by:	August 12, 2006

I wasn’t fortunate to have had been alive for the original advent of Pac-Man back when it hit the arcades for the first time in the early 80’s, still I have grown to love the little guy. Pac-Man itself is of course a huge icon that makes you think of the 1980’s, videogames, and for some strange reason pizza. If you don’t already know, you control a yellow Pac-Man, chomping his way through a maze for little tasty dots and fruits, avoiding ghost, and bringing down the ghosts’ defenses, so that he may gobble them up as well. When all the little dots are gone, the level is done and you move to the next round. The presentation of the game is pretty bare, with an exact replica of the memorable sounds and graphics, along with some nice high-res art along the side of the screen to fill out the extra space the arcade format game doesn’t fill. The game is spot-on but like another recent arcade classic that requires precise controls (SFII Hyper Fighting), it can be hard with the 360’s controller, since the controller has 3D games in mind over 2D.

The game is only 400 Points ($5), but that still might even be too much. The bad part about paying for this version of the game is, unless you are a newer gamer, or are trying to get your kids to play the classics, chances are you have played this game at least a dozen different times on other platforms. If it be mobile phone, arcade, flash PC game, in one of Namco’s compilation packs—heck, you can even play it in the load screen for Ridge Racer 6, a Xbox 360 launch game that can be found at bargain prices. Seriously, there are only a few reasons to have the game on your Xbox 360—something to spend fifteen minutes on, something your significant-other can play, and of course to get all 200 achievements. Besides the achievements, the best feature of the game is the scoreboards, letting you compare yourself against your friends, to see which one of you actually hones their old-school Pac-Man skills.

Share this:

4 6 5 6 4 5.7

I don’t think I have to tell most of you this: If you played one Pac-Man you’ve played them all. You can’t really make this 2D arcade classic much better than it already is, and it is a great title, but it shows it’s age, and the fact that it is re-released more than any Star Wars film doesn’t help. My suggestion is to pass it up unless you are a hardcore fan in search of some achievement points.

Discuss this in the forums!