One of the most underrated games for the Atari 2600, Robot Tank is a superb title that seems all but forgotten these days.

One effect that the newly released Atari 2600+ has had is to drive up the prices of classic Atari games, particularly the most well known and fondly remembered ones.

Games I recall with a huge amount of nostalgia, such as Pitfall or H.E.R.O., are surprisingly expensive to pick up these days.

Thankfully, Robot Tank is a game that seems to have snuck under the radar somewhat, quite appropriately, so it’s not too costly to acquire.

Hilariously set in the far future of 2019, Robot Tank is a very Battlezone-esque, first person combat game, in which you can see out of the cockpit of your tank, which has its own radar system, allowing you to track down and (hopefully) blow up enemy tanks.

It’s a fast paced, exciting and challenging game, with an impressive number of features that sets it apart from so many other titles on the Atari 2600.

For example, Robot Tank has a clever day to night cycle, plunging you into darkness when the sun goes down and forcing you to rely on your radar until dawn.

It also has weather that affects your vision and movement, along with a damage system that can see you struggling to deal with, for example, a lack of radar.

You have four systems: Video screen, Cannons, Radar and Treads, and each of these can be independently damaged by enemy rocket fire!

Your rockets can be guided after you fire, as they follow the position of your crosshairs; enemy fire can be dodged simply by moving it out of view.

Though these are hardly ‘realistic’ touches, it doesn’t matter; the quirkiness of this system is soon understood, and is easy to deal with, when you play.

Robot Tank is a genuinely fun, very addictive game. Though of course, being an Atari 2600 game, it’s very primitive by today’s standards (or even the standards of 30 years ago), it’s well worth picking up.

It works perfectly on the Atari 2600+, and it’s not currently an expensive game to pick up at all. Just keep it to yourself or we’ll see the price rise on this game before you know it!