Mastertronic
£2.99

Oh dear, oh dear. I want everyone to understand, I'mnot giving this game a bad review because it's unoriginal and ancient (only because you can't play It). No, only because it's rubbish (No, it's addictive and frustratingly enjoyable!).

Bad enough that Pacman maze games died over five years ago (Planet 10 takes over from the equally fun Pac Land and PacManla, it's like the next logical step really), this one isn't even playable (actually, it becomes very playable when mastered).

Basically, it's a 3-D version of move around the maze eating the pills and avoiding the monsters. The forward view graphic is attractive enough (smooth and good perspective), especially the bold and bright monsters, but it isn't possible to play a good game of Pacman when you can only see what's in front of you (Wrong! You can do a back flip and instantly see what's behind you).

The other two displays the monsters and the maze maps are equally useless; the monster map is much too short ranging (Only if you're paranoid; you can see the monsters in plenty of time to take evasive action and head off down another corridor), and the maze map is ridiculously small (okay, so it's small, but the maze display is fine, and though it doesn't indicate monsters, you can see yourself perfectly clearly).

Mastertronic have tried to take a long-since dead game format and resurrect it. Unfortunately, they've only managed to cremate it. Unplayable and boring. (Ignore him. We played Planet 10 for ages. It is slightly difficult, but it only takes some practice to learn the best route and you're well away. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly addictive!!)

Overall 26% (79%)

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Never a man to miss out on a spicy low-pricey, Jonathan Davies sifts through this month's batch of good, bad and downright ugly budget games.

Mastertronic Plus
£2.99
Reviewer: Jonathan Davies

Stupid really. For years we've been staring out into space, mapping out galaxies billions of light years away and probing into the depths of black holes when all along, right on our doorstep, was the tenth planet in the solar system. And we didn't even notice it! How phenomenally unobservant.

Predictably enough it turns out to have hostile intentions towards Earth and so you, a spherical, yellow object with a big mouth, are despatched to deal with it and its inhabitants - cute, ghost-like creatures who frequent mazes filled with energy packs and power pills.

Now I know what you're thinking, and must admit that I have to agree. But this is 1989, and things have progressed. The maze is in 3D, Power pills come hurtling towards you. Ghosts leap out at you from the screen, causing you to reel back in terror. You never know what might be lurking round the next corner, and have to react instantly when your ghost-detector signals danger.

While it loses degrees for unoriginality, Planet Ten more than makes up for them in technical merit. The game has a fair turn of speed, and things grow to fill the whole screen as they come towards you.

In the end, though, nothing can hide its roots. PacMan is PacMan, however many dimensions it's displayed in, and addictiveness is affected accordingly. At the asking price, though, definitely worthy of consideration.

Label: Mastertronic
Author: In-house
Price: £2.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

There are a few game ideas which are so ancient and venerable that you don't seriously expect anyone ever to use them again. I mean, come on, honestly, surely NO-ONE in their right mind would EVER do another PacMan variant? Tell me it's not true!

But, pigs fly, moons turn blue, Screaming Lord Sutch becomes Prime Minister and Hartlepool win the Cup; Planet 10 is indeed a PacMan clone, though it's jazzed-up with a sci-fi scenario about sinister alien planetoids, hyper-galactic warriors and radioactive energy spodules. The biggest shock, though, is that Planet 10 is rather good.

The big gimmick is that Planet 10 may be PacMan, but it's PacMan like you've never seen it before; the twelve battle-planetoid mazes, rather than being shown from a top-down view, appear in amazing 3-D perspective with a starry background. As you steer your PacPerson through the maze, you see the walls scrolling past, junctions appearing to your right and left, energy tablets appearing on the floor as blue blocks. Power Pills as huge white spheres, and ghosts. AIIIEEEEGH! Huge, slobbering, glaring-eyed blobs of multi-coloured protoplasm bearing down on you from the distance! Of course, it would be impossible to complete each maze unless you had a map to help you out, and there it is in the lower right hand corner. It shows your position in the maze and all the uneaten energy tablets, but not the positions of the ghosts. These appear on your short-range scanner, and to the left of that is a direction indicator which shows which way you're facing, and whether your progress is blocked (although this is pretty obvious if a thumping great wall is in your way).

Apart from the sinister theme tune, the best part of the game has to be the ghosts themselves. When you're on the run from them, their appearance is truly scarifying: but if you swallow a Power Pill and give chase, they turn into blubbering cowards, ripe for gobbling up. See those ghost eyes scampering for safety! Hah!

So against all my better judgement this one has to be rated a hit. It might be a recent retread of the oldest idea in the entire universe, but it's been done with style and wit, and should give you a few hours of enjoyable gameplay.

So there you have it. Cheap, cheerful and well reworked.

Mastertronic
Spectrum £2.99

How times have changed. There we were back in '83, playing PacMan's Twin Brother in only two dimensions! Luckily, in these more enlightened times we can enjoy the same game in 3D, and actually be inside the maze with the ghosts and the power pills.

Planet Ten's 3D bit is very done indeed, and the depiction of ghosts sneaking up on you around corners, and of disembodied eyes flitting back to the base is quite amusing. The PacMan bit is the same as it ever was, though, so it's a case of, if you liked the 2D version you'll love Planet Ten. Otherwise the simplicity of it all may become quite tedious after a while.