Pac-Man C.E.

What It's All About

This is the third Pac-man game to be released to the Xbox Live arcade - but the first one that is exclusive to xbox live arcade, and the first new maps from the original game creator in 26 years. The maps actually change as the game progresses, unlike the original pac-man and ms. pac-man which mostly just changed the speed of the ghosts that you were avoiding. Each of the new game modes (and all in this edition of pac-man) have time limits so not only must you try and survive you must try and gain as many points as you can before the time runs out.

Single Player

Ok well lets start with the obvious….it is pac-man. No matter how you slice it, it really is the same game that we all know and love, but with a new feel and a little twist. There are 6 different game modes which are either a 5 minute timed session or a 10 minute timed session. After you clear one side of the board off and collect the bonus fruit that shows up, it refills the board - essentially this is a gain in level from what I can tell, but unlike the old pac-man the game just continues in a fluid motion. It definately puts an interesting twist on the pac-man franchise.


Challenge Mode 1

Multiplayer

My biggest gripe with this game is there is no local or xbox live multiplayer. Sure they updated the game maps some, and they made the graphics alot sexier, but I really think they should have tossed in at least a 2 player mode where you took turns like in the old arcades - or maybe a battle where you both are on the screen fighting for the pellets and ghosts, unfortunately they gave us nothing. Original and Ms Pac-man cost 400 MPs ($5), if they included multiplayer I would be more likely to say its worth the 800 MPs ($10) price tag.

Graphics and Gameplay

Graphically I would say they did a great job revamping the little yellow guy and his surroundings. Everything has been upgraded to HD graphics and it has a Geometry Wars feel to it, with the somewhat trippy trails that the ghosts an the pac-man leave, and the colors used for the map lines. As far as gameplay goes, in my opinion you can control pac-man 100 times better then you could on the two previous pac-man releases, so kudos for that!

Achievements

The achievements are interesting, and somewhat challenging for some. It took about 3 hours to complete them all, and only one gave me much difficulty (curse you dark level). The achievements range from doing something simple like making the pac-man spark from rubbing the map sides, to lasting till the time runs out on reach round, and also there are 2 score dependant achievements. At least they finally actually gave different achievements, consider Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac-Man contain the exact same achievements.


Extra Mode 3

Value

Unfortunately I am rating the game low on value. It was fun don’t get me wrong, but I am not sure I could justify telling my friends to pay 800 Mps ($10) for this title. After 3 hours I had completed all the achievements, and with no multiplayer in the game all that is left to do is replay the levels and try and beat your score (or your friends score - there are leaderboards), and for me at least its fun at times, but it gets old. I really do enjoy pac-man so I wouldn’t regret picking it up, but maybe you would.

In short...

Pac-man Championship edition is still pac-man. The graphics are boosted a bit, and have a trippy yet cool look to them, and the way you play the game has changed drastically. I say for anyone that is thinking about getting this game, and either doesn’t have the other pac-man games, or really likes pac-man, it might be worth dropping the $10 on. I really enjoy it, and i think the new modes are interesting - but like I said, in the end Pac-man is Pac-man. If they had included multiplayer, or if it was at the 400 MPs price point, i would have gave the game a better score - thats actually the two things that kind of drug it down.

 

Review by Dave [Squidpunch] Larrabee