Seaweed Assault (Atari 2600)

One of my first ever articles for RGCD, back when the magazine still came out on a compact disc, was a review of a homebrew game for the venerable Atari 2600. Some of my favourite gaming experiences ever have been on my trusty Atari 7800, ploughing through the back catalogue of 2600 games it was happily backwards compatible with. So it's a good feeling to finally review a game for the VCS once more.

Seaweed Assault is a submarine game with (brace for terrible pun that is also true) hidden depths. Like any game on the humble but legendary Woody, gameplay has to shine through unavoidably plain graphics and Seaweed Assault throws enough subtle kinks into the arena shooter format to make for a replayable gaming experience.

Retro News Update

Time for another round-up of news from the retro scene! With the results (and downloads) from the 2011 ABBUC Software Contest due any day now, the focus today is on the Atari 8-Bit scene, but there's also a couple of 2600/VCS games, one for the VIC20 and even a Videopac/Odyssey title thrown in this update for good measure. As always, full reviews will follow soon.

Mighty Jill Off Preview (Atari XE/XL)

Probably worthy of a news update all by itself, we at RGCD expect Morons Of H.A.R. to win this year's ABBUC Software Contest with their 8-Bit remake of Auntie Pixelante's acclaimed BDSM-themed hardcore platformer. Loosely based on Mighty Bomb Jack (the home computer sequel to the coin-op classic), Mighty Jill Off is a extreme test of old-school jump 'n' run skill and it'll be interesting to see if the difficulty of the Mac and PC version is matched on the Atari. Check the video and let us know what you think!

Lead (Atari 2600)

[Originally reviewed by R. O'Toole in RGCD Issue #05, March 2009]

The phrase "fast and furious" has become a cliché and is bandied around far too much to have real meaning any more, but in the case of Lead the cliché rings true on more than one level. Weighing in at a paltry 8 kilobytes (16 for the final cartridge version), Simone Serra's latest release for the Atari 2600 is impressively fast, and often makes for furious gameplay, but the great speed means that Lead can be more than a little infuriating to the novice player.

Even set on "normal" speed you can literally lose the game by blinking, and although "fast" speed is mercifully slower than I expected Lead still tests your reflexes to destruction. An earlier development version of the game had a "zzap" speed setting, which must have been terrifying. But don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad game, and you're not reading a hatchet-job review slamming a game just for being difficult. Quite the contrary, since Lead is one of the most impressive games I've seen this year and is ridiculously inventive and varied in spite of its tiny, tiny size.