Mac Attack is another malformed home computer clone of Data East‘s BurgerTime – this time for the MSX. It was written by Ronald van der Putten of Byte Busters and first came out in 1986. I’m not entirely sure who published it, but it could be Eaglesoft or Aackosoft International, or maybe both, but sources seem to vary on that detail. As well as infringing on Data East‘s intellectual property, Mac Attack also cheekily apes McDonald‘s Big Mac burgers with its title.

The game itself is an amateurish clone of BurgerTime, but without the challenge or finesse of the original. Screens are horizontal in this, rather than vertical (a feature of most home computer ports of BurgerTime). The chasing sausages look like walking phalluses and the burger pieces look like micro sliders (they are laughably tiny). The main character is a badly-animated, red-faced Miner Willy clone who moves rather strangely, and the most annoying (and inauthentic) feature of the game is that screens re-set completely and must be re-attempted from scratch if you lose a life (which is always annoying). Enemy AI is pretty much non-existent, and there are also bugs where you can walk through enemies, but die seconds later. Mac Attack is sloppily-programmed overall.

I don’t recommend playing Mac Attack now. It’s a game that is way past its sell-by date and doesn’t offer much in terms of enjoyment. There are far better BurgerTime variants out there that are worth playing instead.

More: Mac Attack on Moby Games