Review: Pac-Man Championship Edition (Xbox 360)- Buy This Game!

Best. Pac-Man. Ever. Yes, I know its pretty darn clichéd to declare things the Best_____Ever these days, but this is simply how I feel about Pac-Man Championship Edition; this game is Pac-Man, perfected. Now let me tell you, I love Pac-Man. When I was a kid, I dumped untold amounts of quarters into that game, and its brethren Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man Jr., Super Pac-Man, the hacks, all of 'em. Yes, as a kid I had the Pac-Man Fever. But the thing is this, much like pneumonia or bronchitis, once you get 'the Fever', you never really lose it.

I've sought out and played countless renditions of Pac-Man over the years; I had the red-LCD table-top 'Arcade Machine'; the Atari 2600 & 7800 versions (btw: Pac-Man on 2600 = Worst.Pac-Man.Ever., but I still played the hell outta it, it was Pac-Man!); the superior (but not arcade perfect) NES version; the GameBoy version (but unfortunately not the GBC version, which apparently had an awesome 2-player mode); the GBA Pac-Man Collection (still not arcade perfect, even with the power of GBA!); Namco Museums for each generation of hardware; the Plug & Play versions; the good spin-offs and semi-sequels (Ms. Pac Man, Pac & Pal, Super Pac-Man, etc.); the bad spin-offs and semi-sequels (Pac-Mania, Pac-Land, Pac-Man Arrangement (ugh), etc.); internet flash-based Pac-Man games; the good ol' arcade hacks back in the day (speed-up, slow down, special effects, etc.); and the countless stream of Pac-Clones over the years, both good and bad. Yep, I think I've played them all. I even have MAME running on my cell phone for the sole purpose of running Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man on the go, anytime, anywhere (I think I've paid into the Pac-Empire enough to not feel guilty about these emulations). I really do dig Pac-Man, see, and this is why I'm so over the moon for Namco-Bandai's latest Pac-Man effort, as they've taken the game I love and truly updated it and improved upon it in each and every way.

Unveiled at the Pac-Man World Championships in New York City (kinda like SMB 3 was in The Wizard, as the finalists had to compete for the final prize on this new, unknown game, as opposed to the one they knew & played so well to get there), and the first designed by the series' creator Toru Iwatani (who retired from game design with this amazing game) since he created the original, the game was made available exclusively through Xbox Live Arcade. That might be the titles' only downside really, its current exclusivity, as I would love to see this released as an actual arcade machine, or to be able to play it anywhere on Nintendo DS, whenever the urge hits. But, that may still happen down the road, for now though, let me tell you why if you only download one game off XBLA, it should be this one (although if for some reason you hate all things Pac-Man, get Geometry Wars, as it too rocks).

The game now plays in a widescreen presentation, unlike the vertical presentations of prior versions. Instead of level after level of essentially the same damn screen with only the speed and patterns of the ghosts and the types of fruit changing, you now get one timed level, the screen split into two halves, with the ghost house in the middle of the two. You still try to escape the clutches of the ghosts (still Inky, Bliky, Pinky, and Clyde) while chomping pellets to clear the screen, but there's a new twist here; once you clear one half, a piece of fruit (or item like a Galaxian Ship, Cake, Key, etc.) appears on the other half, next to the ghost house. Eating this fruit (or whatever) causes the half you just cleared to re-populate with pellets, and alters that half of the stage into a different maze altogether.You repeat this process over and over, while the pace quickens with each cleared maze, until you either run out of lives, or time expires, and the lone goal is the same lone goal of its arcade ancestors: getting an unbeatable high score by clearing wave after wave of pellets, and chomping ghosts. That brings up another twist on the classic formula: chomping ghosts. You still eat them when they turn blue after eating a power-pellet, but now you can chain these together into a high scoring combo if you can eat another power-pellet before the 'attack phase' time runs out. The point value for the blue ghosts grows and grows from 200 to 3200 (where it maxes-out) with each successive ghost you eat in a combo, and you'll keep getting 3200 points for each ghost you can keep squeezing into that combo. Here's a little video I put on YouTube of one of my scores, to give you an idea of the play-mechanics at work here.


