Top Secret Magazine Return of Arcade

Do you remember the days of Pac-man and Space Invaders? Well, they're BACK! Microsoft has brought back the dead with 'Return of Arcade'. Return of Arcade includes 4 classic games from your childhood.. Including Pac-man, Pole-Position, Galaxian, and Dig-Dug. The games are exactly like they were 20 years ago on the Atari console. The sounds are the same, though a little better quality than I remember from the old console. For those of you who might not be familiar with some of the titles, I'll go over them with you.

In Pac-Man, you play the role of a small guy (who resembles a wheel of cheese with a piece missing :). The object of the game is to eat all the pellets scattered around the map without running into the baddies that are chasing you. In each of the four corners, there are power-ups that make your character into a super-Pac-Man who can eat all of the enemies. When you get one of these power-ups, all the baddies will run from you. You are awarded points for eating everything, so long as you stay alive. As you clear each board of pellets, the map progresses to the next level, which increases in difficulty. The object of the game is to accumulate as many points as possible before you are out of lives.

Dig-Dug is very similar to Pac-Man in many ways. The object of the game is different though. As the player, it's your job to dig all the way down to the next screen level,

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without running into any enemies.

The Enemies in Dig-Dug are also different from Pac-Man. The enemies range from little characters that simply jump up and down, to ones that run around spitting fire. As you progress through the levels, it gradually gets more and more difficult.

Pole-Position is a simple racing game similar to that found in F1 Racing for gameboy. In this game, you race around several tracks in what looks like an old Indy Racing (now known as C.A.R.T. Racing) car. The object is obviously to be the first across the finish line. As you win more and more, the difficulty gradually increases to offer a more and more challenging experience.

Last, but not least, is Galaxian. This game is similar to Space Invaders, only you move forward while fighting the aliens. You start off in a space ship in the bottom center of the screen. You are tasked with fighting your way through space, picking up power-ups and extra lives as you go. You start off fighting small groups of ships that only fly around to bug you. As you progress, you run into harder and harder enemies, and more and more of them, until you are overwhelmed and destroyed.

These games are great for passing time, and if you like the classics, simple games like this would be good for you. Overall, it's a great attempt to bring back a few of the classic hits.

Company:
Microsoft
www.microsoft.com/

Category:
Arcade

NOTES:

Interest: 75%
Maniability : 90%
Graphics: 65%
Sound : 70%
Originality : 40%

TOTAL : 68%

Requirements:

Operating System:
Windows 95/98

Processor:
486DX 66MHz or higher

Memory:
8 MB of RAM

Hard Drive:
6 MB

Sound Card:
SoundBlaster compatible or better

Video:
Local bus SVGA video, 256 color display

Joshua Westhoven

DEMO