The transition of classic 2-D
franchises to 3-D has the habit of going rather well if you're
associated with Nintendo but otherwise tend to be choppy. This was
especially prevalent in the PS1/N64 era which was often a company's
first attempt. Thus while we had gems like Super Mario 64 and
Ocarina of Time we also had garbage like Bubsy 3D.
Pac-Man World,released to coincide with his 20th
anniversary, decidedly falls into the latter category and
while having some creative ideas still doesn't excuse the mess.
The core problem of the game lies with
it's controls and sense of space. In a good 3-D platformer you have
this sense of where you are in relation to other platforms and
objects. However when hopping around the levels here I can never
quite grasp where I reside so I end up missing a platform that looks
like it should have been easily landed upon yet is really a few feet
out of reach. Luckily Pac-man's repertoire includes grabbing on to
ledges if you can get close enough. Unfortunately his gloves seemed
to be covered in butter as he fails to grab ledges sometimes leading
to yet more trips to the dark abyss.
Jumping is also rather finicky in some
regards. Sometimes the jump button just doesn't work work,though that
could just be my controller. Any little piece of room geometry or an
enemy looking at you funny stutters the jump and leads to many a
death. The fact that the extreme foreground some times has an
invisible wall blocking a jump you other wise could make is
infuriating to say the least.
Enemies and obstacles also add to the
frustration as they will often hit you from places that should be
safe but just aren't. When dealing with enemies Pac-man can bounce on
them which also serves as a double jump of sorts and that's all you
really need. He has the ability to rev up and roll into enemies or
shoot a pellet at them but they are more trouble than they're worth
and will probably get you killed. Then again so will the butt bounce
since it's lack of precision aiming will often put you in the exact
place you don't want to be. Combat is better avoided if for no other
reason to ease some of the frustration of cheap deaths.
Pac-man World was developed
during that time when platformers had you collect truckloads of
random doodads because they powered something or other. It's not a
bad style of games by any means but here it feels like needless busy
work. You collect fruit to open doors to gain access to various
switches, collectible letter to spell out Pac-Man or keys to unlock
cages. Usually fruit is hidden fairly close to the door it unlocks so
it's less a challenge and more a tedious back and forth.
Despite the bile I've been spewing the
game did do a few things right. The levels themselves are rather neat
looking,nothing special but still cool. They draw from your standard
video game locales:pirate ships,ruins,space etc. They all try
something at least different to keep the level's interesting. I never
felt like “oh this is another factory level”, no this was the
area with all those spinning platforms or this was the level with the
laser puzzles. By extension no two bosses in this game are tackled in
the same method. They range from forcing open a temples hands to ram
it's heart to a straight up homage to Galaga with Pac-man surfing in
space blasting aliens. The fights are the highlight of the game and I
kept me going despite the horrendous control problems. The only real
bad fight was against the Khrome Keeper which ties back into the
central problem of knowing where you are.
Mind you all of the problems are with
the main story mode of the game. There are a whole two other modes to
mess around with. The first is classic:which is the original
Pac-man,nothing special there. The other is the highlight of the
game:Maze mode. It plays like the original game but with the camera
focused on Pac-man and more hazards outside the ghosts trying to eat
you. It's rather challenging and a cool shake up to the standard
formula.
The story is rather bare bones yet
charming in a way. Some weird robot named Toc-man kidnaps all of
Pac-man's friends and family by accident and Pac-man goes to save
them. It works for a game about Pac-man. It's not the type of game
that needed some crazy plot. The end reveals that Toc-Man is being
used by a ghost whom Pac-man promptly eats with that same smiling
face he always has. It's rather eerie to watch him devour the ghost
that just wanted a friend.
As a kid I adored this game yet could
never beat it,so coming back to it with my (arguably) adult brain I
expected to be able to grasp it better. All I was able to grasp was
that this was a poorly designed game that tried to make up for it's
flaws with creativity and banking on your love of Pac-man. The maze
mode is rather good but you're better off going with it's companion
game Ms. Pac-man Maze Madness. With my rose tinted glasses
shattered I leave you with one simple truth: Crash Bandicoot 2
is fantastic,so is Warped.
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