The Dreadnaught Factor *quick review*

[Atari5200]

Well my copy came from the Bay finally and I have to say I am quite impressed with this game.

 

The box art is decent, with some of the sappiest language ever, see bottom back part of box, the instruction manual is very professional, I wonder if you sent a picture of the TV screen for the Dreadnaught club if something would actually happen or not lol.

 

The game itself is simple. Destroy as many big ass ships as possible by taking out their guns, vents, engines, and bridges. I would suggest playing at a level 5 or more to get the best effect because the lower levels are just waaay to easy. The graphics are pretty good for the 5200, looks much better in person than in screen shots. The sound effects are pretty much standard for that era of game, they are good and get the job done but nothing really spectacular about them. Gameplay works out well and the standard 5200 controller works really good, the ship is easy to control, and the bomb/laser button layout is pretty easy to work with. Destroying a Dreadnaught is pretty tough and may take you 2,3, or more passes to destroy it. I found that the vents are the weakest part of a dreadnaught and you don't have to have all the guns and stuff destroyed if you destroy all the vents, but you do have to have most of the guns destroyed.

 

Overall i would say the game deserves a 7 out of 10. For it's time its a good game but even for it's time there could've been a little more depth to it, but it's still a very fun game and a game i would recommend to anyone.

[ataridave]

Well my copy came from the Bay finally and I have to say I am quite impressed with this game.

 

The box art is decent, with some of the sappiest language ever, see bottom back part of box, the instruction manual is very professional, I wonder if you sent a picture of the TV screen for the Dreadnaught club if something would actually happen or not lol.

 

The game itself is simple. Destroy as many big ass ships as possible by taking out their guns, vents, engines, and bridges. I would suggest playing at a level 5 or more to get the best effect because the lower levels are just waaay to easy. The graphics are pretty good for the 5200, looks much better in person than in screen shots. The sound effects are pretty much standard for that era of game, they are good and get the job done but nothing really spectacular about them. Gameplay works out well and the standard 5200 controller works really good, the ship is easy to control, and the bomb/laser button layout is pretty easy to work with. Destroying a Dreadnaught is pretty tough and may take you 2,3, or more passes to destroy it. I found that the vents are the weakest part of a dreadnaught and you don't have to have all the guns and stuff destroyed if you destroy all the vents, but you do have to have most of the guns destroyed.

 

Overall i would say the game deserves a 7 out of 10. For it's time its a good game but even for it's time there could've been a little more depth to it, but it's still a very fun game and a game i would recommend to anyone.

 

Thanks for the review! It would be really nice to see some footage of this game in action.

[Lord Thag]

I wrote a pretty in depth review over at The Atari Times. I love DF, it's one of my favorite shooters ever. It gets murderously hard. The Intellivision version , surprisingly, is the best though. Great game. I'd give it a 9 out of 10 personally.

[JB]

As far as strategy goes, I make it a point to bomb the engines. It slows the dreadnaught's progress greatly, giving you a LOT more time to blast everything else on the surface to smithereens.

 

 

And even if it's the easiest stage, I LOVE the wedge one. Star Destroyers are FUN!

[JagFan422]

the Dreadnaughts are also come in random order, though the first one so far has always been the Star Destroyer, but i got to this one dreadnaught i call it "the beast" i coasted up to it, saw the arsenal it was packing, "oh S**t, dead. Thing was a beast, this game is absolutely fantastic, very quickly becoming my fav retro game of all time.

[Chris-in-NJ]

I really must try playing this one more, based on all the comments here. I found it repetitive and dull the last few times I've dug it out.

[+Cafeman]

I really must try playing this one more, based on all the comments here. I found it repetitive and dull the last few times I've dug it out.

 

Agreed! I never gave the game much chance, but the first time I tried it recently, it seemed repetitive and dull. From the feedback, I'll have to try it some more.

[Atari5200]

like i said, try #5, i did #1 of course, and it was too easy and repetative, but game #5 is fun as hell and nerve racking at first, especially when you get to a massive dreadnaught with a fricking cannons everywhere. Activision should revive this for the xbox 360, since thats what i have.