Reviews

I can only give this game an excellent score since the speccy port is highly impressive given the technical limitations of the platform. Firstly it should be said that this game is firmly of the 16-bit era and it is no surprise that my first contact with it came about via the flawless Atari ST & Amiga versions. So, to put it mildly I did not initially relish the idea of playing this on an 8-bit system. However, at myspeccy.com I decided to give it a whirl and was astounded to find that the playability and the depth of strategy to the game was still completely intact in the speccy port. Furthermore, the graphics can only be described as absolutely correct and it is a joy to see the bright yellow pacman character gobbling up dots around a cyan screen with really minimal colour clash.

The scrolling is expertly implemented showing what the Z80A can really do when pushed. Understandably things can momentarily slow down a little when the full complement of ghosts appear in close pursuit of the player in the higher levels. However, this just goes to show that the full potential of the speccy is being utiltised by the game engine and even these temporary slowdowns are somehow handled in a completely non-annoying way. I've only played the 48K version which has decent enough sound effects and so I cannot comment on the 128K version. All four of the varied in-game worlds from the original are shoe-horned into the 48K release as are the different ghost AI behaviours (jumping ghosts, fast ghosts etc..). Bonus fruit items and the useful speed power ups are also available in this speccy port.

You can certainly get a few days of play out of this one just getting up to the point where you have worked out a successful long-term strategy. Although, you'll still feel afterwards that you can somehow improve your skill at this game up to an even higher, yet unexplored level. Surely these things are the hallmark of a great game. In summary, speccy owners who had remained steadfastly loyal to their system in 1988 were rewarded with this exemplary 8-bit port from the 16-bit world. Unfortunately, some other games from around this time period were not quite so lucky!

A really good arcade conversion, it's a little slow but the gameplay is the same and it's very playable and very enjoyable. The 128K music from Ben Daglish is excellent and really adds to the enjoyment of the game.

Definately worth playing.

1988 Grandslam Entertainments (UK)
by Shaun Hollingworth, Peter Harrap, Jason Wilson and Ben Daglish

Although I think Pac-Mania is a nice maze action game and well converted to spectrum, just seems a bit pointless because the game itself is just the same Pac-Man all over again only this time in 3D. Whereas Pac-Land moved a step forward, even if into a well explored territory and without the quality of it's counterparts, Pac-Mania is just an enhancement of the original classic without any really interesting novelties.

3D Pac-Man !! A brilliant idea well executed ... what else can I say ??

SMASHING TUNE !!

By 1988, Pacman type games were getting a bit old hat, but Pacmania injected some new life into the idea. It is essentially re-vamped Pacman with a '3d' view. The gameplay of the coin-op is captured nicely, and graphics and sound are excellent.
One of the rare multi-platform conversions from the later days of the Spectrum that didn't leave you wishing you had a 16-bit or a few quid to spend in the arcade.

A decent conversion and a fun variation but you're still better off sticking to the original Pacman.

Thankfully a much better game compared to Pac-Land. Just as fun as the original with great music to boot. Feels a little slow but it's still a quality port.

I always loved Pac-Mania and I love this port. Yes it's slow but it's still got excellent gameplay just like the arcade version and the 128K music is amazing. Great conversion.

A great conversion that loses the bare minimum of performance vs. the 16-bit era machines.

by Krisalis Software Ltd (Shaun Hollingworth, Peter M. Harrap, Jason Wilson, Ben Daglish)

This entry in the Pac Man saga is a scrolling 3d version of the early game and, even more importantly, with the possibility of jumping over the ghosts - so this time they can't corner you so easily. It's enjoyable, sufficiently nice to look at - in spite of Pac Man's yellow clashing with the background - and
very, very playable. A defect: the speed seems to be slower when moving vertically. Still, pretty good.

4/5

previous review:
Pacman in 3d. It'd be very very nice, it only bothers me how it slows down when moving vertically compared to the horizontal speed.

3,5/5

Great way of making something new to another apparently used concept

Great fun and great way to update a myth

I like the way to display the PacMan without too much color clash.
So much attention to detail