Wishing a Happy Holiday season to everyone here! Thanks, GGAOTD, for your wonderful site... a big highlight in my day. And thanks, WhiteRabbit, for your wonderful insight that you always share. Downloaded this one... haven't tried it yet... (other festivities are a-calling!) but thanks once again, for the offering for us to try. Have enjoyed too many to count! Luv you guys.

to #2 and anyone interested good idea about removing the bloated avi file but if the prog looks for this it may be a problam, so i would try renaming a small avi file and drop it onto the infected directory and this should solve the issue. ;)

..oh and sorry I almost forgot: merry x-mas 2 all! ;D

@whiterabbit and all who know adeptsoft:

I think I remember Adeptsoft, they made the game 'Archon' quite a while ago, right?

Thank you Moderators I appreciate your prompt action.

To the gamegiveaway community, Alawar are now giving away Snowy Puzzle Islands via their gamebox. If you missed the giveaway, or wish to get a transferrable copy, you will need to download the gamebox, but I think this is a small price to pay for a free game every month.

They have just released Hyperballoid 2 which features a levels editor. I've already bought it after Beta Testing it, and finding it better than the original, though it has lost it's color a little. There's a third off the price today (25th) and Boxing Day, :D I doubt it will be given away soon.

Very nice review Lockett :) and thank you for the information Ghost of GGAOTD past. Especially about the codes.

To Kalmanizer, thank you.

To GPC111, Thank you for your support. you obviously saw the deleted post. I don't understand why people can be so rude :?

To Jack Hammer & Family, thank you

I have always liked pacman games,but this one is crappy compared to many out there. Can't see the entire board, runs too fast for some reason, and i can't use my number keys that i am used to.
I'm uninstalling this one right away, and i just got it 5 minutes ago. Thanks but no thanks.

Well, I like this game. Solid and entertaining, it takes PacMan to a whole new level that I will enjoy. I do, however, have the same complaint that so many of my contempories have here- passworded levels. Nevertheless, this game has me intrigued. (I especially like the little mini-map on the lower left part of the screen :)

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Vote Huckabee

-Kenai

I love the 'old' pac-man and decided to give this game a try. First, it took much longer to download than any other game I have tried here. I really don't like games using the arrow keys. Wish this game allowed you full-screen viewing of each level, not just the little map on the bottom, right-hand corner. I do like the 'ya-baby' voice, but gets really bothersome rather quickly - glad you can turn the sound off. Finally. I am glad to have not bought this game and then discover it wasn't worth the price. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

In case anybody cares, you can turn off the opening video by editing (with Notepad, etc.) the pac.ini file in the game's folder: "1" means on, "0" means off. Plus, the codes for all the levels you've completed get added to the end of the file, so you don't really need to write them down anywhere. If you can read German, there is a PDF file in the folder, too, which might interest someone.

Happy Holidays everyone.

My review of Packs Adventures:

I was expecting a decent Pac-Man clone today, but instead got this load of garbage that isn't fit to lick the dirt off of the original's shoes.

For starters, it has the same large, low-res intro as the other Magnussoft games. I've come to expect it, so I won't say anything more about it.

But when it ended and the menu appeared, my ears were assaulted with a horrible bastardization of the original Pac-Man theme. After the five-second long original tune, it devolved into a weird mishmash of drum samples and generic 90s sound effects. Gah.

In the game, you get a zoomed-in view of the level that lets you see "Packs"(or maybe the title was supposed to be "Pack's Adventures" and they left out the apostrophe) and a five-tile radius around him. That's it. I played by looking at the level map rather than the level itself, because that was the only way that I could see what I was doing. The little power pills(which have somehow been transformed into topaz) are sparse, making you wander around the level until you find some. There are also silver disks with the word "POWER" on them, and they keep the ghosts in their little pen(Did I mention that Pack says "Yeah, Baby!" every time that you eat one?).

Which brings me to my second point. If you are remotely good at this game, then the ghosts will never escape, and you will be very bored. I let them out just to have a challenge.

As with other Magnussoft games, the graphics are very subpar. Like the graphics in Sokoman, the main character is perpendicular to the ground, while everything else is either a flat tile or some quasi-3D object. They look like whoever did the graphics spent about half an hour on everything.

As mentioned before, the intro "music" is horrible. So are the in-play sound effects(especially the "Yeah, Baby" ripped off of Austin Powers). The only worthwhile sound in the game, as per Magnussoft, is the in-play music, but there's only one track, as opposed to the ten that are normally included. At least it's good enough to make up for the lack of variety.

I can't figure out the theme. There's grass, stone walls, teleporters with stars and sparkle-fountains, electric arcs - who came up with this? The person responsible must have been either insane or high - or, more likely, didn't care.

