Review: Pac-Man Championship Edition (XBLA)

Pac-Man Championship Edition is a brilliant retro-evolved title up there with JetPac and Geometry Wars

For: Great controls; dynamic mazes and effects; good HD visuals and music; lots of game modes
Against: Quite expensive; previous Pac-Mans will put some off

Achievements: Medium

I hate Pac-Man. I hated Pac-Man when I was 8 and now when I am 33. It has taken 25 years but I have finally played a version of Pac-Man that is fun, fast and enjoyable. In fact, if this game didn't have the iconic characters, more people would probably give it a try.

This is the first version of Pac-Man to be completely updated by the original creator. The big changes from the previous XBL Pac-Man games are: controls that work (including sparking), HD dynamic evolving mazes, and time limited score boards. The net effect is a totally different feel to the game with less focus on frantic navigation and more emphasis fruit collection and attacking the ghosts. It has much more in common with Geometry Wars or Jet Pac Refuelled than the original Pac-Man.

The HD graphics and sound make over is well done: retro enough, whilst including some nice new visual effects.

Pac-Man CE has 6 different game modes that vary in time length, maze behaviour (dark mazes!), speed and pill occurrence. Each mode feels different enough to warrant a separate mode and all are challenging but enjoyable. At 800M$, Pac-Man CE is a bit expensive, especially as it is the 3rd Pac-Man game on the platform, but it is by far the best, and one of the most immediate and fun games on XBLA.

9/10