| WOW! Original Pac-man. No matter what you think of the other games here, don't knock it. It's frickin' Pac-man! Ok, ok, sorry. I'm gushing cuz I remember actually being able to play this in an arcade. God, I'm old. LOL I'm cool with it. For you old enough to have been there, BUY THIS! Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. For you young pups, not sure what to tell you other than, well, you used to be able to go to a place called an arcade (I know, you had to leave the front of the TV), hang out with your friends and play video games. It was a great way to throw away a fistful of quarters and not be sitting at home and still have an awesome time. |
Pac-Man Collection consists of four Pac-Man games: Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania. Three of these games are fun, one is not. So I will review each of these games individually to give you a scoop about each game and and a score to go with it. PAC-MAN- SCORE: 8.25 OUT OF 10 WHAT THE GAME IS: If you're a smart gamer you should already know what this game is about. But if not I'll give you an explanation; you are a yellow round object (sort of shaped like a pizza with a slice cut out) and you go around mazes eating little dots, all while trying to avoid being killed by enemies shaped like germs, unless you get a power up to which then you can eat them. GRAPHICS: It has an old 8-bit look, but the levels all look the same, and nothing really seems to change when it comes to environments. MUSIC: The only time music is present is when you start another round, but the small tune is okay. SOUND: The sounds of Pac-Man eating dots and germs when they get turned blue, the germs moving around, and you dying. GAMEPLAY: Simple concepts of navigating the mazes and eating all of the dots as fast as you can, controls work perfectly as any version of Pac-Man I've played. OVERALL: A title that's still a lot of fun despite its release more than twenty years ago, but time has aged its old gameplay concepts and recycled levels, which does damage part of the quality. PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT- SCORE: 9 OUT OF 10 WHAT THE GAME IS: It follows the same Pac-Man gameplay concepts, you navigate around mazes, you eat dots and germs when they're in a current state, and you get a lot of points for finding extra items. But this game is more addicting to play, because of new colorful environments, 3D/2D graphics, there are six worlds to beat, the game is more forgiving, and some extra features in the mazes keep things fresh. GRAPHICS: A nice 3D/2D look, especially for a Game Boy Advance title. MUSIC: Again, music only plays when you begin a new stage. SOUND: Again, like the original, Pac-Man eating, germs moving, and you dying. GAMEPLAY: It's a step above the original when it comes to new things, no level is the same, faster gameplay, six worlds to beat, a boss battle at the end, and prettier graphics. OVERALL: The game is almost perfect, but it's crippled by an overly forgiving continue system and constant death from germs like in the old Pac-Man game. But it's highly recommendable to anyone who likes Pac-Man. PAC-ATTACK- SCORE: 4 OUT OF 10 WHAT THE GAME IS: Remember Tetris? It's like that only minus the fun of Tetris and it involves Pac-Man characters and blocks in only one color. GRAPHICS: Bland and distasteful, especially considering this game was originally on the Super Nintendo, a system with a lot of pretty 2D games. MUSIC: Unimpressive, and not a whole lot. SOUND: Pac-Man eating germs when you line up blocks and germs in certain ways. GAMEPLAY: Boring, the block and germ destroying is very repetitive and not fun, unlike most puzzle games. You have better options for Game Boy Advance than this. OVERALL: They should have put Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures in here instead of this mess. Even though this game has little in common with Pac-Man's original gameplay, it's a lot more fun than Pac-Attack. And anyway, Pac-Attack has little in common with the other Pac-Man games too. PAC-MANIA- SCORE: 7.25 OUT OF 10 WHAT THE GAME IS: It follows the steps of the original and Arrangement in gameplay and environments. The gameplay feels a little old, the graphics have a 2D/3D look, and environments are recycled. GRAPHICS: Similar to Arrangement, only the environments aren't as interesting. MUSIC: Again, not much like the original and Arrangement. SOUNDS: Like the original and Arrangement, Pac-Man eating, germs moving, and sounds of death. GAMEPLAY: Follows the original and Arrangement, but for some reason it feels somewhat boring unlike the latter games because of less interesting environments and the feel a little recycled along with some of the gameplay. OVERALL: Enjoyable, not the best game in this package, but it does offer a good time for any Pac-Man fans.
This game could have been more, but it came up short due to the lackluster Mania, and awful Attack. Namco should have whipped up more Pac-Man games while they were at it, because the score I gave this game would be improved and it would make it more attractive to buy. But, this package as a whole is worth the investment to relive the old Pac-Man glory days. |