2013/2/5: Atari 2600: Beany Bopper, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Mountain King

[VideoGameCritic]

Here are some new Atari 2600 reviews for you to discuss.  

The grades have been altered as so:
E.T.  F -> D
Mountain King B -> D
Beany Bopper D -> D-

Let's hear your opinions on the games and reviews.

[Den1]

It's funny... Mountain King was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.  I never once thought, "God, the controls suck on this game!"  I just thought it was hard.  

[DanZero1]

Thanks for not writing off E.T. like nearly every other reviewer out there and realizing you could be playing far worse on the 2600. I actually enjoyed my time with the game once I figured out the pits. It's a challenge to avoid the agent and it's pretty strategic to let the Scientist take you away for nobody else can touch you while he takes you back and he doesn't take any of your items away. My only issue would be the "ship call" icon is totally random each game and it's usually in a difficult to reach place. I'd blame Atari for giving Howard Scott Warshaw only about 6 weeks to rush the game out, but not the man himself. He did the best he could, and at least he can fall back on Yar's Revenge.

Check out other people with my opinion at the E.T. Appreciation Page.

[Ikaris1]

In my opinion you've been too harsh on Beany Bopper... I like it indeed. It has a typical 20th-Century-Fox-VCS-game charm, with simple yet colurful graphics and some nice touch (I like how the reserve Boppers on the top of the screen always face the same direction of the player's sprite). The action doesn't show much variety but it involves a bit of strategy and the game becomes very challenging if you want to reach 100k (after that, it becomes insanely hard).
I'd give it a C+ at least... but I know that most of VCS players don't like it so much.

[Orion1]

Thanks for giving ET a fair review.  It's not the worst game out there.  In fact, the Atari Home Computer version is worse, in my mind.  The symbol system that the 2600 version was a little too complicated for the target audience at the time, and I believe that to be one of the factors in its demise.

When I was playing ET back in the days, nobody was calling it a bad game.  It kind've just blended in with the other 2600 games.

Here's my own review of it, here.


By the way, in the movie I seem to remember Elliot finding a sick ET in a ditch.  Maybe that's where they got the pit idea.

[Atarifever1]

Best E.T. review on the internet.  I still like it better than you do, but I can't fault any of what you've said.  This is a review of E.T. the game and not E.T. the internet meme.  Great stuff. 

[VideoGameCritic]

Thanks for the feedback.  I just changed the wording a little toward the end of the review.  Hope I didn't ruin it!

[Orion1]

[QUOTE=DanZero] My only issue would be the "ship call" icon is totally random each game and it's usually in a difficult to reach place.[/QUOTE]

Aren't ALL the icons randomly placed?  I always thought the randomness was the best part of the game.  It forces you to "explore" the terrain, and it makes each game a little different.

[mbd361]

Kids who've never even been near an Atari 2600 declare that "ET" is the worst game ever because that's what they heard in Youtube videos and  Seanbaby articles.

[Pacman0001]

Nice re-review of E.T.  You covered everything about the game -both good and bad- and I can agree with your final grade.  The game is playable, but it is too frustrating.