This is a game that misses the mark, and the original is still much more fun to play.

Sometimes you should mess with a classic, and sometimes you should not. Last year, Activision wowed the gaming public with the completely revamped Battlezone. Though this game did not really capture the essence of the original, it took the basic concept and applied it to a great game. Though I never saw the attraction completely, Battlezone was heralded by critics and gamers alike as a superb game. Now, Activision is doing it again, with possibly one of the most popular arcade games ever, Asteroids. The only question that lingers in my mind is, why?

Sure, Asteroids was great. I dumped more quarters stolen from my mother's jewelry box than I could possibly count on that game. It wasn't such a great advance in games, it just did everything right. It still has some playability today. I used to hear the sounds of that game in my head at night, and my parents seriously considered sending me to a shrink. (Well, that was for other reasons as well, no need to get into that here.) Take this great game and add the fact that Activision did such a great job with Battlezone, and you have the makings of some serious hype. Well, we all know about hype in this business. It usually means crap.

So, Activision comes up with the idea to redo Asteroids. Not a bad concept, at least on paper. The problem is, there is no way to add the depth that Battlezone had to this game. What we have here, essentially, is a game of Asteroids with a serious face-lift. The game supports DirectX6 (and warns you several times that you need the latest drivers for ALL hardware) and makes some use of 3D acceleration. The graphics that result are decent, but only that. Where the most improvement is made is in the sound, where some of the old sounds are retained, but some new ones, like music, are added without taking away from the game. So visually, and audibly, this game is a complete update of the original. No more blips and vector graphics for you.

But, as it happens with almost all games that hit the shelves, someone forgot something when it came to the gameplay. In some ways, it plays exactly like the arcade original from 20 years ago. Shoot the rocks; don't get hit by them. Actually, all Activision really added here was the idea of different screens (yawn) and powerups, which really don't add much to the overall gameplay. Instead, they sort of detract from it. Why? Well, if you copy a classic game's gameplay almost to the letter, anything that you do differently is going to stick out like a sore thumb. By copying the original Asteroids so closely, Activision draws too much attention to the powerups, which aren't that exciting in the first place. On top of that, they let you choose from four ships (they really went out of their way there) which don't feel much different. It just doesn't make sense.

In all, what you have here is an upgraded version of a classic that didn't need upgrading. It says in the manual that the classic game is hidden somewhere in one of the missions. Do yourself a favor, if you have already bought this game and can't return it, find the classic game. My bet is that you'll enjoy it a hell of a lot more. If you haven't bought it, pick up a copy of Microsoft Arcade and play the original version of this game. Then, you won't have to worry about having the latest hardware drivers.

Reviewed by John Misak.