After Tempest 2000 came out for the Atari Jaguar—and
later for other consoles—the retro-gaming style of
games took off. Unfortunately, most of the retro style
games that followed weren't that much fun in their updated
forms. So it was with low expectations that I tried out
Pac-man World. Luckily, like Tempest, this
update gets it right.
Pac-man is now a 2.5-D platformer for the most
part, but it incorporates many elements from the original
maze games—such as eating dots, using power pills
against ghosts, & collecting fruit. Pac-man can
now run, jump, swim, and butt-bounce among other new skills.
However, there are bonus rounds with more traditional
mazes.
The different worlds (pirates, jungle, space, circus,
haunted cemetery, etc.) are pretty generic in concept,
but fun in execution because of the cartoony yet abstract
look and the imaginative level design. The circus levels
are particularly abstract and remind me of Commodore 64
games for some reason. The music is great for the most
part (I particularly liked the music in the space levels)
and the sounds effects match the fun, cartoony style of
the game well.
Running around as Pac-man can be a lot of fun,
but be prepared to die frequently as many of the bosses—and
some of the jumping later in the game—get quite hard!
Those who can blaze through the first Castlevania
on the NES have nothing to fear. Even so, with perseverance,
the game is quite winnable.
2008 ben langberg, all rights reserved.