Interested in seeing how videogames began? Then pick up Atari Anthology, Atari's latest collection of classics from the arcade and 2600 heyday. Digital Eclipse, the folks who have emulating arcade classics down pat with their work on the Midway Arcade Treasures and Arcade's Greatest Hits collections, have done their homework yet again and offer this expansive get-together of old-school gaming.

The games are separated into a number of categories, and the theme is based around this universe with little stars that hold each of the games. It's a neat little interface, although one might complain about the time it takes to get from one section to another instead of just choosing from a certain list. But, hey, I didn't mind. There are 67 Atari 2600 games to choose from in all, separated into categories like Action, Adventure, Arcade-At-Home, Racing, and more. There are also 18 arcade games to choose from, including such long-lost games as Liberator, Major Havoc, and Lunar Lander, as well as obvious favorites like Asteroids, Centipede, and Tempest.

Emulation-wise, the games are fantastic, with all of the options from the original games included. Combat, for instance, is a two-player versus affair with a number of match-ups to choose from, like invisible tanks that shoot reflective shots or a group of planes that can have guided shots be directed at enemies. That's just the tip of the iceberg. I found myself getting back into Yars Revenge at the highest difficulty and taking on Bowling. It's great that Digital Eclipse kept all these options open.

But not every game has been perfectly emulated. With the paddle games, for example, the control just isn't as smooth with the analog control. The paddles offered precision, something that was necessary to get a high score on Circus Atari. Here, it's just guesswork, although you can fiddle with the sensitivity to your liking. It still just doesn't feel right, and that hampers the overall feel a little bit. But it's not like Atari can afford to come out with a paddle peripheral for the Xbox, right?

Also, some game selections are just a bit odd, while others, like the home version of Defender, are sorely missing. It's great that stinkers like Pac-Man, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark didn't make the cut, but why not good games like Krull or Moon Patrol?

Each of the games can be played regularly, or you can unlock a number of modes to try a different spin on them. These modes, like "trippy mode" and "hot seat", are merely gimmicks and don't enhance the gameplay, but they're still interesting to try once you get them unlocked. However, if you skip them you're not missing anything special.

The game's sound is pretty good, but there are some games where the sound effects are just going to grate on the nerves. How much of the tink-tink-tink noises in Yars' Revenge can you possibly take? Atari should've taken some inspiration from Activision and thrown in some background music to make the sound a bit more soothing. Perhaps some selections from Buckner and Garcia would have made a nice touch, like Hyperspace and Ode to a Centipede.

Where Atari Anthology comes through in spades is its huge archive. The game not only packs 80+ titles to choose from and tinker with, but also a huge backlog of manuals, promo paperwork, and some cleaned-up video clips of Nolan Bushnell, who headed Atari at the time of its rise and brought us Pong. The video has been nicely cleaned up since its debut on the Atari Anniversary Edition games, and if you haven't seen the clips yet, they're worth a look.

I was also surprised to see that there's Xbox Live support to keep track of particular groups and post high scores. However, I think it would have been nice to see actual online play, as that would've raised the bar on this title significantly. I mean, can you imagine a huge online classic gaming community with Combat match-ups every night? Granted, it's not the same as online play with Halo 2, but it still would've been pretty sweet to have.

The bottom line is, for $20, you get a great historical piece on Atari with some excellent games buried behind some sub-par ones, and hours upon hours of replay value with such titles as Warlords and Combat, which are instant party titles. Atari Anthology is a well-done collection and a huge bargain, just in time for the Christmas season. So put away your Rubik's Cube and dig into this piece of 80's nostalgia. It's worth it.