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Good evening everyone! Time for this week?s edition of the Pure Imagination series! A little while ago, I was introduced to a movie that anyone that is interested in nuclear technology should definitely see. Although, it wasn?t just a film about nuclear energy. It was also about greed, politics, work ethics, and friendship. The 1979 film was turned into an Atari 2600 game in 1982, and while the game could technically have very little to do with the actual movie, it was a very interesting entry in the Atari library, even at a time when the systems library was starting to become over crowded with sub par titles. This week, we will be taking a look at the box art, as well as game play, of the game ?China Syndrome? by Spectravision.

For those not familiar with the movie of the same name, allow me to give you a quick synopsis of what we are dealing with. ?The China Syndrome? was a movie starring Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon. Jane and Michael play Kimberly Wells and Richard Adams: Employees at a local television station, working at the news department. Kimberly plays a ?reporter? for the local news broadcasts, but is stuck with the notion of the network standards that women should only be doing ?happy? news and nothing else. Richard is her cameraman, who is a rebel, yet stuck in a rut. Kimberly and Michael are taking a tour of the local nuclear power plant, when they feel and witness something going terribly wrong. Jack Lemmon plays Jack Godell, the shift supervisor at the plant, who panics when he notices that there is a problem at the reactor, but is fortunate to get the incident under control. Greed takes over when Jack wants to make the public aware about the poor conditions of the facility, and everyone in corporate power is willing to do whatever it takes to stop him. Sounds like a great concept for a game, isn?t it?

Let?s start off with the original box art for the game, and we will take it from there. The box art for the title consists of a few different panels, all related to the movie (as well as a segment that pertains directly to the game itself.) The most powerful part of the artwork is on the right side of the panel. Here we see a man working at the nuclear station, who is operating the computerized controls. You might be able to compare this type of a desk to the style that Homer Simpson works at. Truth of the matter is, that at a real power plant (nuclear and otherwise), there is almost always a control desk very similar to this, in which the operator would open and close various valves to make sure the pressure flow is correct and not too strong nor weak. Naturally, the computer is screaming a ?DANGER? warning. We also see standing next to him, a supervisor like man in a blue suit that looks very panic stricken. What?s interesting is that the artwork depicts him in a manner, that he even looks a little bit like Jack Lemmon as his character in the film. To the side of him, we see another ?suit and tie? style gentleman, who looks a little miserable, but cocky, even in that little bit of space. As far as I?m concerned, he has taken the part of the corporate head that is only out for himself, and the monetary side of the operations at hand.

In the center left of the panel, we see a hazmat team that is working on cleaning up a chemical or nuclear spill. They are wearing typical hazmat gear, complete with gas masks, decontamination suits, holding a container of what is more than likely neutralizing fluid or powder, and one of them is also holding a mop to clean up the mess. What?s amazing and chilling, is that next to them on your left, is a concrete wall that has a massive crack in it. That crack, in a facility like this, could be the beginning of life and death to everyone in a 20 to 200 mile radius, depending on the situation. Above the hazmat team and the cracked wall, we see a containment, which is the dome that contains the nuclear reactor itself. We also see three cooling towers surrounding the containment, which are heat removing devices to release the wasted heat into the air. Finally (and important for the game), we also see a robotic arm that is grabbing a hold of the radioactive pieces that are the heart of the plant. Obviously, these shouldn?t be touched by human hands because of what they contain, so it was (and still is) quite common to use robotics in an application as dangerous as this.

I?d like to also take a quick look at the Spectravision catalog listing for the title, to show you that the concept box art for the game was quite different. A lot more simplistic, and more visual to the actual motion picture. Here, all we see is the actual workstation control center for the nuclear power plant. All of the employees are wearing crisp white lab coats. Two of them are sitting at the desk while the other two are standing, possibly looking at what is behind the glass. Above the observation glass, there is a sign that is screaming ?DANGER?, obviously indicating that there is a SCRAM situation occurring at that moment. (The men in this picture seem really calm for a sign to be flashing like that!) In the right corner, there is naturally a bio-hazard symbol on the wall. This concept art looks a little more modern than the actual box artwork, considering that in 1982, the computer age was becoming more and more commonplace, and that the plant is more up to date with technology.

