Activision Hits Remixed (PSP)

Activision Hits Remixed contains over 40 Atari 2600 hits, including some I've never seen before.

It also has a number of great '80s songs, starting on the main menu with Quarterflash's Harden My Heart and Men Without Hats' The Safety Dance, but the songs can be changed. At first, it was just like putting the radio on in a GTA Vice City game which is fantastic, but I wish there was an option for them to stop while the game was playing though as this is only possible by turning the volume right down in the main menu. Also, there's only around 15 songs which play on a loop so they soon get repetitive.

For each game there are additional features such as being able to check out the original cartridge and the box, read the manual and access some unlockable content such as the original TV trailers.

Going through a selection of the games in turn (with the rest at dvdfever. co. uk/ reviews/ actipsp. shtml:

Atlantis: this is a straight-forward shooter from the ground up as your three turrets take shots at the planes and other things flying overhead. Occasionally, they'll shoot back and wipe out your turrets, thus rather knackering your chances of firing back.

Boxing: Oh dear, where do begin with this? Two sets of head-and-arms, one black and one white, moving round the screen from above, trying to make them look like they're in the heat of battle, but looking morelike they've got something wrong with their limb movements.

Cosmic Commuter: One of those oddities I'd not heard of before, where you land a spacecraft and then, it seems, pilot it off to take them to work, although it just looks like an average shooter where you're picking up Fuel pods or shooting bitesize Shredded Wheat that are in the way, collecting passengers who are blocks on the ground and doing that until you've got them all.

Demon Attack: A wonderful and colourful shooter that I remember enjoying playing, as the creatures come together in a swooping motion that really takes me back. This one gets quite difficult after a while, not only because they fire loads of bullets compared to your one-at-a-time, but also when you get a few levels on and shooting them just results in them splitting and then it's double trouble.

Enduro: A straight-forward into-the-screen racer that takes you back to the days of zooming along the road, attempting to avoid the cars being overtaken or you'll get slapped back down a bit. Go through several different locations (well, the background changes) and attempt to get past 200 cars. Old school!

HERO: Now, this is one of my favourites from the '80s and when I was at school I used to imagine that I wished I could pause the bobbins lesson I was in, have a blast on HERO for an hour and then, reluctantly, continue the lesson. Of course, I couldn't, but this cavern adventure where you have to avoid creepy crawlies or shoot them, blow up walls that are in your way, and avoid shooting out the lights which sort-of puts you in a blind spot, all in order to rescue someone with a jetpack thing on your back was just so addictive. It's certainly one of the main reasons to buy this UMD.

Keystone Capers: Over three floors on the one screen, you have to catch the robber. Jump over the bouncy ball that's coming towards you, collect the suitcases and other things that give off points and go up on the elevator when it lands at your floor unless you really want to run to the end of the floor to go upstairs and risk losing the baddie as he escapes to the roof. It sounds like it makes no sense but it does come together.

Laser Blast: (right) I spent many a happy hour on this one back in the day, and it took a little bit of time to get back into it here but I did in the end. Time your shots well at the three turrets below, and don't forget that when one of them does eventually strike you down, you can still manoeuvre yourself so that you can land on the one who shot you. Ha! :)

Pitfall: Easily one of the biggest classics on the Atari. I played this game until the cows came home, had been milked, gone to bed (or straw) and got up again for their next day out on the grass. Run along, jump the logs, jump across the lakes on the vines and avoid the crocodiles biting you. And all in 20 minutes to get from A to... er.. well, probably back to A again as it circles back on itself although you'll never make it.

River Raid: Ah, what can be said about this that hasn't been said already. It's one of the most fantastic shoot-up-the-screen games ever made and one I played for more hours as a kid than I can remember. Blast away at the ships and helicopters, fill up at the fuel dumps - slowing down to get maximum value out of those, blow up the bridges and avoid the low-flying planes. It never ends - well, until you run out of lives - and it's bloody wonderful.

Skiing: Looking like a man from 'Pages From Ceefax' it's downhill all the way, in more ways than one, as you slalom between the posts and get to the end of the course, the change in difficulty levels only increasing the speed of the game, and even then it's not a great challenge.

Once a mission is successful, the game ends but at least you get a happier tune (the first few bars, sort-of, of the 2001 Theme) rather than the funeral march.

So, a big selection but, overall, a number of the games do come across, sadly, as rather dated.

Having never owned a console earlier than a Playstation, I picked this game up purely for my love of going back and discovering old classics. Rose tinted nostalgia and happier times weren't going to make me love this title (see the appalling Midway classics on PSP) fortunately the charm, personality and plain old fun more than won me over.

First off this package is clearly crafted with care, not a lazy menu, dull loading bar or shoveled on title in sight. The games are presented to us with cel-shading rendered cartridges complete with full instruction manuals, box art and customization. Backing it up all the way through are a selection of corny 80's tunes that put you right into the time and have you humming along all the way through.

The games themselves are full of imagination and style. Despite being rendered with simple block pixels the rush of building up a wall as a little pig before the big bad wolf can blow it down or blasting burgers before they cause a row of teeth to rot can't help but put a smile on your face. Whilst there might be one too many spaceship shooters here (black being the default colour you can see why)each game is fun and unique enough to warrant a play-through at least once.

Whilst it might seem insane to be playing the most basic looking games imaginable on a system that can render the huge complex world of Liberty City, don't be put off. Discovering an old gem in this collection can keep you occupied for hours on the go, and isn't that what portable gaming is really all about?

I absolutely loved it . I can have fun with all the games I used to have when young with atari .