Do you have a favorite game that us totally obscure? That one game you spent hours playing that leaves your friends scratching there heads when you call out its title?
I have to think no matter what the platform is we all have a game like that. Probably one my all time favorites was actually on the Commodore 64. It was an Activision title called Park Patrol. Let me guess you never heard of it.
My Mom bought this home for me one day after "bargin hunting" at a local store that carried games. At first I wasn't to receptive, but after playing it for a while it became a favorite. Park Patrol was a cartridge game for the C64. On my SX-64 the cartidge slot was under a trap door on top, I liked cartridge games on this system because they where as easy to use as a cartidge on a Atari and loaded up right away.
The basic concept of the game was that you where a Park Ranger, yes I know go figure in a game named Park Patrol. Anyway, you play as either a male or female park ranger, and find yourself in
a rubber raft or perhaps a Zodiac on what I believe is a river. The goal is to save drowning swimmers, while avoiding water snakes and logs. No you could temporarily get rid of the snakes by throwing glowing disks (snake repellent?) at them, of cuase don't get that nor the drowning swimmers of you could kill them too. At other times you could leave the raft and venture on land to get food from you rangers station. Of course you would usually find yourself fighting off ants to do this.
Another overall goal of the game was to pick up litter found either on land or in the water. Of course you can't advance until you collect a certain amount of litter, do I guess litter collecting is the main goal of the game, even though you would think saving lives should be.
One of my favorite memories of this game was playing it one summer night after a long day of working outside with my Mom. I remember her coming to talk to me in my bedroom, where my computer was and her falling asleep in my bed as we where talking. As she slept I just played this game, it's a pleasant memory of Summer as a kid, being with my Mom, my old house, and my old computer.
Park Patrol is one of my favourites too, though I would never have even heard of it if I didn't get it free on a tape with a magazine.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite C64 game is the PSI-5 Trading Company, which no-one has ever heard of when I mention it. It's about captaining a space ship delivering cargo through pirate-filled space. Recruiting, ordering crew, keeping them alive, prioritising repairs. It's aged really well, too.
Holy cow I didn't actually expect anybody else to remember Park Patrol. Glad I'm not alone it was a cool game, leave it to Activision.
ReplyDeleteI also remember Park patrol. Great fun. Kinda weird floaty jumping though I seem to remember.
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