Barnstorming 1982 By: Activision

Overview:

Barnstorming is another one of Activision's triumphs. The idea for the game was inspired by the Barnstorming movement in the 20's. There was a surplus of biplanes because the Air Force was using them to train their pilots. After the war, there was also a surplus of pilots who wanted to fly for a living. They found their living as entertainers. They would preform dangerous stunts in the air. Eventually the government got involved and passed regulations against it. The graphics look very good for an Atari 2600 game. They are very colorful and well drawn. The sounds could have been a little better. The gameplay is very fun and good for hours of replayability. The controls, like for most Atari games, are very simple.
A fun fact about this game is that originally, a player with a time of 33.3 seconds or better on game 1, 51.0 seconds on game 2, or 54.0 seconds on game 3, could send Activision a picture of their screen and receive membership in the Activision Flying Aces and receive a Flying Aces patch.

Directions:

The player must pilot a biplane through a series of barns in the shortest time possible while dodging windmills, weather vanes, and geese. Bumping into anything slows down the plane for a couple of seconds, increasing the overall time.
There are four levels of play, determined by the game select switch. Game 1 is Hedge Hopper (10 barns), game 2 is Crop Duster (15 barns), game 3 is Stunt Pilot (15 barns), and game 4 is Flying Ace (25 barns). In the first three games, the course layout of barns, windmills, and even geese do not change, making it easy to memorize the layout. Game 4 is the only game with a random course.