Pac-Man has always been about Zen-like concentration, whatever method you approach it with, whether it be running one of the various patterns for each level (personally, for me, the only way to 'finish' or even attempt to 'finish' the original game), or Billy Mitchell-style where you just react to the situation from second to second, the game was designed to always keeps you on your toes (and to keep making you die, & dump in more quarters). This aspect of the game is still ever-present in Pac-Man CE, in fact its been turned up to 11. The game now has a truly frantic pace (which does build gradually), as both the ghosts and Pac-Man himself gain more and more speed as the mazes get cleared. You can also gain a little teeny-tiny speed boost by turning early around corners (Pac-Man emits sparks when doing this), which adds even a little more depth to clearing mazes as well. Extra lives are a lot easier to get, but as an extra emphasis on not dying, the point value of each pellet munched now goes up after a certain amount are cleared, starting at 10 points each, and maxing out at 50 points each. You'll obviously get a much higher score crunching 50 pts per pellet than 10, so while you'll most likely have enough lives to finish the level, the less you die the better your score's gonna be. This point raising is also true of the fruits, as the score for each fruit or item increases the further you progress.

All of this gives you multiple ways to play, as there are different strategies you can employ to get that super high score you're after. You can concentrate just on chaining ghosts together into huge combos, or on clearing as many pellets as possible without dying, thus gaining 50 pts. each pellet, or just focusing on getting the ever-increasing-in-value fruits or items (which in the later stages give you tons of points). Or of course you can try to do all 3 at once, trying to find that delicate balance between them all that will put your score in a place of prominence on the worldwide online leaderboards. At the end of your run, you're given a total breakdown of exactly how and when you scored each and every point, so you can study where you went wrong, or see when you picked up a ton of points, and how (ghosts, fruit, or pellets). Very, very cool feature. There's 6 different modes for your selection: Challenge Mode 1 & 2, Extra Mode 1, 2, & 3, and of course, Championship Mode. The main differences between them are their layouts and themes, with some having much less power pellets than others and some having really tight boards for you to clear, or some starting at top speed, or having the entire stage in darkness except for the area around you and the ghosts, and their length (Challenge Mode 1, Extra Mode 3, and Championship Mode all have 5 minute timers, the rest, 10 mins.). As it is basically the same game across all modes, you'll likely find yourself sticking to your favorite one and trying to master it, playing the other modes for variety and practice. For me, and likely most of you too I'm sure, that mode is Championship Mode, the 'main' variation in the package. But they're all good. Think of it like the old 2600 days (if you were playing back then), where you could 'change' the game into other modes (extra difficulty, more ships, enemies, etc..), but it was essentially the same game each time, and you mostly just played the main game anyways.

Namco has tried many times over the years to re-invent Pac-Man, to varying levels of success. I feel that the only true sequel to Pac-Man previously has been Ms. Pac-Man (which was, honestly, more fun to play, and a better game), and that wasn't even made by Namco, but the American distributor of the game, Midway (after purchasing the rights to a hack of Pac-Man called Crazy Otto, then sprucing it up with a bow), after they grew impatient for Namco's official sequel to the then-worldwide phenomenon. That game, Super Pac-Man, did come, and while a great game in its own right, it just didn't quite feel the same. There were no pellets for one thing, as you ate pieces of fruit instead. It wasn't the same. They tried to make Pac-Man cool and 3D-ish with the isometric PacMania, which retained the style of mazes and the pellets, and even added jumping (!), but that game just wasn't much fun to play at all. The abomination that was Pac-Man Arrangement was really the closest they ever came to it prior to CE, as they really tried to stick to the look of Pac-Man, and really tried to implement new things (speed dashes, new, weird ghosts, warps, dynamic and colorful stages, etc.), but it all just worked out to be an utter mess.

