Problem: 95% of the games suck.
That 5% consists mostly of arcade games like Missile Command (that game rocks the socks off the universe), Super Breakout, and Asteroids. Most of the other arcade games suck, and almost all of the Atari 2600 games in this collection are downright awful. Fun With Numbers is not fun because it involves math; I don't even want to know how much Slot Machine originally cost; the Swordquest titles are the most confusing "adventure" games I've come into contact with; and then there's Atari Math Grand Prix. Let me say that again. ATARI MATH GRAND PRIX. What the hell? I could fill up the rest of this review listing the other crappy games, but I won't. I'm not a masochist....... at least I think I'm not.
Digital Eclipse probably knew they were putting together a collection of vomit-inducing games, so they attempted to spice things up a bit. Every title in this compilation includes a number of modes: Trippy Mode lets you play like you're hopped-up on drugs, Time Warp randomly switches the game speed, and Hot Seat lets you play a game for a few seconds only to have it switch to one of the other three games that was randomly picked for you. Yes, they sound very stupid, and yes, they don't enhance the playing experience. Hell, they end up crappifying the experience to greater heights of crappiness.
So, yeah, Atari Anthology really sucks. One reason I can imagine someone buying this is that they had $20 to waste and wanted a quick laugh. Because, well, that's why I bought it. Oh, yeah, those extras aren't too great either. I mean, who wants to look through instruction manual scans of a bunch of awful games? I sure as hell don't.
Overall Rating: 2/10