Summary
A classic, best when shared...
The Good
The Combat cartridge, like most of the early VCS games, included many games, giving the players a wide variety of options to choose from. So even if the tank games seem a little boring at first, the "pong" and invisible variations give some twist to the combat. And soon enough, you feel that the delight of blasting the opponent's tank grows on you. Interesting feature, you can fly your aircraft from to one side and reappear at the other, for some surprise shooting at the enemy's tail.
The Bad
You always need a partner to play Combat, so make sure to keep some friends around (and let them win once in a while). But it would have been nice to have some variations for a single player.
Aiming is a little awkward when you dispose only of 8 possible angles. However from a tactical point of view, this limitation may prove not so negative. Please note that the tanks were probably very light at some time in history, because I've seen mine fly across a whole field when it got hit by the enemy.
The graphics are quite simplistic. No use of music is made during the game, but the sound effects do their job.
The Bottom Line
Simple, yet effective. The game requires a little exploration, but once you find suitable variations, and an interesting partner, you can play for hours once you've developed some tactics. Ain't bad considering how early it got published!
