Solar Storm Review

Near the end of the 2600’s life, you had a number of games released which are often overlooked today. Major reason is that, due to the downfall of the system, most people weren’t buying Atari games, so you have a number of awesome, and unfortunately rare titles that only a lucky few are aware of. Solar Storm isn’t the hardest game to find in the world, but it fits neatly into this category of underappreciated gems. Get out your Paddle Controllers and get ready for your head to explode.

Solar Storm looks great, though perhaps a bit basic for a later release. Your ship isn’t very distinguishable from any other space ship in the Atari universe, but hey, what else could they have done with it at this point? It’s like trying to design a new ruler, but still, what are you a kitchen utensil? Good thing is the enemy ships, asteroids, and so forth are very well designed. It’s easy to tell what you’re looking at and the cool little explosions are a nice touch. Of particular interest are the fluctuating flames of the sun behind your ship, which get more intense as you start to miss objects and its decay speeds up. Overall, pretty solid, just nothing really new.

Great thing that picks that up, however, is the sound in Solar Storm. Awesome. It’s highly incidental, background sounds create a wonderful, otherworldly atmosphere that clearly feels like you’re in space. They did an incredible job in this department. It’s almost eerie, in a way, which is a great touch combined with everything else going on. The laser sounds blast out over everything to cut the action, the explosions are perfect, and the dangerous Sizzloids cause your heart to skip a few beats and head into cardiac arrest when they appear (more about them later).

Solar Storm is one of the few games to really successfully use the Paddler Controller in such a way that it doesn’t feel like a gimmick. The idea is simple. Controlling the ship on the bottom of the screen, your goal is to fire at any object coming your way. Each one that you miss causes the sun behind you to progressively build up power until it explodes and ends the game. It has a great difficulty curve, with special bonus levels every so many points that allows you to build up extra lives. Trust me, you’ll need all you can get. Solar Storm is a man’s game; it will basically tear you several new openings in every possible orifice. As it speeds up, your thumb is literally going to be on fire, there’s no joking going on here.

Solar Storm is quite literal in its title, because this game is a hellstorm of speed as time goes on, but it’s beautifully programmed to include several segments where you have brief slowdowns to gasp a breath of air, or they use the Sizzloids to even it up, because one hit of them takes out everything else on the screen. It’s a true ‘twitch’ title in every sense of the world, probably one of the fastest ever made.

Solar Storm actually brings some new ideas to the table for a shooter, which isn’t an easy accomplishment, even during the relative infancy of the console market. The inclusion of the Paddle Controller basically mixes something like a vertical Defender with Kaboom!, but it’s executed so flawlessly you can’t help but fall in love with it, even though each play will progressively burn out your nervous system. For a game that takes the shooter concept and gave it some spunk, props.

Solar Storm is definitely one you’re likely to come back to if you’re looking for a challenge or to increase your score to the limit. Good luck, this doesn’t seem to be an easy game to roll, and it takes a fine player to withstand its power. Depending on how good you are, you also have the 2600 factor of ‘play as long as able’; so short or long, it’s sure to provide.

Solar Storm is easily one the best shooter-style titles for the Atari 2600. Play starts out slow for novices but soon collapses into a swarm of speeding objects that only the best of us can withstand (yes, I’m included in there). It’s too bad it was released so late in the game, because it would have easily been one of Imagic’s strongest titles, right up there with the classic Atlantis or Demon Attack, except it’s a lot more difficult. This is not something for the novice, but its playability more than makes up for it, it’s the kind of thing that makes you want to grow a pair.