E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a video game that consists of 2 releases

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E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 is an adventure game based on the film of the same name. Due to poor sales it is considered to be one of the causes for Atari's downfall.

Overview

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 was created as a movie tie-in to the popular film of the same name. It was developed by Howard Scott Warshaw and released in 1982 several months after the launch of the film. The game experienced great sales, but due to most not understanding the game, which is explained in the manual, many were returned. Atari didn't earn as much money as they expected, and consequently this game is considered to be one of several factors to Atari's downfall.

As in the film, ET crashes on Earth in his spaceship. The object of the game is to guide ET around the map searching for three pieces of his phone. There are a total of 7 different screens (ET was one of the first games to have multiple screens that the player could move between). Some screens contain wells. The three pieces of his phone are down the wells, so it's wise to check (though one of ET's powers can show if there's a piece of the phone down there or not). Once the phone has been completed, ET can contact his spaceship, but he must be at the landing site before the timer runs out..

Gameplay

The overall view of the game looks like this:

E.T Gameplay

Key:

ET - this is ET, who you control.
HEALTH - This will start off at 9999 when you land, and with each step a point is removed. You can eat candy at an appropriate action zone to increase your health. If this goes to 0, then ET will die, though Elliott can revive you. ET can be revived a maximum of three times per game, though finding a wilted flower and healing it grants you an additional revival for the next round.
CANDY COUNT - Indicates how many candy pieces you are currently holding. ET can hold a maximum of 9 pieces.
CANDY - A candy piece (Reese's Pieces). There is one on each of the 4 screens with holes. Candy pieces can either be eaten to restore health or given to Elliott for bonus points and phone pieces.
WELL - ET can fall down these to find a piece of his phone.
ACTION ZONE - Indicates a zone where ET can perform an action. The symbol here determines what action ET can perform.
TELEPHONE - ET's telephone. There are three pieces, and a completed phone is shown in the picture.
COUNTDOWN - Once ET has completed his phone and called his spaceship, this timer shows how long until it arrives.
ENEMY - There are two enemies in the game. Pictured is the FBI agent.

Screens

There are 6 screens in ET's map (plus a seventh screen for down wells). The screens are arranged around a cube design, with each one being a face on the cube. The screens are:

Forest - This is where ET lands. There are loads of trees in the background and no holes. This is where the spaceship's landing site is, so it will be the last screen the player is on. The forest scene is the top face of ET's "cube" map.
Fields - There are four field screens. They will all contain numerous holes, some of which will contain a piece of ET's phone. There is also 1 candy piece per field, and it will re-generate when you leave and return to the field. The fields make up the 4 faces on the side of the cubic map.
Wells - When ET falls down a well, this is the screen that represents it (a grey well). The point of view will be side scrolling and not overhead here. You can levitate to get out. The well scenes are not represented on the cube map.
Washington D.C. - This area is noticeably different to the other scenes. It is blue, and there are three buildings. At the bottom is Elliott's house. At the top right is the Scientist's building, and at the top left is the FBI Agent's building. Using a "Send Back" zone will send all three humans back to their respective buildings. The Washington D.C. scene is at the bottom of ET's Cube map.

Action Zones

Around the map are numerous action zones. When a symbol appears at the top of the screen, it means ET is stood in one of 9 action zones. He can either execute an ability here, or must wait in the zone as part of his objective.

The symbols of E.T.'s nine action zones.

A description of each Action Zone with their corresponding co-ordinates on the grid above:

Arrow Zone (A,1) - The arrows will point in four directions, not just down as shown above. An Arrow Zone permits ET to be teleported to the scene that is in the direction of the arrow. For example, an arrow pointing right will move ET to the scene accessible from the right of the current one. But sometimes ET may be positioned over a hole.
Find Phone (B,1) - When this command is executed, the player will be shown which hole in the current screen, if any, contains a piece of ET's phone. There is one of these in each "field" screen. Sometimes there may be more than one piece of the phone on the current scene, and you will have to collect one before the Find Phone action will highlight another.
Call Elliot (C,1) - This will call Elliot out. Elliot will take all of the candy pieces that ET has collected so far. In return, he will award the player bonus points at the end of the game. If ET has 9 pieces of candy when Elliot is called, Elliott will not only take them away for points, but he will also give ET a piece of the phone and chase away enemies.
Send Back (A,2) - Executing the action here forces all humans on the screen to be sent back to their respective buildings in Washington D.C.
Levitate (B,2) - When ET is down a well, this action becomes available. It permits ET to fly up out of the well.
Eat Candy (C,2) - When this command is executed, ET will eat 1 candy piece in his posession in return for a health boost. You can do this as many times as you want until you run out of candy and have to collect more.
Call Spaceship (A,3) - When ET has all three pieces of his telephone, he can execute this command to call his spaceship. A timer will appear and the spaceship will arrive when it runs out.
Landing Site (B,3) - This indicates where ET's spaceship will land after it has been called. It is always on the forest scene. You MUST be stood here when the timer runs out or ET's ship will not land. The spaceship will also not land if there are any humans on screen when the timer runs out.
Grow Flower (C,3) - In one well, you will find a wilted flower, and ET can heal it. Healing a flower grants ET one extra revive from Elliott in the next round, but they are also part of an Easter egg.

