Lock N' Chase (Game Boy)

Lock N' Chase is a maze traversal game developed and published by Data East for the Game Boy on 1990-05-11. The game is a heavily modified port of the original arcade game. In the game, you play a bank robber trying to steal money and gems from various banks while the police try to catch you. You are able to lock doors behind you in order to impede the cops, and there are various other doors, gates, and other map objects to complicate the process. Once you collecting all the money in the bank, you will proceed to the next level.

Status

I don't own the game, but I have beaten it.

Review

Good

• The cartoon graphics are cute and quirky, especially during the cut-scenes.
• The jazzy music is decent and fitting for the game.
• Because the game is so easily understood, pretty much anyone can pick it up and play it.
• The bonus game slot machine is fun, and the ending Sokoban level is an interesting change up.
• "Extra" mode is a nice way to get a little more life out of the game, but really, why not just make the standard game longer?

Bad

• The small display window makes it very difficult to see where the police are. Most of the time I died it was because I trapped myself between a chasing cop and an unseen cop.
• The game is pretty repetitive. Enemies are pretty much all the same, and there are only a handful of map objects to interact with.
• The invisible walk-though walls are annoying to have to find.
• Without a password system (other than the hard mode unlock code), there isn't a way to save your progress.
• Having unlimited continues pretty much guarantees you'll beat the game, even if you're not that good, with enough persistence.

Ugly

• The games doesn't really add all that much to the formula of Pac-Man released ten years earlier.

Media

Videos

• youtube.com/watch?v=dZzb-W6xi24 - Review, Game Boy Works.
• youtube.com/watch?v=UU5GtFgGgRQ - Longplay.

Links