First things first. I was never very good at Pac-Man. While my friends clamoured around the machine in the arcades, I quietly slunk over to something more my forte, like Space Invaders, or Galaga. I don't know if it was the repetitiveness of playing the same maze over and over, or just the inability to recognize and memorize a consistent pattern for escaping unscathed. Don't get me wrong, I respect the muncher for what he means to gaming and still like the game (his intro music is my ringtone) but just lack a lot of the required skill for true success.
Since subscribing to Game Pass on Wednesday night, I have spent a little more time in
Pac-Man Museum, putting together a run of four Achievements that could be about as far as I go. There might be a couple within my reach that I'll try for, but can't see myself striving for completion before deleting this from my hard drive and moving on to something else.
The stamps definitely encourage replay value within this collection, though the rewards for doing so are not terribly compelling outside of the obvious Gamerscore from time to time. The animated "pals" and the various trinkets are not much to look at and don't have any gameplay use. A little more history on the franchise in the form of concept art, photos, or articles would have been prefered.
The original
Pac-Man still frustrates me today. I honestly don't remember the power pellet effect scaling down so quickly on subsequent levels. I can usually get all four ghosts a couple of times on the first level, but feel like pursuing more than one or two by the second level is flirting with disaster.
Super Pac-Man still remains more enjoyable to me than the original, though hasn't seen as much play over the past few days. To my knowledge it is still the only Pac-Man game that actually allows you to chase ghosts into their pen. Risky, but safer if you're in large mode.
If you remember the horrible Saturday morning cartoon series (and the similarly inspired breakfast cereal),
Pac-Land will either delight you or terrify you. The resolution on the characters is clearly dated but close enough to resemble the animated hero, down to his cowboy boots and silly hat. The timing of the jumps is very floaty and feels weighted down. Regular movement feels completely useless compared to the sprinting movement enabled by double-tapping the pad or control stick. Pac-Man should have always remained as an arcade action experience, not a scrolling adventure game.
Pac & Pal is tough to really consider a Pac-Man game at all. Yes you control the familiar hero. Yes it's in a maze. But the gameplay revolves around an almost gambling mechanic where you turn over cards to unlock fruits and other items, no more than three at a time, to try and clear the level. And instead of a Power Pellet that allows you to eat the ghosts, various power-ups let you shoot them instead. Shoot them? Very odd indeed.
Pac-Attack appears on the surface to be just another Tetris-like arrangement game, but follows a somewhat predictable pattern of pieces. It starts to get strangely compelling once you start to figure out the nuances of the gravity-feed placement and Pac-Man's eating behaviour.
Pac-Mania has to be my least favourite of the lot. The mazes are similar to the original arcade, but presented in an isometric perspective and themed around different styles of geometry. The biggest drawback is the limited window of view over the map that makes it difficult to anticipate enemy movements and plan escape routes. Add in an increasing number of ghosts as you play and the game definitely feels stacked against you.
Pac-Man Battle Royale is a competitive gobbler for up to four players, but instead of competing for high scores, it is a challenge to be the last Pac standing. Players bump off each other violently, which you can use to push your opponent into the path of a ghost, or fall victim to the same such tactics. Grabbing a Power Pellet gives you the ability not only to eat the ghosts, but to crunch your opponents as well. Stamps (like mini-Achievements that unlock trinkets for your Pac-Room) can be earned easily in this one by using a second controller rather than face a sometimes formidable CPU foe.
Pac-Man Arrangement is an attempt to modernize the game, and definitely presents the isometric view much better, enabling the entire map to be seen. The reflections are a little distracting though, and the addition of crazy power-ups like dash and jump seem to be unnecessary. The wavy movement of the dots also makes me feel a little seasick at times.
Pac-Man Championship Edition may be already familiar to you given its recency. This is a much better update to the franchise than Arrangement that retains the primary mechanics but radically alters the way in which the mazes are managed. Describing it here can't do the experience justice, so be sure not to miss this one. I got the full allotment of Achievements on its Xbox LIVE Arcade standalone counterpart, so I should be able to knock off most of its stamps in the Museum collection.
Upcoming issues of the blog will address the Capcom Arcade Cabinet, as well as A Kingdom for Keflings as my exploration of the Xbox Game Pass library continues. Thanks for reading.