PRIVATE EYE – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

ATARI PRIVATE EYE ACTIVISION

Entry posted by IHATETHEBEARS September 27, 2012

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Oh Atari, it’s been nearly four years since my last blog. Forgive my transgressions and lack of game play. But I’m back! And without further adieu…

Private Eye! Back in the day I got this Activision game. I think I got it pretty much brand new. So that means I probably paid around $30.00 for it. My guess is that I bought it sometime in 1984. And it turned out to be a pretty cool game. For those familiar with it, you play the role of a detective. Your job is to travel in your car from screen to screen, find stolen objects, and return them back to their rightful locations. There are five different games (cases) in Private Eye. Each one is progressively harder – more objects and more screens. Each case also has a timer. The easiest case has a three-minute limit. The most difficult case has a limit of 20 minutes.

Back in the day I was able to beat the first four cases. But the fifth and final case eluded me. What made it so hard? It was the 20-minute time limit. Keep in mind the number of boards (about 180 different ones or so) also made traveling more time consuming. There are several stolen objects scattered around, as well as the master thief Henri LeFiend himself. There is simply no margin for error. For this Case punishes you. If you get hit by a dagger while you’re carrying an object, you lose that object. And it gets sent back to the board where you first got it. Going back to retrieve it will cost you precious time. And in a game where virtually every second counts, there’s simply no time to go back. If you lose an object, you may as well hit the reset button.

I ended up making a map. It was crude. But it was also effective. I marked where all the objects were, where the different alley passageways were and so forth. I had a pretty good plan of attack. But for whatever reason, I was never able to finish. I always ran out of time. If memory serves, I was once very close. Another 30 seconds or so would have done it. But alas, it was not to be. I’m not sure how many times I tried. But eventually I gave up. Case 5 had defeated me.

Fast forward to 2012. I finally had my Atari hooked up, after having it disconnected for over three years. The urge to play was strong again. My initial thoughts were to complete the Swordquest games by tackling Fireworld and Waterworld. (See my earlier blog entry.) But then I thought about Private Eye as well. Call me a completist. Or call me insane. Who knows why, but the fact that I had not beaten Case 5 had bugged me for nearly 30 years. Now don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t losing any sleep or suffering from any long term depression because of it. But for whatever reason I have an uncanny memory for remembering things. And my inability to conquer Case 5 had lingered in my mind all these years.

Well no more!

I did what any insane Atari player would do. I posted in the Atariage.com forum, asking if anyone had ever beaten Case 5 – and whether or not any maps or walkthroughs existed. And sure enough, the latter held true. Someone sent me a link to a video game review website that indeed had all of the maps, as well as a strategy laid out for completing Case 5. But lo and behold! The guy on the website (a regular Atariage.com member actually) had not been able to complete Case 5 either! He had been able to do the other four. But Case 5 eluded him as well. I was not alone! In fact, no one else had responded to my post indicating that they had beaten Case 5 either. Had anyone ever beaten it? Could it even be done?

Sure it could. And I was just the guy to do it. As far as I knew, no one in the world had ever beaten Case 5. I would be the first! Granted, the odds of me being the only person in the world to beat it were probably slim to none. But this is my fantasy world. And without proof to the contrary, I’ll believe what I want!

So I put the game in and played Case 1 – just to familiarize myself with the controls and various nuances of it. It took me three attempts. But I was able to beat it without the use of a map. As far as I was concerned, I was now ready. The next day I printed up the maps. The day after that, I was ready to tackle Case 5.

By this time the map maker had chimed in with a few tips. His biggest one – find a trusty companion to be the navigator. In other words, have someone read off what I needed to do, as I was doing it. I made one trial run just for practice. The layout and plan of attack seemed sound. But even with a navigator it seemed like a daunting task. Trying to look at the map (which covered three pages) and trying to find the corresponding alley locations was too time consuming. It was clear that there was no way I was going to accomplish this task without making it even easier. So I came up with a new plan. I simply wrote down exactly what I needed to do. “Go left 13 boards to gun store.” “Go right 22 boards to alley.” A mere 61 steps to accomplish and I would be a winner. All in all, I would have to enter 461 screens. That’s 2.6 seconds per screen. It’s doable. But there’s little margin for error. If I get stuck trying to jump a barrier, or if I allow too many flower pots to fall on my car, I’m sunk. And forget about trying to recover any lost item to a dagger. If that happens, it’s reset button time.

So with my navigator by my side, I began my journey to catch Henri LeFiend and lock him up behind bars. About seven minutes into it, a dagger got me. Attempt #2 – I had just reached the halfway point (number of screens-wise) with about 10:28 time remaining. I was making good time. And then a dagger got me. Attempt #3 – I got all the objects back and had retrieved LeFiend. I had about 90 seconds left and 40 screens to traverse. And then a dagger got me. (Sigh) Attempt #4 – Like my previous attempt, I had gotten LeFiend and was well on my way back. I was making even better time. I had about 105 seconds left. And then on the very same board as the last game, another dagger got me. Ugh! I was about to call it a night. But undaunted I decided to make one final attempt before bed. Two and a half minutes later, a dagger caused me to shut down the Atari for the night.

So the next night was September 26^th. Seeing as that is my birthday, what better way to spend it then by beating a game nearly 30 years later? So I sat down on a beanbag and prepared myself for the task. I pressed reset and was on my way – my trusty navigator at my side. I managed to avoid all the daggers. But I also managed to overshoot an alley by two boards – forcing me to double back. I also had some difficulties with a few barriers. In the end I managed to get LeFiend, and was on the final stretch – only 28 screens to the right, and I’d be there. And then my time expired – four screens shy of my goal. Really? Really??? Yes really. All I’d needed was another 10 seconds. There’s simply very little margin for error. Overshooting those two boards had cost me the precious time.

So I tried again. It was going great. By the halfway point I still had 10:44 remaining. I was on a roll. I was jumping daggers, avoiding birds and skillfully leaping over those pesky yellow barriers. Somewhere around the three-minute mark I had nabbed LeFiend and started back on the long journey to the police station. Screen after screen passed. The daggers were flying fast and furious, sometimes four or five screens in a row. Yet I managed. I once again found myself on the final home stretch of 28 screens. But this time I had about 75 seconds left. As each board was safely passed, I frantically tried to figure out the math in my head, while at the same time counting each screen. I was in the zone. But my arms were starting to shake with intensity. 19, 20, 21, 22… I so got this! 24, 25, 26… Perhaps I counted wrong. Because as soon as I crossed into 27, I saw the police station! And the congratulatory tune played, thus ending the game. With 13 seconds to spare, I had done it!

My audience of three clapped, cheered and high-fived me. My arms were still shaking as I posed for pictures. I grabbed my 30-year-old notebook filled with personal high scores from decades past. I found the page for Private Eye. 100,500? I don’t think so! 225,030 baby!

Best 41^st birthday EVER!