Games have been coming thick and fast out of int13 production recently. After their original and very successful Crazy Kart came Darklaga, followed recently by Crazy Jack. Now, hot on their tails, comes their latest game offering - not one, not two but four (or even five, depending how you look at it) excellent games all rolled into one... the Deluxe Arcade Pack.

The Thinking Bunny game actually consists of two similar but distinct logic puzzles - Sokoban and Thinking Bunny.

Sokoban is based on the popular game of the same name from the eighties. The puzzle consists of an irregularly shaped, walled region of squares, sometimes with some blocks or walls within the perimeter, and is viewed from above and the front. Within the walls may be seen a number of parcels, a corresponding number of illuminated squares on the floor and a rather strange looking bunny (which actually looks like an ugly person in a bunny suit!) .

The aim of the game is very simple - move the bunny around the grid and use it to push the parcels onto the illuminated squares - the bunny may be moved using either the stylus or the nav-pad. Levels are timed and the number of pushes counted to provide a form of high score, although these are simply recorded in the level selection screen. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Hah, don’t you believe it!

Unfortunately the simplicity of the idea disguises a deceptively complex and addictive puzzle which can end up losing you sleep! The first few levels are relatively easy to solve but then it gets progressively harder, with some absolute nasties thrown in for good measure every so often. Each level must be solved in order to progress to the next.

Sokoban is a great game to get the brain going - this implementation is nicely animated, has an enjoyable sound track and is of int13’s usual high quality.

Thinking Bunny is loosely based on Sokoban but with a nice twist - instead of a single bunny pushing objects, there are two bunnies (one light, one dark) who take it in turns to push each other around between targets.

The main grid is similar to Sokoban but generally larger and scattered around the grid are an equal number of light and dark targets. Initially the user controls the light bunny which has to push the dark bunny to one of its (the dark bunny’s) targets. As soon as the dark bunny reaches its target the light bunny stops moving and control transfers to the dark bunny, which must now push the light bunny to one of its targets, then it switches back again. This alternating pushing continues until all targets have been cleared. The levels are all timed and grouped in sets of five, all five levels in a set must be completed in their respective time limits for the next set of five to be unlocked.

Once the manoeuvring problems of the first few levels are overcome, the next problem is sliding cells. These cells contain a chevron pattern which indicates the direction of movement for whichever bunny is being pushed. The pushed bunny cannot go against the direction of flow and will automatically move slowly along the chevrons until it reaches the end or is blocked. Apart from the movement complexities introduced by these cells, an additional time factor can be introduced by the need to move the controlled bunny to a specific location by the time the other bunny completes a slide.

After that? Well, I have seen some dollar symbols on the subsequent screens but, as I haven’t managed to reach those levels yet (I’m stuck on the previous level), I can’t say what they mean but I’m sure it will be fun(!?). Thinking Bunny is another well crafted, nicely presented game. Again the graphics are very good and the sound just pitched at the right level - not too much and not too little.

Sokoban and Thinking Bunny make an excellent pair and are, in my opinion, guaranteed to use up any spare time that you may (or may not) have.

Pacmad is a tribute to the great and popular Pacman arcade game. For anyone who doesn’t know (is there anyone?), Pacman consists of a maze filled with dots which must be eaten by the player’s character (looking like a cheese round which eats) while being chased by four ghosts which kill it if they catch it.

Pacmad is a wonderfully faithful reproduction of the original Pacman, but given an int13 make-over (is that a contradiction of terms?) . The game has the usual four ghosts starting in their pens, the power pills and bonus fruits but has many complex screens which are often larger than the actual device screen and which scroll automatically as the characters move around. One nice graphical enhancement of this version is when the player’s character eats a power pill - it becomes much faster and leaves a blur behind as it chases the ghosts.

Moving the character can be performed either with the stylus or the nav-pad. When using the stylus, the user simply touches the screen where the character is to move to and the game works out the most direct route to that point which the character then follows. This route following feature can make for very fast game play, as the chosen route is highlighted and updates as the stylus moves.

