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There have been many versions of this game, indeed for some people this was their first introduction to arcade games back in the dim and distant past of the computer era e.g. four or five years ago.

Well, this offering from Atarisoft is from the people who brought you the original Pac-Man and although several years have passed since this game was first seen it has lost none of its popularity.

Ms. Pac-Man is a one or two player game with the object being, for those not familiar with the game, to gobble up the dots whilst avoiding the ghosts. The graphic display of the maze is very clear and well set oout with the usual power pills located in each of the four corners. Eating one of the power pills allows you to eat the ghosts for a few seconds and thus score more points.

For each ghost caught the points double, so if you manage to get all ghosts with one power pill, you would get 200 for the firsst and 1,600 for the last of the four. When, or if, you reach a score of 10,000 an extra life is given. Also scattered about from time to time are bonus 'fruits' with which you can earn even more points.

All the colours are very cheerful, bright and with no flickering visible and a good response to the joystick when using that option. The sound is fair, with an audible warning of when you are able to eat the ghosts after taking the power pill. At the end of each level, a little tune plays and you have a couple of seconds to prepare yourself for the next maze.

The maze itself has more parts to it than other versions which does make for more lasting interest, but of course does make it somewhat harder to play, especially when you get onto the higher levels.

All types of joysticks are catered for, as well as keyboard control with the keys being well spaced and the alternative of using the cursor keys as well.

This game should appeal to all ages and for those who have not played a version of Pac-Man before, could there be such a person, addictive and a good way to while away the time without taxing the brain too much.

All in all, this version comes the closest to the original arcade version and compares very favourably with the one that runs on the Atari series of home computers. It just goes to show that, with a little intelligent and careful programming, games can be produced for the Spectrum. Well done, Atarisoft.