bunch of baby poop brown, green, and yellow to go around. While faithful to the original vision, Armor Attack 2's graphics are not making my heart palpitate with visual lust. The arcade and Vectrex versions feature amazing rockets and helicopter sprites, with the explosions (as always on Vector games) looking so cool. Here, the graphics get the job done but are just ordinary. The Jeep being so damn tiny is tactically good... it's hard to get hit, but it is visually underwhelming on first impressions.
Sound: There's a bunch of new Prosystem homebrews that make use of Pokey chips and new-fangled, fake Pokey chips that make the new 7800 carts sing like angels, but Armor Attack 2 was created before that trend was trending. Making use of the TIA chip, there are some interesting ideas with this cart's audio, including Morse code on the attract sceen that flies so fast that my ham radio-licensed ears are too slow to pick up what it says (one day I'll figure it out). The enemy tanks make a rumbling noise that borders on irritating, and there are little tunes for the start of a level or the completion of a level. The helicopter's blades helpfully generate an off screen noise that signifies that trouble's coming. And, most importantly in an Atari 7800 shooter, the cannon shots and explosions sound good.
Gameplay: This is a simple game with a simple control system, however I'm not crazy about them. One button shoots, one button thrusts (like the arcade), but I wish we could opt for pushing "up" for thrust like in Asteroids and Bob's Asteroids sequels. Because of this, I drive our tiny jeep like a preteen idiot that stole a car from an 80's comedy. I don't like crashing into things this much, so I opt to park my car in a hiding spot and snipe my enemies from a distance. We can only shoot in 8 directions, so this strategy works pretty well on certain boards, but not so well on others. The one bonus Armor Attack 2 has over its predecessors is that there are 16 random levels in this game as opposed to 1 maze in the other incarnations. Overlays must be pretty limiting, apparently. Bob pays homage to the VCS game Combat with one of the tank screens, and now that I think of it, there may be more than one of those Combat tank screens in this game. I also like how the board (top of the page on the right) reminds me of the 2600 game, Dodge 'Em's singular level. Everything else is what you might expect. There are enemy tanks to be destroyed, and they have moving turrets... so watch out. Even when destroyed, they rest in a heap, but can still snipe you if you are careless. The "Spider" in our game of Centipede here is a well rendered Helicopter that goes wherever it wants... just like the Queen in Chess or a crack whore in Baltimore. After eliminating enough of this inept army's tanks, we clear a level and get to see another random board.
Interpretation: PacMan Plus tends to like playing homage to a game's original programming as opposed to re-imagining gameplay, so this is a spot on Armor Attack experience. He wisely eschews the temptation to mix vector graphics with the conventional, and includes a control scheme that creates an appropriate arcade experience.
Value: There are multiple difficulty levels included, and an option to play alone or with a friend, kid, acquaintance, relative, or an enemy. If you choose to play with an enemy, please keep an eye on your wallet and your wife while he's in the house. The myriad of extra, playable screens makes this the milk shake that brings the boys to the yard. Damn right, its better that yours... or whatever those terrible lyrics were. The problem with Armor Attack 2 is that it features repetitive gameplay with very little ramp up of difficulty, so certain players can play this thing for hours without dying. In an odd twist for a Pac Man Plus game, who has made soul crushing games like Super Circus Atari Age and Moon Cresta, the Easy and Medium difficulty levels may be TOO easy for experienced retro gamers. One time, I stored up so many extra lives that it took over three minutes of me intentionally killing myself for the game to stop, but that was on Easy mode.
Overall: This is a very playable homebrew... in fact, I think I have the highest score on Easy mode online... and by ALOT, too. I MAY BE A WINNER! But at the end of the day, the unfortunate color schemes, counter intuitive controls and tiny protagonist Jeep keep this from being a top flight Bob Decrecenzo game. I have never played a bad Bob Decrescenzo game, but this take on this archaic update of Combat is the closest he's ever came to a stinker, yet. The good news is, he's still pretty far from that line. Armor Attack is an odd franchise to resurrect, and for you 119 people that wanted that resurrection, Happy Easter.
I would like to thank Atari Age for the use of the screenshots in this review. The game is available through the Atari 7800 store.
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