Atari 2600 #18: Time Warp

 Atari 2600 #18: Time Warp

 

Developer: Funvision

Publisher: Zellers

Release Date: 1983?

 

Time Warp is the last of the Zellers trilogy, and of the three it is the least easy to talk about. It’s a space shooter which is something very common for the 2600. It’s not a cheap copy of an existing game like Inca Gold. If it was a bad version of of something that would give me something to talk about. It doesn’t even have funny box art. I think the space scene looks quite nice, and strangely for a Zellers game it actually makes sense. So Time Warp is the Funvision game that most resembles a typical American release. Is that interesting in its own way? I suppose it’s possible, but of course when I’m trying to review every game, I have to be prepared for ones that don’t give me a ton of material. I think I can make it work. Let’s get to it.

 

Time Warp is a horizontally scrolling shooter where the object is to take out waves of ships. When you clear a column of ships they morph into a new wave of more technically advanced ships. The nifty morphing effect is probably the reason they made the game in the first place. Sadly, the ships only change in appearance. No matter what they look like they fly straight and shoot the same laser. It’s a game just as much about squeezing through gaps as it is shooting. The ship can move forward, but only about a fifth of the way across the screen. The ships all have fixed point values, so this section of the game doesn’t have much scoring variety.

 

It does have a second section as well where you have to navigate your ship through a skinny maze and fly it into a, well, I’m not really sure what it is. This is one of those times where sharper graphics would’ve helped. It looks like the beaks of a giant chicken constantly chomping. It does not look like a safe space for a ship. The manual calls it a “basement” which makes even less sense than a giant chicken. Does outer space have a basement? I know the Alamo doesn’t have a basement, but outer space is pretty big. God’s gotta put his washing machine somewhere, right? Well whatever it is, the goal is to squeeze through very skinny corridors and make it there safely. It’s definitely the harder part of the game, but I do appreciate that you can slow down and aim your ship properly. There are sections that are only as wide as the ship, so it does require a good amount of precision. Points are based on time, so it requires speed as well. It’s certainly a welcome addition in a game that could’ve just been a shooter. Time Warp was actually made with some care. I wish I could say that about all Funvision games.

 

Time Warp is certainly the type of game I would hope for in a budget title. If I had lived somewhere in North America between Detroit and Barrow, Alaska and had bought this game I would not have been disappointed. It’s a bit brainless and not overly exciting, but it has that comforting Atari feel to it. I would definitely play it more than once, and I have played it other times than just for this review. Of course, being an inoffensive time waster isn’t going to get a game in my green section, but I’m excited so far by how many Atari games have avoided the bad section. I’d rather play it than the two Vectrex games I have reviewed, so it’s going in at #97 on my list, and #12 on the Atari 2600 specific list. It’s not a lost classic, but if every minor 3^rd party game was this good than I would be a happy person. I know there are many worse 2600 games out there though but maybe I’ll try to be a happy person anyway just to be a rebel. 

Atari Quality Percentage: 9/18 0r 50%

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