Down and Dirty Reviews: Intellivision -- A - Z |
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I love
the Intellivision and all but some of these games can really be disappointing
to say the least. See how they did. All the reviews are by me the StarSoldier so don't blame Jim.
The overall scores are out of 100. The graphics, sounds, and game play are out of 10. |
58 ASTRO SMASH (Mattel, 1981)This old school shooter takes and combines elements from Atari's Asteroids and Taito's Space Invaders to make for a whole new game. In Astro Smash you must survive an onslaught of incoming asteroids and various bombs all the while protecting the ground your ship glides across because if something gets through then you lose some points or maybe even your life. Astro Smash was also on the Atari 2600 and surprisingly both games look very similar, the only real difference is the Atari joystick is far better on the hands then the Intellivision game pad plus the Atari version was notably faster. The graphics are better though and the action is still here.
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 4
sound: 3
gameplay: 4
Look for ASTRO SMASH on eBay here!
30 BEAUTY and THE BEAST (Imagic, 1983)Beauty and the Beast wins a lot of points for those entire shameless rip-off's everywhere because this is basically Nintendo's Donkey Kong but this is definitely not nearly as good. I know that Donkey Kong was a rip off of the classic movie King Kong but at least Nintendo was able to create something half decent out of it. Despite some nice graphics here, all this game is a hard to control building climber where your girl has been abducted by some giant dude. That's it!
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 5
sound: 3
gameplay: 4
Look for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on eBay here!
50 CENTIPEDE (Atari soft, 1981, 1983)
Even the rival Mattel
Intellivision would get this mega popular arcade game from Atari. This Centipede
version is not too different from the impressive 2600 and 5200
versions but the action is a bit on the chunky side. If you're still a fan
of Centipede though this is a good way to kill some time and it even plays
well on those stupid controllers too.
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 2
sound: 4
gameplay: 2
Look
for CENTIPEDE on eBay here!
TTR Dud of
the Month Collection!
13 DONKEY
KONG (Coleco, 1982)
The Intellivision may be a 16-bit powerhouse compared to the Atari 2600 but
you wouldn't know it after playing Coleco's Donkey Kong here. What's wrong
with this arcade classic? Like the lame Atari 2600 version, Donkey Kong for
the Intellivision only has a mere two of the arcade levels instead of four
but that's not even the worse part believe it or not. The Intellivision version
suffers from downright awful jump physics which may cause a lot of accidental
deaths while your Mario character is floating in the air for too long. This
could have been a great translation but the game play is ruined thanks to
some sloppy programming.
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 2
sound: 2
gameplay: 2
Look
for DONKEY KONG on eBay here!
39 FROGGER (Parker Brothers/Sega/Konami,
1983)
Just like Donkey Kong for the Intellivision, Frogger is a huge arcade
disappointment. If you haven't played this legendary game, this is where you
guide 5 frogs who are trying to get home without being killed by heavy traffic
and roaming alligators in the process. This Frogger not only looks very choppy
compared to the other versions but this game even has poor use of the trademark
sound effects and musical scores. Intellivison Frogger is a below average
version of the road crossing classic.
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 1
sound: 1
gameplay: 5
Look
for FROGGER on eBay here!
65
NIGHT STALKER (Mattel, 1981)
Although Night Stalker
may appear to be yet another Pac Man-like maze clone, the game actually
has a lot of unique features. Your hero is trapped inside a deadly dark area
that is filled with bats, killer spiders, and even hunting robots. The odds
are against you but you can grab a special gun with limited ammo so your hero
can fight back. Once a gun loses ammo it is randomly placed in another location.
Night Stalker is not very fast paced and searching for your gun all the time
can get annoying but it is a challenging action title with solid graphics.
For 1 player only
graphics: 6
sound: 5
gameplay: 7
Look
for NIGHT STALKERS on eBay here!
75 PAC MAN (Atari Soft/Namco, 1983)
Atari screwed up the 2600 version of the amazing arcade game Pac Man
pretty bad so I didn't think they would do a good job on the Intellivision
either. Good thing I was wrong. Like the popular arcade game you are Pac Man
and you must clear the screen of dots while staying away from 4 wily ghosts.
Although the screen looks a little crunched together, everything else is here
and most importantly it plays and looks great. It may be a little tougher
to find then most Intellivision games but this Pac Man is definitely worth
it.
*Uncommon Intellivision game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7
sound: 6
gameplay: 5
Look
for PAC MAN on eBay here!
52 SPACE ARMADA (Mattel, 1982)
If you want to play
Space Invaders for the Intellivision then maybe you'll want to look
into this game. The objective is simple: you must shoot down a large group
of alien enemies before they reach the surface, just like in the Taito classic.
Space Armada looks to be superior to mega popular Atari's 2600 versions but
this game is much slower in comparison and you can also forget about the 100
plus options and variations as well.
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 4
sound: 3
gameplay: 4
Look
for SPACE ARMADA on eBay here!
53 TRON'S DEADLY DISCS
(Mattel, 1982)
I know I sound like
a broken record here but this version of Tron's Deadly Discs is a lot slower
than the Atari 2600 game of the same name. Tron DD is an arcade action
game where you fight up to do three different opponents in an enclosed arena.
To survive you must destroy your opponents by firing a single disc that works
like a boomerang but be a where that you are always out numbered in combat
so fight smart. Since this Tron is lot slower, the disc takes a lot longer
to get back you if you throw it across the screen.
For 1 player only
graphics: 4
sound: 3
gameplay: 5
Look
for TRON'S DEADLY DISCS on eBay here!