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| | Publisher: MacSoft  Genre: Arcade | | Mac OS X: Any Version Mac OS Classic: Mac OS 8.6
CPU: G3 RAM: 64 MB Hard Disk: 180 MB 4x CD-ROM Graphics: 640x480 @ 16-bit |
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Lately we've been seeing several classics being dusted off and remade in the hope that they will appeal to a new market. Breakout, Asteroids, Centipede, and Airburst are among those titles to take a chance with a revamp and a new twist on their namesake, each title being met with differing amounts of enthusiasm and success. Atari and MacSoft give the venerable Pong its chance to step up to the plate.Gameplay Right off let me say that Pong is not intended for hardcore gamers. It is a family title. That said, Pong has received a major overhaul for this release. "Pong the Next Level" as the packaging says adds far more glitz and gameplay than its predecessor, yet the title remains true to its basic Pong concept: You have a paddle and your opponent has a paddle. You try to hit a ball past your opponent. Whoever makes it to a certain score first, wins. That's the way it works most of the time, anyway. Some levels are variations of the classic pong style, others are "Challenge Levels" that involve your paddle and ball not competing against another person directly, but rather trying to meet certain goals. Without giving too much away -- some of these levels simply have to be played to be believed -- before you are done with the game, you will visit several circuses a couple of ponds and the occasional pinball machine (among other challenges).To make things more interesting, one can get power-ups along the way that include one called grab (which lets you hold on to the ball) and another called whack (which, if timed properly, slams the ball toward your opponent at blistering speeds). Other power-ups are unique to their particular arenas, and since the manual didn't give their identity away, I'm not likely to, either. Like the challenge levels, you have to see these power-ups to believe them, and they surprised me with their humor and originality. When a level is passed, the player collects a number of gold bars. Each level requires the player to have a certain number of gold bars before they can enter. Each arena also has three sub-levels. Beat a level, collect the bars, and after a while, you progress a level. Makes sense. Thankfully, you don't have to beat every single sub-level of an arena before you can move on either (some of those levels are hard!). This is a nice feature for folks who want to see the variety of the levels without making too much of a serious time investment to the game.
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