Every Atari 7800 Game #1/59 - Pole Position II
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For an intended 1983-84 release, Pole Position II is very impressive, especially in terms of visuals. I can't really think of any game consoles at this time in North America that could have produced something that looked better than this, so I get the feeling that if the 7800 had been released at its intended time frame, it would have been a major success compared to how it's viewed now, being the tertiary 8-bit console far behind Sega and Nintendo.
However, the delayed release does not alter the fact that Pole Position II is a really fun game and is a great port. While on the surface the game appears to be really lacking in content, with there only being 4 tracks, I can't say that the experience gets boring ever. There are only 4 tracks, but each one is much harder than the previous one, and the first test track is a perfect tutorial. Perfect enough that it makes you really want to conquer the other 3 and race for better scores. I think my only problem with how the game itself plays is that the rival racers on the track can be really hard to avoid. It feels like if even a single pixel collides you're going up in flames (Maybe this is accurate to F-1 races?).
As stated previously, this game is visually stunning for the time it came out (based on my admittedly limited knowledge of other games of the time). Porting Pole Position II was a great idea, particularly for showcasing the graphical capabilities of the 7800. Pixels are still rather chunky and large like previous Atari consoles, but I think there are more options in terms of colors and the resolution is probably larger (I'm guessing). It's hard to explain, but I do feel that this game looks fantastic.
I'm noticing early that Atari 7800 games kind of fall behind in terms of audio. The base audio capabilities feel in line with the aging 2600, so the music jingles in this game sound rather strange. Then again, not a huge deal.
7/10
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For an intended 1983-84 release, Pole Position II is very impressive, especially in terms of visuals. I can't really think of any game consoles at this time in North America that could have produced something that looked better than this, so I get the feeling that if the 7800 had been released at its intended time frame, it would have been a major success compared to how it's viewed now, being the tertiary 8-bit console far behind Sega and Nintendo.
However, the delayed release does not alter the fact that Pole Position II is a really fun game and is a great port. While on the surface the game appears to be really lacking in content, with there only being 4 tracks, I can't say that the experience gets boring ever. There are only 4 tracks, but each one is much harder than the previous one, and the first test track is a perfect tutorial. Perfect enough that it makes you really want to conquer the other 3 and race for better scores. I think my only problem with how the game itself plays is that the rival racers on the track can be really hard to avoid. It feels like if even a single pixel collides you're going up in flames (Maybe this is accurate to F-1 races?).
As stated previously, this game is visually stunning for the time it came out (based on my admittedly limited knowledge of other games of the time). Porting Pole Position II was a great idea, particularly for showcasing the graphical capabilities of the 7800. Pixels are still rather chunky and large like previous Atari consoles, but I think there are more options in terms of colors and the resolution is probably larger (I'm guessing). It's hard to explain, but I do feel that this game looks fantastic.
I'm noticing early that Atari 7800 games kind of fall behind in terms of audio. The base audio capabilities feel in line with the aging 2600, so the music jingles in this game sound rather strange. Then again, not a huge deal.
7/10