|
To
all you Pac-Man fans out there; a Pac-man game
has finally reached the
UK
shores suitable for the 21st century - made
exclusively for the NintendoDS  (mainly because it wouldn’t
work on any other system). We have had Pac-Man World 2 as
an under-appreciated GameCube-Game Boy Advance Link title,
which included Pac-Man Vs. in the
US
; a game with up to 4 players, 1 player (Pac-Man) plays
on the Game Boy Advance in the classic Pac-Man tradition
as the others play as the ghosts on the TV screen. It’s one
of those great games that you can be losing all the way through
then at the last minute the table can turn and you’ll win, so
however bad you are at the game you are still in with a chance!
In
the latest rendition of the yellow-pellet-munchers’ escapades
a mischievous wizard has invented “Ghost Ink” - anything
written in the ink turns into ghosts, of becoming the ghosts
from Pac-Man they are naughty and mischievous. The ghost
travelled around the world infecting books and pictures,
causing lots of trouble the world over. Then Pac-Man
came along (our hero) who couldn’t stand by and watch idly as
the ghosts ran amok, so he began to rid the world of those
pesky with his trusty magic pen. Using all his skill Pac-Man
had trapped all the ghosts into one last book. He only had to
turn the trapped ghosts back into  “Ghost Ink”, at the last
moment the ghosts released a curse on Pac-Man, who was
transported into the book onto a sheet of paper. The aim of the
game is to help Pac-Man catch all the ghosts with the “magic
pen” – your Stylus.
This
game is one of those games that you can’t put down - it sucks
you into a Pac-Man world with a difference. Drawing a
rigidly-proposed Pac-Man on the Touch Screen allows you
to munch the remaining ghosts, changing his direction by
stroking the Touch Screen in the desired direction - giving you
the opportunity to create the dodgiest Pac-Men ever! The
smaller they are the faster they move, which gets challenging
when you have three Pac-Men on screen.
As
you advance through the chapters. The levels get harder, ghost
with a protective sheet, crying ghosts which drop their tears
on the paper (“Ghost Ink”), you can’t draw  anything on
the splats of ink for a while - which restricts the area you
have to work with to create your Pac-Men. When you
complete the forth chapter the “Arrows Gesture” becomes
available this allows you to pop bubbles in the sky, containing
ghosts, shoot numbers out of the sky, light the candles etc…
The
gameplay can become quite challenging; especially when all the
ghosts are locked in cells that block your path. You have to
shoot arrows at the mirror (usually in the top corner of the
top screen); the mirror deflects the arrows at the target -
usually the
Flame Square
. The cells have to be blown up using the “Bomb Gesture”.
If the ghosts get caught in the blast they become paralysed for
a few seconds, which also happens when you shoot the ghosts
with arrows. There are also barricade squares which you have to
shoot with the arrows so the barricades will come down for a
few seconds, giving you  the opportunity to shoot ghosts out of
the sky or light the candles, so you can continue playing the
game.
Each
time you complete a chapter you are given a rank, to give
something to work towards (because unfortunately there is no
multiplayer), hours of mindless fun to beat your previous
rank/score.
How
many of the older gamers out there can remember whiling the
hours away in the arcades or on a home consoles playing the
original Pac-Man? Well you won’t be disappointed with
this game. Pac-Man has a legacy to live up to and this
time they definitely hit the mark. Pac-Pix is a
wonderful title that expands one of NAMCO’s own loved
franchises, and sets a benchmark for future titles under the
name. 
|
