A classic shooter, and one of the best 2600 games out there.

User Rating: 8.7 | Yars' Revenge 2600
(note: I judge 2600 games based on others for the same system. No sense in comparing this game's graphics to Halo 2, anyway)

Yars' Revenge tells the story of a race of radioactive mutant flies (ah, what a surprise) as they struggle to defeat the Qotile, some sort of evil-ish thing that blew up a planet belonging to the Yars.

You yourself are a Yar, equipped with a simple gun used to take out the Qotile. The thing is surrounded by a red energy shield that you blow apart in bits and chunks. Once enough of it is gone, you can trigger the "Zorlon Cannon" (science fiction terms at their best!) to destroy it. Basically, it sits on the other side of the screen and follows your vertical movement. You then hit the fire button to launch the missile. The trick is, the Qotile and its shield are constantly moving, so you have to time your shot. Because the missile follows your every move, you have to get out of the way before it nails you.

A direct hit destroys the Qotile, and induces a colorful, full-screen, seizure-inducing explosion. Pretty cool.

So, right now, this seems like an easy game. But really, what makes it hard is something I haven't yet disclosed, which is the destroyer missile.

Basically, it's this little rectangle that chases you around the game area. At first it's not that bad, as you can take plenty of solid shots at the shield before you have to reposition. However, a lot of the game's difficulty centers around the missile; in later levels, the thing moves so dang fast you only get one or two shots in a most before you have to reposition your Yar to prevent getting hit. Thankfully, the game allows you to wrap around the screen. There's also this thing called the Neutral Zone; it's this colorful, staticy-looking thing that keeps you safe from the missile (while you're in there, it just sits on you, but doesn't kill you). Though while you're in there you can't shoot, so it's a fair trade-off.

The Qotile also has another, minor attack, called a swirl. Every thirty-something seconds the thing turns into a swirl that launches itself at you. It's pretty easy to dodge, since the Neutral Zone doesn't keep you safe from it.

So, once you get deep into the game, it's insanely hard (and takes considerably longer to beat with each level), what with the funny rectangles chasing you and whatnot. Heck, some levels are Neutral Zone-less even, which means there's no where to hide... dun dun dun.

Graphically, the game is simple but good. The game takes place in space, where everything is black. The explosions and Neutral Zone however, show off some pretty sweet color effects (try looking at a screenshot). Your Yar is a pretty simple looking dragonfly-kinda thing. It doesn't look like what they show in the comics (a four-armed humanoid fly), but it still looks great. As it moves, it flaps its wings in a two frame animation. Nice touch.

The Qotile is basically this pretzel-shaped thing. There's a comic based on this (eleven whole pages) that makes it looks like a city on a planet. So it's a moving fortress? Who knows.. it's evil anyway.

The game's background music is this constant humming that gives the game a good sense of atmosphere. There's also sounds to accompany shooting the Qotile shield and blowing the thing up.

Being an Atari 2600 game, as well as an incredibly common one, it's very easy to find this game for less than a buck, especially in game lots on sites like eBay (I once had five copies of the game). So if you're out looking for 2600s or games for it and don't have this, find it. It's great.