Atari Recharged Collection 1

Genre: Compilation / Arcade / 2D Space Shooter / Arcade Brick Breaker

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

(Note: The games in this bundle are also included in the physical-only Atari Recharged Collection 1 + 2 Dual Pack Edition bundle, along with Centipede: Recharged and Black Widow: Recharged. These games are also included in Atari Recharged: Volume One, along with all of the above named games plus Quantum: Recharged.)

Atari Recharged Collection 1 is a physical-only Compilation of two re-imaginings of classic Atari games, Asteroids: Recharged and Breakout: Recharged, released separately in 2021 and 2022, and collected here in this bundle released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in 2022.

I have separately reviewed these games. Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Asteroids: Recharged	Arcade / 2D Space Shooter	1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards	B-
tl;dr Asteroids: Recharged is an Arcade-style 2D Space Shooter inspired by the Atari classic. This version improves the presentation, makes progression more fluid, and adds temporary power-ups, but otherwise leaves the original formula largely intact. The result is a game that’s a tad too repetitive for long play sessions, but that makes for a fun time-waster.
Breakout: Recharged	Arcade Brick Breaker	1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards	C-
tl;dr Breakout: Recharged is an Arcade Brick Breaker inspired by the Atari classic. This version improves the presentation, makes progression more fluid, and adds temporary power-ups, but otherwise leaves the original formula mostly intact. Unfortunately, one of the new elements here can lead to occasional no-win scenarios, a needless frustration that makes it hard to recommend this game. Get another Brick Breaker instead.

In short, I thought Asteroids: Recharged was a pretty solid (though somewhat repetitive) game, and Breakout: Recharged was… well, unfortunately, an otherwise decent game that was kinda’ ruined by bomb-dropping blocks. So this is definitely an uneven package.

However, that leads to the question of whether or not this package is a good value, and at $35, when the original games are $10 each, and frequently go on sale for $5 each? No, absolutely not. Unless you are the sort of person who absolutely demands to get your games in a physical release, you shouldn’t even look at this release – it is simply a terrible deal – this is literally a 75% price increase over the standard price of the digital versions.

In the end, if we just look at Atari Recharged Collection 1 to judge its value in terms of the games included here, it’s a mixed bag, with half of this package being pretty decent, and the other half being not so great. But once you look at the dollars and cents, you should be running far away from this release unless you absolutely need to get your games in physical form. And even then, aren’t there better physical games to spend your money on?

tl;dr – Atari Recharged Collection 1 is a physical-only Compilation containing the Arcade-style 2D Space Shooter, Asteroids: Recharged, and the Arcade Brick Breaker, Breakout: Recharged. Of the two, Asteroids: Recharged is clearly superior, but that hardly matters because the price of this package is at least 75% higher than getting the digital games separately. Unless you absolutely must get your games in physical form, skip this… and even if you’re a physical-only gamer, you have far better choices for Arcade-style action than this bundle.

Grade: D+

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