Let's take a moment shall we and explore what exactly this game has going for it.

Exhibit A: the AK-47

Exhibit B: the standard issue sickle & hammer bomb

Exhibit C: the Molotov cocktail + overalls of the working man

Exhibit D: the pinko uniform

And now.... Masterpiece theater presents a passage from the instruction manual of "Communist Mutants from Space"

"Your mission: Vaporize the mutant warriors before they overrun your home planet.

The evil ruler of the planet Rooskee has launched a diabolical attack. A cunning Mother Creature, filled with irradiated vodka, transforms helpless slaves captured on peaceful planets into bloodthirsty COMMUNIST MUTANTS.

The Commie Mutants attack like crazy! Wipe out wave after wave of them, and they keep on coming. And the more you vaporize, the nastier they get. You've got trouble."

Looking at the picture to the right I bet you're thinking, "I wonder why that never caught on?" The game's rad storyline (whoa, little too much 80's) hides the fact that it's really just "Galaga." And to top it off it got loaded into the 2600 by tape cassette! Seriously!

And Guess what? I played it! (After I got it to load of course) To play this game you'll need an Atari 2600, a copy of the game, a stereo with a tape player and headphone out jack, the Arcadia Supercharger, and alot of patience. Lord Knows I didn't buy this game for the gameplay but seriously, I figured with all the trouble I'd have to go through the game would at least be ok. I obviously didn't think it through.

After borrowing a stereo with a tape deck from a friend I settled down to finally try this game I bought maybe 2 years ago. Powering up the ol' Supercharger I got the best old-school computer message ever, "Rewind Tape. Press Play." Which I had to do four times before it loaded up correctly. After some weird set of sound effects I was presented with the kick-ass title screen. Then I got to play a game that was almost exactly like Galaga if Galaga had shit graphics. The enemies are just squares that turn into aliens when they swoop down on you. The Superchager was supposed to have better graphics, but Space Invaders looks better.

The box and manual are alot more fun than the game is. It's not fun to have 10 minutes of set up time, rewinding the tape over and over to get it to load, just to play this. But man that box and manual are great.

As a collector, yes. As a player, NO F'ing WAY. It's simply for people that want real relics of the 80s. Price guides list it at around 10 bucks, but I know I paid more. At least I got the box and manual with it.

2 out of 10

If you're collecting old Atari games, you'll want this on your list. But not to play it.

God I miss the 80's sometimes...

Comments (2)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment