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Private Eye

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Private Eye

Dec 31, 1984

Main game

1.75 average rating based on 4 ratings

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You choose from five different cases to work, each with its own requirements. For example, the first case, "Safecracker Suite," requires you to locate the gun used in a crime and have it verified at the gun store, then locate stolen money and return it to the bank and then capture Henri Le Fiend and turn him into the police station. You have only a limited amount of time before the statute of limitations runs out and Henri Le Fiend gets away. Hindering your investigation are a number of obstacles, including potholes, falling objects, unfriendly animals, and knife-throwing thugs, to … More
You choose from five different cases to work, each with its own requirements. For example, the first case, "Safecracker Suite," requires you to locate the gun used in a crime and have it verified at the gun store, then locate stolen money and return it to the bank and then capture Henri Le Fiend and turn him into the police station. You have only a limited amount of time before the statute of limitations runs out and Henri Le Fiend gets away. Hindering your investigation are a number of obstacles, including potholes, falling objects, unfriendly animals, and knife-throwing thugs, to name a few. You drive around the city in your modified 1935 Model A, which can jump as high as two stories. It can also make 90 and 180 degree turns on a dime. When you make the car jump, you also launch yourself out of it, enabling you to nab suspects in upper story windows. Less
Developers
Activision
Publishers
Activision
Platforms
Atari 2600
Genres
Arcade
Themes
Action, Mystery
Release Dates
1984 Full Release (North_America)
Atari 2600
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User Stats
21
In Collection
3
Wish Listed
0
Playing
10
Backlogged
How Long Is Private Eye?
No playthrough data yet
scoopings
scoopings gave Jul 26, 2022
scoopings gave Jul 26, 2022
Decent Atari Action Game With A Lot Of Replayability
This review is for the Atari 2600 version

Look: 7/10 Cool how there's a sort of "inventory screen" in the upper right (tho you can only hold one thing at a time anyway heh). Otherwise just functional, usual Atari affair without my favorite of Atari era--those special colors.

Sound: 6/10 Essentially just annoying, tho the occasional jingle that plays is kinda nice. Usually I like the Atari crunch, but maybe I'm just crabby cuz I'm sleepy but the "car engine" sound was not as deliciously crunchy as the Atari crunch I usually prefer.

Play: 8/10 Love that you can control your jumps mid-air and contrl your speed; the mechanics in general, especially the "momentum," was quite nicely done. But, there was still some awkward clunkiness and weird momentum quirks that made the game overall disappointing. Still, I wanted to at least finish game mode 1, even if I didn't love the game enough to wanna play all 4 game modes. Thank goodness there is no death (as far as I could tell... is that only game mode 1 tho?), instead you just deplete your score and who wants to end with a score of 0? Haha. Edit: In many ways this is a platformer, but not sure if …

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Look: 7/10 Cool how there's a sort of "inventory screen" in the upper right (tho you can only hold one thing at a time anyway heh). Otherwise just functional, usual Atari affair without my favorite of Atari era--those special colors.

Sound: 6/10 Essentially just annoying, tho the occasional jingle that plays is kinda nice. Usually I like the Atari crunch, but maybe I'm just crabby cuz I'm sleepy but the "car engine" sound was not as deliciously crunchy as the Atari crunch I usually prefer.

Play: 8/10 Love that you can control your jumps mid-air and contrl your speed; the mechanics in general, especially the "momentum," was quite nicely done. But, there was still some awkward clunkiness and weird momentum quirks that made the game overall disappointing. Still, I wanted to at least finish game mode 1, even if I didn't love the game enough to wanna play all 4 game modes. Thank goodness there is no death (as far as I could tell... is that only game mode 1 tho?), instead you just deplete your score and who wants to end with a score of 0? Haha. Edit: In many ways this is a platformer, but not sure if it truly qualifies... Doesn't truly feel like an action-adventure to me, but to satisfy the mystery and item collection/item-retrieval aspects, I suppose I agree.

Feel: 7/10 In the end, quite tedious gameplay. For people who really enjoy the concept and gameplay, it's nice that there are so many game modes, a score, and time. The mid-air controls are probly the most impressive part of the game; watching some veteran players was interesting, cuz they could short-jump and other cool quirks I never got down.

Attachment: 7/10 Yay, I did it within the timeframe! And with some time to spare. I did reference a youtube video to understand what everybody meant when they said collect the money, the gun, and then the thief in that order (money to the bank, gun to the gun store, and thief to the police). It all seems obvious now but it wasn't explained well imo, hopefully my wording helps other newcomers. If I played this back in the day, I could see myself playing all 4 versions, trying to go for most points, trying to go for fastest time, etc. But as it is now, and as a newcomer, meh, probly wont replay it--tho might! And might show my brothers cuz it's solidly made and a decent concept.

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Completion: Beat Game Mode 1 Playtime: ~30 mins in total

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