E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 adventure game based on the cherished family movie about a kindhearted, phallic-shaped eponymous alien. When the masterminds of Atari decided to create a video game based on the acclaimed movie, fans were expecting the best. What they received would be as a masterpiece of gaming history, and an important title in the evolution of video games.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
The player controls E.T., navigating maps and avoiding the pesky FBI (as E.T. was being pursued for CP related charges, Elliot did more than was let on in the movie). To complete the game, E.T. must collect all three phone pieces to phone home. The pit feature of the game was acclaimed for its key role in gameplay. To get out of a pit, E.T. had to extend his neck.
Development[edit | edit source]
Reception and legacy[edit | edit source]
Long ago, in the magical era of 1982, the world was preparing for the joy of Christmas. Having heard rumors of an E.T game being released for the Atari 2600, many were skeptical and felt it would be a cheap, unfaithful cash-in to the movie. Thankfully, their fears were soon disproven when the game was released to universal fame and applause as households across the world enjoyed the glory that was E.T.
Unfortunately, the glory of E.T was simply too much for some to bear, and many families were forced to return the game to the stores, their mortal minds unable to take the sheer awe and wonder that came from the video game. Others would try to preserve the game forever via burying it en masse in landfills, much like how the ancients paid homage to their kings by sealing them in tombs.
Most startling of all were reports of several families engaging in an ancient pagan ritual not seen since the days of the Vikings, in which they would set the divine E.T. cartridge into a fire to watch it burn, seeing it as a great offering to the gods of old. Finally, as a true testament to the game's power and popularity, a copy of E.T. is said to be taped onto a deep-space satellite so that any passing aliens may gaze upon it and learn of its beauty.
E.T continues to inspire people long after it was stopped being produced and many view it as the best video game to ever be produced — although some have criticised the video game for straying a little too far from the original plot of the movie.
The sacred E.T. Burial Grounds of New Mexico were subject to exhumation in early 2014, a task largely undertaken by out-of-work Atari executives hoping to find copies of the game they could sell for gas money. Peter Molyneux had previously held a press conference in which he announced that he would personally travel to New Mexico to cover the burial grounds with a massive pile of plot-important acorns, however, due to repeated viewings of Conan the Destroyer the plans were scrapped during an early alpha phase.