E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is a fantastic movie. The story may be simple, but it is elevated and carried with the heart throughout its runtime, the characters, the humor that still holds up, and the effects for E.T., which are very impressive for the time that it came out. Even for being 40 years old, it is still a classic to watch to this day.

The video game, on the other hand... HOO BOY, that is an ENTIRELY different story. I'm sure anyone who has been into video games for a long time has at least heard of this game at one point. It is one of the most infamous licensed game ever made, it is one of the main contributors to the video game crash of 1983, and it is considered to be one of the worst games of all time.

As for me, yeah, I can't lie, it is pretty god awful, and I don't blame anyone for thinking that it is one of the worst of all time. The story is pretty much the same as the film, except incredibly abridged, the graphics are Atari graphics, so nothing else to say there, the music, or I guess sound effects in this case, are terrible, the control is actually kind of tough to get a grip on, and this is just a joystick and a button we are talking about, and the gameplay is extremely annoying to execute.

I think the main problem with this game is that even trying to maneuver around the world and make progress is both extremely confusing and a fucking chore. You will just randomly fall into holes all the time, even if it seems like you are far enough away from them, and the placement of the items you collect isn't quite clearly laid out, so you can't properly make progress without going through a bunch of bullshit.

Now, with all that being said, would I consider this one of, if not, THE worst game in the world? No, not at all. Yes, it is terrible, but for what we have here, it is pretty impressive, given how little time the developer was given to make it, and ever since this, there have been MANY other games that are considerably worse than this for a multitude of reasons.

Overall, while I wouldn't consider it the worst game ever made, it is still absolutely abysmal, and without a doubt one of the worst licensed games of all time.

Game #52

Reviewed on Apr 01, 2023


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