Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration Review (PlayStation 5)

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For our Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration Review we take players on an interactive journey through 50 years of video games, including a specially-curated list of more than 100 playable classics and six entirely new titles from the award-winning team at Digital Eclipse.

Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration Review Pros:

  • All the graphics from 8 Bit to the arcade.
  • 11.61GB download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • Collection gameplay that takes in shooters, RPGs, platforms, racing, and more.
  • The menu of the game is an interactive timeline that houses images, videos, and games.
  • The game library is the shortcut to just the games and can be filtered to year or console.
  • Five timelines of the Atari era – Arcade origins, the birth of the console, highs, and lows, the dawn of PCs, and the 1990s and beyond.
  • Each timeline has an explored percentage.
  • Eight platforms in this collection – Arcade, reimagined, 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, 800, and Jaguar.
  • All videos have a subtitles toggle option. You can fast-forward and pause the video.
  • High res scans of the original game manuals.
  • Original images and clippings.
  • The timelines are easy to navigate and use.
  • A must for all Atari and retro gaming fans.
  • High-quality video and voice in the videos.
  • They have nailed the paddle games’ sensitivity; you can use the stick or d-pad and tweak the sensitivity should you need to.
  • You can launch games from the timeline.
  • An excellent mix of games and mini-documentaries laced with beautiful art and promo shots.
  • Atari Arcade games –
    • Akka Arrh
      2. Asteroids
      3. Asteroids Deluxe
      4. Black Widow
      5. Breakout
      6. Centipede
      7. Cloak & Dagger
      8. Crystal Castles
      9. Fire Truck
      10. Food Fight
      11. Gravitar
      12. I, Robot
      13. Liberator
      14. Lunar Lande
      15. Major Havoc
      16. Maze Invaders
      17. Millipede
      18. Missile Command
      19. Pong
      20. Quantum
      21. Space Duel
      22. Sprint 8
      23. Super Breakout
      24. Tempest
      25. Warlords
  • Atari Reimagined games –
    • 1. Haunted Houses
      2. Neo Breakout
      3. Quadratank
      4. Swordquest: AirWorld
      5. VCTR-SCTR
      6. Yars’ Revenge Enhanced
  • Atari 800 games –
    • 1. Bounty Bob Strikes Back!
      2. Caverns of Mars
      3. Food Fight
      4. Miner 2049er
  • Atari 2600 games –
    • 1. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe
      2. Adventure
      3. Air-Sea Battle
      4. Asteroids
      5. Basic Math
      6. Breakout
      7. Canyon Bomber
      8. Centipede
      9. Combat
      10. Combat Two
      11. Crystal Castles
      12. Dark Chambers
      13. Demons to Diamonds
      14. Dodge ‘Em
      15. Fatal Run
      16. Gravitar
      17. Haunted House
      18. Millipede
      19. Miner 2049er
      20. Missile Command
      21. Outlaw
      22. Quadrun
      23. Race 500
      24. RealSports Baseball
      25. RealSports Basketball
      26. RealSports Boxing
      27. RealSports Football
      28. RealSports Soccer
      29. RealSports Tennis
      30. RealSports Volleyball
      31. Saboteur
      32. Secret Quest
      33. Solaris
      34. Super Breakout
      35. Surround
      36. Swordquest: EarthWorld
      37. Swordquest: FireWorld
      38. Swordquest: WaterWorld
      39. Warlords
      40. Yars’ Revenge
  • Atari 5200 games –
    • 1. Bounty Bob Strikes Back!
      2. Millipede
      3. Missile Command
      4. Star Raiders (+ Enhanced Version)
      5. Super Breakout
  • Atari 7800 games –
    • 1. Asteroids
    • 2. Basketbrawl
    • 3. Centipede
    • 4. Dark Chambers
    • 5. Fatal Run
    • 6. Ninja Golf
    • 7. Scrapyard Dog
  • Atari Handheld
    • 1. Touch Me
  • Atari Jaguar games –
    • 1. Atari Karts
    • 2. Club Drive
    • 3. Cybermorph
    • 4. Evolution Dino Dudes
    • 5. Fight For Life
    • 6. Missile Command 3D
    • 7. Ruiner Pinball
    • 8. Tempest 2000
    • 9. Trevor McFur In The Crescent Galaxy
  • Atari Lynx Games –
    • 1. Basketbrawl
      2. Malibu Bikini Volleyball
      3. Scrapyard Dog
      4. Super Asteroids & Missile Command
      5. Turbo Sub
      6. Warbirds
  • Every game has a fast save/load feature.
  • Each game, has a screen mode, filter, and border settings.
  • Stick settings can be adjusted – Invert the axis and sensitivity sliders and set it as a relative or absolute type.
  • Original pong can be played by two players with one controller!
  • You can reset games.
  • All games can be quit and return you back to the main menu.

Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration Review Cons:

  • No cheats or adjustments are built into any of the games.
  • Doesn’t have any online leaderboards.
  • U inspiring trophy list with nearly half of them being for one game.
  • The set isn’t clear on how to unlock the classified portions of the collection.
  • Doesn’t offer any support for the Colourblind.

Related Post: Geometric Feel The Beats Review (PlayStation 4)

Atari 50 The Anniversary Celebration:

Official website.

Developer: Digital Eclipse

Publisher: Atari

Store Links – 

PlayStation

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Sound - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Length - 8/10
  • 10/10
    Fun Factor - 10/10
8.4/10

Summary

My gaming life started with an Atari 2600 and in fact, I still have it, I dabbled in the other Ataris over the years and for that Atari is very much ingrained in my gaming DNA. This celebration package is one of the best collections I have seen in a very long time for it has videos that are mini-documentaries, original flyers/game manuals, and many many games. Presented as a timeline, you can go through the years and read or watch some of Atari’s ups and downs. I thought I knew everything about Atari but I was wrong and that is amazing that after all these years I’m still learning about them. I really like how they put this together and made each game feel unique. Controls wise they have made it so you can use the d-pad or sticks, and whilst the sensitivity can be adjusted, it’s crazy how they have made the default sensitivity work so we’ll because trust me, so many have made it way too sensitive, and ruined the experience. I am thankful for collections like this not only for a museum piece but because I can reconnect with games from my early days, games I forgot about, I get to tell people stories around the games, and with a handful of remixed games, I get to play games in all new ways. Seeing this makes me wish we could get more Atari 3rd party additions but hey you never know. The games are definitely a mixed bag and really it should have had some cheats chucked in so we crap reflex gamers could get easy wins! But no seriously this is a wonderful walk down memory lane full of surprises and thrills, great games, and amazing box art. A true gaming museum piece that can be enjoyed by all for generations. You feel the dev’s love for the games and the history as they make every game not only playable but also have individual settings and nobs to push. This is some of Digital Eclipses’ finest works and I hope they get to do more like this. Love it and all that’s left to say is have you played Atari today!?

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!