Private Eye is a video game produced and published by Activision and released in 1983 for the Atari 2600 video game system. Designed by Bob Whitehead, who also wrote Chopper Command, Private Eye requires players to track down clues and recover items stolen by a master criminal, ultimately leading to his capture and arrest.
In Private Eye, players assume the role of Pierre Touché, a private investigator who has been assigned the task of capturing the criminal mastermind, Henri Le Fiend. Le Fiend is implicated in a number of crimes across the city, and the player must find the clues and the stolen property in order to successfully arrest Le Fiend.
The game consists of four separate cases. Using a specially-built Model A that can jump over obstacles, players must search the city for a specific clue to the crime and for the object stolen in the crime. Each item must then be returned to its point of origin; the clue is taken to a business to verify it came from there, and the stolen object is returned to its rightful owner. These items may be discovered in any order, but players may carry only one item at a time. When both items have been located and returned, then the player must locate and capture Le Fiend, and finally take him to jail, successfully closing the case.
However, the city is full of street thugs who will attack the player. If the player is hit while carrying an item (either the clue or the stolen property), the item is lost and must be re-located. Further, each case has a statute of limitations, which serves as the game's time limit. To win the game, the player must locate and verify the clue, locate and return the stolen property, and lastly locate Le Fiend and take him to jail within the time allotted.
The player starts with 1000 'merit points'. Points are lost whenever the player hits an obstacle or is attacked by a thug, and are awarded whenever an item is located, subsequently returned, and when a thug (or Le Fiend himself) is nabbed. Each case represents a separate game variation; when the case is solved or time runs out, the game ends. A fifth variation requires the player to solve all four crimes at the same time.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Private Eye was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the
Atari 2600 can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB joystick that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a joystick, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
5 different online emulators are available for Private Eye. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Private Eye are summarized in the following table:
If you like Private Eye you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
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This version of Private Eye was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the
Atari 2600 can be found 
