One of the most notable games on the Atari 800 computer, Star Raiders was a brilliant game for its time. Running high off the popularity of "Battlestar Galactica," "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," the Atari 800 version of the game pushed the technical limits of the hardware and offered up gameplay with an impressive amount of depth. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the recently released "re-imagining."

Planned as a current-generation remake of the original game, Star Raiders has a lot going for it in the design department, but it stumbles horribly in execution. It is easy to see why this project was green-lit, though after playing, you might find yourself wondering why it wasn't canceled before release. Yes, it really is that bad.

The problems begin almost as soon as you press the Start button. Star Raiders kicks off an intro with an incredibly garish set of still-frame cinematics narrated by an emotionless voice-over. It looks and sounds more like a placeholder animation than a final production. This is followed up by a mission briefing that uses what may just be the smallest available font on the Xbox 360. Unless you have better than 20/20 vision, chances are good that reading the on-screen text and sitting on the couch are two mutually exclusive activities.

At this point, things aren't looking good, but it's on to the core of the game: space combat. Hey, space combat is good, right? You've got a transforming ship, and you can blow stuff up! Can't go wrong there, eh? In this case, you can.

In Star Raiders, your ship has three different forms. Two of them use an identical set of controls, with both analog sticks being bound to movement. Oddly, the third form only uses one analog stick for movement. It uses the face buttons for thrust. Yes, the game changes the control scheme for no obvious reason, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change it. Consistency isn't a high point.

Space combat in Star Raiders is centered on dogfighting, but this isn't your daddy's "Top Gun." Streaking around at high speed, strafing a target on an attack run or quickly smashing the brakes and flipping a 180 to get behind an opponent — yeah, you don't do that here. Enemy AI is basic at best, and you have a super-weapon in your heat-seeking missiles. Find a target, keep it in your sights for a few seconds and let 'er rip. If the first missile doesn't do the job, just keep firing until it goes down.

Eliminating a capital ship is equally mundane. After taking out the enemy fighters, you target what appear to be engine vents. Wait until they are open, and then fire away. Take out all the vents, and the ship explodes. It's straightforward and repetitive, no matter if you've just started or have been playing for hours.

Visually, Star Raiders is passable, but that's about it. Ship design is standard fare, without any defining sense of style. Nothing here sticks with you after the controller is put down. Audio is equally generic, with some basic looping themes and straightforward weapon sound effects.

One noticeable issue is with the game's collision detection, which is spotty at best. Weapons always seem to hit their target, but when it's ship versus ship (or ship versus asteroid), it seems to be a game of chance. At times, you'll explode on impact. At other times, you'll fly right through another object as if it weren't even there.

Star Raiders does have leaderboard support, but there is no multiplayer option, so forget about going at it with friends. There is also an upgrade system, giving you the ability to improve your weapons and ship performance, but it's too little too late. Even with an upgraded ship, the core gameplay doesn't seem to change.

Ultimately, the biggest problem with Star Raiders is that it's just downright boring. Whether you're firing off missiles at enemy fighters or tediously mining ore to earn money for upgrades, there is little beyond sheer will to keep a player engaged. Each level seems like more of the same, with no incentive to keep playing.

Whether it was a lack of time, a lack of resources or some other limitation, it's obvious that the developers behind Star Raiders didn't get the opportunity to create the game they wanted to make. There are some promising creative flashes buried underneath the rough exterior, but the shine is simply too far gone for this one to ever be a gem. It's best to simply pretend that the Star Raiders remake never happened.

Score: 2.5/10