PAC-MAN Championship Edition
iPhone & iPod touch edition review
Game Publisher and Developer: Namco Networks America
Release Date: December 10, 2009
Official Website: namcogames.com
Review Summary:
PAC-MAN Championship Edition looks and plays great on the iPhone or iPod touch. The full game does feel like it is missing the majority of content, since one of three gameplay modes and most levels are dimmed out. They are only accessible by purchasing an Expansion Pack. There is no way to share your high-scores to challenge friends either. Those missing things make PAC-MAN Championship Edition feel like it’s powered-down, but hardcore PAC-MAN fans shouldn’t miss out this flashy pocket edition.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
PAC-MAN Championship Edition review
PAC-MAN Championship Edition is a revitalized version of the classic PAC-MAN game, introduced near PAC-MAN’s 26th Anniversary. Toru Iwatani, the original PAC-MAN creator, designed PAC-MAN Championship Edition for the Xbox 360′s Xbox LIVE Arcade. The core gameplay chomping and ghost chasing is there, presented with unique mazes and new ways to rack up high-scores.
Now iPhone and iPod touch gamers get to take PAC-MAN Championship Edition anywhere. For the iPhone and iPod touch version, there are four controls schemes. They include D-Pad, Directional Buttons, Thumb Swipe and Pointer-finger Swipe. I personally found Thumb Swipe to be my favorite control scheme and Directional Buttons to be my least favorite control scheme. PAC-MAN Championship Edition is one of those games that made me wish the iPhone or iPod touch had a D-Pad, but touch controls on a sometimes slippery screen will have to do.
There are three main modes of play, two of which are accessible to you when you purchase PAC-MAN Championship Edition. The included gameplay modes are Mission Mode, which includes 20 missions to master, and Championship Mode, which includes 5 courses of top-scoring challenges.
In Mission Mode, you are given various simple tasks for PAC-MAN to complete within a limited amount of time. For each mission, you first play an Easy difficulty for a Bronze award, then you can try to beat Normal difficulty for a Silver award, and finally go for Hard difficulty to win the Gold award. This will give you at least 3 playthroughs on each mission (Mission Mode has 20 missions). In Championship Mode, you will be challenged to get the top score through the 5 included courses. A Results screen at the end shows you how you performed throughout your game. You also can choose a Replay option to watch how you performed.
Facebook sharing of scores in Championship Mode or some other way to compete with other player’s scores should have been included in PAC-MAN Championship Edition, especially considering this edition of PAC-MAN was made for competition. Unfortunately a high-score sharing option is not included. A High-score Ranking table is shown in the Championship Mode, but you can’t even enter your initials for keeping track of scores with friends.
The meat of the Mission Mode and Championship Mode is not included in PAC-MAN Championship Edition. You’ll be teased by the dimmed out extra 100 courses in Mission Mode (only 20 included in game) and dimmed out 10 missions in the Challenge Mode (only 5 included in game). It will cost you an extra $3.99 to get the Expansion Pack, more than the $2.99 introductory price of the game itself. There is also a third gameplay mode not included in the game, the Challenge Mode with all 15 courses dimmed out. The Expansion Pack will add 100 extra missions to Mission Mode, 10 extra courses to Championship Mode, and a Challenge mode with 15 more courses, for $3.99. It feels like a tricky way that Namco Networks has presented this extra content. It definitely makes the full game experience feel emptier knowing you cannot access all the content without having to pay more. The whole way of having dimmed out and locked levels in your menu feels like you’ve been denied a full game. Hopefully Namco Networks will adjust this, or the pricing, in the future.
Graphically, it looks like the PAC-MAN Championship Edition on the Xbox LIVE Arcade, with the same hypnotic neon effects and techno-trance music adaptations of the PAC-MAN soundtrack. I really enjoy the revamped style, which isn’t as far detached from the original PAC-MAN game like PAC-MAN Remix.
Fans of PAC-MAN shouldn’t miss out on the PAC-MAN Championship Edition. There is bound to be a control option that suits you. Controls and the gameplay challenges play great. It’s too bad you feel like you are missing out on most of the content, making the full game feel like a demo or teaser. Prices shift on the App Store, sometimes frequently, so check out the latest cost and see if PAC-MAN Championship Edition is worth it for you.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition gameplay trailer from Namco Networks:
