David Kudrev
I’ve been an on-and-off fan of Pac-Man since I first saw it at the arcades in a Timezone in the Sydney CBD. It was addictive to say the least, but it can’t and won’t ever persuade me to betray one of my all-time favourites in the arcade.
Bandai Namco has recently released Pac-Man: Championship Edition for the iPhone platform, which I was pretty excited about when I found out. I predicted that it would be just PacMan with slightly enhanced graphics. I was half-right.. So how does this version of Pac-Man differ to the classic which we all have grown up to love and idolise in gaming culture? Well, the graphics have been enhanced in certain places (lighting from ghosts, sparks coming off of Pac-Man when grinding along the edges of the maze walls.
Plenty of missions like for example, collect certain fruit before the time runs out, or eat 2-4 consecutive ghosts in a row, and so forth. There are hundreds of missions, I haven’t gone through them all yet, no doubt will be on the bus this week! I noticed also that there is an expansion pack already available with 100 extra missions, and the challenge mode getting unlocked.
The game itself feels solid, and once again with plenty of different control options from the classic two-joystick to thumb pads. The game itself of course is a graphical revision to the 1980 Arcade hit with an overload of colours and effects along with background music well suited for the intensity expected in such a game.
At the moment it is on an introductory special for AU$3.99, I would say is worth it, if you thought Pac-Man was and still is an entertaining game, and with this version offering new challenges to brush up on your skills, should you ever find an arcade cabinet of it near you. But for now, relive a classic title in the palm of your hands.
Version reviewed: 1.0.0