Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

-MACHINE; AMIGAti.• SUPPLIER: ANCOIli. PRICE- It• REVIEWER: CHRISE9.9Hurrayl What am I cheeringabout? 5 Well, one of my all timefavourites has finally beenproduced on the Amiga. What isit? Pac-Man of course_Yes, they've finally broughtout a Pac-Man for the Amiga. Ithought that being such an oldgame, software houses wouldforget all about this classic and itwould be lost forever. rThisPac-Man is not the original asproduced by Atari, but it's byAnco and is called CrunchetFactory.Your aim in Pac-Man is toguide your little yellow 'ball witha gob' around a maze and eat allof the little white dots or pills.This would be quite boring on itsown, so you also have to watchout for the ghosts. W00000hlThe ghosts are nasty creatureswho like nothing better than tochomp on your bones. There areufour ghosts in Pac-Man, and sothere are four in Cruncher. ButCruncher has one specialfeature. Well, it's not exactlky afeature, more a gimmick. Withthe press of a few keys, theghosts will all transformthemselves into nastly little Atarilogos, and your little yellowspheroid will turn into thefamous,'Arniga Ball'.This has no real use, butnevertheless it is quite fun to seean Atari logo legging it awayfrom a little red and white ballwhich has just consumed apower pill.A power pill? Yes, a power pillis a small green pulsating dotwhich will give Pac-Man supermunching strength for around 15seconds, more than enough timeto get his revenge.There are four power pills perlevel, well at the start anyway.You see, one of the interestingthings about this great version isthe fact that, if you wish, youcan create your own Pac-Mazes,or edit an existing one. The diskcomes supplied with 30 differentmazes and an extra 40 can beadded. This brings me to theonly sour note.The game disk is copy-editied,to protect piracy and the like.Smart move, right? Wrong.Because the disk is protected itmeans that you can only saveyour mazes on the original disk,very dodgy. What Anco shouldhave done is offer anon-protected version for a fewpounds more if you send themthe original disk. A number ofcompanies are already practisingthis including Electronic Arts,authors of the fantastic DeluxePaint.Still, that's only a littleproblem, nothing to affectgameplay.So, what have we got. A reallyneat and extremely fast versionof the arcade classic with extrabits like a screen editor. Nicegraphics, although not what youcall Amiga standard, andthe sound isnt much cop either,but it has it where it counts.N. GRAPHICS 7P. REALISM 7PLAYABILITY 10P.. VALUE 10dPi MACHINES: CBM 64; IBMTANDYB. SUPPLIER: ELECTRONICARTS••• PRICE £1696 discP• VERSION TESTED. CBM 54it• REVIEWER: STEVEOften when somebody famousendorses a computer game, thegame isn't very good. Thelegendary Brigadier-GeneralCharles Yeager, US Air Force,first man to break the soundbarrier, is an exception, and so isthis game_ It is demanding anddifficult, and you won't master itin a week, but like flying it's wellworth the effort.This is a flight simulator, not acombat simulator or wargamehi nTrameT0(we are promised thoselater).The only things youreally need to think aboutare the joystick and throttle.But anyone trying to fly lik6 anarcade game soon learnsdifferently - the ccontrolsare very sensitive and veryrealistically tuned. Part of theprogram actually teaches youthe basic manoeuvres of flying ina Cessna trainer, first with the'instructor' in control, then withyou coping solo.The core of the program is aFlight Test simulator whichallows you to test fly any one offourteen different aircraft,ranging from World War One1hefighters to modern powerhousescapable of over three times thespeed of sound. You are not toldhow they perform, it is your jobto find out and record it.Particular fun are three fictionalaircraft, all similar-lookingmodern jets with very differentways of behaving in the air.The program works in realtime in a 'world' that has threedifferent airports and a numberof aircraft 'obstacle courses'.These can also be used foraircraft racing - at below 100feet in one case - and forformation flying stunts. Theseare not to be attempted untilyou've really worked out how toP. GRAPHICSREALISM10- KAYABILITYVALUE111111111211fly.Some of the options offeredseem unecessary, like the abilityto look through the aircraft'sfloor or tail, or move outside it inflight to see yourself from achase plane or a satellite, oremploy an eight-times zoom tolook at an object.Altogether this is the best, themost realistic, and the mostcomprehensive flight simulatorthat I've seen on the market.799