38 replies to this topic

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

"Sacre bleu! I am the great French private eye Pierre Touche and I need your help. I've been summoned to capture the ringleader, Henri Le Fiend, and turn him over to the police. But wait -- we first must find evidence against him and the stolen property. There are five cases pending, each with its own statute of limitation. A case is closed when Le Fiend is apprehended and booked. So hurry! Study the files below, grab your trenchcoat and meet me at Precinct 2600 -- I'll be waiting for you."

Game Information

Game Name: Private Eye Released By: Activision, 1984 Left Difficulty: Your Choice (Cruise Control) Right Difficulty: Your Choice (Alters Jumping) Game Mode: Case 5 - The Big Sweep Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday January 5th at 1:00 AM (Central Time, UTC-6).

Challenges

Solve Each Case - The game we're playing this week is Case 5, which is a combination of all four of the other cases. But if you don't feel up to that, you can complete each individual case for 5 bonus points! (Note that individual scores will not be recorded) Gorfy (Case 1 & 2) [+10] Miss 2600 (All Four Cases) [+20] roadrunner (Case 1 & 2) [+10] Scrabbler15 (Case 1 & 2) [+10] JacobZu7zu7 (Case 1) [+5] Jifremok (All Four Cases) [+20] toymailman (Case 1) [+5]

Current High Scores 237,681 (Jifremok) [+11] 188,857 (Miss 2600) [+10] 145,658 (toymailman) [+9] 134,878 (Scrabbler15) [+8] 107,596 (JacobZu7zu7) [+7] 107,513 (roadrunner) [+6] 47,232 (oyamafamily) [+5] Best Tips Miss 2600 [+2] TwinGalaxies Top 3 (Game 5) 237,036 (David B Yancey) 207,326 (Todd Rogers)

Current Standings toymailman [253] JacobZu7zu7 [227] Deteacher [208] Scrabber15 [203] oyamafamily [176] roadrunner [106] Miss 2600 [106] Jifremok [68] zylon [66] Zoyx [55] Chuck D. Head [52] LarcenTyler [48] keilbaca [41] SeaGtGruff [33] Mingy Jongo [31] ClassicGMR [29] pis [21] lastkill3r [21] HatefulGravey [17] Gorfy [16] Mangia-Boy [15] rmaerz [14] doctorclu [13] Pioneer4x4 [12] 4Ks [10] dooglehead [9] MrJimbo [8] Mister VCS [7] satan165 [7] Curious Sofa [4] madbutscher [4] ed1475 [2] littleman jack [2] pacmanplayer [2] MIKE5200 [2] Austin [1] Player 3 [1] SpaceDice2010 [1]

Scoring Points in Private Eye

Nab a questionable character - 100 points Collect evidence - 5000 points Collect stolen item - 15,000 points Verify evidence - 10,000 points Return a stolen item - 20,000 points Nab Henri Le Fiend - 25,000 points Book Henri at the Police HQ - 25,000 points Car is in a pothole - minus 1 point Hit by a brick - minus 100 points Hit by a flower pot - minus 200 points Hit by a rat - minus 300 points Hit by a bird - minus 400 points Hit by a dagger - minus 1000 points

Hints and Tips

The Manual

As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy and a scanned copy available online (The scanned copy is a single-page poster style manual, but the other side has a map, so don't forget to look at that too!). Here are the hints it provides:

• Try to figure out the best direction to head in when you begin each case. Some cases are easier when you start out to the left, and some are easier when you start out to the right. Also, certain cases "prefer" you to pick up the evidence first, while others are more easily solved when the stolen item is found first. So discover and jot down the "initial direction" and "order of search" for each case.
  
• Touche! to those of you who will brave Case 5. I feel obligated to say that, although it is the sum of Cases 1-4, some of the secret passages will be changed. But don't let that discourage you. Just adjust your map a bit.

Miss 2600

I. Draw A Map

I map out each street. I only write down or draw the detours, dead ends, jumps, businesses, the police station, evidence, and Henri Le Fiend. Sometimes I'll draw trees to let me know when I'm entering the wilderness just to give me a little confidence that I'm on the correct street. Once I note what is on the street, I'll take a detour. I number all the detours. If it takes me somewhere on the same street, I'll draw an arrow from that detour to the one to which it takes me. If it takes me to another street, I'll start mapping it out the same way. If the detour is locked, I'll just write "locked."

II. Detours Are The Key

Any detours that will save you time, take them! Though most of you will probably focus on Case 5, I'll use Case 4 as an example because it is fresh in my mind. In case 4, there are several streets that have many detours in a row. On the first street, there are 14 in a row. I numbered each detour on my map (there are 40 total for case 4) and, when I took one that took me to another detour in those 14 in a row, I counted back to the wilderness detour (that is the first one of the 14). Then I knew exactly which detours saved me driving past screens. For example, when traveling left, I took the detour after that first wilderness one (numbered 4 on my map). It took me to detour 8 (saved me four screens). Then I counted the detours from 8 to 15 and took detour 15 which took me to another street. It is really important to know where all the detours go because time is of the essence.