Overall, I give Packs Adventures a score of three and a quarter out of ten(four for gameplay, three for graphics, three for sound, and three for theme). People who have played Pac-Man will be appalled at this travesty, while people who haven't will wonder why anyone would. At all costs, avoid this deplorable attempt at a remake.

Small side note: there's an option to play your own levels, but no level editor. Weird.

>diane

Use an emulator like DOSBox to run it.

>gpc111

My thoughts exactly. While I hardly agree with WhiteRabbit's verdict, it's good for people to offer different views on these games. Just because I don't agree with someone doesn't mean that I should trash them for it.

Jetpack and Squarez both worked fine for me with XP except Squarez didn't have any sound. I could probably fix with VMSound/DosBox, but would rather listen to a CD anyway. Both have ancient graphics (they are DOS programs) and keyboard controls. I will say the controls are responsive on my system. Jetpack is a Jetpack Willy/Loadrunner type game and Squarez is a Tetris variant. I think Squarez is fairly good, but again expect ancient graphics and keyboard controls.

Just wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Thanks to GGOTD for all the great games it has offered us this year, when you are homebound by illness it's a great way to pass the time you use to spend working! Merry Christmas to all.

Don't care for clones or bloatware, even if it IS two "extra" games. Thanks anyway.

Merry Christmas, all. :)

Hey EVERYONE,

I actually am Jewish and I celebrate Chanukah aka Hanukah and I would like to wish GAOTD, Whiterabbit, and everyone else Happy Holidays on your holiday. :-)

I love Pac Man but my feelings twords this publisher is not that strong. I've said that before and I stand behind it. Magussoft needs to greatly improve their gameplay to make a great game. I will pass on this as i have passed on every one on their offerings. I greatly appreciate their efforts and their kindness in giving us games. I just wish the games were more enjoyable. Thank you so much WR # 2 for your very nice review. Everyone here is so happy to read your thoughts about the game and value your oppinion. Almost everyone that is. It seems there is always one bad apple to spoil the bunch. I won't single anyone out but some person seems to always attack every little thing you write. I have noticed it in several games. This person knows who it is. I just ask this person to stop the attacks. This is a forum to talk about games not to attack someone. I have yet to see you write anything other than attacks. BTW feel free to attack me. I don't post that much. And your oppinions don't mean amything to me or most visitors here. Get a life

To Aniden comment #7, Sorry, I’d forgotten that the download didn’t come with an installer. :oops: I’m used to placing files wherever on my computers as opposed to using installers. Many of the mod’s and maps I download for some of the First Person Shooters I play have no installers, so it’s second nature for me just to manually place a file. I was ready for sleeping when I initially wrote the comment and then this morning when I reposted it into today’s comments I was in a hurry to get my comment posted quickly as I’d promised to help prepare stuff for our Christmas visitors. (Hence the very short review of today’s game)

The downloaded zip file is actually called jetpack15 not Squarez, as the guy packed two games into the same zip file for some reason. Once you’ve unzipped the file to a suitable folder (don’t unzip it directly to the desktop otherwise you will get quite a few files scattered around). One of the unzipped files is actually a folder called Squarez. This is the game I was sort of raving about earlier. You will have to manually cut and paste (or copy and paste) this to wherever you keep your games. If you do allow your games to go to the default installation that the game giveaway installs to then follow the following path:

C:\Program Files\Squarez

Once you’ve placed the folder in this or whatever other position you choose, then open the folder and right click on the executable (Squarez) and either select create short cut then cut and copy this to your desk top or wherever you keep your shortcuts or select send to/desktop. The latter is quicker. That’s it you should have a working copy of the game. I’m sorry I didn’t think to explain the installation properly. It was posted very early this morning on yesterdays giveaway comments then again this morning. I just copied the post without re-reading it.

Comment #13 by Rich, no I didn’t bother. I didn’t have time. That would be an interesting idea though :lol:

I apologize to the general reader of this comments section for my bloated reply; however I felt I should at least reply as what was said to me was an insult. Please don’t add to this as it’s really not worth the effort. I'd much rather see comments about the game. Thank you.


To everyone, do have a brilliant festive season. I'll be back sometime later in the week with my next comment. :)

From the Hammer Family to All the Staff at GGAOTD, and to WhiteRabbit, and to all who visit this Site,

MAY YOU ALL HAVE A VERY MERRY BLESSED AND HOLY CHRISTMAS!
And that includes you too, #8 Phil!

#16 & #7 - as Campy says, there is no install, just run the executable. However, they are DOS games and my Vista refused to run them saying something about full screen mode. I removed them. They are just too old for my Vista to even recognize. Although I can run at least 95% of my old Windows games, DOS gets lost in the shuffle!

