Crossbow Reviews

7800 Rank: 4th Genre Rank: (Classic Arcade) 1st Awards: 10th Best Graphics, 2nd Best Sound, Best Interpretation Are you Hot Momma? Pros: Excellent Conversion/ Faster Than the Arcade Cons: Using the Proline Sticks can be Tough on This One You Sure Look that Way to Me

Overview: Now this game has been ported to so many platforms that you would think it was a staple for all game consoles. If you don't know what or who Ms. Pac-Man is, then you couldn't have existed on planet Earth for very long. Ms Pac-Man is the sequel to the huge Namco hit Pac-Man. The basic idea of these games consists of you as a Pac person gobbling up dots in mazes. Of course that presents no challenge so you have to avoid ghosts scattered around while doing this.

Graphics: The 7800 is known for good arcade conversions. The simple reason for this is because the 7800s were designed from the ground up with this in mind. Many of the arcade ports of the classics on the 7800 are very close to the real thing. Ms. Pac-Man demonstrates this very well. The graphics certainly aren't anything impressive by today's standards. But then the main arcade graphics weren't that impressive either over the original Pac-Man. In this port all the colors are bright and the sprites for the characters are nice and big. I do feel that detail was left out on some of the fruits and also on Ms. Pac-Man herself as she looks almost the exact same as she does on the 2600 version. The ghosts are improved as their eyes move realistic to the arcade. This is critical because the ghosts always look in the direction they are going, or plan to go. This makes prediction of their thoughts easier. All the boards are correct and the colors correct as well. The only real complaint that diehard fans of the arcade would have with the graphics would be the squashed appearance of the playfield. Since the arcade played on a vertically mounted monitor, the mazes are stretched out wider on the 7800 version than the arcade was. Otherwise everything else is there. Even the Intermissions are included.

Sound: One area the 7800 is unfortunately known for, is the lack of good sound. This doesn't mean that all games sound bad on the 7800. Ms. Pac-Man is such an example of how well Atari was able to make the Tia chip sound. The sound is complete to the arcade in the 7800 version. The music is there, the sounds of the dots being eaten. The little siren, which plays constantly, is also present. Only difference I could detect in the sound of this version from the arcade is that some of the pitches are much higher. But considering the 2600 version, it is a vast improvement.

Gameplay: This is perhaps the strongest aspect to this version of the arcade classic. I have played and read many reviews from both fans and the general audience on the various versions of Ms. Pac-Man on just about every platform. While there are versions that look just like the arcade and even sound just like that arcade. There is one thing that seems to be missing in all the other ports. That is the speed of the game. Yes, finally a version of the arcade has been done to a console that is true to the speed and feel of the original arcade. Basically, on certain mazes the arcade would change the speed of the ghosts, Ms. Pac-Man, or both. This same pattern has been kept in the 7800 version. Also the patterns of the ghosts which was present on the arcade have been brought to the 7800 version also. Basically if you're good at the arcade, then you should do very well on this version as well. Part of what makes this game and others like it a classic is the simple controls. All you do is simply control Ms. Pac-Man with the joystick. Basic goal is to eat all the dots on the screen while avoiding the ghosts to advance to the next stage. Ms. Pac-Man is given a defense against the ghosts through the use of special Power Pellets placed in the corners of the mazes. Once she eats one of these Power Pellets, the tables are turned and it the ghosts who must flee from Ms. Pac-Man, else get eaten and sent back to the regeneration box to become a ghost once more and continue the chase. It sounds fairly simple and it really is. But I have found a problem with the 7800 version of this game. Basically there is an apparent lag in the response of the controls in relation to what is happening on the screen. Sometimes when I direct Ms. Pac-Man to go in one direction, she simply doesn't but does execute it on the next avail turn. I at first felt this was a blame of my old Pro-Line controllers. However, firing this up in emulation only proved to me that it is indeed in the game. This slow controller response begins to fade for some reason once the action gets faster. Perhaps this is simply some bug in timing at the lower levels, but I am not a programmer so I wouldn't know for sure.

Interpretation: This is Ms. Pac-Man. It looks like Ms. Pac-Man. It feels like Ms. Pac-Man. It even plays just like Ms. Pac-Man. Because it is Ms. Pac-Man! I can't find anything really wrong in this conversion other than the small issues already stated. Atari did a fine job indeed on this game.

Value: While this game features very easy game play, it is this simplicity that keeps this game a classic and has caused it to be ported to nearly every system imaginable. The value in this game is that you can't really get tired of it. Sure the mazes do not change and the ghosts have a pattern. But you could spend a lifetime trying to learn those patterns. After the fourth maze is completed, even they begin to randomize in order. There is of course a two-player option, but once again it is the standard fair of player two waiting for player one to die before beginning their play. Luckily two players aren't required to enjoy this game.

Overall: So here again, we have Ms. Pac-Man being brought to another console. Did Atari pull it off correctly without hosing it up like their Pac-Man conversion on the 2600? You bet! All the elements of the arcade are in this version to include the changing speeds of the ghosts and Ms. Pac-Man herself. If you own this system and even remotely are a fan of these maze type games. Then you should have this in your library of 7800 games. For as cheap a price as it can be found on-line now there really isn't an excuse to not have this game.



Other Reviews:
Video Game Critic: A
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: 4.5 out of 5.0
The Atari Times: 7 out of 10
JoseQ's Emuviews: 6.6 out of 10



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