No, this time they absolutely nailed it, and surpassed it, as this surely stands as the definitive version of Pac-Man. This isn't the same game you (or your father,..God I'm getting old...) remember, but there's more than enough of that game's spirit and style here to make it a worthy successor to the throne. The looks, updated and made retro-future cool with the bright neon look and widescreen presentation, the gameplay, which is the same, but somehow better (and I don't know how they did it, but this game controls like a dream with the 360's analogue stick. Really!), the sounds, which retain their nostalgia from earlier games, even the new music (yes, music) for the game strangely fits too. As I said above, the only thing I could ask for is for this to be released on more systems, as I crave a Nintendo DS version of this game like you wouldn't believe (Namco Museum DS is among my most anticipated titles coming for any system, as it contains arcade perfect Pac-Man (with proper screen-ratio too, with the DS in 'book-style'), and Pac-Man Vs.! Oh Joy!), and I think that this game would find a much, much larger audience on that and other systems. But hey, I ain't got nothin' to complain about here, I just want to sing this titles praises to all gamers, and I encourage you all to at least download this and give it a try. But be warned, as you too may come down with 'the Fever', of which there is no cure.

- Kimo

The WCLC Pac-Man Scratch & Win Lottery Ticket

The ticket, pre-scratch.

Saw this at 7-11 last night, and just had to buy it. Sure, it's not nearly as cool as that other Pac-Man Scratch & Win from Texas, where you could win an actual Pac-Man cocktail cabinet (drool....), but hey, there's still a $25,000 grand prize! The rules are pretty simple, scratch off each row and hope to find 5 Pac-Man's in a row w/o any ghosts, and win the corresponding prize at the end of that row. If, along the way, you happen across some fruit you nab the 'fruit bonus' for getting them, $20 instantly for a cherry symbol, and $50 for a strawberry symbol. There's also the obligatory "Bonus" spot that appears on every Western Canadian Lottery Ticket, which fools you into thinking you've actually got another chance to win something here. It's shaped like Pac-Man's head. All in all I feel that while the graphics are very nice, and control is a breeze, the overall fun factor and replayability were pretty much non-existent :P

Anyways, pretty cool lottery ticket all together, I guess, but a bit disheartening at the same time to see Namco pimp Pac-Man so easily and so half-assed lately. I mean, a lottery ticket is a pretty unlikely place to find the Pac, but oh well, 'll probably buy a few more of these the next few weeks, I'm sure. I'm such a sucker for this kind of stuff. Scroll down to see how I did on this particular ticket (I'll give you a hint: not good), and to see what it looks like fully un-covered.....

I didn't win a damn thing :(

- Kimo

VC Crystal Ball smashed, New Ball in the Mail...

You may have noticed the complete lack of activity 'round here the last couple weeks. Well, for starters, the good 'ol VC crystal ball rolled off its platform and smashed. I've ordered a replacement ball, and it should be here in time for the long-delayed site re-design/reboot I've desperately been trying to get around to. There have been other issues to deal with, like time, for example. See, between work, and trying to look after/take care of my house I now live in (so much more to do than just living in an apartment), and my family of seven that lives there, the free time I do get usually gets chewed up by actual gaming, as there is simply a ton of good stuff out right now, and I've been having more fun actually playing them than writing about them.

