(this review is of the Missile Command off the Atari Anniversary Edition for PS2 )
Almost 35 years ago appeared one of the most stimulating arcade games ever made, titled simply “Missile Command”. A mainstay in arcades for years, it has appeared in Atari bundles in less recent years. I own two Atari Anniversary Edition discs, and this is easily my favorite game of them all. The function and gameplay is designed so that anybody can play anytime; I’ve often found myself digging into old games decades later reeking of cigarettes and Gentleman’s Jack liquor (having as much fun as I did when I was seven or eight years old).
Like many arcade greats, the concept is simple, yet evolves to highly intense situations as the stages progress. Your goal is to move a simple cursor over the screen, controlling up to three missile silos on the ground. Between these silos are small towns. All you must do is fire missiles to eliminate the oncoming debris, bombs, and ships. You acquire more points supposing you keep many towns unharmed, and you fail if you find yourself bombed off the map. Like many other arcade games, you can take out extra enemies for bonuses (in this case it is a UFO that you’ll be alerted to by a whirring sound). Also, like other arcade games, you’ll grow cocky before your friends after the first few rounds…then proceed to look foolish after the fourth or fifth as the challenge grows. But like these aforementioned games (Centipede being my best example), you’ll quickly want to hit the reset button and keep going.
The sound and graphics aren’t worth mentioning, as anybody whose had experience with old Atari games could well imagine what to expect. The nostalgic appeal helps bring me back to play this, versus, say, the new reboot of Space Invaders on the Nintendo DS (not that that wasn’t a surprisingly superb game). However, as an adult (who plays only these older games, mind you; not much past the year 2000); I find the replayability only, for lack of a better term, “regenerates” once every few months, especially without any friends coming by interested in old-school gaming. All in all, if you sent me back in time to the late seventies and made me young again; this would be great. Otherwise, it is just an enjoyable relic to dust off twice a year or so.