Wasp! - Atari 7800

Wasp! maybe a bit plain, but I've found it excellent for anyone who enjoys chasing high scores. My high praise to developer Mark Ball on this first foray into Atari 7800 development!

I like this games, it's fun to just play and try to beat your own high score. If Mark were to male WASP 2.0 I would suggest adding a sound or visual effect when you get stung (other than your life line simply decreasing) and add some "magic mushrooms" maybe one that fills your life line back up and one that gives you an extra life. I am rating this a 4 for originality and the skill to make a 7800 game from scratch, I am leaving 1 for room to grow.

WASP is a simple but fun game to play the object is simple collect all the mushrooms in a level to advance on to the next level while avoiding those pesky wasp's that just want to ruin your day by stinging you. LOL

After I got my 7800 and picked up most of the obvious must have homebrews, I looked at the reviews for Wasp and nearly passed on it. But I'm kinda glad I didn't as I have really enjoyed this title.

The basic premise of the game is to collect mushrooms while avoiding wasps. A classic game of cat-and-mouse style avoidance. The pacing is fairly easy in the early stages but quickly ramps up.

The movement of the wasps is somewhat chaotic but hypnotically whimsical, as they bounce and dance around onscreen. It's not the speed that gets you but trying to predict what they will do next.

And while you have absolutely no weapons or defence with which to fiend off the wasps, this is what gives the game it's challenge while retaining it's simplicity.

Graphically the Wasps and mushrooms are vibrant and colorful. Not really much else to say really.

It is mildly addictive in the sense of making you want to play again when you get a game over, but not quite in the same league as other arcade classics such as Pacman or Food Fight.

4/5 Joysticks.

I think this game is misunderstood and doesn't quite get the respect it deserves! I don't ask for a video game to change my life. Sometimes I just want to pop in a fun and mindless game, and just enjoy it for what it is. The good news is that WASP! is fun to play and very addictive. If you buy it, you may be surprised how fun it actually is and despite the jaded and cranky "Video Game Critic" may tell you. I don't think you will be disappointed in the game, for less than the price of a meal at a restaurant, this game deserves your attention. The control is responsive, and game moves quickly, and the graphics are really the best part of it for me. I absolutely love Mark Ball's slightly cute graphical designs, they are some of the best graphics out of all the Atari 7800 homebrew titles, and I hope he designs many more Atari 7800 games in the future because they are some of my favorites.

Wasp is a good looking game that just needed a bit more complexity to be a really fun game as well. As it stands you avoid wasps and pick up mushrooms. Once you collect them all you move on to the next level where you do it again. I feel that power ups like speed, invincibility, or maybe a 4 -5 bug spray gun could've made things more interesting. More diversity in enemies, maybe a bonus screen where you drop the mushrooms from the top of the screen into a moving bag on the bottom, I don't know I'm just spitballing. I do like the sprites and feel the main character sprite is good enough to be a mascot of sorts for other games. But simplistic and repetitive gameplay keep this one from being more than a half hours worth of fun at a time.

It's always nice to see new 7800 games.

I enjoyed this game. I found it perfect for quick pick up and play sessions. It appears to be a very simple game with good progression in difficulty. I liked the opening screen and sprites. I wish there was music to go along with the game but it does have a nice 'groovy' transitions between levels.

While I'm not sure I'd label it a great or classic this game was quite enjoyable. It is actually really great for a quick pick up and play when your busy. I'd have to say I like the simplicity of this game the most...just run around collect mushrooms....avoid wasps....enjoy the 'groovy' screen.

I hope to see more from Mark Ball and the 7800 in the future.

Nice try. I love you with God's love. and I will hug you. But I don't like your game sir.

I'm not sure what to make of Wasp!. Even though it's an original game, it plays more like a non-violent hack of Robotron. While there are no instructions included, the premise is simple enough: collect mushrooms, avoid wasps. And that's it.

You have no weapons, no bonus items, and the graphics never seem to change. You're always collecting the same thing, always pursued by the same five enemies. The difficulty ramps up gradually, but there's no variety to the game - it's just the same thing over and over. Even a change in the colors of the objects would have been welcomed. I don't know if any extra lives can be earned or not (none show up as of 20,000 points), and there are no other game variations that I could find. The graphics are decent but sparse, and the sound is minimal.

Wasp! seems more like a mini-game, or the early beginnings of a game idea, rather than a full-fledged, completed one. It's not that it's bad, it's just that there's not much there. Perhaps if it was part of a compilation I could recommend it, but as it is, Wasp! just doesn't have enough going for it.