But, I now look to re-affirm my blogging commitment to this site, starting with the previously mentioned re-design coming very soon, coinciding with, or possibly even preceded by, a few reviews that have been a long time coming (like Pac-Man CE, Quickspot, Picross DS, Mario Strikers Charged, and others), and some interesting (hopefully) features/essays I've been mulling over. You may see one or two posts before then, but not much. See you soon.
- Kimo

Virtual Console Crystal Ball 07/30/07

Ugh! What a week, no time for anything. This is just about the only thing I even get to do online anymore, when I can even make time for it that is (missed it a couple weeks back). Oh well, its fun though, so I'll keep at it, now lets see what happened last week. We got Devil's Crush for TG-16, Shining Force for Genesis, and Kirby's Dream Course for SNES. So, technically I only got 1 outta three right (sure, I got all three systems right, but big deal), but I cannot make any sense of why Sega released the second game in the Shining series (that being Shining Force), instead of the first game in the series (that being Shining in the Darkness, which I predicted last week). Its inexplicable to me, and I don't get it, so I'm just gonna go and give it to me. Seriously. Would you ever think that a part 2 of anything would come out before a part 1 of something (without 'part 1' actually being a prequel or something)? Of course not, so I'm gonna give it to me, and just say that I called the series debuting on the VC, apparently, and that's just the way I'm gonna see it this week ;) So, with that in mind, the updated stats now read 11 outta 15, or 73%. Gotta try to get it bumped up, and I'm confident I will, as I think I'm gonna have another 3 for 3 week here:

TurboGrafx-16
Drop Off - G-Mode

NES
Donkey Kong Jr. Math - Nintendo

SNES
Super Turrican - Factor 5

I feel making these three picks this week are like shooting ducks in a barrel, as both Super Turrican and DK JR. Math have been 'mentioned' as being released for July in Nintendo Power magazine (which isn't always a credible source mind you, but you can't deny it is the only kind of official word on VC releases in any way straight from the big N themselves, and this is the last Monday of July, so....), and Drop Off has been confirmed by Hudson as this weeks TG16 release, so these picks are really no-brainers, though I did have one or two others in mind to predict, I feel I just have no choice but to put these 3 up there. Seriously though, if Super Turrican isn't released this week, I'm gonna stop predicting it, this is its third appearance on this list already!! I really want to play it already too!!! Loved that game back in the day. As for DKJR Math, well, Nintendo is doing everything it can to un-demonize gaming in the media, expanding the market, blue ocean, yada yada, and this would be just one more talking point for them, I guess, but I really doubt many gamers will ever download it though.

That's all folks! Just another short update, still searching for more free time. Sure, Super Parer Mario and PacMan CE have been consuming much of my free time that I could be spending writing, but that not likely to change until I finish SPM, or PacMan CE gets less addicting (which I'm sure ain't gonna happen), so back to SPM for a bit! See ya!

-Kimo

Virtual Console Crystal Ball 07/22/07

Missed the update last week, and its a shame, as I totally called Paper Mario for N64 on Monday, but didn't have the time to update the site (been so incredibly busy the last couple weeks around the house and with work, you have no idea), so, oh well, missed one week, onto this weeks predictions:

TurboGrafx-16
Devil's Crush - Compile

Super Nintendo
Super Turrican - Factor 5

Sega Genesis
Shining in the Darkness - SEGA (Sonic! Software Planning)

There you have it, this weeks predictions, very short and to the point this week, but like I said, time is short. But have no fear, this site will soon be seeing updates out the yin-yang, Pac-Man Championship (Xbox 360) & QuickSpot (Nintendo DS) reviews will be posted within one or two days, and of course there's that E3 stuff I still wanna write about, plus if I can, there's this feature I've been dying to write, so yeah, there's a ton of content (finally) coming soon. Not to mention the impending site re-design (its coming). Stay tuned, and we'll see tomorrow morning if we can improve this 9 out of 12 (75%) track record this crystal ball's got goin' on here. See ya soon.

- Kimo

Virtual Console Crystal Ball 07/09/07

Wow, what an amazingly good week for the 'ol Ball last week, going 3 for 3, as Dragon Spirit, Ecco 2, and Super Mario Bros. 2 all got released onto the VC last Monday, bringing this site's prediction stats up to 7 out of 9 so far, or 78%. Yay for me! Don't really have too much time for this post (and I'm really tired, so I might ramble and not make much sense), so I'll get right to this weeks predictions:

TurboGrafx-16
Air Zonk - Red Entertainment

Sega Genesis
Shining in the Darkness - SEGA

NES
Mach Rider - Nintendo

This week's releases come just a couple days before E3 kicks off, and barring any unforeseen huge surprises (Mega Man, for example), or Nintendo finally unloading some of their big guns they have in waiting (Metroid/Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG, PilotWings, etc..), I think these 3 are noteworthy of an E3-week release for different reasons.

