Chaos Generator (C64)

Chaos Generator, a game developed by Icon 64 and released by Psytronik Software, is an arcade game that upon initial looks like a straight out PacMan clone set within a music recording theme where you play the role of a music producer who has to navigate his way around the record plant collecting the music recorded by synthpop band Chaos Generator. In the place of enemy ghosts, are magnets, whose goal is to erase the band’s audio, that need to be avoided.

As you start moving your character around the maze, you will notice that not all of the music symbols around the maze are being collected as you go over them. You see the twist that Chaos Generator adds to the PacMan genre is that you need to collect the music in specific colour order which is determined by the colour of your character. The colour order was always the same for every level – Cyan, then Green and Yellow. Just like PacMan, you can collect power pills that will make some of the Magnet turn blue to indicate that they are now vulnerable to your attack.

Collect all the music symbols and then you are ready to take on the next level. But don’t expect much variation in the level design, Chaos Generator’s focus is purely on provide a fun arcade points accumulating experience, just like PacMan

Game controls are very responsive, allowing you to pull off deft moves to avoid the magnets. Game graphics are serviceable and while the game does lack sound effects, Andrew Fisher’s music soundtrack are a highlight and fits the game theme very well.

Fans of the PacMan arcade genre will have a bit of fun with Chaos Generator while the rest of us will find the game engaging but only in short bursts. It’s not one that will have you playing for weeks but it is fun nevertheless.