Classics Gone Wrong.
This game fails miserably however in the controls, presentation, and execution. You simply can't play these games on an X-box contoller, and that's pretty much as far as that goes. That's simply the bottom line with this one.
Gameplay and Controls:
There's a few classics buried in here, but they rarely work with an analog stick, or even the modernized d-pads for that matter. These are arcade classics, and they should stay in the arcades. A giant chipped and stained joystick is the only way to play these ones, and everyone who's reading this review knows it. When you enter an arcade, what game are you drawn to? You're probably drawn to the DDR machine, or the biggest and baddest and newest one...but once you've played it, or other people are playing it...do you know where I go in arcades? I hit up the Frogger Machine, and the Joust Machine. Why Atari Anthology fails is due to its ignoring of what these games were supposed to be, and that's not with a funky analog stick on an X-Box controller.
Impressions:
You'll get an hour into playing this title from Atari before turning off the console in frustration. If you want to go play some of these games, go to the local arcade and do it...save the money and don't buy this one. Yes, there's a few games that CAN work with these controls...Millipede and Pong work sometimes with other people. However, the presentation is AWFUL! They look to kind of a "zoom out" feel....like looking at the screen of an arcade machine. So this, there's a borderline AROUND your game of the arcade machine borders. This is FUNDAMENTALLY terrible. You have a big fancy screen to play games on, and instead of giving you the full game on the full screen, it gives you a windowed version with a really really crappy border.
Stay away from this game at all costs, and if a friend has it, do him a favour and toss it in the middle of oncoming traffic.