DoctorSpuds Reviews Things - Lock 'n' Chase (M-Network)

[RSS Bot]

Sorry about missing the review yesterday, I've been under the weather recently. I managed to get this review out for you guys today, because I like ya, and you deserve it.

We’re back in Mattel territory with Lock ‘n’ Chase which just so happens to be another Pac-Man clone. Lock ‘n’ Chase was one of the several Mattel games that were released both on the 2600 and on the Intellivision. While the Intellivision version was a slow and monotonous mess with unresponsive controls, the 2600 version was snappy and fast and played much like a Pac-Man game should, fast. The graphics are plain and boring, and the sounds are unimpressive, that doesn’t matter, all that matters with a game of this genre is how it plays, and it plays pretty well. The controls are fast and responsive and the enemy AI is challenging and cunning, I would even say wily. The main goal in this game is to collect all of the white things and get to the exit, you are pursued by four restroom signs who will take a life if you touch them, collision detection is very strict so watch your step. You can stop the signs dead in their tracks by pressing the button and magically summoning a locked door, I honestly don’t know where the doors will show up so it’s a bit of a crap shoot on whether you’ll stop them or not, but it’s still useful either way. Much of the difficulty comes from the somewhat restrictive maze layout that consists of several long straightaway’s that will lead you to get boxed in, and a grid-like design that will have you backtracking heavily, but the design simply emphasizes the use of the door system to save you from getting boxed in and losing a life so the maze design is rather smart in that aspect. There are escape chutes that will take you to the other side of the maze, and from what I’ve experienced the enemies are unable to use them to those are an easy way out of a bad situation. Overall this is a fun game to play a few rounds on and put down for a while, like most Pac-Man style games it won’t hold your attention for long but while it does it’s a fun time. Copies of Lock ‘n’ Chase are relatively cheap, on Ebay you can find loose carts for as little as $3.50 free shipping and boxed copies (some are still sealed) are as cheap as $10 free shipping, if anything I’d say to go for a CIB copy since it’s be easier to store, since those M-Network carts are garbage.

http://atariage.com/forums/blog/729/entry-15312-lock-n-chase-m-network/