Adventure

Though Warren Robinett's ADVENTURE was not actually the first adventure game ever written (the text-only COLOSSAL CAVE for mainframe computers preceded it), it was the first one to feature color graphics and sound. And up until Sierra On-Line's release of KING'S QUEST in 1984, it was really the only one worth a damn.

With the Atari 2600's limit of only 4 kilobytes per cartridge, Robinett had succeeded in condensing an exciting and somewhat complex medieval role-playing adventure game onto a single cart. For its time, ADVENTURE was a groundbreaker. Every other game released for Atari thus far was extremely limited in scope, usually taking place on a single backdrop and requiring the player only to shoot at the moving targets (like SPACE INVADERS and COMBAT). ADVENTURE, on the other hand, allowed the player to explore multi-screened mazes, lock and unlock doors, take and use objects, and fight dragons--all with the standard joystick controller. And with three separate difficulty settings and a random placement of the game's objects and monsters each time, ADVENTURE had infinite replay value.

The game also made history by containing the first ever "Easter egg", or feature cleverly hidden within the game by its programmer, with the secret room that reveals the author's name. Once discovered in the early eighties, it inspired many other game programmers to follow suit, and soon everyone was searching for "Easter eggs" in their favorite video games. Rather than angering the suits at Atari (who contractually forbade programmers from crediting themselves individually), the company loved the idea, and soon released a line of games (the SWORDQUEST series) whose whole purpose was to search for "Easter eggs". The popularity of the "Easter egg" has since remained strong, and slipping a hidden image or message into a game, computer program, or DVD is still a common practice.

Even with the breathtakingly complex graphic-adventures of today, ADVENTURE still remains among the best of all time, despite its age and primitiveness. Today, it has a strong cult following, and has even inspired clones, remakes, and unofficial sequels (see INDENTURE). And though the graphics are blocky and the music is tinny, ADVENTURE is much more fun to play than RESIDENT EVIL or TOMB RAIDER could ever be.

This is one of my favorite games for the Atari 2600, it was one of the very first and still one of the best in my book. The game is still fondly remembered as it of course was hugely referenced in the book and movie "Ready Player One". It also predates a lot of the fantasy action RPGs like "Gauntlet", "Zelda" series, "Diablo" series, and many more which just shows the timelessness of this game.

It's such a simple concept and execution but that's what makes the game all the better as it's once again another example of how less can be more. There's no story just a simple objective where you're a dot that has to simply find keys to open up doors to find the key to open up the Castle door and retrieve the holy grail and you win.

Though it's not that simple as you have to explore and traverse mazes, fight off bats and dragons as long as your armed with a sword which looks like a simple arrow, and just simply survive long enough to complete your objective.

Yeah, that's the game in a nutshell, for the gamers of today this game would seem rather primitive. But you have to understand back then the video game console was a novelty, and the Atari 2600 was one of the stepping stones.

Graphical presentation for consoles was limited at the time but they had to work with what they had. However, the console's primary focus was on one thing which was simply on good gameplay and this game has it.

The game seems simple but at the same time there is a slight complexity. For one thing you can only carry one item at a time, this in a way taught you to keep inventory because sometimes in some places of the game you needed something else so you made sure to put what you were carrying in a place you can easily remember so you can use it for latter.

But also, about limitations as each item you used can not just be used in certain places of the game but also only once. One of my favorite items is the bride which are two purple parallel bars, you can place it anywhere on the maze which allows you to go through the walls, it's very useful as it allows you access to place you can't access without it.

And of course, there is that first easter egg in the game, which is another highlight of the game. Once again you must understand this game was from a past time, video games never had easter eggs nor was its common place at the time. So, you can easily imagine how people back then that discovered this must have been blown away by this. Finding this easter egg isn't that big of a secret anymore, you can figure out how by watching the movie "Ready Player One" or any video game documentary on "YouTube".

Despite the simplistic graphical presentation, it's also part of its charm because it allows you to use your imagination. You can imagine yourself in the typical fantasy tropes as a knight going though a maze fighting dragons.

Though with me sometimes I imagine this is a game loosely based on two of the "Hellraiser" movies (one and two to be exact) and the dot represents either of the two protagonists Kristy or Tiffany and their going thought Hell's Labyrinth, the dragons are demon dragons to fight, and the grail is the puzzle box for them to get out. I know wild imagining but as I said that's part of the charm of the game, because the game only has a basic title and no specific story except a simple objective, so the game allows you to make your own story.

For the rookie gamer this is a piece of video game history worth checking out but for the experienced gamer that is nostalgic or is a vintage video game collector this game is a legend that still lives on.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.