Arkyology
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Name:
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Arkyology
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| Company: |
Enter-Tech
Ltd |
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Model #:
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N/A |
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Programmers:
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Paul Walters &
George Hefner (Programmers) and Barb Ultis
(Graphics)
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| Year: |
1983
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Released?
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No
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Notes:
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Developed
for Sparrow Records
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Developed by Enter-Tech Ltd for the Christian
music company Sparrow Records (of Music Machine fame),
Arkyology is a Christian themed game in which you
control Noah who must run around the ark and feed all
the animals while avoiding obstacles. Although the
overall concept is simple, the game is deceptively hard
which is somewhat unusual given its target audience.
Arkyology consists of two separate stages
which then repeat at a higher difficulty. On the
first stage you control Noah who must move from floor to
floor opening all the stalls for his animals. To
do this Noah must jump up and grab the hammer icon that
randomly appears on each level. Sound easy?
Wrong! Some rogue animals have decided they've had
enough of this Ark and are out to get you. Birds
fly through the air and must be ducked, alligators run
across the floor and must be jumped over, and at the
very top of the screen a porcupine will constantly drop
quills on you. Touching any of these will result
in Noah losing a life. Thankfully there are little
safe areas (looking like black tubes) at the top of each
ladder where Noah can safely hide and wait for the coast
to be clear.
The second stage is similar to the first, but
instead of opening stalls, Noah must now feed his hungry
hungry hippos
err... animals. To do this, you must guide Noah
under the waiting animal and jump in the air.
Although it looks like Noah is punching out the little
goats, giraffes, and camels, he's really just tossing food
into their stalls (at least I think he is). After
successfully feeding all the animals you are treated to a
cute little cut-scene showing a sleeping Noah and the moon
rising overhead. After this the game will start over
at the first screen but on the next day with faster and
more frequent enemies.
Arkyology's graphics are fairly done (although it
appears that Noah has shaved his head for the trip) and
each of the animals is recognizable and varied.
The real problem is that the game is tough! The
porcupine's quills are relentless and the bird and
alligator are FAST even on the first stage. The
alligator also jumps a little which does not help things
(jumping alligators?). One nice thing is
that the bird and alligator are programmed to appear on
the opposite side of the screen from the player, so
there are no cheap deaths from an unavoidable enemy
suddenly appearing on you. If only other 2600
games took this lesson to heart...
Another issue is controls with respect to the
ladders. Getting Noah off the ladder and onto the
level is way more difficult than it should be as you
must push diagonally left or right to get off the
ladder, not just left or right. This makes sense
when you think about it (the player is already pushing
up or down to move on the ladder) but unless you know
this (and to be fair it probably would have been in the
manual) it makes for a frustrating
experience. Noah must also be the correct
distance away from the hammer or animal when he jumps to
touch it (make sure your fist is lined up) or he'll
miss. On the earlier levels this tends not to be a
problem as you can take your time and line things up but
at the higher difficulties where you are always on the
run, standing still for even a moment can lead to death.
Although the market
for Christian themed games was small, there were more
than few made. In addition to Arkyology,
Enter-Tech Ltd. was working on another game called David
and Goliath which was never completed due lack of
funds. Sparrow also released Music Machine (based
on their hit record) and another small company called
Inspirational Video Concepts released Red Sea Crossing
based on Moses crossing the Red Sea. The
Atari 2600 really does offer something for everyone.
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