Shark Attack! Atari 2600 (Overall) Today we are going to be talking about Shark Attack for the Atari 2600. Shark Attack was originally named Lochjaw but changed to Shark Attack for legal reasons. Shark Attack was made by Apollo and released in 1981 for the Atari 2600. Apollo was a third-party developer for Atari and are known for such titles as Final Approach, Space Cavern, Skeet Shoot, and Wabbit. Now if you have ever played this game before I am pretty sure you know what game this looks like. Take a good look, you are in a maze and you have to get pellets (diamonds). The only thing this game is missing is Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Yea that's right, its another Pac-Man clone! In lieu of ghosts you have a giant man eating shark after you. The shark seems to have a random pattern of when and where it comes out. The point of the game is to collect all the diamonds that look just like the pellets from Pac-Man and bring them to the center of the maze to drop them off in a box or chest, but that is easier said then done. The very hungry shark has his eyes set on you and a crazy tentacle blob (octopus?) wants to drag you down! The octopus seems to come at random every so often and I can never get away from it. You might as well sit still and hold on because its gonna get you and there is not a thing in the world that will stop it.
(Graphics) Shark Attack has pretty standard graphics for a game from this time. The maze you are in is made of kelp so at least they used green for it. The shark is an appropriate grayish color. The most eye pleasing things on the screen is in the background, on top of the water. The boat and the sky look very nice but you really don't do much looking at them because you should be focusing on the maze. They should have spent more time on making the maze look a little better and less on the background, but they did the best they could probably do for the time. The graphics are better then some but not as good as others so it gets a 6, not bad!
(Sound) The sound is a little lacking but yet again it has pretty standard sound for a game of this time. There is really only two sounds you will hear. When you get a diamond it makes a pinging noise and when the sharks on the screen it makes a ruff sound that most Atari games make when an enemy is going across the screen. The sound do not stand out in any way so it gets a 5.
(Addictiveness) Like Pac-Man or any other of its clones this game gets pretty addictive. At first I really didn't want to play Shark Attack for very long but it grows on you. It is the kind of game you can just pick up and start playing, there is really nothing you need to learn other then stay the heck away from the shark! It really depends on if you like games like this. If you are a big Pac-Man fan you should be able to enjoy this game and want to play it over and over. At the end of the day this game really just makes me want to play Pac-Man. I will give it a 7.
(Story) This is where the game really shines! Most Atari 2600 games or games from any other console from the time have no story what so ever. The story is in the instruction manual so if you don't have it you would never know that it had a story at all. What it says in the instructions is "You are a deep sea diver in search of a fabulous treasure of diamonds from the hold of a Spanish Galleon that sank during a fierce storm in the early sixteenth century. You dive deep into the murky darkness of Davey Jones' Locker, and enter the shark-infested maze of kelp to retrieve the treasure. You know the mission is rife with danger...the menace of the man-eating sharks that patrol the kelp beds...the lurking menace of the legendary Loch Ness monster, a beast that will pursue you relentlessly if you dare invade its territory." Yea, not the best story in the world but its Atari. You can't really ask for much. I give the story a 7 just for having a story.
(Depth) As far as I know there is only one maze. The game is really just about getting the high score but with just one maze it will get boring very fast. I give depth a 5 due to the one screen you will see the whole game. A lot of games from the time do the same so don't be to harsh on Shark Attack for it.
(Difficulty) As you progress in the game the shark gets faster and faster. Like I have said before the octopus is pretty much unavoidable, on top of that I find myself getting stuck trying to go through narrow spots in the maze. Shark Attack is much harder then the game that it is imitating. The sharks random pattern will keep you on your toes, you better swim fast because them jaws ain't made for kissing!
(End) In no way is Shark Attack as good as Pac-Man or even other clones I have played. It is a pretty good game though and is very much worth a play. This game has been more or less forgotten about over the years and its about time it gets a second look. Strap on your scuba gear take a deep breath and get ready for the treasure hunt of a live time, tell your family you love 'em because you might not get out of there alive!
Graphics
6 Sound
5 Addictive
7 Depth
5 Story
7 Difficulty
8
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