Sync - Atari 2600

Sync is a collection of seven games based on rhythm, patterns and abstract shapes. Three of the games - Mantra, Jitter 4K and Flow 4K - have support for the AtariVox, which will "sing" along with each of the games, often to humorous effect. The menu system is straightforward and intuitive, and allows easy navigation between all of the games without ever having to reach for the console. The graphics are brilliantly suited to the 2600, and the music throughout the cartridge - from the menus to in-game music - is outstanding. Some of the games even allow you to tailor the music to your liking. (I\'d strongly recommend reading through the manual to get the most out of the various options.)In Mantra, shapes are displayed on screen that correspond to the four joystick directions and fire button. As each series of shapes appear, you must move the joystick and match the symbols according to a rhythm. If you successfully match a series of shapes, they\'ll disappear. If you don\'t, they become locked, and must be matched twice in order to remove them. Once the screen is filled with shapes, the game is over.Mantra is a fun, unique game for the 2600, and in some ways is reminiscent of rhythm games for modern consoles (Patapon, Dance Dance Revolution, PaRappa the Rapper, etc). The game determines the pace at which you can respond, and getting the hang of the rhythm can take a little time (and a really good joystick), but once you get on a roll, the game can really move fast. There are quite a few game options, including several two-player simultaneous modes, a demo mode and a practice mode. The graphics, while simple, are vivid and colorful, and are a perfect example of not needing high resolution to make a great game.Jitter 4K is very similar to Mantra, except the symbols are less abstracted, and you can respond immediately to the patterns, giving you a little more control over the pace of the game. It has some of the same options as Mantra, but offers a couple of new ones as well. Jitter 4K does have a different feel to it, but it\'s just as much fun as Mantra, and may be a little easier to get the hang of for beginners.Flow 4K is my favorite game in this collection, and is one of my favorite 2600 games, period. There is a grid of 20 stacks of bars on screen, and your goal is to clear off these stacks by surrounding them with the correct number of bars in adjacent stacks before a timer counts down. In addition to adding or removing bars, you can slide rows and columns around to better match up stacks. If the entire grid is occupied with stacks when the timer runs out, then the game ends. If there are still open spaces, the timer resets and gives you another chance.Flow 4K is unlike any game I can recall playing. It\'s a puzzle game, but one that\'s played against an ever-accelerating clock. After awhile, it becomes a frenetic action game, driven along by great music which gets enhanced by digital "scat-singing" if an AtariVox is plugged in. Flow 4K is a one-player only game, but there are a couple of different game play modes so you can choose the one to your liking. As with Mantra, the graphics are perfect for this game, and you\'d never think of them as being low resolution - they\'re just the pieces in a puzzle.Sync\'s other four games are presented as a set of mini-games, collectively (and appropriately) titled Four.Jitter 1K is a stripped-down version of Jitter 4K. It plays similarly, but symbols don\'t become locked if you miss a series of shapes. The basic gameplay is intact though, and it makes for a fun, quick gaming fix.Flow 1K is a simplified version of Flow 4K. But while in Flow 4K you have to wait for a timer to clear off the bars, in Flow 1K, they\'re cleared immediately. The pace is dramatically faster in Flow 1K, because the game ends whenever any stack has four bars on it if the timer runs out - not when the entire grid is full. This keeps you constantly in motion, trying to keep track of which stacks are reaching their limit, and trying to keep everything in check. This is the most frenetic game on the cartridge, and plays very differently from it\'s 4K cousin.Gate is a shape matching game, where you must place shapes in one column, to match those in another column. The trick is, the column you must match is continually scrolling, and every third time it scrolls by, more shapes are added to it. As you match shapes, they disappear from the scrolling column. The goal is to keep the scrolling column from filling up for as long as you can. Gate is a terrific, fast-moving puzzle game with great graphics and excellent music. There are a couple of different play modes: Arcade Mode - which allows you to keep playing if you mismatch shapes; and Simulation Mode - which doesn\'t allow you to make any mistakes.The final mini-game - Here - is yet another unique game, which is based purely on reflexes. The gameplay is simplicity itself - you must press the fire button as an arrow passes over a colored bar. Doin...

Well, this is a weird game, and I love it. It\'s like nothing else I have on the Atari - a fast paced "rhythm" style game with a great twitch factor. There are 7 games on the cart, but I really just play the first two - Jitter and Mantra, these are easily my favorites. Add in the Atarivox support that adds an old school "computer voice" singing along, and you\'ve got a unique, fun game you\'re sure to get a kick out of.