Adventure

"Killer duck-dragons? I'm in!"

Back in the late '70s, the Atari 2600 was still fairly new and was just starting to catch on. Long before games like The Legend of Zelda, there was an adventure game on the Atari 2600, simply titled Adventure, being one of the first adventure games ever made. It's been many years since it was released, but how well as it held up?

Story
In order to know the story, to need to have the instructions (Otherwise, it'll be just like any other Atari game). For an Atari game, the story is better than most NES games I've played, because it does something unique other than "Rescue (Princess) from (Villain)". Adventure follows an unnamed hero going on a quest to bring the chalice back to the Golden Castle. It's not too bad of a story, even if they never explain why you need to bring the chalice back to the castle (Besides, I'm sick of saving a random princess from a random villain).
Story: 6 out of 10

Graphics
For an early Atari 2600 game, this doesn't look too bad. There are some oddities to it, like how your character is a little dot, the sword looks like an arrow, and dragons look more like mutated ducks, but that adds to its uniqueness. Besides, this was revolutionary graphics for the time.
Graphics: 8 out of 10

Controls
It works great. You simply move with the joystick, and use the button to pick up or drop items. It works great, and is easy for anyone to use with its simplicity.
Controls: 10 out of 10

Gameplay
In Adventure, your main goal is to find the chalice and bring it back to the Golden Castle. There are 3 different play modes available: Easy Mode (The default. The environment is smaller, making the game shorter), Normal Mode (The full game, will all areas, the annoying bat, and a higher challenge), and Random Mode (It's like Normal Mode, except all the items are placed in random locations). The game is fun, but it's not without it's problems. The first one would be the bat; it only appears in Normal and Random mode, but it is a pain in the butt. It can't kill your character like the Dragons, but you can't slay the bat, either. What it does is take off with your items and hides them in random locations, which can get annoying (Especially when it sets an item on the wall or placed the bridge in an area you'd need the bridge to access, forcing you to start over). Also, the game is short (You can finish it in less than an hour, but this is an Atari 2600 game, after all), and once you finish it, you'll probably won't play through it again for a while.
Gameplay: 8 out of 10

Overall
It's a great adventure game for Atari 2600, and was amazing for the time, but it's long since been surpassed. If you still own an Atari 2600 and want a game you can finish in an afternoon, this is worth buying.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/08

Game Release: Adventure (US, 1978)