(Overall) Lock 'n' Chase was originally an arcade game made by Data East, it was later ported over to the Atari 2600 and Intellivision in 1982. After that it has been ported to the Game Boy, Wii, Playstation Network, and on the 3DS Virtual Console. We are only going to be talking about the Intv version in this review.

Lock 'n' Chase is yet another Pac-Man clone, a very early one at that. Data East is a very well know company, they have made plenty of great arcades and games for some of the best home consoles ever made. Out of all the Pac-Man clones I have played, and I have played a lot, this is on my top five.

In this game you are a thief and you are trying to get all the coins (pellets) and other treasures you can get your hands on before those billy club swinging cops get their hands on you. You are in a maze that is somewhat like the ones you will find in Pac-Man. The cops are on the side of the wall, two on one side, two on the other, unlike in Pac-Man where all your enemies are in the center.

Really if you have played Pac-Man then you should be able to pick up this game and play it without to much trouble. There are only a handful of things that differ. One thing you can do in Lock 'n' Chase is make a red line that blocks off the cop/s. If you get the hang of using the red line then you can corner in a cop or mutable cops and have a much easier time getting those shinny coins. The red lines do go away after a a minute or two.

What is with all these guys making clones of Pac-Man that are thief's? I have seen quite a few clones that make Pac-Man a thief, how did they go from a yellow circle that likes to eat to a thief that shoots lasers? I think it went something like this, "Ok, ummmm Pac-Man. Eats, eats, beats, ummm thief's. That's it!" Yea, I don't know if that's how it really happened but we can imagine.

Ok lets get back on track! After you snatch up all those coins and pretty valuables you will need to ether take them to the top or bottom of the maze, there is a green line where you need to drop off your loot and to get to the next level. In Pac-Man you need to get fruit to get extra points, in Lock 'n' Chase you have things like Money signs, some kind of up side down letter T, and crowns.

I give Lock 'n' Chase a 7.8 for the overall.

   (Graphics) The graphics in this game are very good. The main character looks awesome for an Intv game! You can see the cops swinging their billy clubs as they walk. All the cops are a different colors just like the ghosts in Pac-Man.

The maze looks pretty good, its a nice dark color and is easy on the eyes. If you get the money sign the cops will turn purple and flop around for a second, they look like what I think the kids would look like if they drank the purple stuff in the Sunny D commercials.

The graphics are good but the colors never really change, you pretty much look at the same thing over and over, that's why Lock 'n' Chase only gets an 8 in graphics. If there was a little more variety I would bump it up in a heart beat.

   (Sound) Sound is where a lot of the games from this time fall short. In my last Pac-Man clone I played the music was so bad I had to turn off the volume. Lock 'n' Chase did not have this problem! There are a few different sounds you will hear in this game.

I love the little catchy tune it plays when you get a 1 up. I even like the sound it makes when you die, its not as good as the very well known Pac-Man death but its good. My favorite sound in Lock 'n' Chase is the sounds it makes when you get a coin, it is the cutest sound on any video game I have ever heard! It sounds like you are picking up a marshmallow or a baby cat, not robbing someone blind, but I will let that go because its so cute!

Really compared to most games from the time the sound goes above and beyond. I give sound a 9. I would say the sound is almost or just as good as the game it is cloning.

   (Addictiveness) Lock 'n' Chase has all the same charm and addictiveness as Pac-Man. I really like this game and find myself wanting to play it more. Out of all the clones I have played this is the one I will keep coming back to. This game is also two player and any game that offers two player must be more addictive, right?

With that being said this game is lacking in variety (we will go over that more in depth). If there was a little more to Lock 'n' Chase it would really help the game stay fresh.

If you love Pac-Man then you will love Lock 'n' Chase, if you don't well then this game probably isn't the one that you will find yourself playing over and over. It gets an 8. For me its a fun little game, that I can play for hours but addictiveness is really in the eye of the beholder so if you don't like the game don't come banging on my door asking for a refund!

   (Story) Ok here is the story, You are robbing Pac-Mans house and then..........Yea, no story! Most games on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Colecovision didn't have a story so I don't take off any points for not having for.

The only bit of story you get is what you are doing and the names of the cops after you. Stiffy, Scaredy, Smarty, and Silly. I am not going to lie the names make me laugh.

0 for the story so lets move on!

   (Depth) This is where Lock 'n' Chase really lets you down. There is only one maze! You will see the same old thing over and over again. There is really not much more to say about the depth.

One screen, four cops, coins, treasures, and you. That is all you will be seeing. Depth gets a 5, it is common for games of the time to only have one or two screens so don't be turned away from Lock 'n' Chase just because of the fact that there is only one screen.

   (Difficulty) This game is kinda hard! All the cops come out all at once unlike in Pac-Man where one ghost comes out at a time in till they are all out. You can also trap yourself in with a cop if you misuse your red line (laser?).

It is very easy to mess up in Lock 'n' Chase. The controls are good so if you do die its not because of anything other then your mess up. I hate it when games have unfair difficulty! Like when you have to take blind jumps in platformers only to fall to your death! All the deaths and butt kicking you will get in this game is fair.

Lock 'n' Chase gets an 8. Not to hard for an arcade style game but not so easy that you can just blow through it. Just about the perfect amount of difficulty.

   (End) Lock 'n' Chase is a very good clone and probably one of the most well known ones. This game is made by a great game company and ported to some great consoles. For any Pac-Man fan Lock 'n' Chase is a must play! Grab a friend and have a blast playing a fun little game from a time long ago.

GenesisJunkie : Well this certainly was a very interesting review and was quite a good read. It's funny though because I know alot of Pac-Man type clones but I've never heard of lock 'n' chase until now, the pac-man clone I remember the best is called K.C's crazy chase. Well I don't want to ROB you of your spare time hahaha......ok I know that was lame XD. Really great review you as you went into as much depth as you could.

sonicthehedgehog57 : Thank you man, you are a very good reviewer so I wanted to know your opinion. I plan on doing a lot more Pac-Man clone reviews. In a bit I am going to make a thread and have people tell me all the Pac-Man clones they know (I am running out of the ones I know) so I will have more to review.

You're welcome man, and I guess I'm an ok reviewer I definitely don't think I'm great though but yeah for a game that doesn't have alot to talk about it was a great review. I know there's one more pac-man clone I know called Taxman on the Apple II but I don't know huge amounts of pac-man clones.