Activision Anthology Reviews
Kicking it up a notch, old-school!
- Posted Jan 25, 2005 1:57 am PT
- Recommended by 0 of 1 users.
- Gameplay
- 9
- Graphics
- 6
- Sound
- 6
- Value
- 8
- Tilt
- 8
- Difficulty:
- Just Right
- Learning Curve:
- 0 to 30 Minutes
- Time Spent:
- 20 to 40 Hours
- The Bottom Line:
- "Just plain fun"
The first taste that many gamers of the 32-plus-bit generation may have gotten of Activision's old-school library of games was in Activision Classics for the PlayStation. While it was a rather cool walk down memory lane for some, it did have its share of problems (frame rate issues, and lack of analog stick support to name a few). Activision, never one to forget its own history, pumps out an updated version of its classic library with Activision Anthology, released on PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance.
Classic gaming aficionados should love the many things that Activision Anthology has to offer. This package contains 45 games from Activision's extensive Atari 2600 library, including such classics as Pitfall, Kaboom!, River Raid, and Megamania; along with some lesser-known games, like Robot Tank, Decathlon, and the up-until-2002 unreleased prototype game Thwocker.
All of the games are recreated perfectly as they were on the Atari 2600, with no unnecessary framerate or slowdown hiccups, or many weird sound glitches (well, there was one missing explosion sound effect in Megamania). This obviously means that you won't get to see any state-of-the-art polygonal graphic models or powerful symphonic movements, but leaving these games of old untouched is easily the best thing that some could ask for, right? There's also an out-of-game soundtrack featuring hit songs from the '80s. Whether that's a good or bad thing may depend on your opinion of "Tainted Love".
Every game comes with its own instruction manual, that appears almost as it did when the game was first released, so it should be easy for anyone to jump right in and start playing. The controls are easy to get used to, as the entire PlayStation 2 controller functions as a mini-2600 unit, with buttons used for "Fire", "Black & White/Color", "Select", and "Reset". You'll also be allowed to use the analog stick for most of the games you play, which should come as a welcome relief for those who suffered many blistered thumbs from Classics' digital-only setup.
In addition, as you play through most of the games, you can unlock hidden rewards, which include the original TV commercials for the games (in all their over-the-top kitschy goodness), gamers' club patches (just for showing off), and display modes (these change the way you look at the game while playing...most of these may provide more of a distraction, though). If you're ambitious, you can strive to gain all of the game's patches. Anthology doesn't save any high scores, because the cartridges didn't, either...but you do get to keep all of your unlocked rewards saved on a Memory Card, so that you can admire them later.
If you love collecting classic games, or if you already have them and your Atari 2600's broken, you'd do well to pick up Activision Anthology and share a wonderful piece of history all over again.
Classic gaming aficionados should love the many things that Activision Anthology has to offer. This package contains 45 games from Activision's extensive Atari 2600 library, including such classics as Pitfall, Kaboom!, River Raid, and Megamania; along with some lesser-known games, like Robot Tank, Decathlon, and the up-until-2002 unreleased prototype game Thwocker.
All of the games are recreated perfectly as they were on the Atari 2600, with no unnecessary framerate or slowdown hiccups, or many weird sound glitches (well, there was one missing explosion sound effect in Megamania). This obviously means that you won't get to see any state-of-the-art polygonal graphic models or powerful symphonic movements, but leaving these games of old untouched is easily the best thing that some could ask for, right? There's also an out-of-game soundtrack featuring hit songs from the '80s. Whether that's a good or bad thing may depend on your opinion of "Tainted Love".
Every game comes with its own instruction manual, that appears almost as it did when the game was first released, so it should be easy for anyone to jump right in and start playing. The controls are easy to get used to, as the entire PlayStation 2 controller functions as a mini-2600 unit, with buttons used for "Fire", "Black & White/Color", "Select", and "Reset". You'll also be allowed to use the analog stick for most of the games you play, which should come as a welcome relief for those who suffered many blistered thumbs from Classics' digital-only setup.
In addition, as you play through most of the games, you can unlock hidden rewards, which include the original TV commercials for the games (in all their over-the-top kitschy goodness), gamers' club patches (just for showing off), and display modes (these change the way you look at the game while playing...most of these may provide more of a distraction, though). If you're ambitious, you can strive to gain all of the game's patches. Anthology doesn't save any high scores, because the cartridges didn't, either...but you do get to keep all of your unlocked rewards saved on a Memory Card, so that you can admire them later.
If you love collecting classic games, or if you already have them and your Atari 2600's broken, you'd do well to pick up Activision Anthology and share a wonderful piece of history all over again.
More Player Reviews
-
- MoonSaultKid's Score
- 3.2
- bad
If it wasn't for Pitfall this game collection would be horrid. continue »
- Posted Nov 15, 2005 10:40 pm PT
-
- MoonSaultKid's Score
- 10
- perfect
-
- MoonSaultKid's Score
- 7.7
- good
-
- MoonSaultKid's Score
- 7.9
- good
-
- MoonSaultKid's Score
- 8.2
- great
Tell the world what you think of Activision Anthology.
Activision Anthology Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices
- GameSpot Score7.3good
Check Prices: $5.99 – 19.99
Critic Scores
- IGN 8.5 / 10
- Gaming Age B-
- Game Rankings 85 / 100
- GameDaily 8 / 10
- Netjak 8.8 / 10
- HonestGamers 8 / 10
- Games Are Fun 7 / 10
- Armchair Empire 8.5 / 10
*The links above will take you to other Web sites and are provided for your reference. GameSpot does not produce or endorse the content on these sites.
User Submissions
User Videos
-
Barnstorming Ad
This is an ad for Activision's "Barnstorming" for the Atari 2600. Sure, it's a tough game, but someone's gotta play it.
- Posted Feb 15, 2008
by Bart247 | 0'30" | 149 Views
- Posted Feb 15, 2008
- Activision
- Contraband Ent.
- Compilation
- Release: Nov 19, 2002
- ESRB: Everyone
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