EricDeLee's Blog - Thrust

RSS Bot · May 29, 2007

(NOT AN ACTUAL PICTURE OF MY SET... I have Combat Pack #30)

Well... I ended up dragging out the Thrust Combat Pack that I bought a while back from someone here to play it some more. When I had bought it, I was getting ready to move so I really did not get to spend a lot of time with it prior to packing it up for its trip to Michigan.

This past weekend... that changed.

After taking off all of the plastic ties and whatnot, I set down for an adventure on the Atari. Occasionally I feel like I want to give up collecting Atari. Simply sell it off. Then I start playing games like Thrust and I simply can't see how I'd do without.

This combat pack that I have is autographed by Thomas Jentzsch and Jafish... or somebody. It is numbered 30... (perhaps out of 50???). Either way, it is a great game.

I played it for a few days. I found out new stuff each time I played it. This is a game where you have to take it easy and try not to rush things too quickly... otherwise you die a horrible death and may not recover from that downward spiral. It is almost like playing pacman at the arcade. If you make it to the KEY levels, and screw up, well... it is very hard to recover from that and still move on to the next level.

The sound is great. The thrusting of the engine is amazing! I almost wish there was some background music, but in all... I think it is fine without it. Hell... it would probably distract me now that I think about it. I read a few reviews where people mentioned the graphics were so-so. I personally think the graphics look great. Here's a quick look at the two versions:

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You see here a picture of Level 2 for the Atari version. This is a picture I nabbed off of the internet. Thrust is running from Stella in this picture, which, in my opinion, doesn't really do the color justice. I mention below that I like the C64 version's top line. Here's one thing I like a lot better regarding that top line for the Atari version: I like how he was able to get the FUEL to show up for the default... and then it alternates to the score if you do something that adds to your score. I personally don't look at the score that often. I can do that between levels if I need to. So that's a nice added touch.

thrust_c64.bmp ( 208.49K )

Number of downloads: 0

Now here is a sample of the same level... but for the C64. (Yet another internet nabbed picture).

Yes... the detail seems to be a bit clearer than the Atari version, but what really is missing? Not a whole lot. I like how the top line looks on the C64 version. It tells you your score, your fuel and how many ships you have. If I have any complaints at all... I think the Atari Version should show the lives a bit better. Its a bit hard to see the dots on the screen.

What makes this game click... is not just the graphics. It is the gameplay. I have never played an Atari Game as addicting to this one. NEVER. I've played a lot of Atari in my days. I used to have Donkey Kong contests with my friends. But I NEVER enjoyed a game as much as I enjoyed Thrust.

And the strange thing: It's hard as hell! Yet I still like it. One of the most amazing things about this game: the dead on accuracy for the collision detection. This isn't a game where you come close to the wall and die. This thing is spot on for hitting the wall... enemy... etc. If you die... you know why you died and you know that you can't cheat the game by bouncing off of a cave wall or something.

Just when you are getting the hang of things, you get a curveball thrown at you. Now, I didn't read the manual or many reviews before playing Thrust. So I basically was exploring everything for the first time on my own. Then I got to level 7. Reverse Gravity? Are you frickin' kidding me? Talk about something that'll mess you up! I have only made it to Level 9... so I really don't know what else is in store, but I hear that it is rather interesting. I hope that one day I'll be able to beat this game. It sure would be nice! I think I'm going to have to load this up on the PSP for plane rides and whatnot.

I suggest that people buy this game. Try it out in emulation if need be, but this is a game where playing it on the actual hardware makes it all worthwile. I am going to try the Driver controller one of these days to see if I can make my shots more exact. I think that is the biggest problem I was having for a little while. I simply could not hit the gunners.

Enjoy... I hope this small review in my blog will be helpful in the future to someone. Had I read reviews a long time ago, I would have been playing this game when it first came out.

Now I just need to see if it is worth grabbing the Thrust Platnium version. I may need to grab that one as well.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...;showentry=3398