I'm not normally a huge fan of retro videogames - once you've wiped away the tears of nostalgic joy you're usually left let down by the rudimentary and frustrating action. I don't buy the "pure gameplay" argument either - yes, programmers had to focus on the gameplay then, but it's because they weren't able to add decent plot, visuals or audio. I was 10 in 1983. If I could have played GTA: San Andreas or Fable then I would have ditched Ant Attack in a flash. Having said that, I do have some time for this - the Commodore 64 Direct to TV game that plugs straight into the TV.
The C64 was in some ways the Xbox of its day - big, ugly and American. But it was also more powerful than its main competitor - the ZX Spectrum - and had a stack of corking games available for it. The Direct to TV version only has a handful of these, including Paradroid, Impossible Mission and Winter Games. Yes please. There's even some lesser titles, half-remembered from Zzap 64 reviews, like Ranarama and Firelord.
But will something like this appeal to console fans today? Probably not your average 15 year-old PS2 owner, but those who remember Thing on a Spring and Entombed (sadly neither included) will be keen on this. And Paradroid still holds up really well today, unlike the vast majority of elderly games.
