Combat

released on Sep 11, 1977

Combat is an early video game by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600. It was based on two earlier black-and-white coin-operated arcade games produced by Atari. Combat had color graphics and numerous gameplay variations. The 27 game modes featured a variety of different combat scenarios, including tanks, biplanes, and jet fighters. The tank games had interesting options such as bouncing munitions ("Tank-Pong") and invisibility. The biplane and jet games also allowed for variation, such as multiple planes per player and an inventive game with a squadron of planes versus one giant bomber.


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Combat 1977 | Atari
emulador Pc

1-interacción: 6.4
2-mundo/apartado artístico: 7
3-concepto: 7
4-puesta en escena: 6.4
5-narración: -
6-sonido/apartado sonoro: 6.2
7-jugabilidad: 5
8-historia: -
9-duración/ritmo: 6.7
10-impacto: 6.7

7
7
6.7
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6.4
6.4

40.2/60pts

67 promedio

Yes, this is just a compilation of 1v1 games to play with another person, two of which is pretty much identical in layout.

But this being a launch title for the Atari 2600, I was more fascinated by how the cartridge itself works directly with the hardware. Game selection wasn't made through a menu screen, but programmed onto the cartridge and controlled by analog switches on the front of the console. It's this "reverse arcade board" design for integrating video gaming into households that actually blows me away, for a time in the late 70s evolving from simple toys to a more interactive medium. This goes for other 2600 titles of course, but this being one of the earliest. It's pretty ingenious.

Also, I have no idea why they have inverted flight stick controls for the biplanes, but standard controls for the jets.

Played (with a friend) as part of Atari 50.

Honestly? Not bad, for a 2600 game. Obviously your enjoyment of this is entirely predicated on finding someone who will play an Atari 2600 launch title with you (thanks, @saturday), but the tank game is perfectly competent. Bare-bones, yes, but it plays better than the 2022 Quadratank also in this collection (which probably says more about Quadratank than anything, but still). Plane games aren't as good, but they're still kinda novel for a couple minutes I guess. Really nothing here if you're trying to play it solo, though.

how do you rate Combat? I sincerely have no clue how the fuck you'd even rate this game, so I'm gonna play it safe and go straight down the middle

Very simple with clunky controls, but it works.

An alright game. For the time, incredibly well coded in 2K of code. Nowadays, best in parties, especially as a drinking game.