One of my favorite games arcade games of all time would have to be PacMan. Judging by the sheer number of different platforms which now support some port or implementation of PacMan it is definitely a game with some staying power. Horace Ho has ported PacMan to the PalmOS. How well will this game compare to the arcade hit which took in so many of my quarters?
Horace Ho has created a very authentic PacMan experience with his PalmOS version of the game. You can play one or two players and there is even a turbo mode for advanced players. The game is available for monochrome as well as color devices.
One of the nice features of Horace Ho's version of PacMan is that it includes the little chase sequences that would appear on screen between certain stages.
Pros: Horace Ho has taken care to give his game the feel of the arcade classic. You can challenge a friend or try to beat your high score. A high score table is being kept on Horace Ho's website for registered users.
Cons: There are two major problems with this game. The first is playing speed on color devices. PacMan plays well on a monochrome device, but there is a significant slow down on color screens. I used afterburner in conjunction with the turbo mode to bring the game to a decently playable level.
The other problem that I have with this game is that the ghosts immediately return after they have been eaten. This makes the game decidedly more difficult than its arcade counterpart.
Overall Impressions: Despite the minor flaws I still feel that PacMan by Horace Ho is still a big winner. This is the most accurate representation of PacMan that I have ever played on a Palm. On the standard scale of 1 - 10 I give PacMan a score of 7.
If you would like to download PacMan and give it a try for yourself click here. A fully registered version will cost you $10.00.
