Chicken

Review Date: January 18, 2021

Release Date: Sometime in April 1982, but it really depended on your typing speed

Platform: Atari 800

Genre: ?

Anecdotes: Back in 1982, video gaming was still a niche thing. However, it was popular enough to have its own magazines, even before the days of Nintendo Power or Nintendo Fun Club News. The magazines, though, were VERY different. They were more focused on the hardware and getting the most from that. In a method that would NEVER happen now, they would offer you free games. The catch was that you had to type in the whole program yourself. Well, someone did that for us and put it on a cassette. That’s where we got Chicken. Of course, I’m really nosy, though. I eventually figured out how to access the list of instructions. Next, I thought, “What if a change this line here?” I’d change a line and load it up to see the effect. It was a process that was very similar to ROM hacking. That’s right, I was ROM hacking before ROM hacking was a thing.

Positives: I like how the level goes up and down depending on how the game is going. The scoring is fair and there are no loopholes to abuse.

Negatives: First, the sound gives me headaches. The high score chime is grating. The high score save file was nonexistent, so I had to remove line 11 of the program just to play the game. Even then, it still froze at the end. The graphics are passable, but lack detail. I got rather bored with this game after about ten minutes.

Grade: D