Crackpots

Rating
Graphics: 5
Sound: 3
Control: 5
Depth: 3
Overall: 3.5

Crackpots

By: Dan Kitchen
Published By: Activision
Released: 1983

Crackpots turns the Space Invaders concept on its head. Rather than shooting at aliens above, you toss flower pots from a rooftop at bugs below, to prevent your building from becoming infested. Rather than losing a life when enough bugs get past your defenses, a bug will then “eat away” at the lowest level causing the building to fall down by about half a story. While certainly a nice spectacle, this also serves to make the game an increment harder – as the bugs have less distance to travel.

There are four waves of bugs with different colors and movement patterns. The waves then repeat, at an increasingly manic pace. The crisp, colorful graphics and refined gameplay make Crackpots easy to recommend and one of the better Activision games on the system. The one thing that keeps it from true greatness is the somewhat simple, repetitive nature of the concept.

- Ben Langberg

Media

Join The Activision "Crackpots"

If you help Potsy pitch pots at pests for points totaling 75,000 or more, you've been more than a good neighbor. Consider yourself an official Activision Crackpot. Send us a photo of the TV screen showing your qualifying score, along with your name and address, and we'll send you the official Crackpot emblem. Be sure to write the name 'Crackpots' and your score on the bottom corner of the envelope.