E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)

E.T. the Extra -Terrestrial was released in 1982 by Atari for the Atari 2600 console in-house.

History

The game is based on the eponymous film by Steven Spielberg and was developed by Howard Scott Warshaw, programmer of the Mega Sellers Yars ' Revenge.

The game E.T. was many critics of minor graphical and playful quality to securities, as it should be finished in time for the Christmas shopping within five weeks. Realistically, however, it is more likely, qualified in the midfield. The bad image of the game comes probably from the fact that you had to read the instructions carefully for this game, in order to know what to do, while most other games at that time declared themselves more or less by itself.

Due to the great success of the Spielberg film ET 5 million cartridges of the game were prepared, of which only about one million sold. Thus, while it is in the top 10 best-selling games for the Atari 2600, but Atari remained at four million unsold units sitting, buried a portion of which (10-20 truckloads ) in the desert in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico been. The game is therefore associated with the 1983 Video Game Crash.

Fan corrections

In February 2013, a detailed review of the game and unofficial corrections was published by a fan, which eliminate many of the weaknesses and bugs frequently expressed in the game.

Republication

2013 brought the Internet Archive E.T. the Extra -Terrestrial ( and many other classic games ) from the state abandonware and offers this as a free browser - playable via emulation MESS of.

Gameplay

You control the alien who was brought to the beginning of the game from a spaceship to Earth. You have to find parts of a phone, anywhere in the holes (dark green spots on the map) are scattered. In the E.T. "falls" into it, usually without success. To get back out, stretches E.T. the neck in the height ( a button on the joystick ) and floats to the top ( joystick up ). Often falls E.T. but then back into the hole and the procedure starts again.

At the beginning of the game has E.T. 9999 life points, and loses it when he

• Is (1 point per step)
• Falls into a hole,
• Floats out of a hole
• Runs.

If one of the last three points indicates loses ET the points very quickly. If these points are used up, is E.T. dead Elliott comes to him and he receives again 1500 points. Since you have to rush into these holes to find the parts, this game is considered to be almost unplayable.

In certain modes of the ET is the search for the phone parts by an FBI man ( in beige coat and hat ), who takes away the already collected phone parts, and by a scientist ( white coat ) brings in a building difficult.