Adventure

"Easily the best game ever to grace the Atari 2600"

I know this game involves a square fighting “ducks” with an “arrow” … but hear me out, because this game is surprisingly deep and clever. I remember fiddling with it as a kid and thinking it was fun (I probably just thought it was cool because it had dragons in it, and I liked to imagine that they were a lot more fierce-looking than they really were) so when I was hit with a wave of nostalgia recently, I tried playing it again for the hell of it.

Now, when you play this game on the first difficulty level, it involves two castles, a key, a dragon, and a chalice. Take the chalice from its castle then through a simple maze to the other castle without being eaten by the dragon, and you win. Simple, right? But that's only the first of three difficulty levels, a warm-up—the next two get progressively harder and a lot more interesting, so try playing those before you judge this game too harshly.

The second two levels are where the infamous bat appears. This bat has an interesting (not to mention frustrating) habit of grabbing random items and flying off with them, only to drop one item off in exchange for another. If you're extremely lucky, it'll cart off a dragon that's giving you trouble and drop off a useful item in its place … or it may do the opposite—for example, taking your sword and suddenly leaving you at the mercy of a pissed-off dragon. In effect, the placement of ALL sprites is completely random because, even though they're all in set places at the beginning of the game, the bat has usually moved them around before you get to them.

Even the dragons have an interesting quirk: they like to guard things—pretty much any item that happens to be in the room with them, in fact—and fiercely. They will chase you off the screen to get you away from the item. If you manage to get past the dragon and grab the item, it'll chase you down, through however many screens it takes, until you drop the item or one of you is killed (unless the bat shows up, in which case, all bets are off).

And then, there are the mazes. In Level 2, there are two mazes where you can't see your surroundings, save for a small spot around your character, so you basically have to bump your way along the walls (and pray that a dragon doesn't show up and corner you). Level 3 has three of these mazes. There is a “bridge” that you can place anywhere that'll allow you to go through walls, but the dragons love it, so beware.

All that considered, I was quite pleased with myself once I brought the chalice to its rightful place in the last two levels—something I was never able to do as a kid. And isn't that all that matters when it comes to games? Sure, pretty graphics and FMV's are nice, but they're really just the icing on the cake.

In closing, if you can get past the simplified graphics, this game is a rare treat, and easily the best game ever to grace the Atari 2600. Give it a try—it's fun!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/06