"If only blue-collar work were really this fun!"

Before the phrase ''Hard Hat Mack'' had possible sexual connotations thanks to Gangsta Rap, it was a wonderful Apple game back in the early eighties. In the game you control a construction worker, who needs to perform three relatively pointless but fun tasks within a certain time limit in order to gain the right to perform these pointless but fun tasks with even less time to spare--it's unclear if he gets overtime pay, but either way the game doesn't feel like work. Mack is inhibited on each board by Osha(this guy in green overalls who due to bad resolution may be sticking his thumbs in his ears and waving his hands or more likely is just waving his arms all about. He caused a huge stink because OSHA is an anagram for a government agency) and ''The Vandal,'' who looks like a cross between Pig Pen in Peanuts and one of those horrid tree spirits out of a bad movie that tries to ''modernize'' mythology. There's no difference between them other than looks; the villain on each level has a predetermined pattern and only on level one, where the monster may go one of two ways, is there really a random element in their movement. The only other random element is where the objects are, and again the choice comes down to one of two places for each object.

Here are the tasks: first, Mack must pick up four bricks on a five-platform structure and put them into holes in the structure, pick up a drill, and drill the holes. There are chain link ropes to climb on alternating sides and even an elevator on the far left. Mack can also jump off the structure on the right onto a trampoline, knocking him up to the next level. There's a machine in the upper left that throws bouncing objects down that may nail mack, and the second time through, there are two bad guys waiting for Mack. I remember having a problem getting rid of the drill after taking it involuntarily before I'd put all the bricks in place, and after putting Mack in the elevator safely, hit all the keys and found I had to hit return.

The second is to grab six lunch boxes(after all that running around, Mack probably needs a big lunch.) To do so, Mack makes use of a platform that some weird steam engine moves up and down. There are six platforms, and one has a chain ladder below to a lunch box which is the trickiest to get. There's even a greed factor--Mack can pick up a tool worth 200 points after the lunch box if he thinks he can make it back in time, but it gives him less room for error. After Mack has gathered all six lunch boxes, he must go to the upper right platform where there's a conveyor belt to an incinerator, jump on the belt, and hope that the moving magnet above latches onto his hat and leads him to level three. This level always has one monster even on the second and third times around.

The third level is even quirkier. There is a vertical elevator/conveyor belt in the center where Mack can jump on stairs jutting out from it and go for a ride, but if he stays on it too long, he panics and jumps in the pool below. Again, there are platforms he must jump on and off, and his object is to pick up crates(there are six again) and drop them in holes in the lower left or right. There is a monster guarding each of the lower left and lower right areas(the two bottom left and two bottom right platforms are where they hang out) to make Mack's life tougher. There are other gadgets Mack cannot walk into, but if he walks off a platform, he bounces on a trampoline to the other side, while in the previous level he'd just die. There are also other amusing lethal objects on this level.

A sample of the other things Mack must use or avoid include, loose wires that look like ticklers, springboards, a call bell for the elevator he has to jump to hit, some Scylla-and-Charybdis-wannabe pincers, a small box that looks harmless, squashers that descend from the ceiling, and even a dynamite cracker.

With oddities like this, the graphics, though emphatically 2-d, are on the whole positive. Even graphics that are objectively bad have amusing multiple interpretations, and the sound is very appropriate for 1983(''Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go!'' starts the level, and each level has a different ending tune.) I particularly like the sound of a ''click'' when a magnet locks on to Mack's helmet and an incomprehensible sound you hear when Mack uses an elevator, and the tunes you hear for solving each board are pretty cool, too. Also, it's particularly amusing to note that Mack can fall the equivalent of 6 inches in one case and die by walking off a first-level platform(he always seems to compress vertically by a factor of 5 or so when he dies), but when he's carrying a brick, he has no problem falling thirty feet and jumping off a springboard.

For controls you can use the keyboard or joystick. The keyboard is a bit sticky, because non-movement controls(releasing the drill on level 1) cause Mack to stop, and you need to know that one of AZ/arrows starts you in motion and only another key will stop Mack. It can be a nuisance to climb up a rope some time but other than that the controls are adequate.

Hard Hat Mack is a real classic, as anyone who's played it on the Apple will likely agree. It's one of those video games that eventually beats you by default(it's eventually impossible to complete a level in the given time) but when you feel like dusting off an oldie there are few better choices, as there is still an entertaining challenge to your manual dexterity and timing. If there could be computer DJ's ''spinning the oldies'' HHM would be one of the most popular games. It's easy to like Mack, his enemies, and the unique puzzles in this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/00, Updated 09/20/01