50 Years of Video Games: Combat (Atari 2600)
While home consoles have been a part of the video game medium since nearly the start, the Magnavox Odyssey even predating Pong, the consoles rarely made a splash compared to the titles being released in the arcade. Things would change though in 1977 when Atari, already one of the biggest names in this nascent entertainment medium, decided to have a go at home console hardware. Released initially as the Atari Video Computer System, the console now known as the Atari 2600 would launch with color games comparable to arcade hits of the time and it became such a hit that it almost seems like one of the few Pre-NES consoles that still has a good amount of respect and nostalgia attached to it.
Packaged with this console for much of its early years was a game that felt like it was truly meant to show off how an Atari game differed from offerings elsewhere while still being somewhat familiar, Combat providing 27 variations on tank and plane combat that can be modified with the difficulty switches. While the parlance of the time referred to these modes as video games, truly they are mostly minor rule twists or changes to the conditions save for the tank combat and aerial dogfights being distinct from each other in design. Combat is, on the whole, devoted to multiplayer play exclusively though, each game designed as a one on one competition to eliminate the other player more often within a time limit that is slightly longer than two minutes but unfortunately isn’t visible. The scores will start to flash when time is almost out though so you can at least try and turn the tables or avoid giving up points when you realize the round is almost over.
The tank modes of Combat are probably the more varied ones, and considering that Sears would later release this game under the name Tank Plus they were likely intended as the bigger focus. The top-down tank combat isn’t too hard to grasp, players positioned in a large rectangular battlefield that can take on different shapes depending on the game mode. The goal is to shoot the other player’s tank to earn a point, your shot traveling fairly quickly while the vehicles themselves travel at a more measured pace. You turn your tank by pressing the joystick left and right and can drive forward but not in reverse, meaning that the large war vehicles are simple enough to navigate but limited appropriately so that fights can often happen quickly and decisively. You can try to flee or try to fire and when you line things up right you’re often rewarded for doing so, so players feel like they can control their fate fairly well even if the battles may be a bit basic.
The tank combat isn’t very involved in its default mode, although there is at least a smart choice made when its comes to revival. After your tank is hit it will teleport a certain distance away before play resumes. Neither player will be facing each other so you can’t just chain together kill after kill and the new positions often mean no one player controls the situation once things begin again. The generic tank combat in mode 1 takes place in a wide open field where shooting the other players isn’t too difficult, but the modes that feature arenas known as “Easy Maze” and “Complex Maze” do add a bit more layers to the fight by placing barriers around the battlefield. These aren’t very maze-like, the difference between the two being the size and numbers of obstructions that players can weave around and use as cover. These extra arenas lead to fights with a bit more substance even though it is still often a simple battle of choosing whether to flee or strike, but that simplicity also makes it a good fit for quick rounds or possible changes in fortune since skill is rewarded but not to the degree a less experienced player can’t get in a few good shots.
There are a few more tank game variants to explore once the so-called mazes become a bit too familiar, and one thing that helps Combat avoid being too stale is how you can so easily swap to a new mode and play something slightly different. Tank Pong makes the tank combat a bit more layered as you no longer need to hit the other player’s tank head-on. Tank Pong looks just like the regular tank battles but the change is that your shots can now ricochet off the battlefield’s boundaries and any obstacles in the arena. You can actually try to pull off trick shots to overcome how easy it can sometimes be for a player to hunker down behind cover to stall, and the way the shot bounces is fairly predictable. If you do fire it straight on at a wall instead of at an angle though it will bounce off into a sudden angle rather than reflecting perfectly back, and this is a vital detail to keep in mind for the Tank Pong variation involving what the manual calls “Billiard Hits”. A Billiard Hit cannot kill a tank until it has bounced off at least one surface, but since you can’t enable both Billiard Hits and the Complex Maze level you’re limited in your options and this mode can sometimes boil down to players hoping the shot bounces right since they’re often trying to peg a target that can easily move to upset the bounces.
The last rule shift unique to the tank side of the game comes in the form of invisible tank fights. Available in normal and Tank Pong variants and again lacking the Complex Maze to account for their more difficult rules, these modes involve the players moving invisible tanks around the battlefield. The goal is the same and rules aren’t changed at all, but this can make Tank Pong even more difficult since you can’t even line up your shot very reliably. Luckily the tanks aren’t invisible the whole time; any time a cannon is fired the tank responsible for the shot is briefly revealed. This does technically add more strategy to this mode than the other options since you want to be careful in revealing yourself but also it can heavily skew towards the player to get the first kill since then they can remain invisible and only strike when the other player reveals themselves trying to even the scores. A tank can at least turn visible if they bump into a wall, but it still feels like some other means of revealing the tanks should be on the table to keep the competition active instead of rewarding uninvolved play.
Moving onto the aerial combat we find it comes in two main flavors: biplanes and jets. The aerial combat features no obstructions or barriers with the only thing that can truly impact battle in the 2D skies being clouds that can obscure sight of an opponent or their weapons fire. While the sky battles are available in both clear skies and cloudy variants, having the clouds present gives a little bit of strategy to something that otherwise boils down to trying to angle your plane and fire at the other vehicle. Biplanes are controlled by tipping the plane up or down to dive or climb, the player also able to control their speed but never able to come to a full stop. Biplane action is viewed from the side to match this nose-focused flight, but jets, despite looking pretty similar, are technically viewed from above so you turn them in a manner you do the tanks but with the ability to increase or decrease speed as well.
