“Break
out your leisure suits and peace signs - The 70’s
Electronic Game sensation is back!” says the meticulously
old-school packaging. Despite the shamelessly-retro
modus operendi, you have to give Mattel credit
for not repackaging their classic handheld LCD
games with bright, acid-drenched color schemes
straight out of Nickelodeon's latest cartoons.
While
the design and gameplay are extremely crude, the
fun actually holds up a lot longer than any of
the black-and-white, generically-drawn but more
visually appealing LCD games from Tiger. Since
there are no graphics to speak of (only red, glowing
dashes for defense, and a slightly brighter one
for your running back on offense), Mattel had
to have a game that was fun to play, and rely
on your imagination to do the rest. The popularity
of the Mattel handheld series speaks for itself.
Mattel sold millions of these things from the
1970's to the late 1980's, and it blossomed into
the legendary, but now defunct, Mattel Electronics.
As you might remember, without Mattel Electronics
we wouldn't have the Intellivision, which is arguably
the best system of the golden era of video-games.
Simply
put, Mattel Football is fun today, just like it
was more than twenty years ago. The concept is
simple. You start on your own 20 yard line and
run as far as you can down the field in your alloted
four downs. Run the entire length of the field
and you score a touchdown. If you've never played
Mattel Football before, you'll notice that simply
running across the field into the endzone doesn't
get you a touchdown. The field of play is dressed
up to look like a football field, but you'll have
to run across it multiple times to score a touchdown.
The way to tell how you're doing is to check your
yardage between downs. If you're on the opposite
end of the football field with two yards to the
endzone you'll probably score a touchdown before
you get midfield. The simple AI in the moves the
computer's defensive players in the direction
of your running back, so the trick is to sit back
and wait for them to swarm your way and create
an opening. Then you simply run as far as you
can without getting tackled. Understandably, the
collision between players is pretty arbitrary,
but it doesn't feel like you're being cheated
very often.
To
actually have a competitive game, you'll need
two people, and the computer plays defense for
both sides, but this simple game is pure hypnotic
fun for one player as well. The LCD graphics (or
lack of graphics) and retro packaging will appeal
to older gamers who want to waltz down memory
lane, but it's a great time-killer while you're
on the bus or on a lunch-break. The game remains
unchanged after about a quarter-century, so you
might be better off picking up the original at
a garage-sale, but if you're lazy and you don't
mind paying $13, this comes as a highly recommended
piece of game history. Mattel has rereleased their
original Baseball handheld, and hopefully more
are on the way.