Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #398: Pac-Man World

Pac-Man World

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

Mop Up Duty just cannot be stopped. Onward we roll through the year 2000. What will I check out for the very first time for this review? Last up was Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast, next up is Pac-Man World for the PS1.

Admittedly, I knew absolutely nothing about this game coming into it. I've never been the world's biggest Pac-Man fan. In fact, I haven't played a Pac-Man game since the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for the 2600 back when I was a kid. How would I feel about Pac-Man World? Let's find out!

*note - apparently I made a mistake, and this game actually came out in the year 1999 here in North America, and the year 2000 in Europe. Normally I go by the North American release dates as far as Mop Up Duty is concerned, but since I've already published my review of Jet Grind Radio, which came out in 2000, we're just going to look the other way and go with the European release date for this one. Don't like it? Sue me. It's my blog!*

Story:

There exists a house filled with many different Pac-Man variants. Professor Pac, Baby Pac, Pac-Man Junior, Pooka, Ms. Pac-Man, and Chomp Chomp - in addition to normal old Pac-Man himself. One by one these variants are kidnapped and taken to a mysterious island filled with ghosts having a rave party. Pac-Man returns home and finds everyone missing. He sets out on a quest to the island in order to find them and bring them back.

Who is behind these kidnappings? A tiny little ghost with self-esteem issues who drives around in a giant mechanical Pac-Man costume. "Nobody loves a ghost!" Does Pac-Man spare him after defeating him and saving his friends? No. He fucking eats him and smiles at the camera.

A surprisingly dark ending for what had been, to that point, a very kid friendly game. I'll never look at Pac-Man the same way again.

Gameplay:

Right off the bat you are given three different game modes to choose from. There's story mode, which is the "main" part of the game that I'll get to shortly. There's classic mode, which is simply the arcade version of the original Pac-Man. And then there's maze mode, which is like an updated version of classic Pac-Man but with fancier graphics and a health meter.

When I first started playing, I played a few rounds of classic mode just to get me fired up. As I said before, I've never been the world's biggest Pac-Man fan but it was still fun to play this version of the game after all these years have passed. I do have to say: it holds up and is still entertaining (in short bursts) even to this day.

Next I played a few rounds of maze mode, which I enjoyed. It's a lot more forgiving than classic mode, and I was really digging the added production values. I played through about ten of these maze stages before calling it quits and focusing on the main story mode.

This is the meat and potatoes of Pac-Man World. I guess the closest thing I can compare it to is Crash Bandicoot, but with more exploring and backtracking. It also does not take place from a behind-the-back camera angle.

Immediately I thought: wow this is actually pretty fun. The game finds a way to incorporate elements from classic Pac-Man, such as gobbling up pellets, collecting fruit, and eating ghosts after consuming super pellets - while also feeling like a fully fleshed out and original 3D platformer.

You start off in a world hub. You have four different stages to choose from, or you can move ahead in the hub and pick from another set of differently themed stages. You're going to have to beat them all if you want to complete the game, but you are given some flexibility in regards to which order you wish to complete them.

Pac-Man has a full range of 3D movements. He jumps. He can do a butt smash when you hit the jump button in mid-air. He swims. He also does a spin dash type move, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog. He isn't as fast as Sonic, though, and you'll find his momentum runs out and he comes to a screeching halt very quickly. Apparently you can press the circle button to fire pellets that you've collected at enemies, which I didn't figure out until the game's final boss, where you HAVE to shoot them at him to win. I guess I made the game harder for myself by not realizing this mechanic existed and taking advantage of it earlier.

When you enter a stage, your main goal is mainly to just make it to the end of the stage intact. Along the way you'll collect letters that spell out P A C M A N. If you collect all of them in one stage, you are given access to a bonus level at the end of the stage. Collecting all of these letters is not mandatory when it comes to completing the game, however.

What is mandatory is finding all of Pac-Man's six kidnapped friends and setting them free. One of each of these friends is kept in each of the game's six themed stage clusters. I didn't realize I had to save all of them when I played through this game, and when I made it to the end of the game I had only saved five of the six. If you don't save them all, you can't fight the final boss. I had to backtrack and search through a handful of old stages before I found which one I had missed. That was kind of annoying. I wish you could open up the pause menu and it would tell you which friend you were missing, and which stage it was located in. Would have saved me a lot of useless backtracking.

The stages are very creatively designed and feature a lot of very fun puzzle and platforming elements. The controls are relatively smooth, making it easy to jump from platform to platform and fight enemies. The camera can get in the way from time to time. There's also a lot of cheap deaths, where you'll think you absolutely nailed the jump and then you plummet to your death off the side of the ledge. Or when you line up a perfect butt-smash on your enemies head but still manage to miss and take damage anyway. I'd say overall the game is fairly easy, as it is quite generous with health items and extra lives. I finished with over 40 lives in stock. But you do die quite often, and many times in what I would deem as an unfair manner.

Boss fights in this game are fun, and again very reminiscent of something you'd see in Crash Bandicoot. A minor gripe would be the maze stages. They act as bonus stages in this game, and often when I'd encounter them I found that they interrupted the flow of the game. They made everything come to a grinding halt. They are fun to play if you exit out of the game and go into maze mode, but as part of the main quest they often felt forced and out of place.

Graphics:

I am a big fan of this game's graphics. They are extremely charming and have that classic 32-bit feel to them. The polygons, the environments - I love it. Unlike most 32-bit games of the era, the look of this game holds up extremely well. I don't think anyone would play this and comment that the game is ugly. No jagged edges, no flickering, nothing. Pac-Man world represents some of the best virtues of 32-bit graphics.

Sound:

I love the music and sound effects of Pac-Man World. The music is very catchy, with beats that match the theme of each stage. The star of the show, however, is the sound effects. Many of them, such as the sound when you consume a pellet, pick up a piece of fruit, or eat a ghost are pulled directly from the classic arcade game. Rather than feel outdated or out of place, these sound effects fit in absolutely perfectly with the feel of this game. Very awesome stuff.

Overall:

I would have never anticipated that I would like this game as much as I did. I came into this game completely blind, with no idea of what the gameplay would be like or what this game would be about. This was such a fun and pleasant surprise.

After recently playing through a game that was an absolute slog to get through (Jet Force Gemini), I needed something fun like this. The difference in quality between the games is night and day. I kept coming back to Pac-Man World because it is so addicting. I always wanted to see what each stage would bring, and how many secret items I could uncover along the way. While I didn't stress out if I didn't collect everything in one level, I always tried my best to do so. And that's the fun of the game.

I'd even go so far as to say this is better than ANY of the Crash Bandicoot games. More forgiving, more fun, and so much more to see and do. Can't forget the charming graphics, music, and sound effects as well. And that story! It sure is something.

Sometimes you play a game expecting it to be crap, and you uncover a diamond in the rough in the process. This game is that diamond, and I'm so glad I played it. 1999, 2000, whenever the hell this game came out - I'd recommend it to anyone.

THE GRADE:

A-

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