Freeway

Developer: Activision
Publisher: Activision
Release: 1981
Platform: Atari 2600
Genre: Arcade

No complex historic event can be traced back to a single kickoff cause (the dinosaur-killing meteor being a fair exception to that rule) but Atari’s skyrocketing success in the early 80s may have happened due to the accessibility of their products. In comparison to the home computers that swiped UK taking a yet-to-be-self-aware hardcore audience by storm it was a no-brainer family-friendly, no-entry-barrier casual investment. (That very same casual, unattached approach may have brought the “fad” down a couple years later, but that’s another story. For a modern similar situation compare Nintendo’s Wii and WiiU numbers.)

If the perfect contemporary arcade experience could balance risk/reward slickly through a single action button (Defender, Donkey Kong, Galaga) what would be the purest form of such an endeavor? A game with no action button?

Back to Pac-Man’s bare minimum standard of using the directional stick alone Freeway aims to craft the perfect couch multiplayer within those restraints. And it quite delivers, even if it’s not on their peers' league.

Chickens crossing a road (a screen-sized one, for that matter) not only for getting to the other side but also for scoring points would be an easy-cracker selling point alone, but it’s interesting how that translates well into a simple gameplay premise. The aforementioned lone directional stick is even ditched of its full capabilities, since going only back and forth works well enough; cars running over the poor things just push them some lanes back in a comical fashion and allows for a quick comeback; Atari's naturally limited sound device was terrible for musical pieces, but worked wonders for simulating some busy traffic; but most importantly, the natural arrangement of the lanes (slower to faster and then back again on the reverse way) offers a light and gentle “difficulty curve” almost anyone can adapt to on the quasi-fly.

Try to arrange a Wii Sports tennis match between a 4yo and their great-grandfather and the thing will work right out of the bat (no pun intended); the same can be true about Freeway—and that speaks volumes on its favor.