Freeway

Name:	Freeway
Company:	Activision
Model #:	AG-009
Programmer:	David Crane
Year:	1981
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Mmm... Chicken!

Even though it looks a bit like Frogger, David Crane claims Frogger was not the inspiration for his game.  Instead David said he got the idea from watching a man trying to cross Lake Shore Drive during rush-hour traffic while attending Chicago's Consumer Electronic Show.  In fact Frogger wasn't even in the arcades at that point!  If anything Freeway gets its inspiration from the 1973 Atari coin-op Space Race.  So it looks like we can finally put this ugly rumor to rest.

Another rumor surrounding Freeway was that a "bloody human" version was made.  This rumor is actually true!  Originally Freeway featured people crossing the road instead of chickens since that was the scenario that inspired David to write the game in the first place.  Some people at Activision complained that they didn't like the idea of people being struck by cars, so chickens were added to the game before it was released. 

Although the player can only move his chicken up and down (very un-Frogger like), Freeway is still a fairly fun game.  The sounds of the cars honking their horns has they zoom by is particularly well done and is one of the best examples of background noise even seen err. heard.  The only fault one can find in Freeway is that it all boils down to a "beat your own high score" type of game.  There's no special ending or surprises for getting a large amount of chickens to the other side, so unless your one of those overly competitive people, the thrill of Freeway will ware off quickly.  Freeway is best played against another player where you can both enjoy the sounds of a chickens being run over by cars.

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