These same eggs, pickles, and hot dogs chase you around a playfield consisting of a series of platforms and ladders (typical of the era) - that you go up and down - in an attempt to drop the pieces of hamburgers (as if a "Big Mac" was taken apart) stacked on separate levels.

The loose parts of a particular burger are stacked in such a way that when you drop a bun or other piece down a level, it falls on the one below it. This is accomplished by walking (!) on each piece until the burger has been completed. The level is over when all the burgers have been finished and the next, harder stage begins. If you are caught by any of the food, you lose a life, and your quest to make burgers continues from where you left off until you run out chefs.

You are given several options for self defense and gaining points besides completing the hamburgers. If a food happens to be walking behind you on a piece of burger that you are walking on (i.e., about to drop to the next platform), he not only falls the one level that the food normally would, but the added weight causes it to drop down additional levels, not only eliminating the enemy food, but making your stacking job easier. In addition, if any food gets caught under a falling piece of burger, it is eliminated as well. You have to hurry though, because it doesn't take long for them to come back.

Your greatest weapon and one that should be used as a last resort, is the pepper. When thrown at the food, it causes them to sneeze and freezes them in place for a short time. Use this weapon wisely though, as you only have a small supply, and the bonus objects, like french fries, that periodically pop up to replenish your supply, are difficult to reach most of the time.

The Intellivision version (Mattel © 1982) starts out with a nice animated opening screen, giving a small glimpse of what the gameplay is like; this type of opening screen is typical of Mattel's later creations, dubbed "Super-graphics", like Bump 'n' Jump, and The Power of He-Man. Like most Intellivision games you have a choice of four levels (1-3 on the keypad and 4 on the disc) and number of players. Once this is decided, another animated sequence of the food getting close to catching the chef is shown. Every time you lose a life, this animated sequence shows the food getting ever closer, until, at the exhaustion of your lives, they catch the chef and Game Over appears.

The theme song and sound effects are enjoyable and true to the original, taking full advantage of the Intellivision's average sound capabilities. While the graphics aren't very detailed, everything is easily identifiable and the colors are pleasant. There are indicators for everything needed, including game level and this session's high score, which are easy to find and uncluttered. The programming is also quite solid, especially considering all the little tricks involved, like the animations and lack of graphic flicker , which is always a bonus in these early games.

There are a few minor complaints, however. One is that you need split-second response time and the disc controllers that Mattel decided to make their standard, are ill-suited to this type of game. Second, while each playfield changes slightly as play advances, you're still stuck with the basic top bun, burger, lettuce, and bottom bun combination; the arcade version has many more varied components.

These points are minor, though, and subject to personal preference (you may not notice any control problems for instance). In no way do they stop this game from being a classic and one of the must-haves that really take advantage of this system. Highly recommended -- * * * * 1/2 (4 1/2 out of 5)

The first thing I noticed about the Colecovision version (Coleco © 1984) was that it lacked the little animated sequences that the Intellivision has. There is no real excuse for an omission such as this, except for the fact that designers seem to take different routes to interpreting a game on the hardware they are working on and there's only so much room to place things (especially back then).

While the Intellivision version lacked burger variety, this has cheeseburgers, tomatoes, etc., and makes the game have a slightly longer play life; you'll want to make it to the next level to see what they'll think of next to make the burger from.

The playfield is also smaller and more compact, with a lot of black in the background, making the graphics show up better, with highly detailed (faithful to the arcade version no doubt) graphics and plenty of nicely placed indicators. Even though the Coleco version adds background music due to its better sound hardware, the sound effects are remarkably similar to the Intellivision version, probably more due to good programming on the Mattel side than any deficiency on Coleco's part.

One of the notable Intellivision perks of the later era, as mentioned, was the addition of more incidental animations, which BurgerTime incorporated. One of the perks for the Coleco was the inclusion of a nifty pause feature, which the Intellivision apparently never could handle properly, that this game mysteriously lacks. In a hectic game of this type, this would have certainly put a little more in favor of this version. Also, for two player games, it would be nice to have each player be able to select their skill levels separately (games like Subroc incorporate this nice feature). It feels and acts very much like one of their earlier games, except for the improved graphics.

While speaking of graphics, you will notice flicker. Obviously, due to the high detail of the graphics and the number of moving objects on the screen, the hardware is being pressed, resulting in this annoying circumstance (mostly when the moving objects appear on the same plane). They could have taken a cue from the Mattel programmers and gone for less detail.

While it may sound a little like I dislike the Coleco version, this is far from the truth. It's a solid game that in being compared to a version of the game which is a classic on what is technically an inferior system, becomes nothing more than slightly above average. The play mechanics are still there, and it's still loads of fun, but except for the graphics, you really don't get the feeling of it taking advantage of special features like it should. Good -- * * * (3 out of 5 stars)

Intellivision BurgerTime

Advantages - Solid graphics and sound, nice intermission animation, and a faithful arcade translation.

Disadvantages - Lack of graphic detail and variety, and poor control using the disc.

Overall - Highly Recommended -- * * * * 1/2 (4 1/2 out of 5 stars)

Colecovision BurgerTime

Advantages - Highly detailed graphics and faithful to the arcade look.

Disadvantages - Lacks the perks (like intermission animation) of other versions and the graphics tend to flicker a lot. Also, the music might actually use too much of the Coleco's excellent sound chip, resulting in occasionally "crowded" sounds.

Overall - Good -- * * * (3 out of 5 stars)

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