I feel Air Zonk is noteworthy in the fact that this character represents the last attempt NEC made in the console market, as he was their mascot for the ill-fated Turbo-Duo. That, and it's already been confirmed for Monday. The other 3 are pretty good bullet-points for the VC in more direct ways I feel.

Shining in the Darkness is the first in the Shining series, which has a large following among RPG fans (not FF-large, but still well known), and will likely be downloaded in pretty high numbers when it releases. This can be seen as a pretty high-profile release I would think, and one geared towards the core gamer, the type who crave more RPG's for VC. For all the talk of expanding the market and casual gaming this and that, Nintendo knows to dance with the one that brought them, and will always try to appeal to the 'hardcore' as well. This would be one more example for them @ E3 to cite that they are doing that (along w/MP3, Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros., Zelda PH, all coming on the horizon, and likely to be focused on @ E3).

Mach Rider fits the bill in the fact that, if it follows the Australian and European releases, it will be a VC release that is improved over the original. Not Xbox Live Arcade-like improved, unfortunately, but still, improved nonetheless, as they have added the ability to save your custom designed tracks, something you could not do in the original NES release (a NES launch game, btw). Another good E3 VC talking point for Nintendo I would say. That, and its already released in other regions (Eur and Aus), and I've been expecting it for weeks now.

OK, so I rambled on anyways, I always do. See you soon with E3 reactions & opinion.

- Kimo

Virtual Console Crystal Ball 07/02/07

Yep, its that time once again to peer into the ol' VC Crystal Ball. First, lets see what happened last week. Looks like the Ball got 2 outta 3 again, as both China Warrior (TG16) and F-Zero X (N64) were released, but instead of Super Turrican for SNES, we got the surprise of SFII:Turbo Hyper Fighting. So, once again 2 for 3, and overall the Crystal Ball now stands at 4 outta 6, or, still at 67%. Well, 67% two weeks running isn't bad, but I'd like to see that number climb higher, that percentage get bigger, so with that in mind here's this weeks predictions;

TurboGrafx-16
Dragon Spirit - Namco

Sega Genesis
Ecco the Dolphin: The Tides of Time - Sega

NES
Super Mario Bros. 2 - Nintendo

Three big titles to predict, but I think its gonna be a big update this week. Its a long weekend in the States too, no? That leads me to believe that Nintendo is gonna let loose with some of the big name titles they have in reserve, waiting to be released, and aside from the Mario RPG/Paper Mario games and the Metroid/Super Metroid games, Nintendo's biggest title they have to release would be Super Mario Bros. 2, the cut-and-paste warping of Doki Doki Panic that was re-imagined into 'Mario Madness'.

I think the two RPG's would likely be released together, and with a N64 game just last week we're not gonna see Paper Mario anytime soon, so both of those were out to me. The Metroid games I think we'll see closer to Metroid Prime 3 being released, when we're in the middle of all the Metroid-hype, that seems like the perfect time to release those two. And I firmly believe that we will get an NES game this week, after the SNES & N64 treats last week, so the only NES title that really fills the blockbuster-bill for Nintendo is SMB2, I think. Plus, it was recently mentioned in Nintendo Power, which may be a tip of their hand a bit. Although, PilotWings would be a perfect fit, and I almost picked that, as what better game to release for July 4th weekend than a game in which you can fly over the 'entire' good ol' USA? But like I said, I think it'll be NES, not SNES this week. I would love to be wrong though.

