Tag Archives: Pac Man

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land Review

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Pac-Man is one of the original video game heroes. He was the kind of character who would go up against crazy odds and would still come out on top. Now there is a character that you really can’t underestimate. In this special he ends up going up against a threat that even he can’t handle and so he will have to try a more diplomatic approach. It’s a pretty fun special all around.

The special starts with Santa crash landing into Pac-Land. A place where humans don’t exist and the only people there are round Pac type creatures. It’s all a little strange but fortunately a nice man named Pac-Man and his family show up. They vow to help him complete his trip around the world but to do this they will need to reclaim all the presents that have been scattered. The ghosts are running around as well and so Pac-Man will have to be careful not to get chomped.

What will probably surprise folks with this one is how powerful the ghosts are. Usually you’re probably expecting them to be on the run from Pac-Man the whole time right? Well, that’s not the case in this one as they actually defeat Pac-Man. He takes them out in the first run after a long fight but then they dominate him afterwards. You even feel bad for the guy since he is thoroughly chomped and barely makes it back home. It was almost like he got mugged.

Then at the end they’re all taunting him and laughing it up as they have the edge. Pac basically has to beg in order to not get chomped again and they let him off easy. It really showed what a dangerous world this is. There are emergency pac pellet phone lines all around but the problem is that they are unlocked so the ghosts can grab them as well. The town has a police officer but it’s unknown just how powerful he is.

So basically living in Pac Land is incredibly dangerous. I assume the ghosts have an honor code so they wouldn’t go after the Pac Kid but the rest of the family would be in danger. They can even attack the place where Pac lives. This is low key one of the scarier places to be since the villains have so much power. I give Pac-Man a lot of credit for remaining really strong and courageous in spite of those odds. A lot of other characters would have faltered well before that. This is a man who doesn’t break easily.

Then we have the animation which is pretty strong. It’s got a solid traditional style here where you can really feel the passion behind the characters. I like how the character designs came out and it’s all very smooth. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. There aren’t any tunes that are really going to stand out to you. In general this is the kind of special that feels like just another episode so I wouldn’t expect anything really fancy out of this one.

In a way that is what helps the special be so good though. Everything is treated as just being standard fare. This special isn’t concerned with breaking down the concepts to you or anything like that. No, instead it is just jumping to the story. If you have not seen the cartoon before then you might have some questions about how the world works but you can figure those out in your own time. The adventure will go on with or without you.

I wish we could get a Pac-Man game set within this continuity at some point. It’s basically like the World games setting so I would accept a new game in that series as well. The most important thing is to get a story based game with Pac-Man involved and just have a fun story there. There are so many things you can do with the series and yet it has remained dormant for a while.

That said, while it is funny to see Pac-Man being crushed by the ghosts, I do think he should generally look stronger. He’s a pretty experienced fighter by this point so he should be more than a match for the ghosts. We can assume in this world that they have a bit of a rival type relationship though as death isn’t permanent for the ghosts and they don’t murder the Pacs even when they could. If you look at it through that lens, then this isn’t quite as scary as it would have initially appeared. Maybe the world is actually a whole lot more wholesome than anyone could have initially guessed.

Overall, This is a pretty fun special. Ultimately it’s not like there is a whole lot to it though. It’s just about 30 minutes of fun as you watch Pac-Man try to save Christmas. It succeeds on the most critical aspect of a special like this, which is that it’s a lot of fun. You’ll have a blast rooting for Pac-Man to win the day. The writing is on point and the pacing is pretty good too. So while it may not have gotten an extended budget or anything like that, it definitely gets the job done here. I would recommend checking this one out whenever you can.

Overall 7/10

Shadow Labyrinth Review

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Pac Man is a legendary icon within the gaming space and the idea of a horror game involving him was certainly interesting. An animated episode was released which tied into the game and it weakened the hype but I was still ready for the game. Well, in the end it is a pretty good game but I would say it’s best to ignore any knowledge that it relates to Pac-Man. Think of this more like a general Namco tribute as you have characters with names relating to Galaga, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Pac-Man, and others. They have no real relation beyond the name but it’s still a nice homage.

The game starts with someone being warped into a strange world where a ball named Puck asks for his help. The world is on the brink of destruction with powerful forces making different moves across the universe. The main character has total amnesia now and has basically lost any sense of self so he goes along with everything. Now begins our journey into the darkness where everyone keeps their knowledge to themselves in order to keep this as cryptic as possible. Very niceeeeee.

