Oh Shoot! Is a new game for the Atari 2600 that pulls inspiration from classics like Combat, pitting two players against one another in a, well shoot out. And like the best classics, its more than meets the eye. Here’s our review.

Oh Shoot presents players with a simple premise. Shoot your opponent before they shoot you. Each connected hit grants you a point, and the player that reaches the agreed upon points threshold first wins. That in and of itself is good enough to provide some genuine time killing entertainment, as proven by the likes of Combat and even Pong, but where Oh Shoot differentiates itself is in its options. 

There are four types of ships that you can play as, each with their own attributes. The Ranger is a helicopter that fires fast, straight forward attacks that are limited by their short range. The Banshee is a jet fighter of sorts that shoots guided missiles. Similar to but not exactly how your shots tend to follow your own movements like in Combat or Megamania. The Specter is a flying saucer that shoots inverted neutron pulses that cross the screen in waves. And the Destroyer shoots torpedoes that travel erratically, widening their overall range at the cost of precision. Each of these ships is equally fun to play as and requires slightly different strategies to be proficient with. The wrinkle is, you don’t get to choose. Every round, you and your opponent fly a different ship at seemingly random. The rounds advance very quickly, too, which makes their intuitive controls especially appreciated. 

There’s nothing complicated about actually playing the game. It’s basic, but in the best way. It’s exactly the kind of pick up and play fun you want out of a game like this.  

Another random element is the stages you play on. There are over 1000 unique ones that can show up, and depending on which mode you’re playing in, can have some seriously game changing effects on a match’s outcome. You lose a round if you crash into the terrain, which is an obstacle in and of itself, but you can also choose to play where your bullets can’t travel through the terrain either, which can really make for some intense matchups. 

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What you can choose, though, are the many, MANY game variations. You can use the game’s AI to actually help you out in avoiding enemy fire and stage obstacles if you choose, and you can select between numerous difficulty options as well. All in all there are 48 variations. Which is a lot, again, in a good way. 

Oh Shoot is a delight. It may not be the most complex Atari 2600 game you’ll ever play, but some of the best that platform has ever had to offer focused on simple fun over complexity, an area that Oh Shoot excels at.

Thanks to Philip Meyer, the game’s programmer, for providing me with a copy for this review. Oh Shoot is available now as a physical cartridge at the AtariAge store for the Atari 2600.

Thanks for watching. If you liked what you saw here today, please comment, follow, like, share, and let us know what you think of Oh Shoot for Atari 2600. Thanks again, and on behalf of all of us here at Stone Age Gamer, keep playing games. 

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