Cyber Man CE

.: By: Mike :: Device used: iPAQ H3650 :: September 20, 2000 :.

Cyber Man CE is a clone of one of that famous arcade stalwart, the legendary Pac-Man. As with the original, the premise is simple. Guide your character around each level, munching all the dots but avoiding the bad guys. As usual, easier said than done!

As you might expect, Cyber Man CE's graphics are a considerable improvement over Pac-Man's and are generally of a high standard. In terms of presentation, this game could easily be mistaken for a Jimmy Software title, such is its quality.

As for the game itself, the first thing that struck me is just how much of a challenge it is. You really have to be on your toes to avoid the various enemies on your tail (or, more likely, closing in on you from different directions!), although there is an option to slow the game speed right down as well as offering an "Easy" mode, which gives you an extra life to play with. Despite these options, however, I suspect that the game will prove very tricky for the majority of people.

For control, you can either use the joypad (if your device has one) or the stylus. I found that joypad control on my iPAQ was unresponsive, however - possibly a problem to do with the iPAQ rather than the game itself, as the author tells me that the joypad control works fine on his Casio device - so I resorted to using the stylus method. This works by watching where you tap the screen and then tries to send Cyber Man the best route to that location. Sometimes it works well, but other times when you simply wanted a left or right turn and end up taking the next turn down as well because of where you tapped, it's not so great.

In terms of the gameplay on offer, Cyber Man CE is virtually identical to Pac-Man. Thus, if you liked Pac-Man, you'll like Cyber Man CE, and vice versa. The obvious question that comes to mind is: if you've got the free Microsoft Fun Pack, is it worth splashing out on another Pac-Man game? Unless you're a real Pac-Man fanatic or you can't get hold of the Fun Pack, I wouldn't have thought so - apart from the graphical differences, there's very little new in Cyber Man CE.

Another small point is that, as the screenshots demonstrate, the game does not use a full-screen mode; the task bar is still visible and can be clicked on. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really handle multitasking that well - I found that it didn't pause when in the background, and there were redraw issues when switching back to the game. Although it is good that you can quickly switch out of the game, I think that a full screen mode would have looked more professional.

In conclusion, I would say that Cyber Man CE is very definitely a game with potential. Bear in mind that those of you with a Casio machine may want to up the rating a notch because of the control problems I encountered on my iPAQ. Despite the fact that it is little more than Pac-Man with a pretty face, there was a lot to admire in the game, and I feel that HardCover Software may well be a developer to watch out for.

.: Game category: Action & Arcade Games :: Reviews Index :.