We do learn more about the story as the game goes on and it’s a reasonably interesting story about war. I think it would have been more interesting as a straight forward narrative though. The cryptic, mystery type of story only really works when it is super carefully crafted and I don’t think this one prepared something with enough of a payoff to really warrant this. The ending is still satisfying and leaves solid room for a few sequels but the game would have done well to have had more story early on. Additionally I would have liked some voice acting. This is a modern 2025 game after all.

The gameplay is that of a 2D slasher as you strike away at your opponents in order to get orbs. These orbs can be used to buy items or improve your sword/energy meter. You can also get upgrades based on monster materials and can win Pac Mazes for other perks. The game made sure to stuff the title with a ton of collectibles and power-ups. I appreciated that because the map is absolutely massive in the game and so you will get lost quite a lot. This at least ensures that you are always accomplishing to an extent.

Some mechanics are not really clear and you have to stumble into them though. Several enemies can only be defeated by bombs and then you have to grab them quickly in order to get a rare item. Some of the puzzles can also be really crazy. The game’s difficulty is quite high but typically it is in a fair way. I had no problem with how difficult the final boss was for example as you just need to get good and defeat him. Likewise for any of the human trials. Where it gets tricky is absolutely the Pac-Man gameplay.

At times it just didn’t make sense to me. I still don’t know how you’re supposed to win some of the side content within that game and the rewards for the bonus mazes were bad enough where I couldn’t be bothered to go back. The controls are a bit too slippery and not polished the way that it should be. In some ways this still feels like a beta version of the game. The lack of a convenient quick travel feature is also crazy for a game like this. It’s expected that there will be a lot of back tracking but the game is really lacking in quality of life features. Even if you buy the quick teleporters, your old teleport spots start to deactivate later on so you have to go back and re-energize them. It’s just bad game design.

There are also smaller things like not being able to hit enemies from below even though you can clearly reach them. Ah well, at least I do like the core gameplay. You’ve got the parry system, air dodging, and a lot of ways to attack. It’s really a very versatile moveset which I like for this genre because it keeps things interesting. You also do feel noticeably more powerful as you go through the game so running through all of the old levels isn’t nearly as tedious as it could be.

That is what separates the good Metroidvanias from the bad ones after all. It’s like how in Castlevania you eventually learn how to fly so you get to easily blast through whole worlds because you fly above all of the enemies. Same with Xenoblade Chronicles X even if you really should not call that one a Metroidvania. I actually think this game should have added flight since it is the ultimate end game ability and a testament to your resolve.

Overall, Shadow Labyrinth is a pretty good game. It’s got a whole lot of action to it and the difficulty is refreshing. You don’t get a lot of crazy hard games like this nowadays. Being able to keep your progress when you die is also great. There are a number of bugs and questionable game design features which keep this one from being great though. They really If you are having trouble with a boss, go explore and get stronger. The company ultimately squandered the game when it counted here because this had all of the tools needed in order to be great. I’ll still be in interested in a sequel but I hope the developers take all of the criticism seriously. The next game needs to clean things up and then it will really be ready to take over.

Overall 7/10

PAC-Man Party Royale Review

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You already know that this isn’t the real Pac Man because he never runs from a fight. That said, it’s always cool to see the franchise getting new games even if this one is locked on the Apple Arcade for now. While I’ve got the free trial it seemed like a good idea to jump in though. I think the concept is cool but the control scheme doesn’t work amazingly on the phone. (Disclaimer that these games can all be played with a controller but I didn’t bother setting it up. If you’re on the Arcade then you should work well even on mobile right?

There isn’t a story here so mainly what you’re doing is playing through a bunch of stages to see just how skilled you are. There is also a heavy online component as well of course. The gameplay is mainly similar to the classic game but then it introduces a lot of new control gimmicks and objectives. For example in one style you have to stop the other Pac Men and the way to do that is to literally fire off energy blasts. Pretty cool right? Well the concept is cool even if it doesn’t feel like Pac Man. Other times you have to eat all of the ghosts instead of getting all of the pellets.

There is a decent amount of variety here but because of that I do think the fundamentals are not as strong as the original Pac Man. Let me explain. The first Pac Man is a fairly simple game through and through but one that has one of the most addicting gameplay styles of all time. This one is so busy trying to top it that it loses the plot. I think sticking to the original and adding some kind of basic plot would have worked so much better. In some ways I would say to think of this more like a Pac Man Party kind of approach. It has a lot of styles to it but none of them are super developed.

