The classic gaming boom is back. Hell, it must be. The Classic Gaming Expo is getting bigger and bigger in attendance every year, and classic game collections are surfacing wildly. Joining the fray this time around is Crave Entertainment's Intellivision Lives, a tribute to Mattel's ambitious but eventually ill-fated competitor to the Atari 2600. The collection includes a number of games to choose from (over 60!), complete with old favorites, unreleased titles, and more, all put within a setting of different arcade units placed into a pizza shop.

The format is similar to that of Activision's Anthology release that hit the market previously. It focuses on the classic games of yesteryear and shnazzes them up with options, history notes, and different play modes to whisk through. Like Anthology before it, however, not every game is worth its weight in gold. A number of the titles seem to render almost unplayable on the Dual Shock 2 pad, simply because it's real hard to adapt the controller for the Intellivision, made up of a numeral keypad and a little disc for a controller, to the modern day controller. Sports games in general take some getting used to. Other games, however, are a snap to get into, like Night Stalker and Astrosmash. And if you get confused, a controller layout is available with each game, to guide you along.

Another complaint I have is that some of the games are only available for two player play, mostly sports games and a Las Vegas blackjack title. Granted, this makes for good two player play, but what if the player is by himself and frustratingly trying to unlock some goodies? Crave and Realtime Associates should have considered this and offered an option to allow play with a computer opponent or work in a solo mode of some kind.

The game has a solid, if not overwhelming, presentation, and has a number of good design ideas. It separates the games by category and places them in different arcade units that you can walk up to and play. You can also listen to some cheesily-composed Intellivision tunes in the background, some of which are a blast to listen to (like the show lady singing "Shark Shark!") and others just existing for background noise. Or you can turn them off and revel in the limited Intellivision game sound range.

The graphics are...well, Intellivision graphics, but the game does make use of its pizza house environment, complete with Intellivision man designs and little quirks here and there. The games themselves are nicely emulated, flaws and all, and look faithful to their original counterparts. The video clips are better than Midway Arcade Treasures' Quicktime clips, but still suffer from age. But, then again, no one's perfect.

And that leads to the game's extras. Besides a ton of games to choose from, there's also a bevy of history items to go through, like quick production notes for each game, interviews with the developers (including some Blue Sky Rangers! HUZZAH!), a comprehensive history piece that's well put together, and even some of the old Intellivision TV ads, where the late great George Plimpton talks highly of the Mattel machine and games.

Does the game have a great deal of value? Well, those eager to learn the history of Intellivision or are big fans of it will have lots to like here, and at $20, it is a bargain. However, I would have liked to have seen more of the obscure games like Discs of Tron or Microsurgeon, instead of unplayable crap like the "Demo Cartridge" and Thunder Castle. It also would have been nice, like I said, to see sports games with one player options.

Flaws aside, Intellivision Lives is a solid, if not overwhelming, production, and it has its worth in some of the titles and in its abundance of archival goodies. If you're a classic gamer or you're eager to dig into the past, this should be on your list of archaeological finds, right alongside Midway Arcade Treasures, Activision Anthology, and Namco Museum. Just don't expect the mother of all collections and you'll be fine.