Atari Recharged Collection 1 + 2 Dual Pack Edition

Genre: Compilation / Arcade

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

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Review:

(Note: All of the games in this bundle are included in Atari Recharged: Volume One, along with Quantum: Recharged.)

Atari Recharged Collection 1 + 2 Dual Pack is a physical-only bundle of two Compilations (Atari Recharged Collection 1 and Atari Recharged Collection 2), containing four re-imaginings of classic Atari games – Asteroids: Recharged, Breakout: Recharged, Black Widow: Recharged and Centipede: 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.
Black Widow Recharged	2-Stick Shooter	1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards	B-
tl;dr Black Widow: Recharged is a 2-Stick 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.
Centipede Recharged	Arcade Breaker	1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards	B-
tl;dr Centipede: Recharged is an Arcade-style game 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 surprisingly compelling reimagining of the classic, albeit one with a presentation that lacks all of the charm and personality the original game had.

In short, I thought three out of the four games here were really good, albeit not without a few issues. The one exception here is Breakout Recharged, which has an issue with bomb-dropping blocks that make for enough frustration to drag down an otherwise good game. However, as bundles go, three out of four ain’t bad.

However, that leads to the question of whether or not this package is a good value, and at $70, 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. What’s more, you’re not even getting a tiny discount on top of buying the two individual Atari Recharged Collection bundles separately. And just to put a fine point on things, if you’re okay with getting games in digital form, Atari Recharged: Volume One costs $30 less than this does, and includes one more game, Quantum: Recharged.

In the end, if we just look at Atari Recharged Collection 1 + 2 Dual Pack to judge its value in terms of the games included here, it looks pretty good, with three out of four games being solid, if imperfect, new takes on the classic games they’re based on. 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.

tl;dr – Atari Recharged Collection 1 + 2 Dual Pack is a physical-only Compilation containing Asteroids: Recharged, Breakout: Recharged, Black Widow: Recharged, and Centipede: Recharged. Three of these are solid re-imaginings of classic Atari games (the lone dud being Breakout: Recharged), 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.

Grade: C-

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