E.T. Is it really the worst game ever?

[Cobra Commander]

Is it?
Seriously, what the worst game ever made?

[megasdkirby]

No.

There are games that are much, MUCH worse.

ET just requires practice. Once there is all to know on how to play the game, it's actually quite fun.

I personally like ET, to be honest.

[Sonicwolf]

This has been beaten to death.

I think that it is not the worst game ever but it isnt good either. I think the big problem is that ET for the 2600 is exampled primarily as a bad game due to the hype surrounding it and the movie it was based off of. If it had been a regular game that was not based off of one of the biggest films of the late 20th century, it sure would not have been as universally derided and hated as it has been. It is definately not as bad as, let's say, Big Rigs for the PC. That game cant even be considered a finished product. Semi-interactive abortion.

[megasdkirby]

Rocky and Bullwinkle for the NES. Now THAT is bad.

[DenDenDos]

No. Logically it cannot be the worst game ever.
The reason for this is because Water World for the Virtual Boy exists.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

1) It was buried in the desert, therefore it must be bad.

This is most likely an urban myth. Besides, it is mainly a sign of overproduction. If you created millions of extra God of War games, and had to dispose of a lot of them, it does not mean the game is bad.

2) People returned the game, therefore it must be bad.

There's a large learning curve that some people could not overcome. You have to read the manual to figure out how the symbols work.

3) The FBI guy makes the game bad.

I agree, but variation 3 takes the FBI guy away.

4) Falling into pits is annoying, therefore it is a bad game.

Pitfall?

5) There's not that many screens.

A lot of Atari games have one screen.

6) The game was rushed through development.

You have a point there.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzdqaJIeE0Q

[ryborg]

cliched topic, done to death, etc

both of these are true:

ET just requires practice. Once there is all to know on how to play the game, it's actually quite fun.

It is definately not as bad as, let's say, Big Rigs for the PC.

[kupomogli]

Didn't this topic just come up last month?

Anyways. ET isn't good, but it's far from the worst game ever made.

I think everyone who plays it bases the game on the damn hole. You fall in the hole you get stuck the majority of the time. Other than that the game can be beaten quickly.

[Ze_ro]

Cheetahmen II is worse than E.T.

--Zero

[jb143]

Interview with it's creator...lots of good stuff in there.

[grolt]

Sorry, but that title goes to another alien acronym.

ALF

[Arkhan]

Well for one, saying an Atari 2600 game is the worst game ever is a bit unfair. It's one of the earliest consoles, with some primitive hardware!

E.T. was simple. It didn't offer much as far as replayability. Though it was fun, interesting, completely playable, and used the hardware pretty well. It had a pretty well thought out gameplay style..... follow radar, find the phone pieces, build it, etc. Pretty good stuff!

It just didn't live up to being an E.T. product. If it wasn't ET, but played the same, it would've been hailed as a classic probably. I mean it's not like other games (Keystone Kapers, Blueprint, etc), offered much more depth.

Or Yars Revenge.

There are WAY worse games. Like cheetahmen 2, as mentioned.

ET and Pacman for Atari just failed to live up to their hype. If Pac Man were just "DotEater Guy", by some knockoff company, it wouldn't be hated on so much probably.

[DigitalSpace]

It's one of the absolute worst, but not the worst. However, it damaged the gaming industry more than any other bad game out there.

Also, while it's never been confirmed that unsold E.T. carts were included in the dumping, the Atari burial really did happen.

[sidnotcrazy]

Its not bad at all. You could finish the game, and it actually had an ending. Its honestly one of my favorites, and I have a signed copy from HSW to prove it.

[MissingNo_1231]

I'm not a big fan of the game, but I still play it a little every time my Atari is hooked up.

It seems to me like Superman64 is worse, though I haven't played it either, and Custer's Revenge, I mean, WTF?

Oh, and Plumbers Don't Wear Ties looks like absolute crap too.

But, the only one of these I've played is ET.

[Mianrtcv]

Dragon's Lair NES rates higher on my list.

[nensondubois]

Since Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing exist, you will recognize it as the worst game ever created.

[Robocop2]

You're Winner!

[Swamperon]

E.T. is in no way the worst game. Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde for the NES is extremely terrible, apart from making little to no sense, it looks awful and controls terribly.

Bart's Nightmare for the Snes could also probably be a strong contender for this title as well.