Getting to the control scheme, it’s also not very smooth. The game opts to ditch the typical motion stick used for titles like Sonic, TMNT, and Mega Man in place of having to swipe on the screen in order to move. The problem is that this takes longer to do of course and so it puts you in a rather difficult spot. So you end up dying more and further realize that this doesn’t work so well. There’s no excuse because I’ve seen games work well with tons of different gameplay styles. Me personally I tend to find that collecting and matching games end to work best on mobile with their consistency but there are also many great platformers and such on here.

So the game gets a bit of a thumbs down there. Ultimately there just isn’t a ton of content to keep you busy. The missions can last you for a little bit but there’s not a lot of incentive to actually playing through them. This is where even a short story could have helped out a lot. So the game is totally reliant on you knowing someone who also owns the game so you can play with friends and since a lot of people don’t own the Apple Arcade as it is, it’s not the greatest selling point imaginable.

The graphics are pretty good though. Nothing super top tier or anything like that but they hold their own. The soundtrack is also decent although not the most memorable. On a technical level the game certainly suffices and is ultimately just let down by a rather lackluster main gameplay style. Even if this was on console I don’t think it would have done all that well as the Championship Edition does all of this but in a far better way with more enticing rewards at the ready. This is sort of like a miniature version of that.

Now, the final question is should they keep the energy blasts or not? Me personally? I’d say to keep it in, it is a pretty interesting mechanic but maybe instead of that being the power for a whole level, let it be an attack you can use once per life. That will keep people from spamming it and also add a little more strategy into the equation. Yes, this sounds like a good idea to me.

Overall, Pac Man: Party Royale is a game that had a lot of potential but I feel like it’s not really at the level where it should be. I didn’t play this one for very long next to the other mobile titles as it got stale quickly. I think it’s fair to say that it might be the weakest of the Pac Man titles all around. Hopefully they give this another try at some point because I think the next great Pac Man game might just be around the corner! They just gotta put a little more oomph into the next one.

Overall 5/10

Pac Man vs Mad Hatter

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Suggested by Destroyer The Mad Hatter is a true trickster but he’s not going to be doing much against Pac Man. Pac Man can chomp the guy up while in his large form or just overwhelm him with pure projectiles. Mad Hatter doesn’t have any attacks that can break through Pac Man’s abilities either which puts him at even more of a disadvantage. After a point there just isn’t much you can do against that kind of power. Pac Man wins.

Pac Man vs Captain Boomerang

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Suggested by Destroyer Captain Boomerang is a very resourceful fighter who is always ready to mix things up. It’s hard to get close to him when he’s always throwing his weapons but Pac Man should still have the edge here due to his resourcefulness. He has a ton of different elemental modes and super forms which will pave the way for victory. Boomerang doesn’t have the durability needed to stand up to that. Pac Man wins.

Pac Man vs Stilt Man

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Suggested by Destroyer Stilt Man has a solid suit and is a versatile fighter but he’s not going to be doing a whole lot here. Pac Man has tons of long range options and can beam spam from a distance. When he shoots enough projectiles, Stilt Man just won’t be able to counter them. Stilt Man will just be eating the damage over and over until his suit breaks apart. It’s why you always need to have a good amount of speed so that you can turn the tides of battle. Pac Man wins.

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 Stats and Records

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Stats time!

16/26 PS3 Trophies

Level Stats

Pac Patrol Silver
Just Chillin Bronze
Cyli Skies Gold
Gotta Bounce Bronze
Dribble and Freeze Bronze
Magnetic Personality Silver
Tick Tock Bronze
Flip Flop Bronze
Spiral Chopper Gold
Robot Rampage Bronze
Pac Zilla Gold
Viva Paclantis Bronze
Hot and Humid Bronze
Jellyfish Junction Bronze
Granite Grotto Bronze
Shipwreck Shoals Bronze
Firerock Cavern Bronze
Downtown Paclantis Bronze
Minefield Mayhem Bronze
The Pactopus Gold
Rocket Pac Gold
Vertically Challenged Bronze
Orbital Mechanics Bronze
Welcome Aboard Bronze
Gravity Games Silver
Magnetic Worth Bronze
Spaceball Bronze
Space Dock Swing Bronze
Robo-Guts Bronze
Head Games Bronze
Jurassic Pac Bronze
Roll Away Bronze
Fire Glider Bronze
Geysers and Mammoths Bronze
Flipped Out Bronze
Spinner Canyon Bronze
On a Roll Bronze
Kong Berry Cliffs Bronze
Pacasaurus Wrecks Silver
Through the Wringer Bronze
In the Lick of Time Bronze
Cyli Netherworld Gold
Icy Hot Bronze
Swing Bounce Gauntlet Bronze
Granite Ball-istic Bronze
The Lava Pits Bronze
Lava Spiral Gold
Bounce Mania Bronze
Swinging and Clinging Gold
Pac Pong Beat Down Gold

