New Release
Xbox Live Arcade
$10 Download
I love me some Pac-Man. I consider it a masterpiece of gaming that holds up 28 years later as one of the greatest, funnest video games one can play. There are more weeks where I play Pac-Man than there are weeks that I don’t play Pac-Man. Pac-Man is one of mankind's crowning achievements The reason I'm laying it on so thick is because I want to make clear the gravity of the statement I'm about to make.They made Pac-Man better.
Pac-Man Championship Edition is a new redesign of Pac-Man. It makes significant changes to the old, reliable Pac-Man formula, and every one of them makes for a stronger game. Toru Iwatani, the creator of the original Pac-Man returned to design this new strain of Pac-Man, and it is clear that a lot of deliberation and love went into its design.
So what is different is Champion Edition? The biggest change is the method of clearing mazes. Instead of a full screen maze, the game is divided into two halves. Clear one half, and a fruit appears on the opposite half. Eat the fruit, and the emptied half morphs into a new maze with new pellets. It may not sound like much, but this is genius design.
That change alone would be enough to make CE a solid update, but there is much more. You are now operating on a time limit, either five or ten minutes, which creates a marvelous tension between caution and aggression. You also now get a 1up every 20,000 points. Another huge change is that instead of ghosts exponentially increasing in value (200, 400, 800, 1600), they are scored via 400 point increases (400, 800, 1200, 1600) and you can now chain power pellets, increasing the value of ghosts to a maximum of 3200 points.
These changes turn Pac-Man strategy on its head, and make the game more tense, varied, and fun. The mazes are constantly shifting as are your needs as a player, meaning your approach to the game can change radically from at any time. It is breath-takingly balanced, and astonishingly elegant. It is as perfectly designed a game as I have ever seen.
The game’s only flaw, my only complaint, is that as fast paced as the game is, occasionally the 360 controller is not as responsive as it needs to be. I am in love with the 360 controller, but fact is, Pac-Man needs a joystick, not a thumbstick. The difference between the two kills your response time, and hurts the game. You will die from controller failure.
Being on Xbox Live means you can compete against your friend’s high scores, against your own high scores, and against your own high scores. As a ten dollar download, Pac-Man Champion Edition is a no-brain purchase. The only thing keeping this game from receiving a perfect score is that damnable lack of joystick.
Objective Rating: 97%
Subjective Grade: A++
