Developed by NOW PRODUCTIONS and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC is a 3D platformer remaster of the 1999 version of PAC-MAN WORLD and here is our review of the game.
Overview
PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC breathes new life into the classic game with HD visual enhancements, updated gameplay enhancements, brand new graphics, additional action elements, revamped boss battles, and all-new features throughout.
The game is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, and PC via Steam.
Pac full of game modes
PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC offers three different game modes for players to enjoy: Quest mode in which Pac-Man embarks on a grand adventure to save his family, Maze mode in which Pac-Man loses himself in mysterious 3D mazes as as well as an original mode that offers the original Pac-Man experience.
Quest Mode
The quest mode in PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC is the main campaign quest for the game. Where the story begins with our sweet yellow blob and his family celebrating Pac-Man’s birthday party. As the party was about to begin, the evil machines of the robot Toc-Man had swooped in and had ghostly kidnapped Pac-Man’s family. To save his family, Pac-Man must travel through the six mysterious worlds of Ghost Island to defeat various enemies.
Here in Quest mode, players can traverse a serious of mostly linear levels viewed with a fixed camera, picking up collectibles, defeating enemies and trying to save Pac-Man’s family.
The levels in PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC are spread over different areas as well as a boss fight in each of the areas while the overall goal of each stage is to simply break the Toc-Man statue at the end and while the objective may sound simple enough, the journey is filled with obstacles, enemies and hidden collectibles for players to collect.
One example is that players often come across fruit doors that require a certain type of fruit to open, which usually means players have to explore a side route or even go back to the level a bit. There are also switches for the players to hit, which can change some parts of the level, such as making hidden platforms appear.
Not only that, there are also tokens scattered throughout the levels that allow players to spin a slot machine after completing each level. Getting three of the same fruits will reward players with extra lives, but personally speaking this mechanic is totally unnecessary and a bit of a hassle, but hey, an extra life is still an extra life.
Maze Mode
Maze Mode brings classic Pac-Mac gameplay to a 3D maze environment where each maze is essentially an interpretation of the classic Pac-Man arcade game themed around the game world they belong in. There’s a space themed maze, a jungle maze, and so on and so forth, and those mazes are where you do what Pac-Man does best. dodge a lot of dots and ghosts with a modern look.
Original mode
Players can play the full version of the original game in the original mode, which is unlocked by completing the main game.
The Pac is back
The gameplay for PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC has been recreated and completely remastered for the modern age and more intuitive than ever. Personally, the gameplay is one of the most interesting parts of the game. And while it might be easy, I feel like the gameplay mechanics would be a little complicated for the target audience of younger kids to understand. Here’s a list of the moves and gameplay mechanics that Pac-Man has:
- PAC Dot Attack: You can attack the enemy by throwing the dots you get on the stage.
- Bounce ass: Jump and dive attack. In addition to attacking enemies, you can also open treasure chests and hit switches and give Pac-Man a little more height on his jumps.
- Rev Roll: You can also climb ramps and encounter enemies to defeat them.
- bomb attack: You can attack a large area by consuming 5 pack dots.
- bomb point: When you get a Bomb Dot, you can destroy all enemies on the screen.
- Swimming: You can dive and swim in water.
There’s also a move exclusive to the remake only, called Hang in Mid Air, where Pac-Man can extend the time he’s hovering in mid-air during a jump. And while there’s quite a list of mechanics that Pac-Man has, the game’s pace is slow enough so that players don’t get too overwhelmed.
Pac-Man can also transform between different forms to help him in his adventure, such as:
- Metal Pac Man: You become invincible for a period of time and can walk on the bottom of water, which is usually to break the underwater chest
- MEGA Pac-Man: Eating a Power Pellet can make you huge and attack ghosts.
Exciting boss fights
In my opinion, the boss fights are definitely the highlight for PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC, where there’s a fair amount of gimmicks to differentiate each of the fights from the others, which helps a lot to keep the game feeling fresh.
One of the examples is the first level where the game lets us fight a sailboat called Windbag where the battle is divided into two parts, the first half letting players dodge its cannonballs that are constantly chasing the player and the second half where we have to bounce the cannonballs at the right time to attack Windbag.
Another example of the boss fight was with my fight with Anubis, where the floor layout has four “dash tables” that Pac-Man needs to run on each until the boss shield breaks. As you spin to break the shield of Anubis, you must dodge all kinds of obstacles that come your way, such as minions, burning bombs, a hurricane and even lasers.
If you were to die during the boss fights you would have to start every fight from scratch as there are no checkpoints for boss fights but this is also proof that the game just isn’t your generic platformer and the original designers really tried something unique and fun to make.
If you think the boss fights are a bit too challenging, there’s a new easy mode that helps players smooth out the difficulty. In easy mode, “Easy Blocks” are placed on the drop points of the stage and the “Hanging in Mid-Air” jump can be used for an extended period of time, making it easy for new players and those unsure of their skills to play.
A new look at Ghost Island
In terms of presentation, PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC isn’t that much of an extensive overhaul compared to the somewhat recent remasters, but it does a pretty solid job of cleaning up the PlayStation 1 visuals and updating them for a new generation. New cutscenes have also been created to match the new aesthetic, while the overall world environment looks much brighter, sharper and more consistent than before.
Pac-Man also moves with more personality, but it would have been great if we’d seen more animation variety for him, although it’s more of a personal complaint than anything.
verdict
In my opinion, the game doesn’t really feel like a remake of a 2 decades old game, but it’s also clear that this is more than just a simple remaster in which Bandai Namco did a good job capturing the essence of the original, all during implementing and experimenting with various new features and styles.
Although the game has some issues with the controls. To elaborate further, although it may look complicated, but overall the platforming is very basic. Some of the levels were fun while some aren’t that much, but I think the points that help make the levels feel quite repetitive. The basic enemies just seem to be placed in places that don’t exude much excitement and the collectibles are uninteresting, which I personally feel like there were so many that weren’t needed, like the maze token and the slot machine tokens.
Overall, PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC is mainly aimed at younger players and in that sense it works great as an introduction to both the Pac-Man franchise and the platform genre for games in general. And while it’s a good remake in the sense that it’s able to mimic and improve on the original as closely as we could have hoped, it’s certainly not the best in the genre.
|
Pros |
cons |
|
Nicely updated images |
Platforms can be repetitive at certain levels |
|
Good quality of life improvements |
Boring basic enemy types |
|
Exciting boss fights |
Uninteresting and pointless collectibles |
0 Comments