Ikari Warriors |
Atari 2600 |
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Review by Matt Paprocki |
Atari |
Shooter |
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Graphics: 5 |
Sound: 6 |
Gameplay: 5 |
Overall: 5 |
You just have to appreciate what the "Rambo" films did for video games. Where would be today without them? We never would have had classics like Capcom's "Commando," Konami's "Contra," or the unforgettable "Ikari Warriors" by SNK (and the sequels). With the large limitations of the 2600, this port is admirable, but the controls ruin an otherwise decent experience.
This dual-joystick arcade game has been compressed into a single joystick and one button for this release and it causes quite a few problems. Firing the machine gun is hardly a problem, but launching grenades accurately is almost impossible. Requiring the player to hold down the button for over a second, by the time it fires, the controller is already moving in another direction causing it to miss the mark. Even firing a single bullet requires moving towards the target and the response time is far too slow to shoot accurately. Considering how rare power-ups are, this is not acceptable. Though the sprites accurately portray the characters, the background is filled with strange color choices and it hardly resembles a jungle at all. Purple ground and green water hardly makes any sense. Bullets, both of the player and enemy persuasion, flicker as they fly through the air making them hard to see in a clutch situation. The classic arcade theme music is represented well, but it constantly repeats and becomes annoying in longer sessions.
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