Classic Muncher

Sinclair User

Overall 2/5

John Gilbert 2/5

Label: Bubble Bus Author: Nick Jones Price: £1.99 Joystick: various Memory: 48K Reviewer: John Gilbert Bubble Bus must be off its trolley if it thinks that it can get away with a range of budget products which includes rip-offs of Space Invaders and Pacman. Yet that is what its new Minibus range proposes. The first release is Muncher, a version of Pacman which I'm sure Atari won't be overly keen to see - I think they stopped threatening legal action over Pacman clones three years ago, so maybe Bubble Bus is safe. Its bold irregular graphics and familiar chomping sound kept me playing for all of ten minutes during which time I managed to eat my way through five levels of power pills and kill over thirty flickering ghosts. The better you get, the more screens you clear and the fewer turn-ghosts-into-muncher-food pills you get. It's not that exciting, though. If you've just got a Spectrum or don't have a version of the classic Pacman you might want to look in your pocket for loose change and add it to your library. You're not likely to find a better version of the game floating around principally because it's back in the stone age of games design.

Crash

Presentation 47%

Graphics 38%

Playability 53%

Addictive Qualities 32%

Value For Money 46%

Overall 41%

Ben Stone

Mike Dunn

Paul Sumner

Producer: Bubble Bus Retail Price: £1.99 Author: Nick James Bubblebus Software's latest release bears a remarkable similarity to that age-old arcade favourite Pacman. Hang on a minute... It is Pacman! The program consists of a series of six unique screens which repeat infinitely. You control a small creature with an insatiable appetite, whom you guide through the onscreen mazes. To progress to the next screen, all of the dots strewn about the maze's passages have to be eaten - with this task accomplished by simply moving over them. Four ghosts chase you around the mazes, trying to touch you, and thus stealing away one of your three lives. To combat the spooks there are Power Pills placed around the screens. When these pills are eaten, you become temporarily immune and can turn on the ghosts, improving your score with each one that you eat. When a ghost is eaten, it returns to the 'home' square in the centre of the screen. It then reforms, and the relentless pursuit commences yet again. Letters forming the words 'EXTRA' or' BONUS'occasionally appear within the mazes. When successfully gobbled they appear at the top of the screen, and are worth 100 points each. Forming the entire word however, earns either an extra life or a substantial points boost - depending on the letters collected. 100 points are also awarded upon the eating of any item of fruit that appears on screen. Each dot is worth 10 points, the Power Pills score 100 points and devouring a ghost is also worth 100 points. Your current score, the amount of lives remaining, and the fruit and letters collected, are displayed at the top of the screen. When all six screens are completed, the action moves up a level and back to the first screen - but this time the pace is furious, and the ghosts are far less friendly. COMMENTS Control keys: definable, preset: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right Joystick: Kempston, Cursor Use of colour: drab, and unimaginative Graphics: unsurprising Sound: average Skill levels: one Screens: six

Dot Gobblers are an old genre indeed, but perhaps there's something about the game itself that appeals.