Name This Game

Name:	Name This Game
Company:	US Games
Model #:	VC1007
Programmers:	Todd Marshall, Henry Will, Roger Booth, Sylvia Day, & Wes Trager
Year:	1982
Released?	Yes
Notes:	The contest to name the game was never completed.

There are some games that rely on a gimmic to hide an otherwise substandard game, Name This Game is one of those games.  The gimmic in this case was a contest to name the game (hence the name Name This Game).  Unfortunatly what the contest couldn't hide is the fact that this game stinks like 3 week old tuna.

The game starts out promisingly enough, the graphics are bright if not a little on the kooky side.  Theres a large octopus (a black octopus?) in the middle of the screen, a shark swimming about, and a guy in speedboat at the top of the screen.  You play the role of a diver who must defend his treasure by shooting the octopus's tentacles before they reach the bottom.  You must also shoot at the shark who swims lower and lower because if he gets down to your diver, you're lunch.  While your defending your treasure you'll notice that your air meter goes down a bit each second, to get more air you need to touch the air line that your friend in the speedboat drops every now and then.  Defend your treasure successfully and its off the next level.

The problem with Name This Game is that its about as much fun as repeatedly smashing your toe with a hammer.  The action never really gets difficult and the enemies are very predictable.  This is why US Games probably decided to have the contest, to hype up a game that's average at best.  Or maybe its because the playtesters couldn't stand playing the game long enough to come up with a title on their own.  Either way it didn't help, this game sunk lower than Davey Jones Locker...

US Games went under before the contest was completed.  Most people think that the winning entry was called Octopus (how original) since that's the name it was released under in Europe.  However Amiga was planning on releasing it on one of their 4 packs (which never came out), and listed the title as Galleons Gold.  No matter what the name, the game still stinks.  Its only redeeming value is as a footnote in 2600 history.

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