| SOLARIS |
  When people think Atari 2600, they typically think one of two kinds of games...Those kinds of games where you HAVE to have 2+ players shooting something at each other or competing in some kind of contest with absurdly blocking graphics, a limited color pallet, and a scoreboard straight out of a high tech room from Logan's Run, or a buggy 1970's surveillance camera with OSD. Or.... A simple, non or just-barely-scrolling game that's fun to play, but very simple, foucses on high score over plot or story, and looks fairly decent for the time (circa 1982 usually), and possibly has a tie in with some kind of Saturday Morning Cartoon at some point. Solaris is NEITHER. It belongs to that special group of "late era" Atari 2600 games that have more in common with an NES title than people would expect. That special lot from 1984-1990 that took the VCS and pushed it further and further and further. Were talking multiple screens, scrolling, parallax scrolling-type effects, high speed movements, lots of color, higher resolution graphical assets, more detailed graphics, nicer sound, properly intonated music (or strategically programmed to be less/not as ear grating), and in general, higher quality, more elaborate experiences. Pitfall II, California Games, Starmaster, BMX Airmaster, and a lot of other under-appreciated 2600 titles fall into this category, and Solaris is one of these. Solaris is a Space simulator in the same vein as Starmaster before it, or X-Wing for the PC that came after. You fly in a space ship, landing on random planets, avoiding obstacles, saving planetary inhabitants, fighting aliens, and traveling the universe going from planet to planet while fighting enemy spacecraft and maintaining your own ship. It's crazy to think only 8 years before we were playing Pong and Combat on the same system. But then take a look at the stretch between something like Donkey Kong vs. Dragon Warrior IV, huge difference. Holy Crap, This is Atari!?!? - My Experiences I recall buying this at a thrift shop because it was said to be one of the "biggest" 2600 games. I was quite skeptical, thinking this was just to put in more graphical assets. Then I took it home and played it and was shocked to find the game actually has a lot of layers, more in common with early Nintendo releases than with a regular 2600 game. About the only signs you're on a 2600 is the lack of music and the blockier graphics, even then, the graphics are still on a whole other level from say, Combat, or even the first Pitfall game. And the gameplay is smooth, so this became a keeper really quick. Overall, it's like an expanded version of Starmaster. You start off on a planet, then take off to hyperspace, have your own radar screen to look at to select a destination, then fly there. You have refueling stations, battlefields in space, and other planets to land on and fight enemy life, save inhabitants, and avoid obstacles. And unlike Star Raiders, you don't need a second controller to play the game. VIDEOS |
