Secret Agent
Platform: Atari 2600
Region: Prototype (USA)
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Paddles
Gametype: Prototype
Release Year: 1983
Developer: Data Age
Publisher: Unreleased
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With a name like Secret Agent, I was expecting a Cloak & Dagger type game with lots of shooting and fast paced action.  What I got instead was a Kaboom clone with a twist.  Not exactly what I was hoping for, but not a bad game either.

You play the part of. Umm. a little guy with a board across his head? (a secret agent I suppose) as he attempts to catch the falling "spy booty" from above.  These items consist of money, suitcases, and little capsules with US on them (I have no idea!).  Now your thinking that this is just a simple Kaboom rip off right?  Well that's where you're only sorta right.  In Secret Agent you must also avoid the bad items that will get your agent captured such as grenades, guns, and bugs (real bugs!).  This is fairly easy at first, but once the action picks up it's more a matter of luck than skill.

After collecting enough items a tone will sound, this is the signal that you must "make the drop off".  Below your agent is a lake with some boats moving about, you must line your agent up with the boat and press the button to "hand off" the evidence.  If you successfully hit the boat you score bonus points, if you miss there doesn't seem to be a penalty.  At the top of the screen there is a guy with a gun chasing after another guy.  These guys don't seem to do anything and appear to be eye candy. 

Considering it's from Data Age (the people who brought us Sssnake and Bugs!), Secret Agent is a pretty decent game.  However even with the slight twist Secret Agent can't escape the fact that it's just a Kaboom rip off (which in turn was a rip off of Atari's Avalanche), although it is a good one.  Secret Agent was the last Data Age game to be completed, but the crash forced them out of business before it could be released.  It's doubtful that an average game like this could have saved a dying company, but at least it shows Data Age was starting to get its act together.

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/secretagent/secretagent.htm
