The Best Dot-Eating Maze Game EVER!
And So It Starts...
You are a thief in a bank, and you have to pick up ''coins'' (they look like pellets from PacMan) to increase your haul from the robbery. Chasing you are policemen who shake billyclubs at you, trying to get you.
Control
You can play single player or two player, with each person playing alone until they ''die''. The latter is much more enjoyable, as you can laugh at your friends who have yet to master the disc on the controller! (Later Intellivision consoles came with joysticks, but even they were not as easy to master as the movement of those of say, Atari.)
The disc controller neither enhances nor detracts from the game, as you can just push the edge of the disc in the direction you would like to go.
One of the great things about this game, and one of the substantial improvements over PacMan, is that you can drop doors to block the police. This is great because if too many are chasing you, you cross over areas that allow you to drop doors (marked by light blue lines within maze) and then the police cannot go any farther. The only negative to these doors is that if you run into one by accident, you stick to it and are a sitting duck until the door evaporates about 10 seconds later.
Graphics and Sound
For its time, this game is on par. The ''music'' gets on people's nerves, as it is supposed to sound like a burglar alarm going off (you did break into a bank, remember).
The graphics are decent, and I like the fact that although there are only a few different maze layouts, there are several different items to pick up for points. Some that I remember fondly include the hat (first level), purse, and phone.
Will This Gather Dust?
I have to admit that I don't play this game on a regular basis. It is more of a collector's item than a replayable game.
Do I respect it enough to dust it? Yes. It provided me with plenty of hours of play, and is fortunately not included with later Intellivision Anthologies (PS1, PS2).
Overall Recommendation:
Buy this if:
* You like Mattel's original series of Intellivision games.
* You liked PacMan.
* You played it when you were young. It's still as good.