Combat

The Good
It's the quick fix of violence that satisfies in COMBAT - no strategy, no negotiations, no resource mining and research trees. It's just you and the "FIRE" button on a blocky-abstract battlefield sent to put a hurtin' on that bastard in the other tank or airplane. There's nothing like lining up the enemy in your sights and knocking him spinning backwards, over and over and over again. The variety in settings helps keep it interesting past those first couple of matches, and the primitive mechanics lead to a few surprises of their own - how long did you laugh at your friend, curve-jerking bullets around the barriers into him, before you finally let him in on the secret?

The Bad
We're dealing with Pre-Cambrian technology here, so don't expect much presentational flair. Or music. Or color. And some of the multiple game modes you'll just skip on by. And they didn't exactly beta test this stuff, so if you don't have the constitution to be on the victimized end of some nail-pulling cheap tricks, stay away.

The Bottom Line
As pure and unadorned as its title, and user-friendly enough that anyone can pick it up and get a few minutes of fun even today.