III. Watch Out For Snipers

Once you take a piece of evidence to its proper location, the snipers come out (Le Fiend's gang takes you seriously now). If they hit you and you are carrying something, you will lose the item and will have to backtrack to retrieve it. I do not worry about the snipers unless I have an item or Le Fiend in my possession. If I don't have anything, I'll just jump in stride. If the sniper hits me, oh well. If I have something in my possession, I am super careful jumping over the sniper's shot. Watch out for the bird! If you hit it, it might slam you down right into the sniper's bullet.


Here's my strategy for Case 3. It's got to be done with precision. There is a little room for error, like not going over a couple jumps on the first try, but not much.

Go left and take 3rd detour
Go right and get the RING
Keep going right and take the first detour that is in the forest
Go right and take 2nd detour after the jump
Go left to GEM STORE
Go back right and take detour
Go right and take next detour (in forest)
Keep going right and get the COMB
Go left and take the 1st detour after the jump
Keep going left and again take the first detour after the jump
Go right and take the first detour
Keep going right and take the first detour after the POLICE STATION
Go left to the HAIRCUTS
Go back right and take the detour
Go left and take the 2nd detour after the POLICE STATION
Keep going left and take the detour in the forest
Go right and take the 1st forest detour
Go left and nab the CROOK
Go back right and take the detour
Go left and take the 1st detour after the jump
Go right and take the next detour
Keep going right to POLICE STATION

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Since this week overlaps Christmas, and next week overlaps New Years, I decided this should be a two week thing so everyone has time to get some gameplay in. This is a really neat game, and I didn't want it to get ignored because everyone was busy with the holidays.

--Zero

[Gorfy]

I'll get things rolling with my completion of Level 1. Can we go for both the bonus points and the high score, or is it an either/or deal?

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[roadrunner]

The name of this game reminds me of the song Private Eyes by Hall & Oates.

[Miss 2600]

I'm glad to have two weeks on this one. This is a toughie. I struggled with it when I was a kid (and never could earn the patch )

roadrunner: That's my favorite Hall & Oates song!

[roadrunner]

Miss 2600, on Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:06 PM, said:

I'm glad to have two weeks on this one. This is a toughie. I struggled with it when I was a kid (and never could earn the patch )

roadrunner: That's my favorite Hall & Oates song!

It's a great song isn't it.

I'm glad at least someone likes the videos i posted in the last 2 rounds of the 2600 HSC.

[Gorfy]

Now I can't get that song out of my head!
Nonetheless, I managed to get through Case2, albeit just barely. Not much room for mistakes, which is reminiscent of Pitfall, but much less tedious than the latter. This game's actually pretty addictive. It kinda reminds me of my old neighborhood, except people were smashing beer bottles against the car rather than flower pots.

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[Ze_ro]

Gorfy, on Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:47 AM, said:

Can we go for both the bonus points and the high score, or is it an either/or deal?

Go for both. But the high scores are only for case 5.

--Zero

[JacobZu7zu7]

CASE 5, 1ST TRY. 42,714

Need to learn this one, back at emulator and a game I never played.

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[Miss 2600]

Started with the bonus cases first:

Case 1



Case 2



Case 3



Making progress with Case 4 but it's going to take more practice. I wish I was more diligent on Case 3 when I was a kid as I think that was the case you needed to solve to earn a patch. I finally solved it but it was tough. You really have to learn your way around the detours to shave off time. It is very unforgiving time-wise. Once I know which informants (I guess that is who those mysterious characters are) have the items, I do not bother catching the ?'s for points unless it's easy (i.e. I already have to jump in their direction to avoid something or there is nothing else around) as it takes up precious time.

[Gorfy]

Miss 2600, on Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:49 PM, said:

Started with the bonus cases first:

Case 1

PI1.jpg

Case 2

PI2.jpg

Case 3

PI3.jpg

Making progress with Case 4 but it's going to take more practice. I wish I was more diligent on Case 3 when I was a kid as I think that was the case you needed to solve to earn a patch. I finally solved it but it was tough. You really have to learn your way around the detours to shave off time. It is very unforgiving time-wise. Once I know which informants (I guess that is who those mysterious characters are) have the items, I do not bother catching the ?'s for points unless it's easy (i.e. I already have to jump in their direction to avoid something or there is nothing else around) as it takes up precious time.

Nice goin' on getting thru Case 3! I've been going nowhere fast on that one.

[Miss 2600]

Case 3 is all about using detours to save time. Even if one or two saves you a couple screens. What I did was map out all the detours and where each took me. Any detours that allowed me to bypass screens I took (even if it meant backtracking to take a detour). Even with that I barely made it back to the police station with the crook. Case 4 seems to be the same way, but there are A LOT more detours.

