E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial

"Four weeks of development sure shows"

E.T. The Extraterrestrial is known by many gamers as the worst game ever! Being that this game is known by so many gamers as the worst game ever, you know it must be pretty bad. I myself would give a pretty good debate as to why this is not THE worst game ever, but still there is no doubt in my mind that this game is pretty terrible. This game was created in an unbelievable four weeks and is believed to have initiated the video game crash of 1984. Since this game is based on the wildly popular movie of the time, there were thousands of copies shipped, but most of them were left over. Not knowing what to do with all the left over cartridges, they were ordered to be destroyed at a dump in New Mexico.

When you first fire up E.T., the game doesn't look so bad. There is a nice looking title screen with a pretty good graphical depiction of E.T., and a catchy tune playing in the background. However, as soon as the game starts, it kind of creates a snowball effect and just gets worse and worse and worse. When the game starts you are dropped off by a space ship into a field or something. You move whatever direction you want and will appear on different screens. Most of the screens have ditches in various places and one has three houses in it. What I just explained to you is the extend of what I understand about this game, which is about as much as most people understand, which is why it is such a terrible game. If you fall into a ditch, sometimes you will find an item to pick up, and other times you just have to go through the aggravating process of getting yourself out of the ditch and hoping not to immediately fall back in. Occasionally, you will see some guys dressed in a yellow coat who can capture you. However, if they capture you, they will just carry you into one of the houses, which you can immediately leave. And then occasionally you will see Elliot running around, which seems to serve no purpose. I guess the short and long of why I despise this game is because I have no idea what is going on and this game is just plain aggravating.

Graphics
Like I said, the graphics on the title screen would have suggested a little more positive turnout for the graphics overall in this game. The title screen had a very nice and pretty detailed drawing of E.T. but the rest of the game was pretty terrible graphically. The backgrounds weren't well drawn and had very little detail. You can tell that this game was made in a very short amount of time because of the graphics.

Sound
Once again, the sound on the title screen also suggested that the sound throughout the game would be better than it really is. The music played in the title screen was pretty nice, but the rest of the game had very little sound. The only other sounds are a few minor sound effects like walking and running and falling into ditches that were prominent.

Controls
If I had to put one positive point into this review it would have to be the controls, even though they aren't that great. Controlling E.T. is relatively easy. It's easy to run, walk, fly, and the controls were just very simplistic. However, the only thing that I didn't like about the controls was that it was hard to tell when you were going to fall into a ditch, which was the most annoying part in this game.

Game Play
As you have gathered from everything else I have said already, the game play is pretty aggravating and just plain bad. It is hard to realize a goal in this game when all you have is the cartridge. Falling into ditches happens often and is extremely frustrating. I'd have to say that this is one of the games that has really driven me away with it's game play.

Final Words
I don't believe that E.T. is the worst game ever made as most people dub it, but don't get me wrong, it is a terrible game. And since this game is neither rare or valuable, this game really serves no point in anyone's collection.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 02/02/06