The Turbo game is already known about, but is a big game in the fact it is from Namco, and I believe it is the 2nd game from them on the system (behind Splatterhouse), and Namco is a big name, so sure, that's a big game too. As far as Ecco goes though, this one was tough to finally choose on, as I was also thinking about Shining in the Darkness (recently ESRB-rated) or Vectorman, which has been ready to be released for, like, ever, and both are 'big' games, in that their both great games. But in the end, I chose Ecco because he is a well-known Sega name-character (Ecco 1 was on VC from day one!), and the only well-known Sega character they have ready to be released (if Sonic 3 had been ESRB-rated too, I'd have picked that for sure). I have a hunch this was a real long shot, but I feel 100% that there will be a Genesis game this week too (if not it'll be 2 NES games), like I said this one makes the most sense to me, big-name-game wise.

Last week was a surprise for SNES, as the other two were locks, to me at least, and were met with no surprise at all. I just knew a SNES game would release for sure, but I just kinda jumped on Super Turrican, as it was just esrb-rated (some games (3rd party) seem to come out shortly after they get a rating, well, sometimes anyways), and they rated both 1 & 2 at the same time, leading me to believe that they'd throw one out now, and leave the other languishing in the wings for a while, to see what interest in the 1st one was like, yada yada. But no, they threw out SFII:HF exactly 6 months after putting the original SF2 on VC on Christmas. Totally didn't think that would come out for another couple months, but oh well, I can't figure out what they're thinking all the time.

Wow, long post again just to say I think these 3 games will release in about 9 and a half hours or so, but its my blog so whatever! :) See you next week to see if that % improves, and I hope you all have a great Canada Day or July4th weekend (Canada Day here, eh).

-Kimo

Virtual Console Crystal Ball 06/25/07

Another week, another round of predictions for the Wii's VC Monday releases. First a look at what the Crystal Ball saw, vs. what was actually released last week. The prediction was that both World Sports Championship and Bloody Wolf for TG16 would be released, alongside F Zero-X for N64. Well, yippie, I was 2 for 3 last week, as the two Turbo games were released (as we all knew they would be) alongside - surprise!! - NES Open Tournament Golf for, obviously, NES.

Unfortunately, the one I was wrong about was F Zero-X, as North America is still the only region in the world yet to see this release. Weird. Instead of some 64-bit F-Zero we got some 8-bit golf, and not of the Lee Trevino variety (still my fave NES golf game), but one which I wasn't even thinking about at all for VC release yet. I would've pegged at least 2 or 3 other NES games to go live before that one did, but it did, so oh well. So, with the success rate @ 67%, its time to see if we can pad that number with this weeks predictions:


TurboGrafx-16
China Warrior - Hudson Soft

Super Nintendo
Super Turrican - Factor 5

Nintendo 64
F Zero-X - Nintendo


Well there they are, the Crystal Ball foresees these 3 games this Monday. Apparently, the vision of F-Zero-X last week was a little foggy and premature, and was for this week instead, yeah, that must be the case.....elsewhere, China Warrior is a 100% lock (confirmed for June 2007, and this is the last Monday in June, so...), and I have a gut-feeling that the just-ESRB-rated Super Turrican will be the SNES game to end that particular drought (no SNES love since May! WTF?!?) , although I'd love to be wrong and see Pilotwings finally show up there instead (still waiting..).

Seriously, I am almost certain that an N64 and/or (most likely and) SNES game will release, as there have been no SNES games this month yet, and no N64 game since April frickin' 2nd!! That, and there have already been 4 NES games and 3 Genesis games this month already (pretty much hit the quota there), so I'd be very surprised to see another title for either of those two systems hit this month.

Paper Mario is supposedly being released in Japan on the 26th, so there's the possibility that they may do some same-week global release for that title, but I highly doubt it, especially considering that F-Zero is out in every other region already (even AU), and Japan gets things a while before we usually do here anyways. Ahhh, fun. Well, we shall see this Monday!

-Kimo