I thought I’d start the review with a question: why would anyone think it’s worth doing a remaster of a release as simple as Pac-Man? So I took a quick look at the reviews and figure sales for the original game and realized I was wrong. Originally a PS1 exclusive, the game was probably a surprise success in both reviews and sales, selling a million and a half copies at the time.
At the time, the first Pac-Man World wasn’t a family title for me, but before that I had played the third part of the saga. So I was interested to see what the origin of the saga was and how the original would compare to its sequels. The game had amazing reviews at the time, can’t be bad can it?
An interesting point is that Pac-Man World doesn’t even attempt to challenge Super Mario or Crash Bandicoot on their own territory. This one, on the other hand, goes straight into the adventure and uses the third dimension in a peculiar way. The scenarios usually move from left to right, always using the possibilities of 3D.
The best thing about this title is the way it uses the protagonist’s uniqueness. Most of the game consists of the usual platforming hijinks, with the usual combination of fruits and letters appearing alongside. But there are more interesting things to discover. For example, the famous power pills that momentarily turn Pac-Man into a devouring machine, allowing him to eat the ghosts floating across the stage. Behind the closed doors there is also a series of basic Pac-Man action with the mazes full of pills. They don’t add much to the game, but they are very well designed and fun to play.
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The remaster is well done. The graphics are sharp and colorful and above all the soundtrack (composed by the famous musician Tommy Tallarico) is extremely good, I would listen to it even without the game. Unfortunately, the new graphics look broken on older platforms. While the game runs smoothly at 60 frames per second on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, there are problems especially on Switch. At times the game may seem slow which can cause issues as platforming and combat can become more difficult.
There are also some more issues in the game if we look at it from the current perspective. There are a lot of replays, but then again, without them, the game would be over in just 5 hours or so. The difficulty is also a bit lopsided as the game is pretty easy for the most part, but sometimes the difficulty increases noticeably in the early levels. This also applies to the boss fights, which are often hilarious, but despite the remaster’s updates, the second world boss fight is frustrating at best.
Overall, Pac-Man World Re-Pac is a pretty good game. Pac’s features are very original compared to other platformers from the late 90’s and I wasn’t expecting to see anything like this at all. And while the genre generally shows little promise of a recovery, the 3D platform market is still in a drought. Pac-Man adventure is good enough to quench your thirst.
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