Customer Reviews

Atari Greatest Hits

5 star:		(4)
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As a huge fan of the old arcade games, I find the interface to both Atari Arcade apps very effective in game and control settings. The Direct X makes the graphics verbatim to their coin-op counterparts, smooth and flowing unlike the rather choppy Microsoft versions of some of these games. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get my PC upgraded before I play these again. The system requirements say 133mhz or higher, but if you have a processor lower than a 400 (I have a 166), the game play is going to be noticeably pause-heavy, especially in the AA2 games.

This collection will satisfy the biggest of arcade game fans. It has a rare collection of Atari arcade games, those found in the original Microsoft Arcade (and some that aren't!) I removed Microsoft Arcade just for this! The makers do a perfect job of reproducing these classics down to the code! Millipede and Crystal Castles were a pleasant surprise and different games can be displayed on your system as a screen saver. I wish Atari/Hasbro would do more of their games in a collection, the experts at Digital Eclipse team up with Atari and Hasbro to make a fantastic collection of games leaving you hungry for more.

The game I really wanted was Battlezone, which took a littlebit of time getting used to, since my computer does not have ajoystick. Once I got used to the keyboard controls, the game was fun.

One of the features of the games is to make it look as though the player is using the old arcade games, by reducing the size of the playing screen and drawing the old arcade game designs around the borders of the reduced size playing screen. Unfortunately, I have a small 15-inch monitor, which makes it hard to see details, especially in the Asteroids games. So I think the games would play best on a 17-inch or larger screen.

So far I have encountered no glitches or timing problems in any of the games. I am using a Windows98 operating system on a 350 MHz Celeron machine. END

This collection of arcade titles belongs in any dedicated child of the 80's computer software cache. The murderous action of Missile Command, the rapid seek and destroy tactics of Asteroids, the Melee that is Centipede and its sequel: Millipede are without comparison. These games are the raw nerve that ate up your allowance and pizza money. Four bucks for a slice of Sbarro's pizza and an Orange Julius, and an hour's worth of time on Asteroids to see those three precious initials of yours atop the heap. What is more evocative or reminiscient of this glorious enterprise that was the ARCADE?
If you have even a vague nostalgia for memories like this, then you're cheating yourself if you dont invest in these staples now. The dreamcast and Playstation versions are quite well done also, hopefully Infogrammes will convert the collecton over to the PS2 soon. The Atari anniversiary collection is basically a reprise of this set, and is readily available.