Berzerk For The Atari VCS

Short of adaptations of board games like Checkers or Chess, or games that have no excuse calling themselves games (Basic Math AKA Fun With Numbers), or something like 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, you cannot find something more simple looking than Berzerk. It's the very definition of pure visual simplicity in the form of a video game. Which in this case is far from a bad thing. Sometimes, simplicity actually equals pure genius.

A stick figure working his way through what can barely be called a series of mazes, confronting, and shooting a bunch of extremely bare-bones robots. The description of the game sounds as if it shouldn't be particularly any good, but I'd have a hard time naming a video game that is actually more addictive, and incredibly enjoyable on the same level as Berzerk.

The Atari Video Computer System port was delivered to the store shelves in the summer of 1982. The arcade version had been around for nearly two years already and at the time I didn't know any video game fans that didn't love Berzerk. I can't help but think that part of the appeal had to be the stripped-down look that deceptively made the game appear as if it would be easy to master. But, appearances can be misleading, and the frustrating difficulty of the game-play only added to the addictive nature and popularity of the game. Needless to say, this was a highly anticipated cartridge, and most of the video game fans that I knew were fairly pleased with the Atari VCS rendition of this arcade classic.

This is a must-have cartridge for any respectable, or even a bare-bones for that matter, Atari game collection. It is so much fun to play and can even sometimes border on paranoia inducing as the player's level of frustration builds.

-Jay