"If you think the programmer is to blame, think again!"

Let's face it, anyone who remembers the infamous prelude to the great video game crash obviously must know about this game. Atari put it out in an effort to cash in on the success of the movie of the same name, so eager to cash in on the franchise that they actually made more copies of the game than overall Atari 2600 systems were put out. Not only did the game get poor reviews, but Atari suffered in more ways than just getting a bad image for their biggest game. They ended up losing a lot of money, and even having to resort to crushing countless unsold cartridges and burying them in a landfill. This was just the beginning of Atari's woes, but it wasn't the programmer, Howard Scott Warshaw, who was to blame.

Rather, it was then-CEO Ray Kassar, who wanted Warshaw to program a game based on the movie and have it be ready for release in time for the holidays. Unfortunately, Warshaw had only a couple of months to write the game, meaning that he was only able to turn out the game we know now as Atari's failed effort to churn out a great movie-to-game title.

Graphics: 4/10
OK, so E.T. comes down riding a pink elevator car dressed up to look like a spaceship? Give me a break! What are these blobs in the fields? Wells? Sure could've fooled me! The FBI agent and Elliot are drawn alright, but the scientist looks more like an Indian guru. Even the other objects like the pieces of the communicator you need to assemble look generic. This game could've been drawn a lot better, even though it is only the Atari 2600!
About the only thing they seemed to draw well was the picture of E.T. on the title screen, which isn't that bad to tell the truth.

Sounds: 3/10
When you boot up the game, you hear a decent version of the original theme song (OK part of it anyway) which seems to be the audio's only good point. When E.T. is moving around, you hear a generic sound that can only be described as a drum-beat going at a fast rate, and when he runs, you hear a strange sound that, if I were to hazard a guess at describing, could be a strange beeping sound. Most of the sounds in this game are simply beeps and blips, something the 2600 was capable of doing better back during that era.

Controls: 2/10
Basically, the goal is to move E.T. around the various areas, searching for the pieces of the communicator, while avoiding FBI agents and guru- er, scientists. In order to find the communicator, you must follow a radar at the top of the screen, which is given in picture form, and is rather difficult to follow. Pressing the action button while standing still teleports you to a new area, while holding it while moving allows you to run. Both walking and running expends E.T.'s energy. If it reaches zero, Elliot will come by to rescue you, but he can only rescue you twice, meaning you have three lives to go through the game with. Unfortunately, you'll be spending a lot of time falling down wells and trying to get out, in which case you must press the button to make E.T. levitate out of the well, and then back onto the ground. However, if you don't know what you're doing, it's easy to fall back into the well, meaning you spend a lot of time trying to get out of one well!

Story: 5/10
At least they made an effort to keep some of the original storyline from the movie intact. Basically, E.T.'s stranded on Earth, and he needs to find the components required to call his spaceship back to Earth and pick him up. To do so, E.T. must search for three electronics components, while eating candies and avoiding the FBI and scientists who want to capture him. In the movie, E.T. and Elliot worked together to find these components. In the game, however, E.T. is pretty much on his own. Although I don't remember seeing a science facility, the FBI headquarters and Elliot's house all in one place, nor do I remember there being countless wells in the film either!

Replay: 4/10
The ability to try again after rescuing E.T. with a newer difficulty is there, surprisingly enough, and it's not easy to find E.T.'s communications components, meaning that if you want to save E.T., it's going to take a lot of playthrough time. Unfortunately, with the flaws of the game, it's not likely you'd want to even bother saving E.T. at all.

Overall: 4/10
Howard Scott Warshaw may have designed the game, but it was Ray Kassar who imposed such a strict deadline on him, thus resulting in a poorly programmed game. Too bad, E.T. could've had some potential for being a great game. As it stands, unless you're a true die-hard fan of E.T. who must have everything related to it, I don't think you'll be wanting to phone home with this game any time soon!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/03