Pac-Man Championship Edition Review

 






A Lesson of Innovation-A Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Review

Many retro studios tend to struggle with modernizing a classic formula to work well in the modern age of gaming. Now more than ever, the push of modern video games in terms of mechanics and accessibility has left countless classic titles of decades past in an archaic limbo of outdated design decisions. Pac-man championship edition is a prime example of what it takes to modernize a distinctly retro IP and create something truly enjoyable of dated source material.

A Maze of Changes

PCE introduces many modernizations while still staying true to the main gameplay loop of the 80s arcade classic. In short, you will still be eating pellets and dodging ghosts, but with far more variety than the old one screen gameplay many are accustomed too.

In fact, PCE has many different mazes for Pac-man to go through, and as you collect power pellets they shift around and change the map's orientation. This change is not done in a disorientating way though, giving the player enough time to adjust to what is being thrown at them. PCE also abandons the traditional formula of Pac-man (collecting all pellets to move on), and instead opts to rely on a score attack focused time-based system. This not only keeps things interesting but encourages players to replay levels for high scores.


Each individual maze has a myriad of challenges to complete, including: 10 minute and 5 minute score attacks, 10 challenge levels, and a challenge to eat as many ghosts in a chain as possible. All modes compromise a much more dynamic gameplay loop to the original source material, while retaining what worked for those old arcade games. However, the game can be sort of repetitive as these challenges, while occurring on different maps, are never differed (meaning you will be doing chost combos, 5 min time trials, etc. on every single map).


There are also several quality of life changes to the old formula that PCE use to create a modern experience. For example, when you are close to being hit by a ghost, time slows down to help you adjust your path and evade danger-especially helpful on higher difficulties in which the game as a whole moves much faster. In addition to this slowdown effect, Pac-man also comes equipped with usable bombs that can be activated to detonate every ghost on screen in a pinch, at the cost of lowering your combo and overall game speed. When you eat a power pellet and turn ghosts blue, some ghosts may carry a bomb to add to your stockpile or a power pellet to keep the chain going. As you can imagine, the art of keeping a combo going through a chain of power pellets is beyond satisfying. 

Verdict

Pac-Man Championship Edition is a textbook example of how to adapt a retro formula to the modern age, and it is extremely addicting to return to again and again for the euphoria of getting that next high-score

9/10-A Modern Arcade Masterpiece

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monolith Review

Image
Roguelite Majesty-A  Monolith Review Monolith is a blatant hidden gem, and a concept I haven't seen done much recently. Yes, it is a roguelite, the superhero movie genre of video games, but it employs mechanics from most modern bullet hell space shooters to create a more unique experience.  You are a little spaceship in search of exploring the procedurally generated vault of levels to reach the end and obtain the power that lies within the monolith. Ain't much more than that, and what else is needed? Claustrophobic Combat The game has a great sense of space, forcing you to make split second decisions and rely partially on your instincts. As you improve, you learn to utilize all of the space you've been given, no matter how tiny the room. By shrinking the scope of the playable screen, combat is always active and keeps you focused through an entire run.  Couple this combat with expert visual design and a killer soundtrack, and each combat encounter is both...
Read more

Exo One Review

Image
  Missing the Mark-An Exo One Review Previously I really enjoyed these sort of open ended and abstract experiences, specifically Giant Squid's Abzû and its great sense of aquatic atmosphere. Having not played many of the other examples of the genre, namely Flower and Journey, I decided to check out the newly released Exo One from Exbleative to make a return back into these types of games.  Misreading the Room Ultimately, Exo One falls short of capturing the essence of what made these games engaging enough to enjoy. Looking to Abzû, there was an emphasis of smooth and coherent movement-you could kick your flippers through the water rhythmically to gain speed or grab onto animals and use their unique features to ride through the water. Exo One has a similar sense of momentum, as you turn into a ball to roll down slopes then transfer out into a disc to fly forward at maximum speed.  And this deeply satisfying, however, this is all Exo One ever does for the en...
Read more

Downwell Review

Image
  Confidence in Simplicity-A Downwell Review With every generation of new hardware and consoles the push in the gaming sphere has always been the same: better graphics, bigger scope, and just MORE. Downwell, to me, exists as a prime example as to why simple can be infinitely more enjoyable than complex. However, Downwell is a bit more sneaky in its execution, offering a lot of little details that add so much depth to a novel concept.  Ojiro Fumoto’s vision for Downwell seems to be that of a game jam game. For those who are unaware, a “game jam” is a competition in which upstart developers are tasked with making a fleshed out concept and prototype for a game in a short timeframe, typically 48 to 72 hours. The goal of these competitions is to get people creating as quickly as possible, and to not overthink so much that you don’t even start a project. Fun fact, the acclaimed indie shooter Superhot was the result of a game jam, eventually evolving into a full experience worthy of ...
Read more