Adventure (1979)

As part of my latest class, Video Games: Art, Culture, & History of a Medium, I will be reviewing various video games, ghosts of the past that have defined the market ever since. In this review, I'll be putting in my thoughts on three very early titles from what may seem ages ago.

Above: My reaction to a class devoted to video games.

The year 1979 saw the release of Adventure, a title for the Atari 2600 and one of the first action adventure game. Once could not expect much out of such outdated hardware but I've certainly seen some games from the Atari that did very well in producing somewhat recognizable shapes and objects. Unfortunately for Adventure, developers were still getting their feet wet with the hardware capabilities.

Look at those cutting edge graphics! Crysis eat your heart out!

From what I understand, you are a dot on a quest to retrieve a chalice with the help of keys that can open certain castles all while trying to slay man eating ducks (or perhaps dragons?). This game was difficult for me to get behind not so much because of the graphics but how the game was controlled. While picking objects was as easy as touching them, trying to handle one object at a time could get frustrating as I'd be trying to run off with the key and instead grab the magnet as I ran by it. This was even worse when I found myself in the narrow labyrinth trying to run with a key, trying not to touch the bridge, and running from a dragon. A fair amount of knowledge was necessary in order to understand what and how certain objects acted or behaved. Hitting the dragon to slay it was easy; maneuvering the sword to the correct side of my character by dropping it and running to the other side of it was not. And of coarse these ducks were not ones to let an opportunity as a bumbling adventurer screw around with his sword go.

WHAT ARE YOU?! LEAVE ME ALONE!!

This game was frustrating and had some difficulties in how objects interacted, but it still managed to keep my attention. After all, you couldn't let those mutant Big Bird clones get the last laugh!


Final Judgement: 6/10