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Silverback Reviews
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7800 Rank: Unranked
Genre: Light Gun, Shooting
Awards: None
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Have an Epileptic Seizure with Meltdown! |
Pros:
Unique gun game/ Lots of power-ups/ Passcode feature
Cons:
Off-center Atari gun/ Blinking screen is Insufferable |
M-M-My left eye is Twitching! |
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***Funkmaster V's Unnecessary Second Opinion: Boy, Silverback really hates this game, but I remembered Meltdown slightly more fondly than this. But after horsing around this thing myself in the new age, this game is virtually unplayable. The blinking screen is ridiculous. I'm not epileptic and playing short innings makes me nauseated and I feel like I'm getting a migraine. Not worth it.
Overview: Light gun only games are a big ask for people in 2022. You not only need the console and a lightgun to play, but now you need to obtain a CRT television and have a place to store and use it.
Back in the very early nineties when Meltdown was released, CRT TV's were the standard. But today we all have HDTV's, or Ultra HDTV's, or Flatscreens for our classic gaming setups. All of which are incompatible with the TV requirements needed to play Meltdown. So is Meltdown worth all the extra steps and trouble to play? No not at all! This was a miserable experience from start to finish, and this is coming from somebody who LOVES light gun games! House of the Dead, Alien Brigade, Operation Wolf, Silent Scope, and even lesser known and forgotten games like Corpse Killer are my jam! But Meltdown fails as a light gun game, fails as an Atari 7800 game, and fails as a video game period.
Graphics: The title screen is a bit dark, but doesn't look bad. But its a lie, much like the pictures people use on dating sites. Don't be fooled! The game's reactors are made of tiny squares that you have to protect from various orange and blue circles. No colorful backgrounds, no cityscapes, and no cool explosions. Video games, and light gun games especially, require you to be invested and to care about the world you are in to enjoy the experience. But when you're shooting at tiny shapes on a black background... well it's hard to care at all. This one looks awful, and the constant flashing makes it a migraine waiting to happen.
Sound: The music is actually much better than it should be. I was quite surprised how well it sounds especially given that they are using the stock TIA chip. The sound effects are so-so and ride the line of being annoying, but overall they did the job well. I will give the developers kudos for really nailing some good sounding music and compositions for this game, but its a shame that it was wasted on this dumpster fire.
Gameplay: 20 levels equals 20 reactors that you are attempting to protect from the vile Sparkx (the orange and blue circles I mentioned earlier). You use your shots to either outright destroy the Sparkx or you can use your missed shots to create barriers for them to bounce off of- blocking their path towards the reactor. That's a neat idea. Thankfully, we have some power ups to help us save the world: rapid fire, larger shots, etc. So, there should, in theory, have some fairly deep gameplay in Meltdown. The problem is that the light gun is highly inaccurate and the enemies are just too tiny. Some of the baddies split into 5 or 6 smaller enemies when shot, and some require multiple shots to kill. Man, its all just FRUSTRATING! There is a password system to help you get through the 20 levels, and there are novice and expert difficulty levels. But the easier difficulty doesn't help ease the frustration and the password is a pain to use with this crap light gun. You can keep you arm as steady as possible and the shot will dance all over the arrow as you attempt to input each password. When you are struggling putting in a passcode with the game's main weapon, you know you are in trouble.
Originality: There was a good idea here, but it was executed horribly. If they had used some larger, more interesting enemy sprites, and some colorful backgrounds, they might of had something here. They also didn't do themselves any favors by not allowing a joystick to be used.
Even back when Meltdown was released, a joystick option would've made it a million times more accessible to the average 7800 owner because light guns were not widely available. In fact, there is no 7800 Light gun... this is actually an Atari XE contraption.
Value: It will take the average person a long time to work through the game on Novice difficulty, even with the passwords. And then, after you enjoy the lazy ending screen, you get to do it all over again on expert difficulty! No thank you! If you want it, this game will take some time to experience all the way from beginning to end on both difficulties, but I only recommend it if S&M or torture kink is your thing. Hey, no judging here, but the rest of you shouldn't waste your time.
Overall: Even with the decent looking static screen here and there, and even with the surprisingly good music, Meltdown is not a game worth experiencing. As I said above, I love light gun games, and I even enjoy the titles that others don't. Its kind of my thing. But I couldn't give Meltdown a pass even if I was bribed by the KGB. The execution was poor and the gameplay was too hard at best and just frustrating at worse. There are some good reasons to own a light gun for the 7800 in Alien Brigade and Crossbow, but don't pick one up to play Meltdown. Its not worth the effort. Oh, and if your prone to light sensitivity then definitely stay away from this one, because that flashing screen will mess with you for sure! Hard pass here.
Other Reviews:
The Atari Times: 8 out of 10
CV's Panoramic Froo-Froo: 3.0 out of 5.0 (Fair)
Video Game Critic: C-
Additional Info:
This review was graciously written by Atari 7800 Forever contributor Silverback.
I would like to thank Atari Age for the use of their screenshots in my reviews.
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