Name This Game

Also known as: Octopus (Europe)

Developer: James Wickstead Design Associates

Name This Game was a game that U.S. Games published in 1983, where the gimmick was that players were supposed to submit a name for it in an attempt to win $10,000. I imagine that the game would then be re-released with the winning name. Unfortunately, U.S. Games went out of business before a winner could be decided….though, it was released in Europe under the name “Octopus,” so if you hate Name This Game as a title, you could always use the European title. Anyway, despite the odd name, Name This Game is actually pretty fun. There’s more action taking place on the screen during the gameplay than most other home console games during its time. You’ve got a giant octopus that keeps reaching for the treasure down below. You need to shoot its arms so that they retract. At the same time, sharks will continuously appear on screen. So, while retracting the tentacles, you’re also trying to eliminate the sharks so they don’t gobble you up for lunch. If that’s not enough, you also have limited oxygen. You’ve got a buddy in a boat at the top of the screen and he occasionally drops a line down to you so you can breathe. So while shooting at all of the threats, you’ve also got to navigate towards that line so you don’t drown. It’s not perfect, but it’s a decent shooter for the time and it’s still a pretty fun way to kill a few minutes today.

Review added: 07/29/2020

Night Driver

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Atari

Night Driver takes some getting used to. I crashed all the time when I first began to play...But after a few minutes of trying, I got better and better...Eventually, before I knew it, I was completing the course without crashing once. That said, it's still not all that great of a game. Basically, take a game like OutRun, only include an obstacle every once and a while…put a tree and/or house in the black background every now and then, and remove most aspects of charm or fun – you’ve got Night Driver. Granted, Night Driver came out about a decade before OutRun ever hit arcades, so perhaps it’s more fair to say that Night Driver helped lay the groundwork for racing games like OutRun to improve upon over the next several years. The attempt to convert the arcade version of Night Driver to the Atari 2600 was admirable, but it just doesn’t work well due to the limitations of the hardware. For its time, it was kind of cool to have this game at home, but the better racing game in the early days of the Atari 2600 was definitely Indy 500 - that game was pretty good for its time. This port of Night Driver is simply passable.

Review added: 09/25/2019