Berzerk

If you do get out, you find yourself in another maze. Again the faceless robots shoot at you, again Evil Otto pursues you, again you must dodge and shoot and run ... into yet another maze. It's enough to drive you bonkers!

--From the Atari 2600 Berzerk instruction manual.

Overview:
Berzerk used to make me go berzerk as a kid. Needless to say this was one of my favorite games. In Berzerk the idea is to get through the maze without being killed. All in all, I think that this was a great game. There was a big jump that had to be made from the original arcade version, but I think Atari did alright. The Berzerk robots, Evil Otto, and the guy that is supposed to be you, all look a lot like their arcade cousins. The only real complaint is that they couldn't keep the robotic voice that taunted you in the arcade.

Directions:
In Berzerk, you are the little guy and you need to kill the berzerk robots. You also need to watch out for the walls because if you touch them you will die, they are electrified. There is also another enemy to watch out for that looks like a smiley face, the name is Evil Otto.

As you get farther in the game, the robots will start to berzerk on you more and more. They get faster as you stay the same slow speed. On the upside, their below average intelligence stays the same slow speed. They will, however, start to berzerk on you all kamikaze style, running into walls and each other to get to you. If they touch or shoot you you will die. You start with three men and will be awarded an extra man at every 1000 points on easy modes and 2000 on medium. On harder modes, there are no extra lives.

There are several game variations that change the difficulty, they are as follows:

Variation #1- The most basic variation. You gain extra lives at 1000 points as usual. There is no Evil Otto in this variation, so you're pretty much stuck to fighting just robots. The robots do shoot, so you're not completely out of the woods.

Variation #2 This one is just like #1 with one distinct difference. You still gain extra lives at 1000 points, robots still fire, but Evil Otto is present in this variation. You can "destroy" him (or as the instruction manual puts it, "rebound" him) temporarily, but he will return.

Variation #3 The game is getting a bit harder here. You still gain extra lives at each 1000 point mark, robots still fire, and Evil Otto is still present, but he cannot be defeated here. He is invincible.

Variation #4 Evil Otto is not in this variation. Whew. Robots still fire, but you gain an extra life every 2000 points.

Variation #5 Just like variation #2. Evil Otto is temporarily defeatable, robots fire, but extra lives occur every 2000 points.

Variation #6 Extra lives still cost 2000 points a pop. Evil Otto's robots are still firing their blasters. Finally, Evil Otto is indestructible. Let's just hope you can rack up 2000 points fast!

Variation #7 Well, Evil Otto is gone, but he takes bonus lives with him. In other words, you can only play with what lives you have, adding a bit to the difficulty. There are still robots, and yes, they still shoot.

Variation #8 Evil Otto returns in his defeatable state, but there still is no opportunity to gain extra lives. What's worse is that the robots can still fire. This one isn't as bad as the next.

Variation #9 The real ego killer (or ego maker, if you're that good) is #9, probably the hardest mode available. Evil Otto is invincible, robots fire, and there's no chance of gaining extra lives. So, you'll have to fight and run extra hard.

Variation #10 Evil Otto exists and cannot be destroyed. You gain an extra life for every 1000 points. Yay, it came back! Robots don't fire, either.

Variation #11 Evil Otto can be defeated here. You can also gain extra lives at every 1000 points. What's more, robots do not shoot.

Varation #12 The easiest variation available. No Evil Otto whatsoever. Robots do exist, but they don't fire. You also gain extra lives at every 1000 points.