Enemies

There are two enemies that will pursue ET in higher skill levels. These are:

Scientist - Wears a white coat. He will follow ET around the map. If he catches ET, he will take him to the lab and put him in a cage. Once the scientist has put you down, you can walk out again.
FBI Agent - Wears a brown coat. He also follows ET, and will steal a piece of the phone when he catches ET. The phone piece will be returned to one of the holes. If ET is not holding any phone pieces, the FBI agent will instead steal all of his candy.

Completing the game

Once the phone is assembled, ET can call the spaceship using a "Call Spaceship" zone. ET must hurry back to the forest screen and stand in the Landing Site before the time runs out. The spaceship will not land if ET is not stood in the landing zone or if there are humans on screen. If ET misses his spaceship, he can simply call them again.

The player's final score is determined by how many health points are left at the end of the game. Elliot will then add bonus points for every candy piece given to him using a Call Elliott zone. The game will start again and the points will carry over.

Criticism

Atari anticipated enormous sales for ET. Indeed, ET was the third highest selling Atari 2600 game. However, many found the game difficult and consequently returned it. This led to Atari losing money and this is why ET is considered to be one of the causes for Atari's downfall.

The game is criticized among many for various gameplay problems, though these are mostly recent. Some common complaints include:

Unintuitive gameplay - First time players are likely to have no idea what to do and not understand the symbols at all.
The wells - Many consider the wells in the game frustrating, arguing that they are too easy to fall into and almost impossible to get out of.
Poor Graphics - most scenes are green, and so is ET.
Bad sound effects - Some consider the sound effects to be of poor quality, and have complained that it makes it difficult to work out what is going on.
Monotonous gameplay - Various players have found that searching every pit in the game for a phone piece is boring.

Some of these criticisms are recent and many are questionable. There are numerous arguments against these criticisms:

The game includes a manual and there are numerous guides online that explain the objective of the game and the meaning of the symbols. Many chose not to read the manual, which was necessary for the game.
The wells are a challenge at first, though some players have found that they offer no obstacle eventually. Both avoiding them and getting out of them is easy if the player is careful.
ET's graphics are abysmal by today's standards, but are rather decent compared to those of other Atari games. Atari sprites tended to have only one colour, whereas some of ET's sprites had up to 6 colours. NES sprites tended to use up to four colours, so this was an achievement.
Many complaints on the sound come from recent reviews played on emulators, which degrade the quality of the sound. The sounds are also rather impressive compared to other Atari games, some are rather distinctive and there are small details such as how footsteps get louder as an enemy approaches you.
It could be argued that anyone who checks every well looking for a phone piece is not playing the game properly. There are find phone zones in all the scenes with wells and they are not hard to come across. Plus, you can get one phone piece (more if you are lucky) from Elliott. Assuming you avoid the FBI agent you will not need to enter a well any more than three times. There is no excuse for checking every well if the game is played properly.

Most games of the time were self-explanatory, whereas ET was more complex and required use of the manual. This is most likely where most of the criticism stems from. The majority of negative reviews suggest that the player has no idea how to play the game.

Atari supposedly buried numerous unsold ET cartridges along with other unsold stock in the New Mexico desert. Howard Scott Warshaw, however, believes that Atari would have been more likely to recycle the cartridges.

Links

Negative review of the game
Video Walkthrough
" Why I love ET" - A series of arguments in favour of the game.

We have 11 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial images

Game Name	E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Publisher(s)	Atari
Developer(s)	Atari
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure
Themes	Add a new theme Sci-Fi
Original US Release	Sept. 1, 1982 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	ET