[Gorfy]

Miss 2600, on Sat Dec 25, 2010 3:14 PM, said:

Case 3 is all about using detours to save time. Even if one or two saves you a couple screens. What I did was map out all the detours and where each took me. Any detours that allowed me to bypass screens I took (even if it meant backtracking to take a detour). Even with that I barely made it back to the police station with the crook. Case 4 seems to be the same way, but there are A LOT more detours.

Sounds pretty involved......I was hoping to avoid taking out pencil and paper, being the map illiterate that I am, but it appears necessary at this point, or at least at the next available moment of relative sobriety. Good luck on Case 4.

[oyamafamily]

PARTICIPATION POINT ON CASE 5 - 47,232

[roadrunner]

I solved Case 1

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[Miss 2600]

I did it!!!

Case 4



I had to map it out on two sheets of legal paper.



Now I can finally work on Case 5.

[Miss 2600]

Tips:

I. Draw A Map

I map out each street. I only write down or draw the detours, dead ends, jumps, businesses, the police station, evidence, and Henri Le Fiend. Sometimes I'll draw trees to let me know when I'm entering the wilderness just to give me a little confidence that I'm on the correct street. Once I note what is on the street, I'll take a detour. I number all the detours. If it takes me somewhere on the same street, I'll draw an arrow from that detour to the one to which it takes me. If it takes me to another street, I'll start mapping it out the same way. If the detour is locked, I'll just write "locked."

II. Detours Are The Key

Any detours that will save you time, take them! Though most of you will probably focus on Case 5, I'll use Case 4 as an example because it is fresh in my mind. In case 4, there are several streets that have many detours in a row. On the first street, there are 14 in a row. I numbered each detour on my map (there are 40 total for case 4) and, when I took one that took me to another detour in those 14 in a row, I counted back to the wilderness detour (that is the first one of the 14). Then I knew exactly which detours saved me driving past screens. For example, when traveling left, I took the detour after that first wilderness one (numbered 4 on my map). It took me to detour 8 (saved me four screens). Then I counted the detours from 8 to 15 and took detour 15 which took me to another street. It is really important to know where all the detours go because time is of the essence.

III. Watch Out For Snipers

Once you take a piece of evidence to its proper location, the snipers come out (Le Fiend's gang takes you seriously now). If they hit you and you are carrying something, you will lose the item and will have to backtrack to retrieve it. I do not worry about the snipers unless I have an item or Le Fiend in my possession. If I don't have anything, I'll just jump in stride. If the sniper hits me, oh well. If I have something in my possession, I am super careful jumping over the sniper's shot. Watch out for the bird! If you hit it, it might slam you down right into the sniper's bullet.

[Gorfy]

Miss 2600, on Wed Dec 29, 2010 8:28 PM, said:

I did it!!!

Case 4

PI4.jpg

I had to map it out on two sheets of legal paper.

PIMap.jpg

Now I can finally work on Case 5.

Congratulations on a really difficult level!!

Edited by Gorfy, Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:32 AM.

[Miss 2600]

Case 5

176,718

[Miss 2600]

Case 5

183,900



I'm at the point of getting the crook, but I don't have enough time. Maybe others here can figure out how to condense it more with detours. I'm thinking maybe there's some main detour I'm missing that cuts out a lot of time going back and forth.

[Scrabbler15]

Miss 2600, on Sat Jan 1, 2011 10:06 PM, said:

Case 5

183,900

PI5.jpg

I'm at the point of getting the crook, but I don't have enough time. Maybe others here can figure out how to condense it more with detours. I'm thinking maybe there's some main detour I'm missing that cuts out a lot of time going back and forth.

You're doing awesome! I'd try to help, but I'm only in the 130's and I keep getting lost when I venture to the left of the Police Station. Ain't no GPS in my jalopy...

[Gorfy]

Wish I could offer a tip, but I've been trying to figure out case 3 for days.........My cartography skills suck!!

[JacobZu7zu7]

Uh, how do you catch the criminals, it doesn't say squat in the manual.
I try to drive passed the forest to catch the bad guy, but when I approach this blue headed guy hides in the bushes, wackin'!!

[Miss 2600]

JacobZu7zu7, on Sun Jan 2, 2011 3:08 AM, said:

Uh, how do you catch the criminals, it doesn't say squat in the manual.
I try to drive passed the forest to catch the bad guy, but when I approach this blue headed guy hides in the bushes, wackin'!!

You've got to collect and deliver the evidence/stolen goods first. In the first case, you need to get the gun to the Gun Store and then the money bag to the Bank. Once you do that, the crook will allow himself to be caught and then you book him at the Police Station. There are two things you need to get and deliver in each case (i.e. a ring to the Gem Store, Comb to the Haircut place, vase to the Museum, etc.)

There is a lot of back and forth in this game because you can't carry two things at once which makes it so hard to do everything under the time limit.

[roadrunner]

Great tips Miss 2600!

I solved Case 2

That was close, only 1 second left.

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