Developed by Illogika Games, Atari Mania is a microgame collection consisting of various classic Atari games in a loving tribute to a vital piece of gaming history. Players will take control of the caretaker for the Atari Vault as they attempt to save various Atari characters from an invasion of evil dead pixels attempting to corrupt the games inside of the vault in a setup not too dissimilar to the Night at the Museum film franchise. As a tribute to a simpler era of video games, Atari Mania is sure to delight players who are appreciative of the medium’s history. As a game on its own, I found it wanting.
The Night at the Museum-esque framing device for the game is used to great effect to include a variety of references to classic Atari games. Throughout the game’s narrative, the player character will interact with and save a variety of classic Atari characters by playing a collection of microgames based off of classic Atari games like Asteroids or Centipede. These microgames will also mix attributes of these games together to create a new variety of games that put new and interesting twists on established classics. The game’s pixelated art style and chiptunes soundtrack also further pushes the adherence to the past. Atari Mania’s collectibles all tie into the museum theme as players can collect a variety of posters and instruction manuals for all of the games within the collection. For those that are interested in the history of Atari games, Atari Mania is a nostalgic treasure trove whose reverence for the Atari era of gaming will be sure to please.
Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Full transparency, I am not interested in old school Atari games, and I recognize that I am not the target audience for this game. I am part of the broader general audience that might be interested in a good microcollection, so we come to the question: what does Atari Mania offer to the general audience? Well, not much. The game’s narrative is nothing to write home about as its reliance on nostalgia for the Atari era makes the player’s investment in the story reliant on their preexisting knowledge of the games it’s referencing, and that is a kind of knowledge I and many others might not possess. When not playing any of the microgames, players will explore the Atari Vault. The Vault contains a variety of puzzles and collectibles. The game’s puzzles are simplistic, the solution often boiling down to the player using the correct item in the correct place without much further thought into how to creatively use these items.
As for the microgames, they are fine. They are short little pieces of gameplay that remix various Atari games into new experiences that each last a few seconds. Controls for microgames can often feel slow and clunky, but for the most part, the microgames are functional. Unfortunately, these microgames can often feel more like busy work than fun gameplay because of this, especially when played for extended periods of time.
Atari Mania is not a fantastic game, but it isn’t bad either. It is fine for what it is. The microgames can be a fun time in short bursts, and the game’s nostalgic reverence for class Atari games will certainly please a specific audience of gamers, even if I am not a part of that audience. If you have any interest in classic Atari games, Atari Mania is a fun microgame collection to enjoy.
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Related: Reviews by Josh Freeman
I love games and love talking about games. Some of my favorites include action games (both 2D and 3D), metroidvanias, roguelikes, shooters, and Indies.
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