Clean Sweep (Vectrex Game)

Clean Sweep is an obvious Pac-Man clone. GCE, the company that made the Vectrex, did get licenses for some of the more popular games of the day (e.g. Scramble, Pole Position, and Berzerk) and for others, they made one-offs (e.g. Mine Storm is a fantastic Asteroids clone). Those were the limitations of the system.

I tried not to judge Clean Sweep too harshly because GCE couldn't afford a Pac-Man license, but I couldn't help but conclude that this is not a very good game. In Clean Sweep you play a vaccum cleaner that is trying to pick up money all over a bank. Your vacuum will grow before your very eyes as you pick up cash. You have to deposit the money back into the vault at the center of the screen to empty your vacuum so you can pick up more cash. Entering one of the four chambers at the corners of the screen will supercharge your vacuum and you can eat the robbers (but the animation makes it look like they're killing you, which is the opposite of the intended effect). The action is pretty slow and boring. By the time I reached the higher levels, I found myself wishing my vacuum would just die so I could get on with my life. I give GCE points for throwing some twists into the Pac-Man formula, but because this game is downright tedious to play I can't rate it very highly.