Obsession

Pinball Dreams

Our gaming community never ceases to amaze me, and I've made many friends over the years. One guy in particular I've known since the days of swappies in the early 90s. Recently, he sent me a gift that made my day. Paul's always been generous and, like me, a fanatic about the Atari ST/e and ZX Spectrum!

Well, his parcel arrived, and inside was something very special indeed. Yes, I now have a blummin excellent copy of Obsession!! I still cannot believe it because I've had this game in the same league as Dungeon Master or Legends of Valour. In other words, one of those titles you dream of owning again, but it will never happen (a bit like the Atari Falcon030!!). At least not without forking out silly money we just don't have.

Anyhow, Unique Development Sweden only released two games for the Atari STe, and blimey, what a pair of Christmas crackers. Substation ended their short career with us, but at least they went out in style - a brilliant first-person shooter with great atmosphere and frantic action. Of course, the other is Obsession, a game I mentioned back in (wait for it) 2015. How the years pass... This is a marvellous game that looks and sounds as good as can be. Well, without leaving the house for your "local" amusement arcade!

Nobody needs me to review Obsession. It's a classic released in the dusk of the 16-bit era. The gameplay is hectic and challenging, and accompanied by superb graphics in overscan. Not only that, but the sound effects are incredible and played alongside funky tracker music. Where were UDS back in 1989?

I will say this: most games are best played using real hardware, but I found this more noticeable with Obsession simply because of the keyboard layout. It's designed for the ST keyboard using the bottom row to assist as you whack the flipper keys. Emulation with a Mac/PC keyboard doesn't work nearly as well (YMMV).

I will never be able to thank Paul enough for his kindness and generosity. So ignore the fact that I’m terrible at Obsession and boot it up for yourself. Those later years produced some killer titles, and this proves it; Obsession is one of the best “arcade games” on the ST, imho. Oops, I meant Atari STe 🥳

• Download via Atarimania https://www.atarimania.com/unique-development-sweden.html
• Grab a hard drive-ready version https://atari.8bitchip.info/SCRSH/obsess.html
• Demo versions can be found on AtariUpToDate and Atari Legend.
• Do you want more enhanced games https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/enhanced-games.html