I like a good on-rails shooter, from Rez to Starfox to the Panzer Dragoon games on the Saturn. So, when I saw this for sale I thought it looked like a worthwhile purchase. Things didn't get off to a great start as I had problems running the game in fullscreen - it didn't save the settings and I had to go to the configure option on the start menu every time. (I eventually fixed this by going to the AppSettings file and changing the Fullscreen value from 0 to 1.)

Then I had bigger problems, as the game just gave me a blank screen when I tried to start Campaign mode. I managed to fix this by running it in Compatibility mode for XP. So, the game was finally working! Then I found that the controls were pretty awkward with the mouse, but after searching on some forums I found that people suggested playing with an XBox controller instead. Luckily I own one already, so I tried again and this time I started making progress with the game. To be honest, the controls still aren't particularly intuitive, requiring a combination of both analogue sticks and almost every button on the controller. I don't remember Panzer Dragoon being this much hassle...

Once you finally gets to grips with it, it's an ok game, but I still can't really recommend it, especially if you don't own an XBox controller.

I had a lot of fun on the first level of Yar's Revenge. Driving euphoric techno music and highspeed on-the-rails action with some damn pretty landscapes and a cool action setup which I was just starting to get a feel for. I actually felt a little bit excited. Many folks slagged this game off, but it looked like just the kind of unpopular, slightly oddball kind of challenging little arcade game that I personally would get nerdily into.

That all finished when the second campaign level loaded. My mouse froze. It worked on my desktop, hell, it even worked in the menu of the game, but once you got into gameplay, frozen mouse. So as the game works, I could move my character, but couldn't aim my guns anywhere.

Naturally, I tried to find a solution. It turns out that every second level of the game has to be played with an xbox controller, or some such other controller. I happen to live in a part of the world where finding an Xbox controller or other specific videogame machinery is extremely difficult, even by post. Besides that, and more importantly, it would be nice to know that you are downloading a PC game that is not compatible with a keyboard and mouse. Many PC gamers do not own controllers, and this means added expense and effort. And why hasn't Atari or whoever made a patch to fix this? Whether all PC gamers experience this problem or not, I don't know, but from what I gather by reading forums and such it seems to be the majority. So I'm gonna warn yall on GG, because the brief mention of this problem in the review below certainly didn't catch my eye.

Whether or not I'll make all the effort to get a controller sent out here, we'll see... I would like to play the game.

I picked this up for $1.99 not a bad little shooter the graphics are nice, the action frantic. Took me a little bit a time to figure out how to play in full screen seeing that it did not have the option in option menu. I had to edit the appsettings to fullscreen=1 and I had to run in administration mode running on win 7.

When researching this game I stumbled on a few destructive reviews. Seeing as I've always been a sucker for a good on rails shooter, I buckled down and bought it.

Have to say.. Pleasantly suprised! While not the most narrative masterpiece, it's fun to play! Nice enviremonts and cell shaded graphics are icing on the cake.

If you see it on sale, pick it up. It's good for a nice sunday afternoon.

I LOVE on-rails shooters. Since the days of the Panzer Dragoon series, House of the Dead, Time Crisis, Elemental Gearbolt and the mega-almighty OMEGA BOOST (in capitals, to remind Polyphony Digital to stop denying its awesome existence). So Yar's Revenge seemed to offer a throwback to this kind of old-school action but, sadly, it falls short in most fronts. I mean, it's not "bad" per se (maybe I should've put 3 instead of 4 stars but there is some pretty nice stuff thrown in) but, with all the previous background of great shooters, it takes a lot to stand out. And that's the biggest problem.

You can tell they tried to put some effort here and there but everything eventually starts feeling like a "Poor's man Panzer Dragoon", missing the point. And while not entirely, the whole thing seems to lack the finesse of a proper lock-on system or just in general how to handle engaging enemy and bullet barrages. Can't blame them though. The genre, like many others, is in the ICU, barely kept alive and many don't quite grasp how to make a proper shooter.

So, yes, it's a game that gives mixed feelings (I should've put 3 stars...) and it definitely isn't like the original, classic, Atari game at all.

The worst part comes regarding the PC port. I won't enter in details, you can check the Atari forums, but a pad is a must since the game will stop working with the keyboard+mouse. There are also some bugs crippling the whole experience and I'm not sure if the developers are responsive enough to fix these issues.

At an offer price, it's ok. At a fully priced "small" release, not worth that much.