One other rather nice feature of Pacmad is the editor, which enables the players to create their own levels. However, unlike in the beta version I’ve been testing, the editor is not enabled in the production version until the player has completed all the in-built levels.

Pacmad is a very enjoyable game to play, so very reminiscent of the original game. For me it brought back happy memories of many a wasted hour at college spent in front of the video arcade machines (yup, I’m that old!).

Goldmine takes its lead from the games Digger or Boulder Dash. The player controls a character which must dig tunnels through the earth, while collecting gold pieces, avoiding nasties and taking care not to be squashed by falling rocks.

The game screen is a cross section of the earth forming a grid of cells containing earth, boulders, lumps of gold and some occasional nasty creatures; there are also some inpenetratable barriers and the occasional free flowing lava. The player’s character (the miner) moves through the earth digging tunnels, as it digs underneath boulders or gold they will drop under the influence of gravity. Moving may be performed using either the nav-pad or the stylus, with a Pacmad style route finding mechanism coming into effect when using the stylus.

Gold is collected by touching it and single boulders may be pushed horizontally along tunnels until they reach an obstruction. Boulders and Gold pieces are round in shape and therefore cannot balance on top of each other, they will always fall down to the lowest stable location. When digging, care must be taken not to dislodge items above the miner that could then fall onto it as this is fatal to the miner.

In addition to the rock fall risk, moving boulders and gold can also block passages, trapping the miner. Rock falls can also release the nasties that lurk in the earth, once released these nasties will hunt down and kill the miner, though they can also be killed by dropping boulders on them; fortunately the nasties cannot push items along tunnels or dig their own. Lava adds a further threat and time constraint to a level, it tends to start in one location and gradually spreads slowly, eating up the earth. Lava does not consume boulders and can therefore be stopped by them... if you are quick enough!

Each level is timed and must be completed within the specified time limit. To complete a level, the miner must collect a specified number of gold pieces and must then find the exit door. This is not as easy as it may sound.

The game includes a series of training levels, maintains high scores/times and has three sets of eight levels - the first eight only are initially unlocked with others becoming unlocked as the user progresses. As with Pacmad, this game also comes with an editor to permit the player to create their own levels, but this one is immediately available. The graphics are excellent as usual and the game made all the more enjoyable by great sound.

Android is another reproduction of an eighties video game, through I have to admit it is one I am not familiar with.

The player’s character (the android) appears in a game arena made up of various platforms, some linked by ladders, some simply suspended in midair. Springboards can be found on a number of the platforms and are used to bounce the android from platform to platform. Scattered around the platforms are a number of gold pieces, the object being to collect them all before exiting the level through the exit door.

There are additional characters roaming round the platforms, some move slowly and some quickly but both are fatal to the android. In addition to the other characters, there are regions of spikes between the platforms and while the android can walk past these he must not fall onto them. The android can drop bombs which blow temporary holes through one layer of platform - this can permit the android to pass through or help protect it from the other characters; bombs are not fatal to the android but are fatal to the other characters.

At various intervals, bonus objects appear for a short time which are worth additional points. Occasionally the objects are of even greater value - hearts indicate an extra life bonus, grab them quick! My six year old son managed to discover a nice little “Easter Egg” (that I failed to discover!) during beta testing - almost unlimited lives - but I’m not going to give anything away about how he did it.

I know I’ve said it before but I’m going to say it again. Android is a fun game, it has great graphics and has been very nicely implemented by int13 for the Pocket PC.

The games in the Deluxe Arcade Pack are available to buy either in the pack or individually. I thoroughly enjoyed playing each and every one of these games (as did my son!). They are all very well presented with beautiful graphics, excellent sound and careful attention to detail.

At USD$17.95 the Deluxe Arcade Pack represents excellent value in my opinion. If you enjoy quality games I strongly recommend you download the playable demo’s and give them a whirl. My only criticisms are... that my son is doing better than I am at some and that I just can’t get past one of the levels in Thinking Bunny, for which I have to deduct 0.1!