E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial

"Want to help E.T. find his space elevator? Next floor: great movies spawning games filled with bad ideas."

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the movie that spawned this game was released. With that famous movie being reissued in theaters perhaps it's time to look back on the infamous game that many over the years have said was as bad as the movie was good.....

Story/Concept 5: E.T.(you) have been left in a forest on Earth by your spaceship and must assemble phone pieces hidden in wells throughout the surrounding area. You then must use the assembled phone in a special ''calling area'' to make an intergalactic call to your ship. E.T. must be completely alone to do this. Finally you must go back to the forest and find a special ''landing area'' in order to be rescued by your spaceship. Again you must be alone for the ship to come. All the while you'll be pursued by an FBI agent and a scientist bent on stopping you.

Graphics 6: The character graphics: E.T., the FBI agent, the scientist and Elliott all look fine. In fact, next to some of Atari's other offerings like Raiders of the Lost Ark, released that same year, they're downright great. The cute opening title screen of E.T. is a nice touch. The flower and phone pieces in the wells also look fine. The icons at the top of the screen that tell you what power you have at a given location are fairly easy to differentiate as long as you've seen the manual once or twice. The backgrounds are another matter.
The forest screen looks like one of those picture patterns which you're supposed to keep staring at and eventually you'll see something like the NASA space shuttle launching or maybe even the forest from E.T. the movie. By the way, if you do see either of those things while staring at that screen seek professional help immediately!
The spaceship in the game looks like a Vegas-lit elevator. The buildings: the FBI building, the medical lab and Elliott's house are all grouped together on the same screen and look like something you'd see on a board game. The wells appear more like a large, blocky, symmetrical design on screen.

Music/Audio 6: The famous E.T. theme is used to great effect throughout the game. You can hear it during the title screen and when Elliott must merge with E.T. to give him more life units. However it might have been nice to hear some more of that music when the ship comes to collect E.T.
The sound effects consist of mostly beeps to simulate footsteps for the different characters. E.T. sounds like a horse galloping along when he walks. The sounds you hear when E.T. raises his head and levitates are okay. A high-pitched tone is heard when E.T. runs or falls.
The spaceship sound effects are like those from a low budget 50's sci-fier.

Gameplay 4: In the movie E.T. is left behind because government agents are about to discover the spaceship before he's able to return to it. In the game it seems more like he's being dropped off on his floor.
The idea of E.T. assembling a phone using pieces scattered throughout the game is in keeping with the movie. The idea of E.T. giving new life to a wilted flower and in turn getting an extra chance to merge with Elliott to prolong his life is also from the movie. After all, E.T. was supposed to be an intergalactic botanist and he and Elliott were supposed to be linked somehow and able to feel each other's emotions.
The rest of this game seems filled with bad and unfinished ideas. Why are there wells in this game? I don't remember any in the movie. Why is it that if the scientist catches E.T. he simply brings him back to the medical lab and just disappears? It's more like playing a board game than a video game in that your ''game piece'' just landed on the ''medical lab'' area. Why is there an FBI building even present in the game? All the FBI agent does is take whatever you've collected in the game. Why must you continually play peek-a-boo with the scientist and the FBI agent when you're simply trying to call your ship once you assemble your phone? Why must you continually be interrupted at the landing sight by those two when you're waiting for the ship? It's like being interrupted at dinner time by a telemarketer. Why isn't Elliott present when the ship is supposed to come for you?
In short there's not a whole lot of interesting stuff going on in this one. It's mostly you falling down into and waiting in wells for the two bothersome G-men to go away so you can accomplish things only to have one of them show up in the forest screen in the end, while you're waiting for the spaceship, so it won't land. To have one of them show up about two seconds before the ship is supposed to arrive feels like you're being cheated. Getting E.T. rescued should rely on skill and strategy not blind luck.
Why couldn't they include one of the most famous scenes of the movie in the game; That of E.T. and Elliott flying on the bicycle? It's the movie's trademark! Elliott at least gets to help find one of the phone pieces if you collect the 9 Reece's Pieces and call him from one of the ''call Elliott'' places. Yet there seems to be a glitch with this part because half the time Elliott doesn't come when you call him. One more thing I wonder about is why, at the end of the game, whether you're rescued or not, you see a scene with E.T. at the bottom and above Elliott is shown walking in and around his house? If E.T. wasn't rescued you see an icon of his heart beating as your score gets calculated. If he was then you just see the ''eat a Reece's Pieces to replenish energy'' icon as your score is tabulated. This head scratcher ranks with the graphics of the Raiders of the Lost Ark Atari game as the biggest nod to abstract expressionism in video game history. In the art world these games would be sure to go for a bundle.

Replay Value 4: There was some thought put into this game but it'll frustrate you more than anything. Playing through this game especially the tedious ''wait for the bad men to go away so I can call my ship in the right place'' part only to have one of them show up two seconds before the ship is supposed to rescue you over and over will have you screaming bloody murder. Even if you do manage to get rescued in the end; falling down into wells and levitating out isn't much fun.
Afterward you might feel depressed in the knowledge of how good this game might have been if Atari had taken the time to really create something special rather than just hurrying out something to cash in on the movie's popularity.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/02, Updated 05/20/02