Genre: Arcade
Developer: Midway Entertainment
Publisher: Midway Entertainment

"Joust" on the Atari 7800 was one of the very first video games I ever played. This Xbox Live Arcade version emulates some arcade version of the game apparently, as the graphics and sound effects are quite good compared to the 7800 version I remember.

Like most games from the 80s, there is little in the way of audio in Joust, but what is there is pretty decent. How you can convey an action (such as your character resurrecting after dying) with a few "blips" I'll never know, but they manage to do it in Joust.

The analog buttons of the 360 controller make the precision and rapid-flapping of other versions difficult, and there are some collision-detection glitches, presumably due to the emulation. All the same, this is the same Joust we know and love, just not with the same precise controls of the original formats.

Joust is still a fantastically playable arcade game, and this is a fairly accurate representation of that playability. The only problem is that while this version looks pretty, the analog buttons and emulation difficulties make it questionable whether this version is a worthwhile purchase.