Producer: CDS, 16K
£5.95

All the usual features with machine code smooth graphics. No joystick option.

Producer: CDS, 16K
£5.95

All the usual features with machine code smooth graphics. No joystick option.

Producer: CDS, 16K
£5.95

All the usual features with machine code smooth graphics. No joystick option.

ELECTRO GOBBLE - PACMAN TYPE GAMES

In our sixth comparison, reviewers CHRIS PASSEY and MATTHEW UFFINDELL snatch a glass of water and a handful of power pills and prepare to do battle with a legion of ghosts...

Pacmania came over from the States quite a while back. Initially the game was regarded as odd in that it was relatively non-violent for a computer game, but it rapidly established itself as the number one arcade favourite. Although the craze is over now, there are still a lot of pacfans around. As a classic maze game, Pacman was among the first arcade originals to be copied in numerous forms on to the Spectrum. Copyright owners, Atari International, have been promoting their expensive 'official' version since before Christmas, but it competes against some very strong 'unofficial versions. Some are good, some not so good, and there are some interesting variants.

In brief, the classic version should have a medium complex maze connected horizontally by a wrap around tunnel. In the four corners are a similar number of power pills. Each pathway of the maze is regularly dotted. In the centre is a 'home' for ghosts of differing colours and point values, which are released into the maze at intervals. The object is to take your Pacman, an orange ball with a gobbling mouth, around the maze and eat all the dots to promote to a more difficult screen with more intelligent ghosts. Eating a power pill will cause all the ghosts to turn blue and edible. In this condition they should run away from your approach at a slower speed than yourself, Strawberries appear at intervals and can be eaten for bonus points.

GOBBLE A GHOST
Producer: CDS
Memory Required: 16K
Retail Price: £5.95

Gobble a Ghost is packaged very well. Looking at the cover, I thought, 'This could be the one.' Boy, was I wrong! The game is no way a close Pacman. It has poor graphics, no fruit and stupid ghosts. These poor spectres seem to like getting into a chain, making them easy prey after eating a power pill. Playability is not very high at all - an average to poor version.
CP

C.D.S. come up with a conventional style game but have failed in reproducing arcade-like moving characters. The maze is well drawn though. The characters are small but quite colourful. The ghosts give no indication that they are about to become invulnerable again after eating a power pill. The game plays quite well but the ghosts don't seem really eager to get you. Sound could have been better used but the keyboard play is quite good with fairly positioned keys that are responsive.
MU