On a long enough time line, your chance of making a video game that doesn’t piss off a video game curmudgeon falls to zero. If you travel that same time line as a gamer you’ll find you yourself will have some gripe that becomes a high water mark for your frustration with the industry. I had mine back in the late 90’s when 3D games started to become more and more prevalent and detailed 2D artwork started to take a backseat. I’ve long since relinquished my ire but I reserve a place in my heart for the craft and care a beautifully produced 2D game can weave together.

Enter Earth Atlantis. I’ll get it out of the way right now, this game is a submersible Metal Slug. If you’re not familiar with that particular title, when people talk about 2D pixel games in a positive light you can thank Metal Slug, the godfather of pixel art. When they talk about it in a negative light, it’s usually because it doesn’t measure up(or maybe they aren’t familiar with Metal Slug). Cast upon a beige/brown scale palette, Earth Atlantis seems to exist to lure you back in time to those halcyon days when you were only capable of two axis movement. This is a game based in traditional bullet dodging ship flight shooting. Games like Phoenix 2(Free) and Sky Force Reloaded(Free) have paved the way for games like Earth Atlantis that want to take your classic shooter game and turn in a new direction. In E.A. you pilot a submarine that is on a missio...