Atari 2600 #5: Cosmic Commuter

Atari 2600 #5: Cosmic Commuter

Developer: Activision

Publisher: Activision

Release Date: October 1985?

This is some wild cover art that doesn't really look like an Activision game

The Atari 2600’s interesting and somewhat redemptive third act began in the second half of 1985 when Activision released a couple of games that were the first to be widely released for the console in almost a year. I guess Activision heard about Nintendo’s new console in the works and correctly thought that people would start buying console games again. One of the games was Ghostbusters which makes prefect sense as a release. It was still a very popular movie in 1985 and the computer game hadn’t made its way to consoles yet. Cosmic Commuter, however, is a total oddball whose mere existence is somewhat baffling. The 1984 copyright date on it makes me think that was a game that they started on and then delayed when the crash was in full swing. It was a game that didn’t fit with their mostly excellent 1984 releases, but with a new audience on the horizon and a goofy game already in the can they were willing to take the chance.

In Cosmic Commuter you play as an astrobus driver racing across the screen to pick up your space passengers. The hardest part comes at the very beginning where you are controlling the rocket module and have to get it to land softly by controlling its speed. I wouldn’t be too surprised if collectors out there have bought this game, crashed the module three times without knowing what to do, and then never played it again. After successfully landing you then fly your astrobus across the screen and pick up passengers. Unlike on Earth where busses stop and pick up multiple people at once in this game they are spread out one at a time. Luckily all you have to do to pick them up is fly directly over them on the bottom of the screen. Their locations are both shown on a map and by a siren when they get close. This is the gaming equivalent of wearing suspenders and a belt. You only have a limited time before the passengers get impatient and leave. I like this concept because what are the angry passengers going to do, hop on their space bikes and start peddling? Have you ever been waiting to go to work and then just wandered home dejected because the bus was late? I am pretty sure behavior like that would get you fired. I guess they needed to add a little tension in the game which it definitely needs. It’s just a silly way to describe it. After you collect all the passengers you head back to the rocket and take off. The only dangerous part about this is making sure you don’t crash while docking. Luckily taking off is easier than landing.

Don't crash!

So the game has a fun setup and it looks nice, but sadly it still ends up being flawed. The main problem is that it’s just too simple. The obstacles along the route are just distractions. They are only worth one point and are better off ignored unless directly in the way. That means that the player only needs to be on the very bottom where the passengers are and very top where fuel appears after shooting three obstacles. The rest of the game is mostly wasted space. They should’ve given the player more incentive to actually fly around. Maybe have enemy ships or bonus point out there. It’s no wonder they made landing so difficult because that’s just about the only challenge in the game. Just zigzag between the bottom and the top and you will do fine. It’s disappointing because with a little more refinement this could’ve been a real winner.

So one of the oddest comeback games of all time unfortunately falls a bit flat. It’s a game that is good for getting a high score, but it gets tedious too fast. Activision wouldn’t release too many more high quality 2600 games after 1985, but luckily starting in 1986 Atari would start making games again and put out some quality products. It’s just too bad that 1985 was such a lost year. For not I am putting it just above Wild Gunman making it the top game of my bottom 10. There will be some quality Atari games in the near future, but for now it’s not looking so good.

Atari 2600 quality percentage: 1/5 = 20%

1. Super Mario Odyssey

2. Galaga

3. Donkey Kong

4. Exodus: Ultima III

5. Pac-Mania

6. Wrecking Crew

7. Super Pac-Man

8. Pac-Man

9. Excitebike

10. Arc the Lad

11. Clu Clu Land

12. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

13. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

14. Metro-Cross

15. Ice Climber

16. Gaplus

17. Dragon Spirit

18. Pinball (NES)

19. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

20. Red Sea Crossing

21. Baraduke

22. Tennis

23. Hogan’s Alley

24. Gamma-Attack

25. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

26. Galaxian

27. Evoland

28. Cosmic Commuter

29. Wild Gunman

30. Defunct

31. Gyruss (2600)

32. Looney Tunes Racing

33. Squidlit

34. Baseball

35. Birthday Mania

36. Bad Street Brawler

37. Burly Men at Sea

38. My Name is Mayo