Name This Atari 2600 Review and win Nothing!

[Atariperson23]

Before I start the review, I feel like I underrated the game Pitfall! by giving it a unfair B, since I was frustrated on how the game was so friggin hard to understand. If you'd like to see a revised Pitfall! Atari 2600 Review, just write it in the comment section. Anyways, Name This Game is a game so obscure and such a prime example of shovelware that this review could just be three words: Forgettable, Bizarre, Disposable. This game is the game that killed U.S Games, and left a bad name to the U.S Games brand, and is also one of the prime reasons the Atari 2600 collapsed within fifteen years of launch. And the more offensive part, as if it wasn't offensive enough, that Henry Will IV, the programmer who created this, also worked on the famous-ish game Montezuma's Revenge! But amazingly, that still isn't the most offensive part. The most offensive part is that U.S Games offered you $10,000 to do a random name for such a weird game. The chances of winning were sparse, and seemed more like a cynical cash grab than anything else. Oh, and the US Games CEO later became the Froggo CEO. I guess garbage is contagious.

Originality: C-

Name This Game is yet another one-screen shooting game. It's quite similar to Space Invaders in the essence of the fact that you have to stop the shark from hitting the ground and the shark gets faster every time he hits the edge of the screen (SoUnDs fAmIlIaR?) And if the shark hits the ground, you die! Oh, and like a lot of other games, you have to protect something (Treasure, but the graphics are so bad you can't tell what it is offhand, you must look at the manual) Name This Game is also like Megamania, where you have a limited oxygen supply, and it's like Skindiver and Treasure Below (In these games, you also have to protect/get treasure, you also have to kill underwater animals, you also have to do a bunch of half-monotonous stuff) So Name This Game is such a substandard Space Invader clone-ish game, and such games were so common you could find them for $10 at the drugstore, and Name This Game borrows from a ton of games while managing to be worse than the games it borrows from, and Name This Game doesn't even pretend that it's not a cynical, bargain-bin, shovelware game. If there is something original, it's the short musical tone in the attract mode that doesn't make you want to press the "Mute" button and the guy helping you with oxygen supplies to prevent you from dying. And maybe the octopus part. But other than that, it's another of those Space Invader/Atlantis/Megamania/Demon Attack/Phoenix clones.

Gameplay: D

The gameplay is OK for the first few rounds, but after that the game becomes far too repetitive. It seems like the game never becomes any harder, and that seriously hampers the replay value. There is no objective except to shoot a shark and octopus over and over again. The collision detection is also ridiculous: Once, the bullet went through the shark, but the shark still didn't die. The complete monotony, non-objective game and horrid collision detection, with the lack of any background whatsoever makes this game a nightmare to play. In fact, the only reason I gave this a D instead of an F is because it is slightly, and I mean slightly enjoyable for about fifteen seconds, before you want to tear this cartridge apart and burn it in hell. What a piece of crap.

Graphics:C-

The graphics seem painfully simple, with everything rendered in one color and with lack of detail. In fact, you can opine that this game looks like a 70's 2K game than a 80s 4K game. I mean, the graphics in A Game Of Concentration, Outlaw, Checkers and Stampede are at least pretty detailed, and you can argue that they look better than the Name This Game graphics. And lack of detail and effort can be reasoned with if everything wasn't in it's natural color. I'm not Pablo Picasso, but a diving suit isn't green. And a treasure chest of gold probably isn't orange. And the sky (on the top) shouldn't be yellow. Also, why does the Octopus look like a computerized demon? Yup, Name This Game could probably fit in 2K of memory perfectly, which just comes to show how much of a failure this game was in the time of blockbusters like Atlantis, Pitfall, and a bunch of other hit games that would make U.S Games cry if they ever saw them.

Sound Effects: C

Sound effects in the game are basic three-note blips and beeps, like Space Invaders simple. But there is a nice musical tune at the beginning that I must say is pretty good. Still, when a shark gets shot, you'd expect a large explosion noise rather than a 8-bit grunt. And also, why is there no noise of the ocean wave crashing, or the shark moving (You could accompany the Jaws theme with the moving) Or the motor of the boat moving? Is that too much to ask?! So yes, U.S Games crashed after 1 year and so did Froggo. Sense a trend?

Final Grade: D+

OK, maybe you expected a worse grade than D+. Maybe D- or F. But Name This Game did have a few redeeming qualities, such as a musical tone and maybe small entertainment. But other than that, I say don't waste your time over this unless you are a very ambitious collector.

 

[+cvga]

The winning name appears to be "Octopus"

 

I grabbed this picture from Atarimania.com

[Rom Hunter]

On 1/2/2020 at 2:30 AM, cvga said:

The winning name appears to be "Octopus"

Nope.

Contest was never held.

Octopus is just the name under which Carrere Video released it

[qrysdonnell]

Interestingly, it did have a name before they stripped it for the contest, "Guardians of Treasure". Gotta guard that treasure!

[Rom Hunter]

18 hours ago, qrysdonnell said:

Interestingly, it did have a name before they stripped it for the contest, "Guardians of Treasure". Gotta guard that treasure!

Yes, that was the WIP name.

It was just a publicity stunt to sell more carts of a crappy game IMO.
 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Rom Hunter

[buick]

From Wikipedia:

 

Quote

In 1994, Digital Press held its own naming contest for the game. The winning title, coined by Russ Perry Jr., was Going Under, which alluded not only to the game content, but to the final days of its publisher.

 

Hilarious.