Solaris
SCORE: 72
Another game that is on the Atari Collection 2 is
Solaris.
Again I am very thankful I had the money to purchase this compilation
cartridge on the Evercade video game systems. Solaris confused me at
first. I am in space and there are planets to shoot at. There is also a
map screen with different symbols on them. I learned to fly to certain
symbols to find other space ships to shoot. Solaris reminds me of Radar
Lock in a great many ways. We have a similar guide at the bottom of the
screen, score at the top, and flying forward with the ship on the bottom
middle.
Solaris most likely stretched the Atari 2600 on its limits. I love how
Solaris has us on the planets and also in space. That is a pretty neat
change for a retro video game from this era. Why are we blowing all
these other ships away? What is the point of shooting everything we see?
Is it because they are shooting at us? As I have gotten older why we do
things is always important. Solaris comes from an era where the why was
not explained inside the video game.
Well known shooting and explosion sounds are used within Solaris. I
enjoyed listening to them while flying around the galaxy. I loved flying
around at warp speed and seeing all those round objects go by. Were
those planets in Solaris? I would like to think so. The only thing is I
was able to blow them up pretty easily. So either I have a really
powerful ship in Solaris or something else was going on. My guess is
they were asteroids.
The 3D effects are pretty good for the Atari 2600. I honestly did not
believe Solaris was an Atari 2600 video game at first. I think one of
the ways Solaris does this is with using repetitive graphics. The same
images are used over and over again. The violent content is one of the
biggest things in Solaris that could bother families. I honestly got
bored with blowing things away. Probably because I am mature and a
mature person does not seek constant destruction.
For historical purposes Solaris is an interesting video game to see and
play. I learned about the history of this system, and these kinds of
video games. I doubt I was playing the Atari 2600 in 1986. I was most
likely on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment system at that time in my
life. The Atari 2600 was not an interest for a great many years. Which
helps make Solaris even that much more special to me and for me.
- Paul
Graphics: 68%
Sound: 72%
Replay/Extras: 73%
Gameplay: 76%
Family Friendly Factor: 70%
System: Atari 2600/Evercade
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Rating: ‘NR’ - Not Rated
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