Amstrad Action


Value Pack
By Tynesoft
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #2

Value Pack

Remember those arcade classics Pacman and Donkey Kong? Well, somebody's finally put them on the Amstrad and both in the same package. The former features a dot-gobbling monster and the latter a girl-kidnapping gorilla.

Munch-it

Munch-it is the familiar dot-gobbling monster chomping his way around mazes. His task is to get all the dots on screen without being caught by the four ghosts that also roam around. Each dot is worth points and bigger bonuses are available.

Usually if you run into a ghost it costs a life but if one of four power pills is munched you have a short period of time in which to get the four ghosts. These give healthy bonuses but the ghosts reappear after a time to dog your path again.

If you can grab all the dots you move to a different maze with a whole batch of dots to munch again. There are only five different layouts, some being a lot easier than others.

Climb-it

Climb-it stars a little chappie trying to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of a gorilla. This he has to do over four screens of action in which the ape will do everything in his power to stop you. On each screen you start at the bottom and have to work up to the top - just like life - where the ape waits with your girlfriend.

On each screen you can move about using ladders, walkways, lifts and conveyor belts. There are often goodies left lying around that can be picked up for bonus points. However there are also rolling.bar-rels. fires, pies and bouncing beams that will kill you and you'll have to start at the bottom of the screen again. Some of these can be dealt with with hammers that you can grab others will have to be avoided or jumped over.

At the end of the first three screens when you reach your girlfriend the gorilla steals her away again but at the end of the fourth the ape is toppled and you get back your girl.

Verdict

The programming of these two old games leaves something to be desired with some rather crude graphics and animation. The playability is also suspect and, even with both games for £6.95, it isn't particularly good value.

Second Opinion

Pack, yes. Value, no.

Good News

P. Two popular old games. P. Some pleasant old memories of hours speut standing in arcades.

Bad News

N. Poor graphics and animation. N. Overpriced, even with two games for £6.95. N. Very unoriginal (at least they didn't do Space Invaders as well). N. Gameplay is simple and repetitive. N. Nostalgia's OK but not when the games are worse than the originals.