Pac Man World: Re Pac Review

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When I heard that Pac Man World was getting a remake I knew that I had to be there. Pac Man World 2 is still one of the best platformers on the block. It was a really memorable game with a whole lot going for it. Great level designs, a cool story, great characters, etc. Could the original World actually beat it? I had to know. Ultimately I would say World 2 still wins but this is a fun game. I’d even say it beats the two Ghostly Adventure games rather easily. The only thing holding it back is how short it is at under 3 hours. I know platformers tend to be more on the short side but this just felt excessive. There is bonus content to work on though.

The plot revolves around Toc-Man ordering the ghosts to kidnap Pac Man’s family. Pac Man is definitely not amused when he arrives home and decides to save all of them. No matter where they have been taken it will not be far enough to escape from Pac’s wrath. He will go to the end s of the Earth if that’s what it takes so Toc Man better watch out. Each world has a family member waiting to be saved. You technically don’t have to save them but it helps a lot for the final boss. In fact I only barely won on my final heart pieces so without having these guys at the ready I would have been doomed. It would have all been over for me.

I do think they nerfed the cutscenes from the original game though. After watching the original, it was just better in every way. Pac Man’s yell was just plain iconic and it showed how much the whole thing broke him. He was real upset at losing his family and the reaction made sense. Then you have the fact that everyone is talking normally in the original but then they changed it to random sounds in the remake. Definitely not a good decision imo. It’s not something that would hurt the game itself as you could only know that by seeing the original but it’s a really questionable decision.

Back to the levels though, the biggest aspect to any platformer is the gameplay. This is much more important than the story when you think about it. To an extent the gameplay is always the most important but to the degree of which that is true will differ from game to game. The levels are all really solid as I mentioned before. Maybe 1 or 2 of them will give you some trouble but for the most part you’ll be blasting through. If you want to grab all of the collectibles in a level then that will take you more time. So you either go the direct route to beat the game or you take all of the twists and turns as you try to 100% clear it. The game doesn’t try to force you to grab the collectibles which I think is always a good thing.

Your controls are fairly basic so you should have the hang of them right away. You can move, jump, ground pound, and do a dash. Between those moves it may sound easy but there’s still some good ways to really get good at it. You don’t use the dash too much compared to World 2 where I remember that being a big deal but everything has its moments. Of course you can also eat ghosts when a power pellet is around. This doesn’t happen too often but it’s always a cool attack to use.

That said, the story is still fun. Having Pac’s family get kidnapped is certainly an intense way to kick things off. This game’s got a happy tone to it of course so don’t expect things to get too crazy but it still works well. Then we have the big climactic battle at the end and you get to see if Pac-Man is holding a grudge or not. The ending’s humor definitely lands really well.

The soundtrack is also a lot of fun. The sound effects are all nostalgic and the stage themes have aged really well. The graphics are also really good here and a good amount of effort was put into the game on all sides. The story may be short but there’s a lot of replay value in trying to get the Platinum trophy as I mentioned earlier. That’s sure to keep you busy for a while. At the end of the day the game is a lot of fun and that’s always the objective of every title. Hopefully if this game does well enough they’ll make a brand new Pac Man game set in the World continuity. Surely there is still a whole lot you can do here.

While I wouldn’t say the game is hard on the whole, the final boss is surprisingly challenging so you don’t want to let your guard down around him. I came super close to losing him. It’s really hard to land your bounce attack without actually getting hit at the same time. So I ended up going for a lot of trades there. I don’t believe it was the optimal way to win but a win’s a win right? As long as you can claim victory then you should be all set.

