The most recent in a line of Atari ‘Recharged’ re-imaginings, succeeding the likes of Gravitar and Breakout, Yars: Recharged sets about updating what was once the best-selling game on the Atari 2600. Originally released in 1982 and designed by Howard Scott Warshaw (also responsible for Atari’s infamous E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), Yars: Recharged maintains the concept of wearing down the defences of a fortified boss, making a through-path and destroying it with a cannon. Unlike the static screen arrangement of the Atari 2600 title, Recharged increases the scope of the gameplay by introducing the ability to roam freely around the screen in 360 degrees.
A twin-stick shooter, you direct your craft with the left stick while firing multi-directionally with the right. Each stage features a boss protected by geometric arrangements of hexagonal, honeycomb shield that must be blasted away to leave it vulnerable to attack. Gun turret emplacements are now hedged within the shield, firing at you with bullets and lasers. As you chip away at the honeycomb exterior and detonate a turret, glowing orbs are released, that, if collected, build a cannon meter situated at the back of the screen. When the meter maxes out you can dock with the cannon to move it vertically in line with your target, and fire massive, high-powered blasts down the line. This doesn’t just do heavy damage to the shield, but will destroy bosses in two strikes if landed correctly.
The game gets increasingly tough over its 30 stages, throwing out dense and more mathematically complex shield arrangements to plough through, more turrets to contend with, as well as bullets encroaching from off-screen. There are achievements to shoot for as well as high scores, and a mission mode that offers up a challenging set of arrangements.
Your ship can take three strikes, can power up its firing spread in different ways, and collect the occasional one-time-use weapon uncovered in the shield’s webbing. All parameters are reset with each new stage, and there are 30 to get through in total. It starts at a pedestrian pace, but gets much busier around stage 15. For seasoned shoot 'em up fans there’s not a huge amount of challenge until later in the campaign, and one can’t help but think that upping the ante to give both your armaments and the incoming missiles a boost would have made things more immediate. At the same time, it’s clear the developers weren't looking to recharge this into bullet hell territory, and that’s fine.
Owing to its new, broader structure, it’s slower in pace than the Atari 2600 title, but also relaxing to work through. Detonating turrets to take out chunks of shield, in turn releasing weapon power-ups and cannon orbs, is nicely balanced and offers enough strategy to keep you engaged.
If you liked the previous Atari Recharged titles, Yars: Recharged presents another enjoyable diversion and interesting take on the theme. While not always as thrilling as it could be, the design overhaul still works well. That said, those who aren’t entirely intrigued by the formula may find it repetitive and ultimately tiresome. This reimagined Atari catalogue would probably be better off as a compilation title rather than a segmented anthology. And who knows, that may still eventually come to pass.
Comments 21
I have bought Centipede and Missile Command Recharged, both decent but nothing special. They could have done a little more with them. It seems Yars is no different. Tempest 4000 though is quality.
Hopefully will be a part of the Atari 50 collection releasing in November.
@Magician Yeap the original Yar's Revenge will be in that collection but then again the game is already in the Atari Flashback collection too for Switch and PC if you don't want to wait that long.
I have enjoyed Centipede and Black Widow, but I definitely think these games would benefit from a physical collection pack.
Yars Revenge is such an incredible classic Atari game.
@OorWullie Tempest was made by Jeff Minter though - the original designer. The man has a passion for Tempest (and my fav, Space Giraffe). Quality exceeds. Must have game imo.
Not sure there is a huge market for it, but I would love to see modern adaptations for Atari, Williams et al done well. Might give this a go on sale….
I've gotten each of the Recharged games once they've gone on sale and will continue to do so. I'm still waiting for a sale on Gravitar.
I never in my life thought I'd be rooting so hard for FLIES, of all things but here we are!
Yars are, after all, mutant flies which stowed away in the foodstuffs of a failed outer space mission, evolving into a largely peaceful, but powerful race of spaceborne insectoids that can eat almost anything and shoot the excess energy for defense from their bodies in energy balls.
I loved the story of this game from the moment I read the comic that came with the 2600 version, and this game is pretty good! Budget priced for pick-up playability, fitting tribute / upgrade to the source material.
Also, all the achievements are named from Rush's music
Game is really fun! Almost reached platinum on PS5. Altough I'm pretty sure I'll never finish arcade mode. So hard! Wish there was a continue option so I can see the later stages. Currently 3 on woldwide leaderboard and can't go further than level 17. No one has beaten it on psn based on trophy data.
@OwenOtter “Fly, Yar warriors, fly!”
I used love this game. My atari favorite game! Played so many hours when i was 3 - 5 years!
If I remember correctly, all three of Howard Scott Warshaw’s Atari 2600 games sold more than a million copies each (Yars, Raiders, and ET).
I enjoyed Asteroids, Centipede and black Widow Recharged, but I loved the games on the atari 2600 (Except for black widow, that I haven’t played before) but Yars revenge was always a bit, boring to me, even in the old days… might wait for a sale.
I can't stop playing this. And I'm not even very good at it. I think it deserves a couple more points.
I played Yar's back in the day on the 2600, and it's still decent fun today. This is a wonderful evolution of it.
Why link to two other games that aren't reviewed?
My favorite recharged game so far has been Asteroids! I’m totally hooked! Black Widow & Centipede is pretty good too! I know they’re all available in the Flashback collection but Atari should really toss in the original arcade classics with each recharged release imo. I’ll grab Yars at some point 👍
Will you review the Switch version of the beautiful game ANNO: Mutationem ?
@Smug43 "Yars Revenge is such an incredible classic Atari game."
I run a weekly Retro Gaming Poll on Reddit. Yars' Revenge ended up being voted the #2 video game from 1984 or earlier, behind only Galaga.
I have gotten a decent amount of gaming satisfaction out of the recharged series. So I may still download this once discounted. Cheers for the revw.
@LEGEND_MARIOID You're very welcome, thanks for reading.
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