Grab the berries
While the idea of a game based on Mark Twain's classic literary creation is quite appealing, this is actually inspired more by the Disney theme park ride than the book and turns out to be a generally uninteresting Pac Man clone. It does features some nice old-school graphics and plinky plonk sound effects but the rather slack pace of the gameplay means that this never gets as exciting as a proper maze game should. The idea here is that you're on Tom's island and must guide him around the various paths, picking up berries. However, there are several enemies to avoid, including Aunt Polly, Injun Joe, and a bear, who are all out to stop you from getting your berry fix. You can get away from the bad guys by jumping into the various hiding spots, including caves and a raft, dotted around each level. There are five levels in total to complete but they all take place on the same map design, with the only real change being the addition of the bear after the third level. The only real goal here is to get to the end and beat your high score but thanks to the limited level design, only the very dedicated are likely to bother playing this more than once. Depending on the version you're playing, the visuals are decent enough in that old-school way, with the C64 version perhaps coming out the best, thanks to the use of color and the nicely defined sprites. The gameplay is the same whatever you're playing on though and the slow pace and lack of features means that there's little to keep you going for more than a few minutes.