The greater speed and control of the dogfights makes them a bit more exciting than tank combat at first but they don’t have the same range of extra modes as tank fights. The clouds are a fine complication but not too deep since the shots are already fairly strong and travel far and fast. When a plane or bullet leaves the screen from one side it will reappear on the other as well so sometimes firing wildly is rewarded when the loop around catches the opponent off guard. Rather than truly adjusting the rules to possibly prevent this though, instead the variations mostly focus on putting more aircraft in the sky. Additional modes include things like both players flying two biplanes or jets in formation that fire in tandem as well or even the bomber-focused modes where one player has three aircraft in formation to tackle the opposing player’s giant plane. The idea seems to be more shots to dodge but players are also easier to hit, but when things become more crowded in the sky it makes it less likely much thought is going into your actions since you can be rewarded for frantic firing while dodging deliberately is harder to pull off.
The various ways these different vehicle combat ideas come together don’t even make up to 27 modes with the way they’re mixed though, as there is still one more element that can be changed both in tank combat and aerial dogfights. The weapons you bring to the battle can also be different. There is a fairly natural and realistic option where your shots always travel straight and true until they disappear, but there are also guided shots where you can move your joystick after firing to try and guide the bullet into the opponent. You’ll move your craft while doing so, but this can make things a bit more strategic without having to dip fully into Tank Pong levels of shot planning. Guided shots even help the aerial dogfights be more interesting since you can’t fire and forget as easily, the constant need to maneuver to stay safe yourself meaning you’d bend your shot away and thus you have to be more thoughtful in how you approach the fight.
Unique to two biplane modes are the machine guns where you can fire much more rapidly, although this doesn’t help with a mode where hectic gunfire already undermines most options outside of chaotic play. Difficulty switches can be used in any of the 27 modes to try and lightly even any skill discrepancies, but the changes aren’t so drastic they truly feel like they tip the tables in appreciable way. Your shots won’t travel as far as your opponents if you’re playing on the harder setting but they can still cover a lot of the screen and in the aerial fights specifically they have a slightly lower top speed, but beyond slightly reducing the efficacy of ricochet shots in Tank Pong modes it doesn’t feel like a big enough change to truly close a skill gap.
THE VERDICT: By presenting a platter of 27 different game modes, Combat helps overcome some of its weaker vehicular battle concepts. The aerial battles in their many forms can sometimes boil down to mindless mayhem since it can be far too easy to land a shot without really trying, but the double-edges sword of guided shots allow for these battles to be a bit more involved. Some ideas like invisible tank pong certainly stray away from the appealing simplicity of the basic combat without introducing the rules that would let the idea thrive, but the different modes mix and match the rules enough that there is some mild fun to be found. The weaker ideas work as curiosities that can be dabbled in to avoid the more solid options wearing thin quickly, so while it is certainly basic, it’s not bad for a brief visit when two players are looking for quick no-frills thrills.
And so, I give Combat for Atari 2600…
An OKAY rating. Of the 27 game modes there are probably a few too many tepid or bad ideas, but following the box’s claim and slicing them into 27 distinct video games is distinctly unfair. There are certainly wonderfully designed multiplayer titles that also let you tweak the settings to the point they’re no longer very enjoyable, but by having wider options a game is able to cater towards different expectations and keep itself a bit fresher than it might otherwise. There are three game modes for Invisible Tank Pong in Combat which technically means one-ninth of this game is heavily imbalanced and some of the biplane and jet modes are too chaotic with regular and machine gun shots, but there’s still enough decent stuff to be found if you don’t dive into those options for too long. You’re able to find which arrangement of rules for the sky and tank battles you like and still have the means to switch to something different if that preferred mode starts to lose its luster, and while the gameplay is still very simple since complications like barriers and the Billiard Hit requirement just make it a bit harder than appreciably different, the core design for the experience is still about quick and accessible competitive play. Some ideas that could have helped for a more even quality level for the different modes would be things like occasionally forcing a reveal of the invisible tanks in those modes or potentially removing the wrap-around effect on bullets in the sky battles to lessen the chaos featured there. Since this was one of the first games for new hardware there might not have been a deep enough understanding of the system to get more out of such a game concept yet, but it still nailed the basics well enough that it isn’t a complete write off.
Being the pack-in game for a popular new system meant Combat was the first introduction to home gaming for many gamers, and while it lacked a single player component, it did provide a decent selection of varied options for player-vs-player competition. A flexible experience in color certainly stood out at the time even if it is incredibly rudimentary when viewed with modern standards, but it manages to not be fully outdated because it didn’t just bet everything on a single type of play. It may not be an exceptional multiplayer experience, but there are some option sets that can prove somewhat amusing. While any one mode might be too basic to enjoy for frequent repeated sessions, the small tweaks offered to the rules help Combat avoid shriveling up from being too simple for long term play.