Game Review

Raiders of the Lost Ark, based on the movie of the same name, is another Atari 2600 original that aimed to expand the system's library beyond just arcade style action games. Loosely following the film plot, the goal is to find the famed lost ark of the covenant. The game is part action, part puzzle. There's a nice title screen to start things off that even offers a reasonable rendition of the movie's theme. The graphics are decent with a pretty solid Indy animation, but other graphics are blocky and/or more abstract. There are numerous rooms to explore (although some do look rather similar but with different colors), a variety of items to pick up with different uses, and even some other characters to interact with. To reach the end, you'll need to find and use items to open up secret rooms, talk with some characters to obtain additional items, and of course avoid snakes and many other dangerous creatures. Everything you would expect from an Indiana Jones adventure!

The control scheme is a little unusual; given the simple joystick with just one button the Atari had there wasn't much opportunity for complex game controls, and this title works around that by requiring a second joystick (one to control Indy, one for the inventory). This system is a little awkward, but does work and isn't too bad once you get used to it. Be careful, though, as it can be frustrating if you accidentally drop the wrong object and instead drop one you wanted to keep!

You will definitely need the instruction manual for this game. Extensive in-game game text wasn't possible on the Atari 2600, so there's nothing like modern games which have in-game descriptions or otherwise essentially teach you the game mechanics as you go along. That's all in the manual only! The difficulty learning the game also is due to the system's graphical limitations. It's often not obvious what some of the objects are even supposed to be without referencing their description in the manual. Just determining what certain screens are supposed to represent or what you're even supposed to do on these screens can't be picked up well either from just in the game alone.

Despite the limitations, overall I think this is still a fun title that mixes together some action, adventure, and puzzle solving. The controls aren't entirely intuitive and some of the graphics are confusing, but it's otherwise a solid effort to bring more complex gameplay to a very limited console, and if you take some time to learn how the game works it mostly succeeds. I give this one a rating of B.