2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Let me know what you think about my reviews.
User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 7th, 2018, 2:46 pm

Got a new Atari 2600 review for you: Sneak n' Peek. It's bad! Spider-Man is a re-review, but at least I spelled his name correctly this time!

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2531
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby Retro STrife » October 7th, 2018, 3:27 pm

Yes, the Sneak n Peek review is here!! Been looking forward to this one. My wife got this game for me as a joke last Christmas, and for sure the concept, title, and box art are all worth a good laugh. Unfortunately, the game itself is a complete exercise in frustrating, is definitely worth an F-, and it has absolutely no "so bad it's good" qualities about it -- it's just plain bad. Hide and seek is an easy concept, and it's amazing that the programmers could botch the execution this badly. I've never experienced worse controls in a game. It's funny that the box recommends the game for ages 5-12... a 5 year old could never figure out how to play this game, and a 12 year old would have to be a complete friendless loser in 1982 to think this is remotely worth 3 minutes of his time. Critic, don't forget to add this mess to your "worst games" list if you update that someday.

I'll leave it at that here. I shared more detailed thoughts about this game in the "Now Playing" forum, if anyone is curious enough:

https://videogamecritic.com/forums/view ... 12&t=16777

newmodelarmy
Posts: 508
Joined: January 16th, 2017, 8:10 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby newmodelarmy » October 7th, 2018, 6:54 pm

I remember playing Spiderman for the 2600! I think it is one of the last games I bought for the 2600 before I sold it and invested thousands of hours into my C-64. I liked the game a ton as it was pretty challenging. Great review, keep up the great work!

theenglishman
Posts: 43
Joined: November 24th, 2017, 9:22 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby theenglishman » October 7th, 2018, 10:39 pm

Wow, the PS4 Spider-Man got a serious graphical downgrade ;)

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby scotland » October 8th, 2018, 7:14 am

Glad you enjoyed Spider-Man. This was a fairly hyped game in its time, with Stan Lee doing a feature in Blip, and these print ads.

Image

A thought is to replace Green Goblin on his 'sled' with 'glider'.

The game is also reminiscent of the Green Goblin Spider-Man fight on the bridge when Gwen Stacy dies - one of the most famous episodes in Spider-Man stories.

Since its licensed, its unlikely to be in a Flashback system. I only own a loose cartridge, but Dave's review has me primed to load the cartridge and play it old school on my a/v modded 2600 Jr.

goldenband
Posts: 766
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 10:29 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby goldenband » October 8th, 2018, 10:04 am

Oh, man, the opening line of the Sneak n' Peek review is such a missed opportunity, because it sure looks like those characters are brandishing something very adult -- and, if the scale is correct, quite impressive!

(Yes, I know it's his arm, but I've shown this game to people and had them immediately start snickering, so it's not just me. The opening cutscene, when he's outside, makes it look especially like a "male endowment".)

Sneak n' Peek is a bad game but my wife and I had some fun with it when we were playing Atari more often, about a decade ago. I think the fact that the hiding places are few, but finicky to access, is part of the design -- learning the layout is supposed to be a gameplay element, in other words. Unfortunately the implementation is not exactly a success, and the off-key music is something else.

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby scotland » October 8th, 2018, 10:12 am

Spider-Man was coded by Laura Nikolich

You can read an interview about creating the game here
http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_laura_nikolich.html

Here is a Polygon article on it as well
https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/14/17856020/spider-man-game-1982-atari-2600-laura-nikolich-not-ps4

User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 8th, 2018, 10:24 am

Goldenband - you're right about Sneek n Peek! It does look like the people in this game are fully aroused. Usually my friends are hyper-sensitive to this kind of thing so shame on them! I think a review edit is warranted!

Scotland - love the comic book ad!! Also, thanks for shedding some light on the programmer, Laura Nikolich. She did such a great job! You hear a lot about Carol Shaw of River Raid fame but apparently she wasn't the only female developer at the time. I will fix the glider reference.

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby scotland » October 8th, 2018, 10:34 am

There are similarities of Spider-Man to Crazy Climber, but bringing home arcade fun was Atari at its best. I think this is 8-16k game, written in Assembly. Spider-Man is a great fit for a vertical game (Batman would have worked too)

AIn contrast to todays video game culture, Parker Bros was apparently a fantastic place to work. However, those jobs ended in the North American Crash

Marvel Comics did a short lived video game magazine called Blip. Issue 2 has lots of Spider-Man hype in it.

https://archive.org/details/blip-magazine

User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Re: 2018/10/7: Atari 2600: Sneak n' Peek, Spider-Man

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 8th, 2018, 12:41 pm

Thanks for including the Blip magazine link, but damn, reading magazines on the internet is so awkward. Frankly reading just about anything (except for my reviews) sucks on the internet!


Return to “Review Feedback”