Retro Sabotage
Vectrexoscope is the latest edition and had me glued to my screen for more than a few minutes if you get my meaning. I thought it simply long distance Pong from a straight-on angle, but once I started hitting that block the whole arena started swinging around depending on the angle of the hit. Very interesting.
This lil’bastard “Samba“http://www.retrosabotage.com/spacein/samba.html seemed a simple take on Space Invaders. Just one bad guy to hit so after chasing him for a bit I fired a perfect shot but then BAM, bastard like echoed away! It was creepy because the feeling you have of playing a classic game is then ripped away and it’s almost as if you are playing against some sort of higher AI form in 8-bit clothing. Creepy, but effective.
True Self is PacMan from the Ghost’s perspective. You chug along kicking blue ass and then suddenly everything fades away as a single ghost interacts with, well, Mr. Miyagi.
The Master proceeds to enlighten Inky’s mind with the fact that he is a ghost so…ghosts can move through walls! And therein lies the new twist to an old fav!
“Overpowered“http://www.retrosabotage.com/pong/overpowered.html is totally a Pong that speaks to my aggressive nature! You can charge the block before shooting it which slams into the other side and damages the, uh, line. A few hits later and the line explodes into pixel death! Wonderful! The tricky thing is you can’t move your paddle while charging a shot so you have to be careful with your placement shots. Lots of fun though!
It’s nice to see that gamers are adding to their own history with quirks that were impossible back in the early days of gaming. It’s a different than say, oh Hollywood wanting to redo Escape from New York (thank god that’s not happening anymore) which is just a shitty remake that hurts the original by showing off all new effects while at the same time disrespecting the old style.
What Retro Sabotage has achieved is a nice balance between new techniques and the classic feel and look. You feel like you’re playing an old game until something flutters in your vision and suddenly you are playing a whole new side to something you thought you knew.
I like it. I like that people are doing this.
Play some!