Pac Man Championship edition is the sequel to the blockbuster game that was released in 2007. In this game you are Pac Man and you have to beat the clock and not get caught by any ghost monsters.
General Gameplay
Well it’s Pac Man! Lol but the game has a unique twist. You have to beat the clock with trying to get the best score within either 5 or 10 minutes. Also the ghost monsters in the game start to develop a train so it does become harder to go through the levels without over bumping the ghost monsters (more on this later). The game is designed around to be more of a tournament style of gameplay and to see who can score the best score.
Audio
As expected with any Pac Man game you have the standard “wakka-wakka-wakka” sounds that have been famous with this game for the past 35 years, but the game does have a great soundtrack. With over 27 tracks (some have to be unlocked with gameplay) the games background music is very catchy and easy to listen to. In our playtest we did not run into any issue with the sounds or music from the game that would be any concern for any family members. The game does support 5.1 surround sound and also sounds great through the gaming headphones as well.
Visuals
The game is very vibrant with its colors, flashes and design. The game is still the same as any Pac Man game but it does boost more colors as it is becoming more of a visual game. It is still the same Pac Man but with more colors and design. We did see that some colors are very bright that it did wash out in our monitor, but that was more of our color setting on our TV and monitor then anything. During our playtest we did not see anything that would be any concern with anything that could be offensive or not family approved for the whole family. Also there is no colorblind mode, but with the game being very vivid there is no need for one. Also with testing the game with our family members that have a colorblind issue, there was no issue with them playing the game whatsoever.
Controls
This is Pac Man, and with it being one of the easiest games around the controls is very simple. The left controller stick moves Pac Man around, but just like the last CE game there is a bomb feature that can reset Pac Man to his starting default position. This feature is used to help the gamer get to his “safe zone” from ghost monsters and to help the player get out of tight situations during gameplay. During our playtest we did notice that our younger gamers were having some trouble keeping up with the game as it got faster and also our special needs gamers had this issue as well. However once they learn more how the controls worked, this went away. We did in fact find that the controls are very easy to get used to, but we did see some lag when trying to round some corners, again this is not a game-breaking issue but something that will more likely be fixed with a future update.
Delivery
If you are a fan of Pac Man or even the first Championship edition then you will LOVE this game. The game brings more challenge with the new train of ghost monsters and also with the more competitive design around being more tournament style of gameplay. As competition, healthy competition is a fun way to get the gaming family to play and have fun, and Pac Man CE 2 does it right. The game does not have a story more to say the least but with different maze styles and challenges there is something for everyone to play. Also trying to get a better score on the leaderboards will have you coming back for more gaming. Pac Man has always been a staple of general family gaming and this is one of those games that you would want in your digital library. Now what we did with our gaming family is set up our own tournament style of gaming and challenge each other to see who can top the other’s score. Not only was this fun but a great way to encourage healthy competition amongst gaming family members.
Family Friendly
As said before, Pac Man is a family friendly game. It has never been a violent or even questionable game that had anything that would be seen offensive to anyone in the gaming family. The game design, controls, sound, and even different variations of levels made the game have more of a fun factor. Throughout our family gaming sessions we had a fun time playing the game. There was nothing that prevented anyone in our gaming family from playing the game. The only concern was that as the game progressed that it got too fast for some gamers, but after playing the game for a couple of sessions they got the hang of it and was able to enjoy it more. Now don’t let this put a fear into you as it make sound like a bad thing but the design for it to go faster is how it was designed to be played. During our play session with our special needs gamers, we did not notice anything that would hinder them from enjoying the game. The only thing that may be of concern is the visuals being to flashy or bright, so parents and gaming members please keep this in mind when playing the game. Also because the soundtrack is more of a electronica style, the music can get very loud at time but nothing of concern for anyone gaming.
Closing
Pac Man CE2 is a fun, challenging game for the whole entire family. With its new gameplay and level design, and also a boss challenge more, the game gets more fun as time goes. We highly recommend picking up this game!
