Crystal Castles
The Arcade Game Comes Home
By Lawrence ArmstrongMarch 15, 2006
 |
|
I guess that purplely color fits.
|
|
|
Trees, trees, everyone loves trees!
|
|
|
It's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doomsdome.
|
|
|
This really looks a lot like the arcade. Except for the blue gems...
|
|
Crystal Castles is one of the
cornerstones of the Atari arcade lineup. It has been ported to the 2600
and the ST. The best port however, is probably the Atari 800 version.
The cartridge media gives the 800 the edge over the ST for games in some
quarters. And the 800 version of Crystal Castles is far superior
to the 2600 in both graphics and sound. This should come as no surprise
because of the similarities between the Atari home computer and the
arcade hardware. The arcade machine used a slightly slower 6502 than the
800. The arcade machine uses dual Pokey chips for the sound, whereas the
computer has one of these. The graphics on the arcade version are higher
resolution and more colorful than the computer version. The levels on
the computer version look great, especially compared to the poor 2600
version. The color looks a little dull and the gems look like little x’s,
but other than that, Bentley Bear looks good if not a little lacking in
the color department.
The sound, as expected is great. The Pokey sound chip is both present in
the 800 and the arcade machine, although the arcade has dual Pokeys. The
sound isn’t 100 percent the same, but it is a good example of what the
Pokey is capable of. The familiar tunes at the completion of each level
are faithfully reproduced. The beeping sound of gems being picked up by
Bentley Bear will be familiar to those who love the arcade game.
Gameplay is fast and robust. The game seems fairly simple in the
beginning, but it will quickly pick up the pace and become as fast as
Tempest on the higher levels. If you survive long enough, the pace of
the game will become nothing short of frantic. The object of the game is
to pick up as many red gems as you can and complete the levels while
avoiding the various monsters. You can grab honey before the angry bees
appear to swarm you and you can wear a magic hat to protect yourself.
There are several hidden shortcuts in the game. You can go a certain way
and have a shortcut to a later stage.
Playability is pretty good, but gameplay is extremely fast. The joystick
is awkward to play with because of the 3d perspective. I was unable to
see if a trackball will work with the game as one was not available. The
arcade machine used this type of control for maximum playability. This
game is very quick and responsive to the controller, but the game has
always been known to have a high frustration factor. The game is as fast
as Tempest, but requires much more precise movement. The narrow
mazes and tight corners combined with the high speed and the awkward
joystick control make for a game with lots of mistakes. The game is
addictive and fun once you get used to it though.
Overall, I give this game a big thumbs up. If I had to choose between
the 2600 and ST version and the Atari 800 version. I would definitely
choose the 800. It’s just a fun platform to play games on and this is a
very good port of the arcade game. The similarity of the 800 chipset and
the arcade probably helps a great deal too. This game is considered
somewhat rare, but if you can purchase it from somewhere, you can’t go
wrong with Crystal Castles.
Game Data |
Scores
|
| Title |
Crystal Castles |
Graphics |
90% |
| Publisher |
Atari |
Sound/Music |
90% |
| Genre |
Action |
Gameplay |
80% |
| System |
8-Bit |
Control |
95% |
|
|
Overall |
95% |
)
)
)
)