Dung Beetles is an Apple II computer game by Bob Bishop, released in 1982 by Datasoft. The game was ported to the TRS-80 Color Computer, where it was distributed by Tandy. On the Color Computer, it was renamed Mega-Bug; however, some copies were sold as Dung Beetles. Later versions for both the Apple II and Atari were named Tumble Bugs. In Australia, the game was re-branded Bug Attack.
The game concept and gameplay are based on Pac-Man, but features a much larger maze and a moving "magnifying rectangle" which makes it easier to see graphic detail of the main character and the opponents, but also obscures a small area of the map near the main character, making short- to medium-range navigation more difficult. In addition, whenever the main character passes through a part of the maze, it leaves a trail of dung. When a dung beetle finds this dung, it eats it and follows the trail; however, if the trail branches, or it encounters a point along the trail, it picks at random which branch to follow, thereby giving the player anywhere from a 50% to 66⅔% chance of losing the pursuer. The player can back-track over his own trail (often necessary as the map can contain dead ends) creating false leads for his pursuers.
Reviewer:RRicci -
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February 21, 2015 Subject:
Unplayable
I like the game, but the implementation here is unplayable. The screen flashes and you can't see 2where you're going. If this gets fixed, kindly remobe this review.