Keystone Kaper is an interesting game. You play as a fat little cop chasing a burglar through a mall. For those of you that don't know, the Keystone Kops were a slapstick comedy group back when your grandparents were watching television. The shoutout in the game's title seems random, but this is the Atari 2600 we're talking about, and frankly I'm just impressed that they made the reference.

So how's the gameplay? I really like it. Your primary objective is obviously to catch the burglar, and you get a minimap which shows your location, his location, and the location of the escalators and the elevator. You can only go up the escalators, but the elevator is slow, so your movement is limited. I'll give you a free tip: Avoid the elevator unless it's an emergency. It's too slow for regular use, and if you simply take it up to the floor that the thief is on he'll just turn and run away, and he can go down the up escalators. You run faster than him, but you'll lose a lot of time on that elevator, so it's really not worth it.

On the way you can pick up little knicknacks including discarded briefcases and bags of money. These are worth points and not a whole lot else. Since you're on a time limit, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to grab them. There are also obstacles in your way including bouncing balls, runaway shopping carts, toy airplanes, and sprinklers. Most of these will simply reduce your remaining time, but the toy airplanes kill you. I do mean kill you: Your lives are measured by a series of tomb stones. This is a dark turn for the Keystone Kops.

The game's pretty much dead easy early on if you know what you're doing, but it gets super hard around level four or five. The bouncing balls go higher and move faster, and I swear they're impossible to dodge. You're going to lose a lot of time and die a lot. Make no mistake: This game has some hardcore challenges.

Let's move on to the graphics. For an Atari game, this game is gorgeous. The characters are lovingly rendered despite the graphical limitations of the time, and most of the obstacles are actually super detailed for an Atari game. I have absolutely no complaints in terms of graphics. Sound is pretty good, too. Not great, but it's of a good quality for the Atari 2600. It's not loud or obnoxious, and it doesn't get in the way.

I'm forced to give the game a score for story and depth, but really, it's the Atari. I'm going to give it points for referencing the Keystone Kops just because it's such an old reference, but this is a very simple game. That said, I'm awarding points for depth and difficulty because like I said this game gets hard after a few levels.

I'm finding this game to be quite addictive, and I think as soon as I finish typing this I'm going to go back to playing it. Consider that a recommendation. For a game about bumbling cops and robbers who never know when to get a leg on, 9 out of 10.

Great review. It is hard to review Atari games, but you did a great job. It was well detailed and informative, but not dry. Keep up the good work.

Great review I am glad you did a old game that I never played. I may just have to check this game out good job man. I hope to read another one of yours.