Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 52nd (NTSC) Genre Rank: (Action/ Adventure) 17th Awards: 5th Best Value (PAL), Worst Interpretation (NTSC), 4th Worst Value (NTSC) Love in an Elevator Pros: Good mix of puzzle solving and action Cons: Programming bug makes the American version of this game unbeatable What a Cozy Living Room

Overview: On the back of the box of the game Impossible Mission is a cute little quip that sums up the game beautifully, "Saving the World Wasn't Meant to Be Easy." This game is not easy, in

VERSION: NTSC

fact...the title of the game is absolutely prophetic. Impossible Mission is just that: impossible. The American version of this game has probably the biggest video game programming flaw of all time. Certain needed card key pieces are placed behind terminals that are unsearchable. Therefore, you will never, ever, ever be able to unlock the door leading to the bad guy, Elivn Atombender. The European version of the game is beatable, but still not easy. Beatable or not this game requires precise joystick dexterity and puzzle solving skills. It really is unfortunate that this game has that programming bug because this game may have been one of the ProSystem's best.

Graphics: The color schemes featured in Impossible Mission remind me of the Brady Bunch decor, but some of the animations are very good. Our hero's main action is a long "tuck your knees and roll" jump that is pretty smooth and impressive. The robots that he tries to evade look good and have dozens of different attack patterns, some of which are: detect and destroy, random search patterns, and lightning blasts. The main rooms in the game are large and feature random furniture and goodies, much like Super Skateboardin'. Searchable items include beds, bookcases, computers, vending machines, and lamps. Outside of the rooms are elevator shafts where your computer can be accessed. The computer at first is confusing, but the detail and number of options you have at your fingertips is fairly impressive.

VERSION: PAL

Sound: The audio in this game is not really terrible, but not at all spectacular. Most rooms have this swirling robot noise that I think is a nice touch. While the protagonist runs, his footsteps have this "tap shoes on a tile floor" sound, which sounds somewhat ridiculous but for some reason adds to the effect that this guy is in a hurry. When our hero is fried by a laser the audio clip we hear is a mix between frying bacon and thunder. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! tasty!

Gameplay: This is a really weird puzzle/ action game, and I guess the thing that bothers me the most about it is that our hero has absolutely no weapons. Having a gun that could disable the robots would have been more logical than this guy running in like Superman, because Superman he is not. I guess the allure of this game is trying to figure out how to navigate around the robots without getting fried, but in my opinion that is nearly an impossible task (hence the name). The Superman wanna-be's only defense to the robot's ill will is this aforementioned ridiculous jump that he can perform. This jump is hard to gauge, and many times I fly into a robot or over a ledge to my doom. This is irritating. Besides our hero's lack of firepower, this game has a lot going for it. The object is to find 36 card key pieces and to fit them together to eventually make 9 card keys. These keys are needed to open the evil lair that Atombender occupies. Atombender has hidden these pieces all over his headquarters, and we must locate them all by searching through his furniture. Amazingly enough, I have never located any spare change while playing this game. This solidifies the fact that Evil Madmen never carry cash. Time is actually our biggest enemy, because we only have 6 hours to complete this tall task. Though we don't have a set number of lives, each time we die 10 minutes will be added to the clock.

Ridiculous Jump Alert!!!


Interpretation: I've seen other versions of this game and the 7800 version is a very good one. Oh yeah, wait a minute, the other versions are BEATABLE. The American version would have been great if the programming bug did not exist, but it does, making this the worst interpretation of a game I have ever seen. The beatable PAL version, on the other hand, is another story all together...

Value: Since the NTSC version is a piece of crap, I think there is no value to it. Playing a game that cannot be beaten is a waste of time. The PAL version, on the other hand, has tons of value. The game is tough as nails and the game changes every time. Yes, that's right, on both versions, there are four different lay outs to the game and the robots behavior and card key locations are randomly different each time. This makes for a very enjoyable video game experience that makes you want to beat it again and again. Unless you live in America. Then you just want to beat it again and again with a hammer.

Overall: It comes down to whether you are a Yank or a Red Coat. The NTSC (American) version is a complete waste of time considering the programming flaw. The PAL (European) version is a very good translation of the popular computer game. Impossible Mission features tons of puzzle and problem solving, decent graphics and sound effects, and a challenge that is out of this world. Hopefully the people who have just recently released Sentinel in NTSC could work on converting the beatable PAL Impossible Mission to NTSC for us Yankees to enjoy. Then and only then, will America reclaim its stake as #1 country in the world.



Other reviews of Impossible Mission for the 7800 on the web!!!:
The Atari Times: 8 out of 10
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: PAL- 4.0 out of 5.0 (Very Good)
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: NTSC- 2.0 out of 5.0



Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

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