FailSafe

Ja, so okey dokey, here's another review from Danie, the old Boer forced from his native lands but now living in Australia with a new wife but no blerrie farm! Well, let me tell you something, a Boer without a farm is no Boer at all and my Atari 7800 hobby has helped me cope especially AtariAge. I'll just say it; "Failsafe" was my first homebrew disappointment. I was quite honestly expecting the "sequel" to "Counterstrike" as the packaging alludes but this is a stunted, slowed-down version with fewer features! Look man, I'm a fan of "Crazy Brix" by the same programmer and I was actually drawn to the simplistic, 5200-style graphics but unlike the incredible "Counterstrike" the play is confined to a single-screen-high area, which tediously scrolls horizontally only. I'm no programmer but why cannot your turret rotate? Similar to "Counterstrike", holding down Button 2 with the joystick would have given this game more replay value.
Please understand, maybe some of you thnk I'm too critical but we Afrikaners are a plainspeaking tribe and living in Australia a game isn't $30 to $50, we pay nearly AU$100 for each title so I'll be as honest as I like without being a dumkop you hear.
Ja, and one other thing which disgruntled my sense of aesthetics in displaying all my Complete-With-Manual-In-Box PAL collection is my annoyance at whoever approved the SIDE LABELS on the box. They're blerrie UPSIDE DOWN! Just like a book, a title is read from the top to the bottom. It's fundamental typesetting!
Not to worry, I love AtariAge and will continue to support this amazing company. By the way, the Super Twin 78 is INCREDIBLE. And just imagine how much it cost for me! WORTH IT!
Totsiens from Danie.

Failsafe is a 2009 sequel to the Atari 5200 game, Countermeasure. I hadn't played either game until just a couple years ago, when I was going through a list of 7800 titles I had for my Prosystem emulator and stumbled across this one. I'm glad I gave it a try because this is a really fun tank game, right up there with Combat and Beach-head! Bob Decrescenzo did a great job, adding different power-ups and a simpler control scheme, making this game easier to play and more arcade-like than Countermeasure, while still retaining the old 8-bit SSI/Avalon-Hill wargame style of graphics. It won't blow your socks off, but gets the job done. There are 3 skill levels, although the game is quite challenging and I still haven't finished it on Novice. Also, the manual and label artwork are very nicely done. Definitely give this one a try!

I've had this game for a while. I found it pretty enjoyable as a reasonably long (by 7800 standards) combat campaign with variety, power ups, and an interesting code system to beat the game. As others have stated, it is rather slow, but I think there's enough enemies to keep you busy and enjoying the game. The game's difficulty does jump significantly near the end of the game. Planes that attack while your movement is very restricted by obstacles. There are also land mines that are barely visible on the CRT TV I use with my old systems. At first I didn't even know why my tank was exploding. Overall, it's an enjoyable game and fills an under represented niche in the 7800 library. But since I beat it, I haven't felt much temptation to go back.

I know some people don't dig how slow this game is, but I love it's deliberate pace. I never owned a 5200, and ALWAYS was a little green that the 7800 never had "Countermeasure" in the library. Now. we are stylin' and profilin' with this take on that game. This is a heady, unique shooter that you need to try.

I chose to buy this game because it was one of the few homebrews for the 7800 that is not an arcade port. I love the arcade, but there are many ways to play those games, so I wanted to go for something a little more original.

I had also never played Countermeasure, so I took the time to play it for a couple of hours before playing Failsafe.

There are a lot of updates here and super fans of C'measure (if there are any) may not appreciate some of the changes. Probably the most notable difference is that rotating your tank turret is gone. You only use one button in this game (fire) and your tank always fires forward.

Probably the only thing that I missed from C'measure was the fact that you can't guess the code as frequently. Instead, you must play through 6 long stages before getting your first (and only) opportunity to guess. This isn't all bad as the challenge presented by each stage is welcome, but it almost makes the code irrelevant as you are bound to have received all digits by the end of your run. This also means that if you are running out of time, you have no option to force a guess.

The challenge is about right in this game - you'll be able to guess the code and complete your run on the easiest level, but l was not able to complete a run on even the intermediate level (yet). Graphics are colorful and detailed enough while retaining some basics from the original. Sound is nothing spectacular and may have been better on the 5200. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows the specs of the two systems.

Overall, I'm happy with Failsafe, it delivers a unique experience for a console that had very few, and it honors Atari's roots by providing a sequel to a game that was itself probably the best attempt at a one player sequel to Combat.