Scott Stilphen - Actionauts Impressions
October 2nd, 2007 by Scott Stilphen
Scott Stilphen is a classic gamer/archivist who has been active in the Classic Gaming community for many years. Recently Scott had a chance to spend a few minutes with the 2600 version of Actionauts.
“I had first caught a glimpse of Actionauts years ago at one of the Classic Gaming Expos, and remember thinking at the time that, for an unfinished game, it looked very close to being finished. A few weeks ago I had a chance to spend a few minutes talking with Rob about the game while he demonstrated it, after which he offered me a chance to play it! The game has an ‘action’ screen and the ‘programming’ screen, and both are rendered quite nicely and look very professional. The effect of alternating between both screens is particularly well done as the screen simply doesn’t alternate between the two but instead shows a nice transition, with the programming screen vertically sliding over the action screen (from the bottom). It’s an impressive effect that I don’t recall being used in a VCS game before.
The programming screen is especially neat, and immediately reminded me of those classic sci-fi computers, with their dozens of blinking lights. The game is rather challenging, even in its unfinished state. I would compare the gameplay to the classic Milton Bradley programmable tank toy, Big Trak. The program itself consists of a list of icons that you can change (via the joystick). The action screen I saw showed a simple maze (for level 1. Perhaps subsequent level mazes are more intricate…).
Besides some of the obvious commands (go forward, turn left, right, etc.) there were a few that Rob mentioned were never fully realized (i.e. you can fire and jump, but there’s nothing to jump or shoot at). Not having a feel for how far the robot travels with each command, I had him into a wall in no time 
Alas, my turn ended before I could create a successful program and get the robotic “mouse” to the cheese.
As prototypes go, this one is quite playable and I didn’t notice any graphics glitches or bugs. It’s unfortunate that it was never completed as I could immediately see the potential in having 2 players in head-to-head competition, jumping and firing as they scrambled to reach the goal first. Sounds effects were also minimal (or missing altogether?). Nevertheless, I look forward to spending more time with it upon its release.”
Scott Stilphen - Oct 1, 2007
- Posted in Classic Gaming, Rob's games