Atari’s Black Widow was a game before my time; when I was actually old enough to be padding around arcades, the only Atari cabinets you’d see were the battle hardened classics that immediately spring to mind when you hear the name. This meant that it would be fairly rare to see any of the old vector graphics cabinets, if you saw any at all. So seeing that they brought the original into the future makes Black Widow: Recharged a welcome choice.
Atari decided to drop Black Widow: Recharged cross platform. Which means that you have your choice of experience. I, however, was sent a code for the Nintendo Switch, so that’s what I’m going off of.
And you know what? It’s pretty dang good. I will, however, be honest with you: I’m really bad at it. If I had to guess why, it’s due to my habits with shmups, which translate poorly to a twin stick shooter. I’m looking too far away, and that leads to me getting hit from the sides. I just can’t shake the habit of looking where I’m aiming rather than general situational awareness.
My personal failings aside, the game lives up to its heritage. The original Black Widow was, at least partially, sold as a conversion kit for Atari’s Gravitar; also a twin-stick shooter. There are a few changes between the original and Recharged, though I imagine those that played the original will welcome the challenge. Notably, you can no longer pass through the center of the web, something I noticed was possible in the original by looking up a longplay of Black Widow.
Powerups are all impactful, and the gameplay loop is solid. There’s no real story here, but there are challenges. They follow the expected route: kill #X of Y enemy, survive for a certain amount of time, and so on, and new challenges unlock as you complete them. These challenges also come complete with a leaderboard, letting you compete with both friends and the world. There are also achievements which follow a similar theme; survival, enemies killed, etc. Finally, it does have something the original Black Widow didn’t: Co-op.
The faux vector graphics really pop, as well. The soundtrack by Megan McDuffy is also a perfect fit for any run.
As for options, there’s a fair bit I like to see. There’s a color blind mode, with settings for protanopia, deuteranomaly and tritanopia. There’s also the option to turn twin-stick off; I’d argue having control of whether you’re shooting or not while aiming isn’t terribly important, but the option is there if you want it.
The game runs smooth, too. About the only performance issue I’ve even seen with the game are the opening credits screens. Aside from causing some misgivings on first bootup, it really doesn’t matter at all.
I’d definitely give a recommendation to Black Widow: Recharged. If you’re looking for something arcadey to play in bursts, it ought to be up your alley. Definitely getting high marks.
Pros:
+ Looks great, graphics pop
+ Soundtrack really pumps
+ Offers a number of challenges for players
Cons:
– Probably not much fun if you suffer phobias related to insects and spiders?
Score:
*We were provided a code for the purposes of this review*
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