iPhone App: Pac-Man Championship Edition

January 5th, 2010

Pac-Man Championship Edition

= 3 stars

Eat dots, power pills, and ghosts in this classic arcade game update.

The Good

Inspired effort to modernize Pac Man, most notably the dots only fill portions of the screen, and eating them all results in a new formation along with a fruit.
Mission mode consisting of 120 levels, and a timed championship mode where you must survive for five minutes. Neat in the latter is a large chart following each level, showing your accomplishments at particular times.

The Bad

Despite four different controls to choose from (D-pad, directional buttons, joystick style “thumb swipe”) and settling on the four button arrangement, I never got comfortable to where I could just concentrate on the game and not worry about going in the wrong direction. The awkward feeling is especially taxing during the final moments of a level when everything is zooming about at high speed. The controls also overlap the lower left and right corners of the screen.
The mission segment has 120 levels, only 20 of which are included in the original purchase price. To get more you’ll have to pony up for an expansion pack for an additional $3.99. I haven’t yet pulled the trigger.
Messages about levels appear in the iPhone dialog box, above the game screen.
Repeated crashes on launch, to where it’s a crap shoot whether you’ll actually get to play.

Conclusion

Pac-Man Championship Edition is undoubtedly a great game, but the awkward framing – particularly the unsatisfying controls – results in a game I couldn’t really get into. Careful with this one.

iTunes App Store Link: