by:	May 26, 2007

It is nice that this title comes as a package, what isn’t nice is the fact that they did a bad job updating it for today’s audience and that it cost 400 points ($5).
Esentially they try and copy the style that Geometry Wars has created, seemingly a trend in Xbox Live Arcade titles by making a “Classic” the old version of the game, and a visually, and gameplay enhanced “Evolved” version of the same title. You have a “Classic” and “Evolved” version of both titles. Along with this is “Throttle Monkey” which is essentially a faster, harder version of the game. You do in fact get a lot of game, or at least it seems at first, until you realize that both of these classic titles are really the same thing, just with a few slightly different gameplay mechanics and different coats of paint. None of that however can shield it from the fact that this game is horribly outdated and age did not make a beauty out of it, rather it feels more like a tech students C graded mid-term project.

The “Evolved” mode of both games moves a bit slower, has faster bugs, and feels just a tad bit glitchy. To the modes credit, they do update the visuals, but only with cheap little explosions, juicy splatters “against the screen” and making the bugs move a bit more realistic. The sound is clunky, crunchy, and overall uninspired. The entire experience overall can be underwhelming and feel like one big glitch.

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The bottom line is, that this is indeed a classic, in that at the time it was made it had some interesting twitch reaction fun to it, and it is what made Atari, Atari in the beginning. Still, we have plenty better titles to look forward to coming to Live Arcade from the ATARI collection such as Tempest, Missile Command, and Asteroids so do yourself a favor and pass on this one.

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