Mac-Man

"Pac Man for the Macintosh"

A redone cloned version of the original game Pacman. This arcade Classic was one of the 5 games included with the ''Arcade Classics'' bundle pack along with Patriot Command, HemiRoids, Bricklayer, and Movod 2. This version has richer art, but still has the simplistic layouts and graphics of the original. What's better is that you can cheat to get infinite lives, warp, etc. There isn't much of an introduction needed for this game. So lets see what I thought of it.

Gameplay-9
It's about as addictive as the original, and like any other clone, has the same physics. Eat the dots, avoid the ghosts, get the high score. The levels get harder and the bonuses are worth more as you progress. Thankfully they do have power pills along with the dots to score bonus points on the ghosts

Sound-0
Honestly, I don't remember if it had sound or not, but I'm sure there wasn't. Just play Macman to your favorite CD or in dead silence. Or just get that ''wakkawakkawakka'' sound stuck in your head.

Music-0
This game provides no in game music, so you can take the suggestion above and either play a CD along with the game, or play in dead silence. At least it keeps the game small and under 200 KB.

Playability-10
This game contains no nudity, pornography, or violence among Pac man kind. Try elsewhere.

Controls-10
There are only 4 things you need to remember about the controls. Up. Down. Left. Right. That's it.

Replay Value-3
Little to no variety, heavy addiction. This clone has done it's job well. Enjoy the simpler things in life and take a trip back to the 1980s.

Challenge
Easy to Moderate/Moderately Hard. I think the actual NES games of Pacman are harder.

Download? Or Trash?
I'm not sure of the accessibility of getting this game anymore. You can buy the Mac Arcade Pak and buy it properly, and NOT break the law for a change, but I don't see any hope of finding it nowadays. Maybe a friend has it, and you can pester him/her to let you play it. Or find a NES and a copy of Pacman.

Saving
Saves 10 high scores in it's application.
(so no preferences file, copy the application to a disk to save the scores to floppy)
It keeps track of what level you started on, number of ghosts in play, and lives you started with.

Company
I forget, but it's on the title screen, so.

Hardware
Macintosh System 7.5.3 recommended, 200K or less in disk space, 8MB+ of RAM

Overall-8
It's a highly accurate recreation that is sure to keep you busy for at least a couple of hours. I appreciate the effort that was put into this small game for the Macintosh community. Pacman will never die.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/03, Updated 05/28/03