This game, which is a new title in Mastersoft’s Games Pack series (see Pack 1 and 2 here and here, respectively) contains four classic minigames: the Tetris clone Blocks, the Pac Man clone Munch, the Space Invaders clone Spaceys and, finally, Pong. (Click the provided links for more information on these games if you don't know them.)



Availability, Compatibility

The game is compatible with WM2003 and later operating systems (no PPC2k2 support, sorry). It’s available here. The games worked OK on my test Pocket PC’s. Note, however, that in Pong, the movement of the ball can be really annoying on VGA devices because it just stutters in all speed (difficulty) levels. On QVGA devices, I haven’t encountered problems like this.

Recommendation

If you’re into the “real retro arcade feeling on the 25-year-old technical level” genre, you may want to consider getting this title, particularly because it’s definitely cheaper and much more configurable (see Menu / Options) than some of the alternatives; most importantly, Namco’s original ports, which are all priced at $14.99 and offer virtually no configuration options. Note that, however, options can only be changed after aborting a game – this is a definite minus.

Also remember that HeroCraft HiTec’s Arcade Park (review here), which also has some (not the same!) arcade conversions, offers far more (for example, decent, well-composed in-game music) for even less money if you don’t really want to stick to the exact 25-year-old technology feeling.

Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices, 2006, 2007. See my PPC & SP blog HERE.

    

Thanks for the review.

Paul