The platinum doesn’t look very hard so I’ll definitely work on it at some point but it could be a little while before that happens. I’ll probably work on the easy trophies first and then go from there. I do tend to mainly grab the Platinum trophies from all of the platformers though so this would be another good one to add onto the list. After all, how long can it take to beat all of the levels again right? Probably not too long I’d expect but of course I could be underestimating the difficulty a bit. If there’s any trophy for beating the final boss without getting hit or something then I’d really be in trouble.

Overall, Pac Man World: Re Pac is a very fun game. It’s nostalgic to play through this adventure and I would recommend it to anyone that likes to play a very wholesome title. You will get to learn a lot of the fundamentals about platforming while also just enjoying the scenery. There’s not a whole lot to say about the game because it’s so straight forward but that’s also part of why it’s easy to recommend. It’s hard to see anyone disliking the game. You’re able to pick it up and just start playing at any time.

Overall 7/10

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 Review

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I had this game on my list for so many years before finally taking the plunge and buying it. The TV show wasn’t great to say the least but the series always had a lot of potential in video game format. How can you mess up a solid platformer experience right? In the end this one’s not great by any means and just goes through the motions but I would say it’s a smooth experience and a title you’ll want to check out.

The story starts with Betrayus plotting a whole new scheme. This time he really may take over the entire planet. Pac Man and his friends will have to try and take this guy down a few steps but when it turns out that Pac’s parents may be hostages that changes things. Pac will have to handle some fairly high stakes here and make difficult decisions but whether he makes the right ones remains to be seen.

The story’s definitely not going to be the selling point here. I mean it’s cool that the cutscenes are fully animated and all but at the same time it’s still going for the show’s vibe which is a comedy that’s not super funny. At times it can be just campy enough where it turns into being funny though. This may not be the proudest version of Pac Man for his fans but at least he’s a good kid at heart. If he was just a little smarter then things would have been easier for him. At least one credit you can give to the guy is that he’s always ready to jump into action.

There are 5 worlds here and each one has about 10 levels. Then you have challenge levels in most of the worlds and also a hub world where you can talk to people. So there’s a reasonable amount of gameplay here but I still wouldn’t call the game very long. I beat it in about 2 batches. Each level is bite sized so even though there are a lot of them, you shouldn’t have too much trouble here. At most the glitches might slow you down. I ran into level ending glitches 2-3 times where I was caught in an eternal death loop and just had to quit out. Another time I jumped far enough where I made it to the next checkpoint but I bypassed the power up I needed. So with no way to go forward or backwards I was just stuck.

I would say the gameplay is very smooth outside of the glitches though so you could say I just had a little case of bad luck here. The various power up forms do help to spice up the gameplay. I’m not a big fan of the magnetic form as I felt like it would just slow things down whenever it appeared but the rest are fun. The bosses all have actual strategies and unique features to them so those were handled well. You may even find yourself losing a life or two here and there.

You’re never in danger of a game over though as you accumulate lives faster than you can lose them. In that way I think the game was a little too generous. I’m sure it was aiming fairly young given how the story is but you could ramp up the game’s difficulty level just a bit if you ask me. The Platinum trophy looks easy to obtain though which I’m glad about. One day I see myself going back to this one to get that Platinum.

In terms of graphics I would say the game holds up well. It has a colorful atmosphere to it that just tends to age well. The character designs are good and the levels are on point. Then for the soundtrack it’s a bit limited but you’ll remember the songs from the show which is certainly nostalgic. The series really did well on a technical level, it just wasn’t able to ultimately seal the deal and that’s why it works better as a game. There is less to mess up you could say.

At the end of the day this is a fairly simple platformer and not one that you would buy over Mario and Sonic. That said, it is certainly a good game and if you can find it for a good price then it’s worth it. I’ll never forget seeing it compared to Mario Galaxy way back in the day. I wouldn’t say this one is quite as good and polished as Mario but it’s a platformer that should be able to hold its head high. Throw in a more engaging story and I dare say it could have really started to do some numbers. At the end of the day the story just wasn’t super engaging here.

Overall, Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures is a period in time that is pretty much forgotten at this point. Now Pac has gone back to his roots with the World series and I don’t see the Ghostly Adventures ever playing much of a part again. I’m afraid that this era is probably completely over and technically that’s a good thing. It would have been nice if we could have gotten just one more game to end the saga though. That would have been enough to tie everything together instead of the loose ends. I suppose you can always imagine how it would have played out though.

Overall 7/10