Pac-Man: Championship Edition

Anyone who's had an Xbox 360 for any period of time will tell you that Microsoft's habit of releasing arcade port after arcade port is aggravating, to say the least. And in the case of Pac-Man, a lot of people's initial reaction to this latest release will be: "What? A THIRD ONE?" We've already gotten Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, so why the hell do we need a third one? I'll tell you why. Because this one is different enough from the first two, while being similar enough to the original Pac-Man, to make itself legitimate. Pac-Man: Championship Edition is a great example of an arcade remake done right.

The original Pac-Man was all about endurance. How many levels can you last before those nasty ghosts finally take you down? How many fruits can you eat, how many pellets can you chomp? CE takes that formula and turns it on its head. Instead of asking you to last long, it asks you to score, and fast. There are 6 different modes available to play; 2 of them last for 5 minutes, and the other 4 last for 10. That's all you get.

But how do you actually score points in such a short time, you ask? Simple. Unlike the original Pac-Man, where the maze would completely reset every time you finished it off, in CE, the maze is divided into two halves. When you eat all the pellets in one half, a fruit shows up on the other half. Eat that fruit, and the half you finished off gets replenished with a new set of pellets, possibly new power pellets, and in most of the modes, a new maze layout.

And the new maze layout is the key feature here. The playfield is constantly changing itself, you're constantly getting new sets of obstacles to overcome, and the speed is getting more and more hectic as you go. The other interesting new feature is one that I personally wanted in the original game; you can FINALLY chain power pellets together, so if you eat 3 ghosts on one power pellet and activate another one before the first runs out, the first one you eat acts as if it were the 4th ghost, and so on. This is where a large portion of your points get scored, actually, because if you get lucky with the power pellets you can start scoring 3200 points per ghost. Other than that, the only real way to increase scoring speed is to keep picking up fruits and to stay alive longer, because the regular pellets increase in value the longer you stay alive.

The different play modes aren't labelled very well (Extra Mode 1, Extra Mode 2, and such aren't very descriptive), but after playing a particular mode for a while you can generally get the gimmick involved with it. In one, the game starts out at ludicrous speed almost immediately, and the mazes are lots of straight lines, and in another you can't even see most of the walls. All of them are different enough from each other that they're worth playing at least once, but you'll probably find one or two modes that you enjoy the most, like I did.

The game also pops up a little graph showing your best scoring moments at the end of the game, which is a nice touch, but can get really squished if you have a really good minute and make the graph's scale go funky. It's definitely a neat thing for number nerds like myself who enjoy seeing which 15-second interval (seriously) you scored the most points in. You also get to watch a replay of your game after it finishes, but there's no ability to save them, which after playing Halo 3 and Forza 2 is a bummer.

I've been rather positive about the game so far, but there are some downsides. For $10, you are getting a pretty hefty game, but the lack of any sort of VS. mode is a real bummer. For all the changes they've made to the game, for how fast-paced they've made Pac-Man, a VS. mode would've REALLY been interesting, and the lack of one sticks out like a sore thumb. As it is, you're stuck with comparing high scores on leaderboards as your only method of interaction with Xbox Live. The achievements packed into the game range from easy to medium difficulty (most of them for beating certain modes, a couple for score brackets, etc.).

I mention graphics and sound last, because there's really not much of either. The funky little neon-ish walls are reminiscent of Geometry Wars, and the pulsing techno soundtrack adds to the fast pace of the game, but there's nothing really flatout amazing, especially when you look at the sprites in the game being directly ripped from the original game and looking even more pixelated than usual.

In summary, Pac-Man: Championship Edition is a game that, at $10, feels about $2 too expensive. Anyone who calls themselves a Pac-Man fan should at least check this game out, as it provides a fresh new experience without screwing up the basic Pac-Man gameplay. For everyone else, your mileage may vary, but I'd be likely to recommend this one to just about anybody.

tl;dr version

Good stuff
Makes changes to Pac-Man that don't break it, and actually make a worthwhile game on its own
Little touches like the graph at the end of a round and the well-rounded achievement set are great
Evokes a distinct Geometry Wars vibe...

Bad stuff
...but mucks it up with its pixelated sprite rips
Has no multiplayer mode to speak of
Lets you watch a replay, but not save it

Billy Mitchell
Is probably worse than you at this game (until he gets some practice in)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Actual new mazes for once? Neat! It's been forever since a decent, proper Pac-Man game showed up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm enjoying the demo currently. It sounds like it's worth the 800 points, though. Good stuff, and nice review. You answered some questions I had, like multiplayer. Best Multiplayer Pac-Man ever? Pac-man vs.! SO FUN!

How ya doing, buddy?

I downloaded the demo yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised. I really wanted to not like this game, but it's just so fun. I'm still debating whether or not to pony up the $10 for the full version.

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Originally Posted by shadowlink56

Best Multiplayer Pac-Man ever? Pac-man vs.! SO FUN!

Negative. Pac-man Colour for the everlasting awesome.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

I really wanted to not like this game, but it's just so fun.

That was my attitude, too. I got it fully prepared for it to be a below-average snoozefest and was proven pleasantly wrong.

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