Released: 1983. Developer: Ozark Softscape. Publisher: Electronic Arts.
The Atari 8-bit computer platform left a rich legacy of early computer games. Of those, M.U.L.E. stands out as the most important and influential. This strategic masterpiece from Dani Bunten Berry introduced the Atari generation to dramatic competition through economic cunning, demonstrating that players need not blow each other away to have a good time. As members of a motley crew of aliens vying for economic supremacy on a distant world, players have to draw on both instinct and intellect to survive.
"The design of the auction, with its ticking time limit, the moving bars marking sell price and buy price, the up-and-down teasing behavior that either buyers or sellers could use--all made for intense interaction that tickled the deepest levels of human intuition," says renowned game designer Chris Crawford. "That was the greatest design stroke of M.U.L.E., and few modern designers appreciate its significance."
M.U.L.E. received ports to a number of other platforms, but it plays best in its original Atari form, owing especially to the 800's plentiful array of joystick ports, which allows four Planeteers to play simultaneously. (Forget Mario Party; M.U.L.E. was the original party game). Be prepared to dance, too: M.U.L.E.'s triumphant theme song is as good as they come.
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