JdR-Pacman
by Johan de Ruiter
http://welcome.to/jdrsoft
http://welcome.to/jdrsoft
A PacMan clone that is pretty cool.
| Premise: | Basically a PacMan clone. A few interesting things that make this game different. |
| This game is one self contained .exe. It has basic controls.
Pretty much like PacMan, where you have to pick up the pellets. The enemies are a little
different. Now you have some weird spiky thingies, and sometimes a ghost that doesn't
like it when you get near. The AI is primitive but goes well with the design of the maps.
This game is actually done pretty well. There are only 10 maps, and there is no option to
add more for upgradeability, but it is still alright. There is an option to change the color of your character also. I found it to be a nice touch. I didn't like how some things needed me to wait through without any kind of input. Basically the Intro and the end of every level. |
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| There is no animation, but the graphics are fairly nice. The tiles were done decently
and were not ugly in any way. The main character has 4 different colors possible, and the
enemies were pretty nice. I liked the text effects, and the main menu screen, even though they don't apply to the game. While the graphics weren't overly amazing, they were good enough to make this game enjoyable. | |
| Surprisingly the controls were really nice. I thought that there might be some lag, since it apparantly uses INKEY$ for input. I did notice that if I held down a key and my character moved, there was a slight wait before the character would move again. Sort of like when you press a key in a word processor and hold it down. The delay is not that much of a problem, but it was there. Besides that, the controls were decently done. There is not too much complexity to the game, so the controls reflect that. | |
| PC speakers. Of course, they were done nicely. If you run into a wall you hear a buzz.
Sort of like the jarring hit you would expect, I think. The only thing I find a problem with is when
you finish the level, the counter that adds your bonus points runs slow and doesn't stop until it is done.
There is no option to speed it up, and the sound is just annoying. Being that this game uses the PC speakers, I could not give it much of a score here, but it was done quite creatively for the most part. | |
| Have you played it yet? It can be somewhat addicting. I don't know why, but for
some reason I had to stop myself from playing a level over again so I could finish working.
I am writing my review at work after hours, and I am hungry. Anyway, the challenge factor is actually quite nice. The enemy AI is simple, but with multiple enemies, the play is a little harder. You have to think about how to hide from them and make them move where you want them to go. I think that this game is actually quality in this area. | |
| This is a sleeper hit. I never played it before because
the screenshot on JdR's site was kind of blah. I am sure my screenshots aren't much better. Of course, graphics aren't everything. I had a great time. This game is almost a puzzle game in that you have to think about where you move. | |
| I would recommend this game. I don't know why it was not more popular except that it might be too short with only 10 levels. Perhaps a level editor and the ability to add expansion levels would help, along with multiple screens so maps can be longer. Maybe some more enemy types? Still, for what it does have, the game is good. | |
| .zip file: 64.5KB | |
| Pete's QBasic Site |