Pac-Man Championship Edition was released over three years ago and judging by the snarky comments on Evil Avatar, a slew of people didn’t give it a second look. CE truly made Pac-Man a fresh, entertaining arcade title again by sticking to the familiar formula but throwing our hero into a psychedelic Geometry-Wars-inspired world complete with pumping techno music and a few twists. It was awesome. Now Namco Bandai is back with the release of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and they have once again shown why Pac-Man is my single favorite arcade style game.
We all know how the basic mechanics work. You’re a pizza missing a slice, navigating mazes, eating regular and power pellets, all the while being chased by some ghosts. If you get hit by the ghosts, you’re a goner! Simple. Championship Edition separated the game board into two fluid halves. Instead of working on clearing off a full board, you’d normally take care of either the left or right of the maze. The other half would then morph slightly, and become populated by dots in a preset pattern. This alteration alone made Pac-Man feel totally new, but the additional timer placed a sense of urgency on everything. It was brilliant.
CE DX changes the formula further, building on the success of three years ago. Survival really isn’t much of a problem anymore thanks to some new abilities. When in harm’s way, the game screen will zoom in slightly and slow down, allowing you to make a move or drop a bomb. Yep, Pac now has bombs which send ghosts back to their central home, giving you breathing room but also slowing down the speed of the game. The slow down is actually a big detriment, as this game is now all about speed and score. The higher your score, the faster the game becomes and the more points you’ll potentially be able to nab.
To really rack up that score, Namco has brought the significant addition of sleeping ghosts into the mix. Sure, there’s still a few wandering spirits which are of little consequence, but these new ghosts appear throughout the maze in fixed positions. Passing by will wake them; piss them off and they’ll give chase in the same path you take. If you play your cards right, you’ll eventually build up a full train behind you and when you eat a power pellet, it’s game over for Inky and his friends in an orgasmic spectacle of point gathering dominance, complete with pitch perfect sound effects. Every single time I chomp a huge train, a big smile forms on my face.
If there’s anything Pac-Man CE DX could have done a bit better, it would be the leaderboard integration. Like many other Xbox Live Arcade titles, the leaderboard is buried within menus and swapping between views feels like a chore. You get a quick look at your global ranking, but it doesn’t go far enough. It would have been great to include some in-game hooks to show off who on your friends list is closest behind or ahead of you, or even an immediate display when the match was over. All the score info is there, but it’s just not as fluid or interesting as what more current titles like Pinball FX 2 have done.
Along with the primary game modes that come in five or ten minute flavors, you’ll be able to take part in numerous time trials and a ghost train mode where instead of a high score, you try to get the highest ghost combo you can. Me? I’m at ninety six as I write this. There are a bunch of different boards to do all this on, as well as several visual styles of both mazes and characters, some of which are pulled from the numerous iterations of The Man we’ve seen throughout the years.
I’m just as amazed as you are that in 2010 Pac-Man can be so compelling. What makes all this even sweeter is the low price point of $10 when most other XBLA and PSN titles now release at $15. It’s a fantastic arcade blast that can be played for an hour or in quick spurts and honestly, if you missed out on CE three years ago, you NEED to play this game. Fans of CE will feel more at home with the new style, but there’s plenty here to make it worth another purchase. This is still not your daddy’s Pac-Man.
5 out of 5
Originally posted at Evil Avatar.