#7 After unzipping, I got a folder named jetpack and inside it besides the .dat files there was a program named jetpack.exe which is another game by the same author. Also inside the jetpack folder was a subfolder named squarez. Inside the squarez subfolder was the program squarez.exe. Run jetpack.exe or squarez.exe to play the two games included in the download.

Merry Christmas to GOTD and everyone that supports them.

My kids and I like this one. I just downloaded it. Kinda easy for adults, but great for kids. Graphics could be better for my taste, but the kids love it anyways.

Whiterabbit, Out of curiousity, did you try substituting a different (smaller) .avi file with the same name, instead of deleting the existing .avi? Perhaps the game code is calling for the named .avi, but wouldn't care that the size was much smaller.
I always look forward to, and enjoy your reviews.
Blessings to all who want them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all. Have a happy day and stay safe if you are travelling.

I am surprised. Magnussoft have actually created a game that works.

I have to concur with comment 6:

You can’t see the entire level and the radar is almost invisible.
You have to guess where the ghosts are and unfortunately my crystal ball is broken!

The Power ups are not explained either :oS

Not good I'm afraid!

to big a file for the chunky graphics - thanks for your review white rabbit

WHiteRabbit, I followed your advice to check out Squares Delux, but the download didn't contain an installer, just a bunch of Dat files.

Dunno what to do with this?

You can't see the entire level and the radar is almost invisible.
You have to guess where the ghosts are and unfortunately my crystal ball is broken! :-)


Merry Christmas!!! ;-)

Thank you white rabbbit for another informative review, as usual I looked and read and totally agree.....nuff said ...thank you....

Happy holidays to all.....love and peace and good games and dreams....

As #1 stated, this is definitely disinteresting to those of us who follow the genre. Indeed, you'll be hardpressed to find a true "PacManiac" who is willing to spend > 5 minutes on the first level, watching "Pack" travel verrryyy slooowwwwlllyyyy into each square. Also, you can't "back out" of a square until he's fully inside it, making "wrong turns" take even longer.

Even forgiving the slow gameplay, the most unacceptable part is that while you have an excellent "southern" view of the board, the top of the view area is inexplicably covered by a huge graphic.

I suspect this game is going to frustrate quite a few people... But I'm interested to see otherwise!

What a great review from whiterabbit. I agree with what he said.

Introduction:

Todays Magnussoft game is a 26.9Mb download that expands into 38.1Mb. 23Mb of which are the AVI intro and in game music. It really is a shame that a lite version couldn’t be made. I tried deleting the AVI file but it crashed the game, otherwise I would have asked if it would have been allowed. Sorry




The Game:

This is a typical Pacman game. There’s nothing else to add to such a game apart from it’s got chunky graphics. The game as with all Magnussoft games has the password saving feature, which I for one do not like. I never really get further than a few levels into these sorts of games simply because I’m always losing the passwords. That said, the only other problem I found was the keyboard was a little unresponsive when trying to change direction.




Conclusion:

Definitely worth 6 out of 10. There are many Pacman games around and this one was okay, but it didn’t grab me, though I love the graphics. The Yeah Baby, although funny at first became wearing after several times on one level.





I posted the following late last night so though it would be prudent to post it again as I think the game I found is well worth it.


Squarez:

I was daydreaming yesterday following a cat nap and a thought came to me about a really cool game I used to play about 15 years ago. It came on one of those demo discs (floppy) and was a limited trial (limited in that some of the bonuses etc were permanently disabled). I never got around to buying the full version for whatever reason, but once I'd settled down I forgot all about the game and lost the demo. Returning to playing games following my accident I remembered the game, but couldn’t remember it’s name until now, so I Googled it and guess what, I found the original developers site who had made it Freeware. I thought maybe I'd have trouble running it on my system, but no, it worked like a charm. It's called Squarez Deluxe and is really a brilliant game, that can be either played solo or against a friend.

You can download the game from the following link:

http://www.adeptsoftware.com/squarez/


The graphics are okay considering it's so old. None of your bright shiny graphics but IMO the game play is riveting. I used to play it for hours on end. I think I'll be donating to the guys site as I think I'll be spending even more time playing it again now that I've found it. You can get an idea as to what the game looks like by following the link below. Don't be put off by its simple looking graphics as it's got a lot of excellent bonuses, both positive and negative, that make this a beautiful but simple game to play.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=squarez+deluxe&btnG=Search+Images

Please excuse the very short review, it’s Christmas Eve and there’s so much else to do. I’ll be taking a break over the next few days as we have family visits and guests as I’m sure we all have.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a brilliant and festive season and a happy new year. :lol:

Quick Trivia: Original Pac-Man game in Japan was called Puck Man. When they brought to America, they changed the name because they realized how easy the game could be vandalized to something less family-oriented.

Having said that, this doesn't look even remotely interesting to a hard core Pac Maniac.