A worse game featuring E.T.

[Dreamcast Gamer]

I'm bothered by all the hate towards E.T. on the 2600. People who haven't even played it say they hate it. You gotta give Howard Scott Warshaw some credit for making a game in 5 weeks.

 

Well, I've found a game we really can complain about, and it has E.T. in it. It's called Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure. It was released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube, and even in concept is a horrible game. It features a mini game where you ride the bike with E.T., and it's bad. In fact, the main game is pretty much just walking around the park PICKING UP TRASH. I'm not kidding. If you wanna see more on this sorry excuse of a game that is FAR worse than E.T. on 2600, then I suggest you check out this video that I made about the game, especially the Trash and E.T. parts.

 

 

So the next time someone says E.T. is the worst game of all time, tell them about Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure.

[Tales from the Game Room]

I could not agree more. The problem with the Atari 2600 version of E.T. was that Atari made more games than video game systems in households. So, they were bound to have a huge surplus. Atari was counting on a big year with the success of Atari in the past, the success of the film E.T, and the licensing deal with Spielberg, and they all wanted to cash in on a video game version of E.T. that Christmas, and figured that waiting an additional year would only hurt their sales as the "E.T. buzz" would have faded away.

 

Because of this, HSW was given only 5 weeks to create the game, and while some of the code had been borrowed from his other game, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the overall finished version of E.T. for Atari 2600 is very playable, and enjoyable. HSW even suggested that E.T. be a Pac-Man type game, but Atari wanted another role-play adventure, and personally I am happy that Atari stepped in on that one.

I had the honor of interviewing HSW a year ago this week, and the man is intelligent, game savy, and knew what he was getting into. He also stands by his product, and I could not agree more that E.T. was not the worst game...it was just that Atari and Spielberg both hyped up a game that had gamers waiting for something more.

 

I recommend that those who despise this game simply revisit it and see for themselves. E.T. may not be perfect, but it is certainly not the worst game ever created! I tip my hat to HSW for creating a game alone in 5 weeks that was nearly impossible to do back in the 80's, much less by today's standards.

 

I am also including the link to my radio show interview with the man himself, Howard Scott Warshaw...one of the nicest men in the industry, who literally granted me the interview within days of my asking for one.

 

http://www.hulkshare.com/appetitefordiscussion/bottoms-up-afd-12-28-2015

 

 

~ Ashley

Edited December 26, 2016 by Tales from the Game Room

[high voltage]

There are 1000s worse games than ET

[Jess Ragan]

Hell, there's an ET game for the Game Boy Advance which I'm sure isn't much fun either. Why do they keep giving this weird-ass thing video games?

[Dreamcast Gamer]

Hell, there's an ET game for the Game Boy Advance which I'm sure isn't much fun either. Why do they keep giving this weird-ass thing video games?

They should know by now that E.T. was for movies, not video games!

[Dreamcast Gamer]

There are 1000s worse games than ET

Have you ever played Big Rigs Over The Road Racing? It's the most unfinished yet released game you'll ever play. You can download it for free, but I forget where I got it from.