If you want to respect the video game industry, then you should always be in tune with its history. Not only will it give you perspective on what the industry has gone through, but it will also reveal a blueprint that might seem familiar in the future. That whole destined to repeat things sort of deal.
History is what drives Atari 50, a large and ever-expanding love letter to Atari’s journey. The original release of the game brought out some titles from Atari’s early years and some later years that it wanted to forget so desperately (looking at you, Jaguar). Regardless of gaming and console quality, Atari’s history is laid out beautifully in this game and it appears to keep expanding.
Recently, Atari released a DLC for Atari 50 called The Wider World of Atari. While the DLC wasn’t as lush with content as the initial game, the release showed some gems from Atari’s past and gave context to several misconceptions that the company has carried with it.
So, break out Steven Kent’s history book, go berzerk with Tristan Donovan’s Replay, and let’s compare notes about Atari’s history.
Games you get with DLC
This recent DLC release features some solid games from the arcade and console divisions of old Atari. Some of the games broke new ground while introducing future moguls to the computer industry, and others were extraordinary hits that were a big deal for both console and coin-op divisions. Of course, some probably could have stayed hidden. Let’s break down the games on this DLC.
The Good
The new DLC starts with the history of Breakout, which has an interesting set of fellows attached to it. If you didn’t know, it’s a game designed and executed by Apple’s former dynamic duo, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The game brought a simple concept of a person breaking out of prison. Colorful walls of bricks mixed with quick gameplay produced one of the most exciting games to come out of the 80s. While the history of the title is probably going to outlast the actual game, it’s still neat seeing and hearing from folks involved with its development and deal. It’s always a fun piece of history to discuss if you enjoy video game timelines.
The next good game doesn’t hit the DLC until you get to Red Baron and the vector graphics section of Atari’s history. While that may not seem like a big deal to anyone reading this, for us old folks that was an amazing 3D leap from a pixelated 2D world. The DLC discusses the emerging shift in coin-op development thanks to vector graphics and how that changed programmers’ perspectives on how games can be developed. Again, I’m sure people who are experiencing this for the first time will not be overly impressed, but they should be. Thanks to vector graphics, we not only had historically fun games built on those types of graphics, such as a good Star Wars game, Tempest, and of course Red Baron, but the wireframe-based graphics laid down the groundwork for traditional 3D gaming experiences as we know it. It’s a neat inclusion that was touched upon in earlier Atari history but given more context with this release.
The other good parts of The Wider World of Atari were historical context and kudos given to those who worked at Atari during its most successful period. While there is an interesting video discussing the relationship between coin-op and console groups in Atari, which from what I read in various history books was more contentious rather than gracious, the best part of the video series was graphic designer Evelyn Seto’s piece where she discusses art design, the Atari logo design, and eventual marketing choices her team made to get the attention of those looking for a good video game system. Her story and how the art department did it was darn interesting. You never hear about the art part of Atari other than box art (which was epic).
The final cool piece of this DLC was multiple timelines dedicated to Berzerk. This game featured terrifying voice acting and an intense narrative about humans escaping the prison confines of robot guards. It’s a frightening game, even now, but what made it cool was that voice. It’s a neat inclusion in the DLC and its sequel, plus the story, are equally solid.
The Decent
Towards the end of The Wider World of Atari, the DLC introduces some new games from the Atari vault that were prepped and released for the Atari Flashback, and not even released at all. The first is called Aquaventure, an underwater adventure that was conceived in 1983, and a strange game called Save Mary, that was created in1989 from Tod Frye. While neither title is extraordinary, the latter at least is a good talking point that someone was making an Atari game well beyond the 2600/7800 years. The world had moved to 16-bit by this point, so I’m not sure who was trying to buy this title.
The DLC also features a video on prototypes and lab loaner cartridges for the press. I always wondered how they provided carts to press in the early days and this certainly explained it. This stop in Atari history was neat to see and learn about it, plus it added more lore to Atari.
The Bad
I hate using the phrase ‘The Bad’ because the games may not be gold, especially by expectations and standards nowadays, but they’re history and it’s always good to know and have history. But the games are bad. The coin-op games of Super Bug and Football are just…well, they belong in the 80s. They’re virtually not entertaining, even for historical value.
Games like Atari Video Cube, Desert Falcon, Double Dunk, Off the Wall, Motorodeo, and Adventure II are just not great. While some were made for the Atari Flashback, or at least released for it, all these designs still showed their age. Even if it was nostalgia-driven, they were out of place when released. Plus, they weren’t that much fun to play. Sometimes video games just belong where they belong. Not many Atari video games belonged in the late 80s or early 90s.
Again, neat stuff for a history collection but weak when compared to the base Atari 50 game bundle.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Atari 50 – The Wider World of Atari from developer Digital Eclipse adds to the overall Atari 50 historical package but doesn’t bring the strongest line-up of history or games seen in the original release.
