Overview of the game
Pac Man CE is a fresh reboot of the beloved series from the 1980’s. The game is more developed to be more of a tournament style of gaming with a 5 or 10 minute time limit and also on the fly restructuring of the maps.
General Gameplay
It is what you would expect from a Pac Man game, run throughout the maze, eating pellets, power pellets, fruits and blue ghost monsters, however there is a new twist you have a 5 minute clock to go against as well. This style of gameplay adds more depth into making the game more of a tournament style play for those that love Pac Man. Before thinking that this is only a tournament style game it is designed to keep the player motivated to try to beat the clock and score the most points.
Audio
Waka waka waka, and then the ghost monster sound as expected with a game like this. That is accompanied with the more upbeat style of music that is with the levels. Most of the original sound effects are there but with more of a target to make you feel that you are back in the crowded arcades with it blaring the chomp of a blue ghost monster or the, sound of being chomped by them back. The game does a fantastic job relaying the sound to make you feel that you are back in the good old days. During our play through, no members of our gaming family encountered any trouble or issues with the games sounds or effects. Being a retro game, there is no support for 5.1 surround sound systems.
Visuals
Being a more of a tournament style game play, Pac Man CE is designed with more neon lighting but with an option to change this to even an 80’s style retro graphics, the game is basic in design but that is what Pac Man is, a basic, fun game. The game is very colorful and even gaming family members that have trouble seeing colors will not have any problems playing this game. From the pellets to the power up, fruit and ghost monsters they are done with the flair that you would expect from an arcade classic. The graphics are well done and immerse you into the Pac Mac universe.
Controls
Controls are very simple. Just the left stick to control Pac Man that is it. Pac Man over the years has always been an easy controllable game. The left sticks does everything, however if you push towards the wall in the game you can do a “grind style” maneuver to get around corners faster. We did not see any type of issues during our play test with anyone playing this game from young to old. Also our family members with special needs did not have any issues as well. One thing that we did notice is that using the Xbox One Elite Controller that we did notice that there was sometimes when using the left control stick that the movements were delayed. This could have been because of the advance design of the controller but we will further test this and revise our review.
Delivery
This game is what Pac Man is all about, eating power pellets, then blue ghost monsters, while trying to get the bonus fruit and clearing a path while doing all of this. The game is still fun 30+ years later. Adding the tournament style of having 5 or 10 minutes to score as many points that you can is a very addicting style of family friendly gameplay. Due to the nature of the general gameplay that it makes it easy for people to join in onto the action. The tournament style is set up to play out as you are playing the game via tournament and not as a standalone game, however game does have different modes from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to play so it does give me more time. The reasoning behind this is because as you clear out a side of the board a new pattern forms, so in essence it is like leveling up but in real time. Also the ghost monsters do adapt to the board itself and get smarter. This in our play through was a great family fun game for everyone. Everyone in our gaming family enjoyed this title and love the game itself
Family Friendly
As mentioning before, this is a great title for the whole family. The game is not too hard or easy but just a balance of right for everyone. The game controls, sounds, visuals all match the game and designed to be entertaining to all family gaming members. Even when testing the game with our gaming family members with special needs, they enjoyed the game but we did notice that with children with Autism that they particularly enjoyed it more because of the continuous patterns changing and the fast pace of the game. We did not see anything that was of any concern for any family gaming members, but to note that the flashes from the game may be sensitive to some gamer’s eyes but this was a minor issue. Also to note that the game is not a multiplayer game or has any co-op couch support, this is only a single player game.
Closing
Even though being a 30+ year old game. Pac Man CE still keeps its charm of being a puzzle running, chomping pizza without the slice and with its addition of the new tournament style of gameplay. The game is more entertaining now as it was back in the 1980’s and an overall fun family game to have.