So, you?ve seen the movie, the catalog and box art completely intrigue you, and you decide to spend the money for the actual cartridge. What do you get? Well, the concept of the game is that an earthquake hit a nuclear power plant, which has damaged the core, causing radioactive particles to loosen and possibly collide or multiply with each other, which could then cause a spark, thus causing an explosion and possibly a meltdown of the plant, which could be death for hundreds of people nearby. In the game, you control a robotic arm (similar to what you see on the box art), and your job is to grab the radioactive particles before they can multiply and then collide with one another. In a weird aspect, it plays a lot like ?Frogger?, but backwards. Instead of trying to avoid the cars, you?re trying to grab the particles. The faster that you can grab the particles that are in rapid movement, the less chance there is that they will cause damage. It?s quite a simple game really. Nothing really fancy to learn, and it had to be quite an easy game for the programmers since the particles are nothing more than the typical dots you would see on nearly every other Atari 2600 game. But if you have the patience, it can actually be quite fun.

My main gripe with the game though, is that since it was based on a movie, I would have liked to see something actually FROM the movie be portrayed instead. For example, you could have played the part of the supervisor, trying hard to get the story out to the public, meanwhile avoiding getting killed by the corporate heads. Or, you could have been the character of Kimberly Wells, and doing whatever it took to get the story on the air. If you wanted to get very crazy, you could have even played the part of the power plant itself! The idea of an earthquake hitting an otherwise safe plant, just didn?t work for me as a back story for the game, since there was no earthquake in the film. I think that a true SCRAM situation would have been the best bet for a game like this, because, after all, how many times can you prevent nuclear meltdown?

On the computer aspect of it all, there was a game cassette tape released for the Atari 8-Bit computer series called ?SCRAM?, which was released in 1980. This game was released in a time period where computers were not supposed to ?play games?, but rather, ?run realistic simulations?. The concept of SCRAM was that (ironically enough), there was an earthquake that hit a power plant, and you had to race to get the plant working again. Very similar to China Syndrome, but instead of chasing little radioactive particles, you actually had to use the controls that a power plant supervisor would use, adjusting valves to get the levels correct. This game was not only more realistic, but naturally, a lot more difficult to play since it involved a lot of mathematics. I think that between the two titles, SCRAM was a much better program. (However, this was made for a computer that would be able to handle those types of calculations, whereas China Syndrome was a ?game?. I?m considering that ?games? for a console were supposed to actually NOT make you have to think hard, thus making it a lot easier to pick up and play. And on that aspect, I wholeheartedly agree.

China Syndrome is not a completely common cartridge, however a quick look on eBay should show you that copies of the game are certainly out there. The game is simple and fun to play, that is if you are able to handle a rapid paced game, which this game is. I like to call this game one of those ?non existent nose scratchers?. That means, that while you are playing, you better not have to scratch your nose for a second, because that little bit of time you spend doing that, could cause you to lose the game. (Which incidentally, when you lose, you are treated to probably one of the most terrible sounds ever made by the Atari system. Not terrible as it is annoying and long lasting.) I don?t think that anyone out there has ever said that this was their favorite VCS classic, but it?s a very worthy addition to your video game collection, even if it does only get played a few times a year. I?d play it on an emulator first before spending the money. But I think you?ll agree, it could have been worse. Much worse.

Random Fact: 12 days after the release of ?The China Syndrome? to theaters, the famous ?Three Mile Island? nuclear accident occurred in Pennsylvania. It was long assumed that either the production company caused the accident to raise awareness of the movie, or that a terrorist saw the movie and wanted to recreate it. Both have since been officially classified as rumors, as the accident was, just that. An accident.

Source: http://www.retrogamenetwork.com/2012/08/15/pure-imagination-china-syndrome/

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