Retro What to Play: Yar's Revenge

by the Opaque Senator, Video Game and Media Correspondent for The Great Geek Refuge

Greetings one and all! Welcome back to my Legacy Reviews of games past! Today I have a bit of a different one...a game many of you; especially younger readers, may not be familiar with. Today we are going to look at the remake of a classic, but also talk about that classic and its influence. Today's topic is Yar's Revenge; and also, Yars' Revenge. 

Wait...what? 

First, a bit of backstory. The original Yars' Revenge was created by Howard Scott Warshaw in 1982. This guy, and really, the story of Atari as a company in general, is the stuff of legend. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend checking out the documentary done about the rise and fall of Atari called Atari: Game Over (I believe you can still catch it on Netflix or find and stream it on YouTube). Warshaw created basically everything about the game, even managing to basically “trick” the marketing team into giving it his chosen name and backstory. Warshaw saw games as a way of making art, and that perspective is important. I won't go into too much detail about that process, as the documentary does better than I would in this piece, but its a great story about someone's foray into a new career.

So, what is a Yar, or what are Yars? Small but significant distinction. The original game for the Atari 2600 was Yars' Revenge. In the remake, your main character is Yar, but the fly-like Yars in the original have a different context and connotation and are a race, hence the difference in how to make their name possessive (little English fun for you.)

Both games have similar entities involved in the story, but they have different meanings to their respective games. I find this game to hold a very special place in gaming history, as I see it, as one of the first games that really put gaming, and more specifically, console gaming on the map. This game could be compared to what Socrates was to philosophy. It was the top seller among its original line up for the console, and one that holds a number of interesting firsts.

The story line of this game is the Yars versus the Qotile. The Yars are these insectoid creatures that started as flies, who rode a human spacecraft outside of our solar system. The flies escaped and mutated into super-beings that built advanced civilizations on other planets. To protect themselves, they attempted to create what is known as the Zorlon Cannon. This is when the Qotile attacked and destroyed one of the planets the Yars lived on, hence Yars must get their vengeance by destroying the Qotile. Pretty elaborate story (all told in comic form) for a game with a single screen that looked like this...

Cut to 2014, when Atari in conjunction with Killspace Entertainment decided to resurrect the game, now called Yar's Revenge for Xbox and Steam. Instead of a top down shooter, this title is an on-rails shooter (a favorite genre of mine). The Yars are no longer these insectoid creatures, but is now just Yar, which is the protagonist's name and a creation of the Qotile, who is displayed as a teched out humanoid.

In the remake, the Qotile enslaved and created the Yars, though one breaks free and is saved and aided by an old Yar known as the Bar-Yargler. He helps Yar fight back against the insectoid Qotile and their Queen Raktamalina to get her revenge. The game features multiple cut scenes in between levels and on-going dialogue between our Yar protagonist and the Bar Yargler (though it's easy to miss during the game when you are constantly checking for incoming enemies and projectiles.) All in all, the story is fine, not the most intense thing I've ever heard, and there are a couple of chuckle worthy moments between the two characters. But story is always secondary in these types of games, how was the game?

In a word...it was fine. I had fun playing it and wanted to finish it, but it is not without some problems. Again, I'm a big rail shooter guy, and I've completed the game on the normal difficulty. Game play is okay. Highly recommend using a keyboard over a controller, as the controller has the left stick move the character while the right stick controls where you are firing. It is a little disjointed. However, on the keyboard it's logical and works well. By halfway through the first level you get a pretty good idea how to control Yar. WASD control the movement while the mouse controls the rapid fire and pulse laser. There are also lock on missiles you can fire and the titular Zorlon Cannon from the first game is also here.

If you are newer to rail shooter style games, this actually is a pretty decent (and cheap) game to start with. It's not terribly challenging compared to most rail shooters I've played and gives a nice almost tutorial of how these games are. The world you fly through has a ton of detail. It's interesting and complete, especially the Qotile areas later in the game. They inhabit technological mazes and marvels. The only problem is again, this is a rail shooter. There is not usually much down time to admire your surroundings in this style of game. But when you do, you see the developers put a lot of time and effort into the world. Better to have that detail than not. The music on the other hand...well it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but it doesn't really accentuate anything either. It's there. The enemies take on insectoid feel, but are mostly the same types of enemies you are taking on from level 1 through the rest of the game. 

The real issue, and the thing that drags the game down a couple of notches for me, is that there really are not any memorable set pieces. This, to me, is the hallmark of great rail shooters.

In Radiant Silvergun, I remember getting to an early boss in the game that starts glowing. It was intimidating and I was doing well in the early parts of the fight, then after a little glow at this point, the screen erupts in an instantaneous blast the engulfs half the screen emanating from the middle. I was with some friends and we were cracking up. In Panzer Dragoon, there are several set pieces that stand out, including the boss fight with the Guardian, the first fight with the Black Dragon, the part on the first stage when your flying through a ruin and the roof of it collapses in from the first boss of the game from above.

This is what Yar's Revenge is missing to put it up there with the truly solid rail shooters; there's just no spectacle in the remake. All in all, at $10 there's a lot worse you can do with this remake. Steam sale would probably put it to $5. And if your new to the genre and looking to get acquainted without getting destroyed (just try to complete level 1 of Radiant Silvergun and let me know how that goes) Yar's Revenge is a nice go at it, with good visuals, great detail, good selection of methods to fight your enemies, but only average music and scope. Keep Yar moving around the screen and keep your eyes peeled and you'll complete the game. For me, it was nice to play another rail shooter, and one that pays homage to a real classic of a game that set us down the path we find ourselves on with the gaming world.

Until next time, in this truly opaque world, I hope this makes things a little more clear.