Topic: E.T. (Atari) : is it really THAT bad?

Its horrible and has no redeeming qualities

Well, some would argue that by gaming standards in 1983, it's redeeming qualities are exactly what elevates it from being 'horrible'.

Having a title screen, not to mention one featuring a full screen likeness of the character, including the movie's theme music, a fleshed out 'world', and not just one screen, a multi-tiered easter egg, random elements, a context specific action button, etc. We didn't see these things at home in '83. Warshaw coding this game in about six weeks, is really quite a feat.

Far from horrible. Very playable. Completely undeserving of the internet meme apers. There were better games in 1983, but the amount of games that were worse, totally eclipse this one.

Sorry but that game was total crap. I'm sure there are people that like even bad games. Like Superman 64. In sure a few people like that. E.T. for the licensed property it was was and is probably the worst game ever made. Just think of all the people that might have wanted that piece of turd.borring and piontless not fun at alll. There is plenty of Atari game worth your time but never E.T.!

I agree with the others who say that it's a bad game, but not nearly as bad as the reputation suggests. The game does work (despite some serous control/design issues) and I was able to play to completion more than once. That's more than I can say for a lot of other games, which were either bug-ridden to the point of being unplayable or even less enjoyable than this (edit:) licensed rush-job.

Why is the reputation so bad? I have a few guesses:

• huge licensed property with high expectations that fell completely flat on release
• massive financial failure: whose idea was it to print more cartridges than consoles?
• many people judging the game today fit into at least one of the following categories: (a) didn't bother learning how the game was supposed to be played before starting - in the Atari age, you usually HAD to read the manual if you wanted any idea of how a game worked, and (b) weren't around during the Atari age and don't understand how limited and/or poor most games from that period actually are
• momentum: at this point, not many people are going to argue in it's defense, so the "worst game ever" label is more a meme than an actual judgement about quality

Should anyone go play E.T. now? No! There is no reason for anyone (even fans of the movie) to play this junk now. But that could be said about dozens and dozens of old Atari games, and hundreds of licensed games across all consoles.

the only reason to play it is to see if its worth defending

This is a fantastic post and entirely true.

That said, I still disagree that it was a good game. E.T. had a lot of great potential and ideas, but the execution just wasn't good enough - almost certainly due to the lack of time available to create the game. With more time and/or resources it probably could've been pretty cool. As released, the game was disappointing. Getting out of pits was terribly annoying and frustrating unless you practiced long enough to "get it"... and unfortunately that was a major part of the game.

I enjoyed it when I was a kid. I haven't played it since.

Other than, you know, most other Atari games I actually had fun playing... even, you know, PONG can be quite fun! OUTLAW is my favorite, though.

Not true. It spawned that one episode of Code Monkeys.

i remember that one.

'Fleshed out world'

No, that's just one screen. Here's the break-down of ET's world...
http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et-map.html
Actually, it's missing Elliot's house, but you can't visit it at will. Still, quite a bit of content for home gaming in '83. Especially considering most games only took place on a single screen. I really wouldn't expect too many gamers born after the 2600 to appreciate such things. And I mean that in the kindest way possible.

@Mr_Nose: Basically, the guy who made the game was given hardly any time to do it - his concepts were really good; but he didn't have enough time to make it work as well as it could have...

This one is also a nostalgia trip through awesome sauce too

KEYSTONE KAPERS

The game is decent to mediocre at best by 1980's standards and horrible and unplayable today, unless you are curious about the history of video games or are a masochist.

Hahaha, I love watching old commercials, especially ones for video games! Commercials used to be so different...

@CountWavula: In my opinion, commercials can still be OK today... maybe that's because I grew up with these kind of commercials (in the early 2000's)... I've noticed that I'm able to appreciate both things from the 20th century and the 21st century; mostly because I've grown up in the 21st century and my Dad has constantly exposed me to 70's and 80's and 90's stuff all my life, haha.

Yeah, I thought you would enjoy that ad mate

I've said it before and I'll say it again: E.T for the Atari 2600 wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either. At least the game had a goal, unlike many 2600 games which were just maze chasers or "points games". Heck, even some of the games for the 2600 that had goals were downright impossible, at least E.T was playable aside from it's poor control. It really was a decent game at it's core.

With all the garbage coming out during the 2600 and NES days, E.T. is kinda just another crappy game.