Lady in Wading

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Playaround

Lady in Wading was never released as a stand-alone game, only in a 2-in-1 cartridge on the Atari 2600 with Beat ‘Em & Eat ‘Em. Which tells a lot that the developers felt that a horrible game like Beat ‘Em & Eat ‘Em needed to be on the cart as well to make consumers feel like they got their money’s worth. Anyway, in this game, you're a naked woman that has to build a bridge across a dangerous moat while avoiding various obstacles in order to get to the tower on the other side of the water, where a naked prince charming is waiting for you. And both of them look like nude mutant aliens. Unnecessary adult theme aside, the concept sounds like it could actually be fun if executed well...But unfortunately, it's not. It's a case where the developers seemed more intent on putting naked people in the game (and adding in animations of the two having intercourse in the tower) than they were in creating something that was actually enjoyable to play. The only fun I had here was purposely walking into the jaws of a gator and watching the water below turn red.

Review added: 09/24/2019

Lochjaw

Also known as: Shark Attack (Re-release)

Developer: Apollo

While I like the name "Lochjaw" for a game about avoiding sharks, I couldn't help but wonder if sharks have actually been seen in lochs. Sure enough, they have, though it seems like they generally seem to be the smaller variety like catsharks. In Lochjaw, though, you're not trying your best to avoid a catshark, you're avoiding a great white shark. The basic concept of Lochjaw is that you're a diver, navigating a maze, Pac-Man style. Instead of eating pellets, you're collecting diamonds that had "spilled from the hold of a Spanish galleon that sank during a fierce storm in the early sixteenth century." And honestly, if this game played well, it probably would be mildly fun…unfortunately, Lochjaw winds up being one of the worst Pac-Man clones that I've played. Navigating the maze feels like the walls are covered in fly paper, and the shark, especially early on, isn't really much of a threat…so you'll be annoyed by sticking to stuff while the shark casually swims past you for the first few minutes…then when the shark speeds up, you'll find yourself annoyed that either the shark appeared on the side of the screen exactly where you were for a cheap, instant death, or that the sticky wall held you just long enough for the shark to get you, when you otherwise would have plenty of time to escape. You can fight back if you pick up a "shark prod" which allows you to kill a shark swimming around…and you can also hide from them in a shark cage or duck into one of the four "mystery caves" in the corners of the screen to randomly appear in another location. The shark isn't your only foe, though, like the name suggests, the loch ness monster may make an appearance as you play. Sometimes using the mystery caves will wake up Nessie, who was sleeping inside. Unlike the sharks, she cannot be killed, she will tear right through a shark cage if you attempt to use it for cover, and she can only be subdued by luring her back into a cave so that she can resume her slumber. If the gameplay wasn't so bad, as I mentioned earlier, the little details I just mentioned might've made Lochjaw one of my favorite Pac-Man clones instead of one of the worst ones that I've played. Anyway, I honestly can't recommend this game to anyone, really…unless you feel the need to play every game that the loch ness monster has appeared in. In which case, I suppose you'd feel the need to play this.

Review added: 04/21/2026

Lock 'n' Chase

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Mattel

Lock 'n' Chase, on the Atari 2600, was a game developed and published by Mattel…the folks that owned the Intellivision. Now, I'm not saying that the Atari 2600 hardware was as strong as the Intellivision hardware in terms of graphics displayed, etc…but Mattel seemed to do a pretty decent job of porting this game over to the Intellivision…and it looks like very, very little effort was made to porting that same game to the Atari 2600. Maybe it's just me…but I wonder if Mattel releasing this game on Atari's console wasn't just a way to get extra cash by putting it on the most popular platform…but maybe it was also a way for them to compare and say, "See?! We can port Lock 'n' Chase over to the Intellivision without too many sacrifices…but look at what we were forced to do when porting it over to Atari's inferior hardware!" Anyway, I don't know if this port was intentionally bad, or if it was a legitimate attempt and they failed, but either way the Atari 2600 version of Lock 'n' Chase is not very good. The first thing you'll notice are that the interesting-looking police don't look very interesting here. The robber at least has SOME personality to him…but he looks like a green Kool-Aid man more than anything else. The gameplay isn't much different. Yes, you can do some of the basic things from the arcade game, like put up barriers, but almost all of the personality is gone and the maze designs are bland and simplified compared to the arcade version. Also, a lack of game variations means that the developers didn't add an interesting aspects to the game to make it worth playing here, like to how Atari added optional gameplay elements to games like Space Invaders and Asteroids. A lack of extra play modes, a game that doesn't play nearly as well as the game its ported from, and most of its personality stripped away results in a game that I'd be locking away somewhere and chasing the nearest gaming alternative so I can play that instead.

Review added: 04/21/2026

Lost Luggage

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Apollo

I’m pretty familiar with airports, so when I saw the title and box art for this game, it caught my eye. It’s not quite what I thought it would be, though. Lost Luggage basically puts you in the role of picking up luggage that has been hurled out of a UFO. Why? I don't know. Maybe the guys collecting the luggage cheated on their girlfriends on the UFO, the ladies found out, locked the fellas out of the flying saucer, and hurled their belongings out of the windows...which you then need to catch. What? It sounded like a plausible story in my head. Anyway, the very low difficulty causes this game to get very boring very quickly. It's not necessarily a horrible game by any means...but without a whole lot of challenge here, after you’ve played this game for more than a minute or two, you'll probably be looking for something else to pop in your Atari VCS.

Review added: 09/24/2019