Producer: Artic 16K
£4.95

Another standard version, pity though that Artic couldn't have made the ghosts a little slower after eating a power pill since it makes them impossible to catch.

Produce,: Artic 16K
£4.95

Another standard version, pity though that Artic couldn't have made the ghosts a little slower after eating a power pill since it makes them impossible to catch.

Produce,: Artic 16K
£4.95

Another standard version, pity though that Artic couldn't have made the ghosts a little slower after eating a power pill since it makes them impossible to catch.

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.

Producer: Artic
Memory Required: 16K
Retail Price: £4.95

Like most of the really early versions, Artic's has small and rather uninteresting characters of a small size. Power pills but no bonus fruit in this fast game. Generally pretty uninspiring.
CP

Artic first produced Gobbleman for the ZX81 - it played a very vicious game even then. This version is even faster. The maze is nicely drawn and is quite complex. The characters are small and quite insignificant compared with the size of the maze. Eating power pills causes the ghosts to pulsate - not a very good effect. No fruit appear at any time, having included them would have helped the game along a bit. Colour and sound is not at all well used, although the keys are well positioned and responsive.
MU

IT'S ALL A GAME...

James Walsh looks at some of the latest and greatest software for you Spectrum.

Games form the major portion of the software available for the Spectrum, so there is likely to be a pretty good choice available. But as with any market, there is the good and the bad. Though it is not difficult to differentiate when you're playing them on a computer, when they are staring at you from the pages of a glossy computer magazine, or sitting on the shelves of W.H. Smiths, then the choice is far more difficult. There are now the established producers of top quality software, such as Quicksilva and Artic, who can be relied upon to bring out good software. However, various new companies are now coming into the market with new and often exciting programs, some of them having the financial backing to compete with the Quicksilvas of this world and the market is definitely opening up at an alarming rate. For these reasons I am delighted to have new packages from one of my favourites, Artic, a new company, Imagine, and Computer Rental Limited.

Have you guessed what this title really means? Yes, it is Artic's version of the well-known 'Pac-Man' game. Pac-Man is so well known now, that in a few years time it will probably be thought of as part of computer heritage: ... In the beginning there were Space Invaders and Pac-Man, but the poor boys and girls couldn't afford 20p a game, so they invented the home computer... But we all know that that is wrong... E.T. invented them, that's what he wanted to phone home about!

Back to the serious stuff now and as the old saying goes: When you have seen one Pac-Man, you have seen 'em all. As far as Gobbleman is concerned, this view holds true. Visually, it is very similar indeed to the original, with the same features such as pills, etc, but a slightly better maze, in that it is bigger. Overall, it is quite a pleasing display, except for two annoying points: the words 'ARTIC Computing' pulsating at you all the time you are playing certainly does become irritating, and also when the ghosts eat you, instead of a decent explosion or a picture of a Gobbled Man (get it?), it simply runs through part of the character set at that point - surely they could not have been that short of memory? The speed of the response is very good, and the tempo of the game has been well-selected - it has to be when there is only one level of play! The ghosts are highly intelligent, and actually remember to run away from you when you have just eaten a pill. Unfortunately, they are the same speed as you, so they are rather difficult to catch up with at times, which seems rather illogical.

As far as being a Pac-Man copy it is good, so it is great for the Pac-Man enthusiast. But where it loses out is in that it is totally unadventurous. For example, the Acornsoft version for the BBC adds extra functions, and Gulpman from Campbell Systems Ltd actually expands on the game with variable speeds and tempo, and an enormous number of different mazes, plus a new laser feature. So, if you are looking for a near perfect copy of the original Pac-Man then Gobbleman is definitely worth considering, but for something more challenging I would recommend Gulpman.

Gobbleman is available at £4.95 from Artic Computing, 396 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull HU8 0JA.

Gulpman is available at £5.95 from Campbell Systems Ltd, 15 Rous Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex.