"It had the plans for a great game, yet the mission was aborted too soon..."

If you're an Atari 2600 collector like I am, odds are you've read about unreleased games that were in the development stages but never made it past those points, either due to time constraints, financial matters, or the great video game crash. Up until now, I never thought the Atari 2600 could actually handle some of the games that they had planned on releasing. However, now that someone has found one of those games, known as Elevator Action, I'm convinced that some of these games could have actually done well had they been given a chance to be released!

Recently, the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas unearthed a rare prototype of Elevator Action for the Atari 2600, and while it still needed some work, it looked as though it had some great potential, had the great video game crash not brought things to a halt so soon!

Graphics: 9/10
The building looks rather generic, there aren't any lights, and the doors don't open anymore. Instead, you just grab rectangles off of larger rectangles. On the positive side, the character sprites are amazing, and the animations for when they get shot are still intact, even if they are only a couple of frames instead of the way they rolled back and forth in the arcade. Even Agent 17 looks great!

Sounds: N/A
Alas, the version that was unearthed has no sound programmed into it, which is too bad, since seeing how they did the graphics so well, it would have been great to hear if they could reproduce some of the original sound effects. As it is, you only play in total silence.

Controls: 10/10
A bug in the programming allows you to 'cling' to the ceiling when you jump, and you can shuffle back and forth in a crouched position, all by pulling and pushing the joystick. The button fires your gun. While the jump kick was removed, it's just as well since it's better to use the gun anyway, in my opinion. Even if it was an Atari 2600 game, it still had great controls!

Storyline: 7/10
OK for that time it was a classic. You were Agent 17, code name 'Otto.' Your assignment was to get into a top secret defense building behind the enemy lines, steal the top secret plans, and return to base safely. You would have to traverse thirty floors using elevators and escalators. To top that off, there were plenty of enemy spies who would do whatever it took to see that you didn't get back to headquarters with that information alive! Armed only with your trusty hand gun and your agent reflexes, you had to get the plans and escape, only to be assigned to another building!

Annoying Glitches: 5/10 (since it's a prototype)
Being a prototype copy, the game isn't totally finished, and some things are missing. Most notably is the ability to walk through the elevator shaft without falling down. Another annoying bit is the fact that the elevators are extremely S-L-O-W! It takes about half a minute just for one to reach the floor you're on. On the flip side, being able to cling to the ceiling is an interesting concept, if not bizarre. Another thing I noticed was the fact that sometimes you could survive getting shot by moving up and down rapidly (imagine if this had been in the final version...that is if there was a final version!) Also, like I said above, there is NO sound at all.

Replay: 8/10
If you have the patience to play this game, then odds are you'll want to play through it again, seeing how it has that 'Atari' style of replay etched into it, seeing how many buildings you can go through, each time earning an extra life. Two players can also take turns as well as solo mode.

Overall: 8/10
For those who are lucky enough to even find the game should consider themselves lucky, as there weren't many of these cartridges burned! It's such a shame, though, that the game never made it into the open market when it should have, since it captured the original element despite the limitations on processing power and lack of controller buttons. It's definitely an action you'll want to make, should you encounter it!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/01, Updated 09/19/01