Thank you Atari for sending us this DLC to review!

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is one of the best playable documentaries I've ever seen. It covers a wide section of Atari history, and is highly recommended for anyone who loves Atari, or is interested in the history of video games. Thankfully, Atari 50 was successful, so they promised us two DLC (downloadable content) packs, and this is the first of the two.

Atari 50: The Wider World of Atari focuses on a few key points. First, it covers some things missed in the base game. While Breakout is represented, more time is spent sharing its story. Other late '70s hits are covered. These include games like Destroyer, Super Bug, Skydiver, Avalanche, and Atari Football. These games definitely show their age, but I probably enjoy playing Destroyer the most out of the bunch. It's legitimately fun!

One big highlight of the first part of the documentary is their coverage called 'Vector Magic'. They explain the interesting tradeoffs of vector graphics, and how great it can look. They only made 13 games! They also spend some time talking about Red Baron, and thankfully we get to play it. This game is really cool, and I'm glad it's included.

Once it gets to 1980, it covers the split between arcade and consumer divisions, and the Sears branded versions of the console. I know when I was growing up, some of my games were from there, because they were branded differently as 'Tele-Games'. I thought it was neat seeing what I grew up with explained and expanded upon.

Then we get to a documentary highlight, though there are no new playable games in this section. We learn much more detail about the creation of the Atari logo, including sharing some of the other options that they came up. They were pretty much all worse, so they did good accepting the iconic logo they did! They also interview Evelyn Seto (then Evelyn Lim) who was intimately involved in its creation. Seeing first-hand accounts of this history is always a highlight of this interactive documentary format. They also show how she created many of the iconic box arts of the era.

In the middle of the documentary is the focus on Berzerk and its sequels. This is probably the most fun section, simply because these games are great. They play like early twin-stick shooters, in a maze where you shoot enemies around you while trying to avoid Evil Otto. While the graphics are really simple, this game is still fun to play today, and I highly recommend this connection for the Berzerk games alone. Included is the original Arcade, the sequel Frenzy, and the 2600 and 5200 ports. Also included is a fan-made update to the 2600 version, which includes the iconic voice synthesis of the other versions through a unique programming trick to do something otherwise impossible on such primitive hardware.

After this, the documentary pivots to newer forgotten games released for the Atari 2600. Many were professionally commissioned, and released after the Nintendo NES was, making them largely forgotten. Others covered include fan enhancements or backports to classic 2600 games, like Return to Haunted House. They also talk about prototypes that were eventually completed and released later on Flashback systems, like Adventure II and Save Mary.

From an appropriateness standpoint, this collection is in line with most of the base Atari 50 collection, and even less objectionable in general as there are no new moral concerns. I would feel comfortable letting players of almost any age play these, even if many of them can be pretty difficult, as most games of that era are.

Atari 50: The Wider World of Atari is a very good expansion pack (also called DLC) to the already excellent Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. While the quality of these games is necessarily going to be hit or miss, the hits are excellent. The five Berzerk games are worth the price of admission alone, and there are a total of nineteen games included. The documentary content maintains the excellent quality from the base title as well. Highly recommended!

Note: Since moral content from the base game is also accessible here, keeping the same scores.