Windows

Microsoft Return of Arcade

Uitleggen waarover deze spellen gaan is compleet overbodig. Je kan dit pakket slechts op twee manieren benaderen. Ofwel ken je de vermelde titels niet. De kans dat je er nu mee zal beginnen is dan ook quasi nihil. Ofwel ken je de titels en neem je het pakket mee als herinnering aan de goede oude tijd.

Bei der Bewertung eines solchen Nostalgiepacks drückt man gerne das eine oder andere romantische Auge zu, aber hier ist das eigentlich nicht nötig. "Pac Man" ist der Klassiker der Achtziger Jahre und die Computer-Umsetzung ist derart lebensnah, daß man Microsoft fast ein Dankschreiben schicken will.

What makes this such an essential package is that the games are tiny (around 6 MB on the hard drive), do not require a CD-ROM (in fact, the game ships on floppy disks � remember those?), can be played by a keyboard or mouse and all run under Windows 95 (only). In other words, we're talking the perfect game for a laptop. Alternately, they make better diversions than Solitaire for those of us who like a little game in between phone calls or any other "serious" business work.

Hmm…. I catch the scent of a new, old trend: simple, readily accessible games, offering brief, coffee-break-length entertainment. And this time, you don't have to leave your office to enjoy them.

Não há muito o que dizer sobre The Return of the Arcade, da Microsoft. São recriações fiéis para Windows 95 de quatro clássicos de arcade dos anos 70 - Pac Man, Dig Dug, Pole Position e Galaxian.

Time hasn't been kind to Pac-Man's siblings, simplistic relics from the pre-Nintendo days that feel incredibly dated. Only Pac-Man, with its minimalist charm and addictive gameplay, still holds up. Whereas the other games simply remind you of how old you are, Pac-Man turns a niftier trick: It makes you feel young again.

Naja, was soll man da sagen - alle vier Spiele dieser Compilation gehörten einst zur Referenzklasse der Videospiele, sind dem aktuellen Standard aber mehr als ein Jahrzehnt hinterher.