Activision’s Commodore 64 15 Pack

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

A Review of Activision’s Commodore 64 15 Pack

by Richard Roy

As with any industry that begins to experience rapid growth, the computer

game industry is beginning to undergo a growing sense of nostalgia. Gamers

are increasingly looking back at the old days of computer gaming with misty

eyes reminiscing about the uniqueness, depth, and creativity shown in the

early titles. Myself included, a jaded gaming veteran, have on occasion

succumbed to this while reviewing many of the disturbingly sub-par titles

being released these days. I’d begin to look back at old games I used to

immensely enjoy on my Commodore 64, and wonder why it was so difficult for

game designers to replicate this success nowadays. Thanks to Activision’s

newest release, the Commodore 64 15 Pack, I have been able to fondly step

back into my youth and relive the games of old that, unfortunately, do not

seem quite as enjoyable as I recall.

Activision has brought together a diverse collection of their early titles

in this package ranging from arcade to adventure to puzzle genres. I spent

a lot of time with this package (more than it deserved, actually) and came

away with only one title that provided me with any lasting enjoyment, that

title being the classic Decathlon.

Decathlon is a reenactment of the hallowed 10 event Olympic competition that

challenges you physically as well as mentally. You see, the interface for

this game was designed so that the faster you moved the joystick back and

forth, the faster your on screen persona would run. Needless to say, this

interface was bearable for the 100 meter event but for the 400 meter and 1500

meter events you would feel totally drained physically with absolutely no

strength left in your arms (remember, there were no Nintendo-style gamepads

for the C-64). Not only were you physically drained, after completing the

entire 10 events comprising Decathlon, you would be drenched in sweat and

need a shower. Now that’s an immersive simulation! My endurance not being

what it was in my youth, I decided to forego the extremely taxing full 10

event competition in favor of the single events that I could space out. All

in all, an enjoyable game that can still hold its own.

Other notable games in this collection include Hacker, which unfolds with a

blank computer screen with the prompt “Logon Please” and challenges you with

no instructions to figure out a complex tale of espionage; Little Computer

People, where your computer screen becomes a window into a three story house

and its occupant who plays the piano, reads, or listens to music based on the

care and support the player gives; and, Beamrider, one of the first 3-D

action games, where players are thrust through hyperspace to battle against

enemy saucers. These were not very enjoyable but nevertheless very, very,

innovative.

The rest of the Activision’s C-64 collection is made up of other titles that

while once state-of-the-art are now looking extremely dated and quite frankly

boring. These titles include Portal, Zenji, Top Fuel Eliminator, Alcazar, Toy

Bizarre, Zone Ranger, Rock N’Bolt, Park Patrol, Web Dimension, Great American

Cross-Country Road Race, and Master of the Lamps.

A secondary but very interesting part of this package were the online help

files. These contain not only the instructions for each game, but there are

also game histories and interviews with the original designers. I spent a lot

of time reading the profiles of these computer game pioneers and how they

came up with the ideas for their games. If only designers these days had

such creative freedom we wouldn’t see clone after clone of every reasonably

successful game.

While Activision was certainly an industry leader in developing computer and

platform software, most of the games I enjoyed on the C-64 were created by

other companies. Titles such as Beachhead, Raid Over Moscow, Legend of

Blacksilver, and my all time favorite Space Taxi (which I still play!) would

surely liven up a collection like this and would be deserving of the word

classic. As it stands now, the Commodore 64 15 Pack is more geared towards

computer game history buffs (yes, all three of us!). While some people may

be intrigued with the idea of getting fifteen games in one package, this is

definitely one case where quantity does NOT have a quality of its own.

Gamer’s Zone Scorecard

Product:	Activision’s Commodore 64 15 Pack
Company:	Activision P.O. Box 67713 Los Angeles, CA 90067 (310) 479-5644 http://www.activision.com

Cost:

$29.95

486 DX2/66+, 8 MB RAM, CD-ROM, WIN 95, SVGA, Mouse