It’s been a long time since mascot platformers dominated the gaming landscape. 20 years ago when the original Pac-Man World was released, platform games were the king of home consoles, and the king of arcades wanted to get in on that action. For better or for worse, playing Pac-Man World RePac immediately brought me back to my weekends playing random platform games I rented from the video store on my PlayStation at the time. l
It feels dated in level design and overall gameplay, but as someone who grew up on these types of games, I definitely developed a soft spot for the way it so faithfully mimicked a game style that’s not much in vogue anymore.
RePac begins with Pac Man returning home to a party in his honor, only to find that his entire cast of family and friends are missing. Thus begins our spherical hero’s quest through a series of themed platforming worlds to collect letters, waka-waka some pellets, and defeat Toc-Man’s powers to save his friends. It’s not exactly an inventive story, but it’s really just meant to be the main focus of the kid-friendly platforming action, so I won’t hold too high a standard for it.
The platform gameplay on offer feels quite old, which makes perfect sense when you consider that the original game that forms the mechanical basis for this one is over 20 years old. The platformer was on top of the world, but was still very much designed as it was in the 2D era – just with some extra depth to play with.
Pac-Man World RePac faithfully recreates these ancient worlds with a coat of modern paint, without significantly changing the way it plays. You’ll have to play through a series of mostly side-scrolling levels, maneuvering your way to the end of the level using Pac-Man’s jumps, bouncing and attack moves, dodging or steering enemies to progress. A range of optional collectibles add a fun and necessary twist to the otherwise rather boring A to B.
Collecting fruits adds to your score and can unlock some doors, finding floating letters to spell PACMAN unlocks a bonus round after the level, and you can even find special classic Pac-Man mazes that give some extra variety to play. To collect all these things, you’ll need to follow some back to doors that are now unlocked. None of that feels particularly interesting, but I have to admit it tickled the collector in me. Knowing that there’s an A somewhere in the level that I missed was enough to make me explore every crevice of the levels to find it, even though it felt like a cheap way to extend your time in a level at times.
Boss levels also add some welcome variety to the procedure. It’s a relic of the past where games seemed to be wrapped in seemingly random one-off gameplay, but much appreciated here. Fun extras like a Galaxian-esque shooter boss and a Grand Prix kart race against a lineup of circus clowns are surprisingly fun. They’re fleshed out just enough to be fun for their quick one-off levels, they make for a nice break from the regular platforming levels.
While the game plays just like the PlayStation original, the revision of the presentation makes a huge difference to the game and brings it much closer to modern expectations. Everything is presented in beautiful high-resolution graphics, environment and character models that have been completely revised, while staying largely true to the original game. Visual design also stays pretty much the same and therefore looks very nice at times (think beachfront) but can be terribly garish in others, such as the Funhouse area. I found the maze levels of the funhouse particularly poor, the bright colors and unclear design made it hard to tell what was a maze wall and what wasn’t.
Music has also been completely recreated and is based entirely on the original compositions for better or for worse. Expect some very short repetitive loops that, if you’re anything like me, will slowly make you stagger.
The PS5 version if this game was played for this review.
Conclusion
I suspect those with a penchant for the original Pac-Man World, or even just this particular era of platform games, will be the ones who will get the most out of RePac. It’s a game style that’s been out of fashion for a while, but its simplicity can still be appealing. However, when you can get lovingly recreated versions of the standard-setting Crash Bandicoot series for the price of this, the value proposition for a remaster of a fairly short and unremarkable game is hard to swallow. One for the enthusiasts.
Positives
Sharp new images
Fun to explore levels
Nice variety of game styles
negatives
Level designs are sometimes showy
Expensive compared to remaster collections
Uninspired level designs
Dated design
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