Reviewed: October 24, 2002
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Namco
Developer
Namco
Released: October 15, 2002
Genre: Platform
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
7
6
7.7
Supported Features
Pac-Man has been around for over 20 years now in more variations than I care to count. I was there when the first coin-op Pac-Man console hit my local arcade and here I am now when our yellow friend makes his 3D-platform debut on the Xbox.
Pac-Man World 2 is the sequel to the original 3D Pac-Man adventure game from a few years back. While I played only a small portion of the PlayStation version it was a fun and entertaining little game that maintained all of the original Pac-Man charm combined with typical platform gameplay. Pac-Man World 2 builds upon the original and incorporates all of the best elements from just about every 3D platform title released up to this point. You’ll see nods to Mario, Crash, Sonic, Spyro, Jak & Daxter, and the list goes on…
This latest entry in the Pac-Man saga is a substantial adventure featuring:
- 20 levels spread across six unique worlds
- Plenty of new Pac-moves including swimming, skating, shimmy, flip-kick, and a charging spin-attack
- Exciting underwater levels you can explore in the new Pac-Sub
- An arcade integrated into the game world that offers access to classic Pac-Man games, mini-games, and mazes
Pac-Man World 2 plays like just about every other platform game, but with a twist; a Pac-Man twist. The world of Pac-Land is littered with yellow dots and the occasional power pellet. Simply follow the path of yellow dots and you will almost always find danger and challenging puzzles waiting for you.
Pac-Land is designed around the hub-system so you can backtrack to previously explored levels using the between-level world map. There is much to collect in this game; fruit, tokens, dots, and you probably won’t get them all on your first pass. Just finding all the dots and fruits hidden in the treetops and rooftops of your home village took me nearly an hour.
From time to time you will encounter a maze area that is built right into the 3D world. The maze is outlined through natural features such as hedges or dirt paths. The ghost gang will chase you around just like the classic arcade game and you can eat the power pellets to turn them blue and chase them.
Pac-Man has a wealth of moves; both old and new that really enhance the gameplay and open up many new exciting possibilities. There are challenge stages where you can use your new in-line skating or ice-skating skills, and you can now hang from ledges and shimmy left or right. There is also a new flip-kick move that lets you reach those previously out-of-reach pick-ups.
One of the coolest looking moves is when you eat a red dot and trigger a flying sequence. Pac-Man will automatically track a twisting line of dots through the air and end up in some new location. It’s all automated and very cool just like a roller coaster.
Of course the famous butt-bounce is back and is still a great way to take out those pesky enemies and flip the occasion switch. For as many moves and features as Pac-Man offers I was amazed at how simple the gameplay mechanics were. You can jump with the A button and the Y button does actions specific to your current location. The X button charges up your turbo-spin attack and you move our hero with the left stick and adjust the view with the right.
This leads to the issue of camera control. There is no real automated camera to be found in this game. I was constantly adjusting the camera to the point where I simply ended up pressing forward on the left stick and changing Pac-Man’s direction by moving the camera. It’s not a horrible way to do things. In fact, it’s pretty similar to most of the third-person games I play, but I just wasn’t expecting a 3D platform game to play like a 3D action game.
There were some instances where the camera would get stuck and I would have to play a small portion of the game from a non-friendly angle, and the boss battles were made especially difficult due to the fact that the camera tracks the boss instead of you. Since your movement is based on the current camera you will find yourself fighting the camera as well as the boss.
For those of you who want to relive the past, there is a good selection of historic Pac-Man games available in the Arcade located in the main village. The Arcade is run by Sue (aka Ms. Pac-Man) and she will brief you on the games and tell you how many tokens it costs to play them. You can then collect these tokens as you explore the world during your main quest. Hopefully, by the end of the game you will have collected enough tokens to open up the entire arcade.
In addition to the historic arcade games like Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Attack, each time you complete a mini-maze within Pac-Land, Sue will make that maze available in the arcade.
The world of Pac-Land is deceptively large giving you the illusion that you are free to explore these massive environments when in truth this game keeps you on a very tight leash that borders on becoming a rail-game. In actuality, Pac-Man World 2 is a rail-game and the rails have been cleverly disguised as twisting trails of yellow dots. You can be sure that when the dots are all gone there probably isn’t much left for you to do in that area.
Namco has done a great job of creating plenty of interesting levels to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting. The monotony of the typical 3D platform style is often broken up with underwater levels, skating levels, and even an exciting Indiana Jones style level that has you running toward the camera as you outrun an avalanche. No matter what type of gameplay element is being tossed at you, control is flawless and consistent throughout each one.
Pac-Man World 2 has quite a distinctive look about it. It reminded me of a low-poly version of Toy Story in that the world is alive with rich vibrant colors, but all of the models are created with non-descript curving forms. Trees look like scoops of ice-cream piled on tree trunk cones, and all of the creatures seem to be created using combinations of primitive geometrical shapes.
The levels are visually huge and a clever use of haze (not to be confused with fog) gives objects in the distance just the right amount of fuzziness to create an expansive feel. There’s nothing as advanced as real-time lighting, but there are shadows that appear under each object that makes it a bit easier to judge those tricky pick-ups.
There are a lot of nice subtle details that you will pick up on if you watch closely. Things like frosty breath in the snowy levels, or dripping water in the water levels all add to the subconscious perception of reality. The designers even went as far as to create several clever animations and unique facial expressions for Pac-Man himself.
The music and sound are really nice and add to the fun of this title. The music is obviously targeted to the younger kids with fun little tunes that blend into the background and carry the action. The sound effects are what really shine though, and always remind you that this is a Pac-Man game.
Considering that Pac-Man World 2 looks nothing like your typical Pac-Man game, the designers have cleverly incorporated many of the classic sounds from the original maze game. You have the famous “wacka…wacka…” sound as you scarf down the pellets, and the siren-like sound after munching a power pellet, and of course, the famous death sound when Pac-Man finally bites the dust.
Pac-Man World 2 is a short game by anyone’s standards. I munched my way through all of Pac-Land in just under six hours and that was with 100% completion. There was nothing overly challenging about the entire experience. The boss battles were pretty obvious and even when they weren’t you are given battle tips and clues during conversations. Even the tough sections within the levels were usually prefaced with a free life pick-up, allowing you unlimited attempts at tricky jumping puzzles and virtually no stress of every losing the game to the point of starting over or even loading a saved game.
The Arcade may offer you some additional gaming value, but it is admittedly filler material to make up for a short main game. Chances are you may already have these Pac-Man games on one of the Namco Museum titles if you are a true Pac-fan, so the Arcade might not even provide the incentive to locate all the tokens.
Despite the limited amount of gameplay in this title, I found Pac-Man World 2 to be a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable experience for as long as it did last. The levels are charming and well designed, and the new moves and skills for Pac-Man added to the overall gameplay.
In the end this is just another platform game, and while not terribly original, it pays tribute to just about every other platform title by borrowing all of the best elements and combining them with some Pac-Land flavor. Kids are going to love this because it’s is easy to play, and adults are going to love it because…well, it’s Pac-Man. This is one of those rare titles that will appeal to just about the entire family, and I can easily recommend this as an addition to your Xbox library.