Pac-Man Championship Edition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pac-Man Championship Edition | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco Bandai |
| Publisher(s) | Namco Bandai |
| Designer(s) | Tōru Iwatani |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 (XBLA), iPhone OS |
| Release date(s) | Xbox Live Arcade June 6, 2007 iPhone OS December 10, 2009[1] |
| Genre(s) | Maze, Arcade |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) Apple: 4+ |
| Media | Download, DVD-DL |
| Input methods | Gamepad, Multi-touch |
Pac-Man Championship Edition (パックマン チャンピオンシップエディション), sometimes simply referred to as Pac-Man C.E., is the latest Pac-Man game, developed by original Pac-Man creator Tōru Iwatani, for the Xbox Live Arcade and iPhone OS. The game was released on June 6, 2007.[2] The announcement of the game actually spurred more purchases of the Xbox 360 in Japan, and it was Iwatani's final game before his retirement.[3] Pac-Man C.E is also available on a disc titled Xbox Live Arcade Compilation that is bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console bundle, as well as on the compilation package Namco Museum Virtual Arcade. A Minis version for the PS3 and PSP is slated for release on the PlayStation Store some time in 2010.[4]
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[edit] Gameplay
Like the original Pac-Man, the basic gameplay of Pac-Man C.E. consists entirely of navigating Pac-Man through a maze, eating dots, power pellets and bonus fruit, and avoiding the four ghosts that roam the maze as well. Eating a power pellet causes the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them and send them back to their home, where they re-emerge in their original form. If Pac-Man is caught by a ghost, the player loses a life.
[edit] Key differences from Pac-Man
In addition to its support for Xbox Live leaderboards and its updated high-definition graphics and sound, Pac-Man C.E. contains a number of major differences from its original counterpart. The game is bound by a time limit in which the player must score as many points as possible, and the game ends when this time limit is reached or the player runs out of lives. The game speeds up as the player scores more points, and slows down slightly when the player loses a life. Unlike in the original game, Pac-Man respawns where he died rather than at a set point in the maze. Extra lives are awarded every 20,000 points, in contrast to the original's single extra life at 10,000.
Each maze is divided into two halves. Eating all the dots in one half of the maze causes a bonus fruit to appear on the other side, and eating the fruit causes a new maze to appear in the original half. In most cases, the maze patterns vary significantly throughout the game and some change over time. The value of each dot gradually increases as the player stays alive, and energizers stay in effect for a set period of time, rather than ending as soon as all four ghosts have been eaten. The player can eat another pellet before the first one ends, allowing the player to continue to eat ghosts for progressively higher points. (Unlike in the original, the ghost values do not reset when power pellets are overlapped in this manner. This scoring method was also used in Pac-Mania.)
For the most part, the ghosts behave the same as they do in the original version, allowing experienced players to predict how they will move in certain situations. However, Pinky now moves towards where Pac-Man is currently heading, making it a more dangerous enemy than in past games. To balance this, the player can cause Pac-Man to emit sparks by pressing in the direction he/she wishes to turn while in a tunnel, enabling him to move and turn corners faster.
In addition to all of the original bonus fruits in the original Pac-Man, a variety of new bonus fruits appear in this game, including ships from Galaxian , Galaga, and Gaplus and a crown worth 7,650 points (765 being Namco's goroawase number in Japanese). As was the case with the key in the original game, the crown appears for the rest of the game once it has been reached.
After each game, a detailed statistics screen is displayed, showing a histogram of the player's score over the course of the game. The score is broken down into three main categories: Points from dots and energizers, monsters, and fruits. Following the stats screen, the player can watch a replay of their game or choose another level to play.
[edit] Reception
| Reviews | Score |
|---|---|
| 1Up | A |
| CVG | 7 of 10 |
| Eurogamer | 7 of 10 |
| GameDaily | 8 of 10 |
| GameSpot | 7.9 of 10 |
| Gaming Target | 9 of 10 |
| IGN | 8.4 of 10 |
| TeamXbox | 8.6 of 10 |
| X-Play | 5 of 5 |
Pac-Man Championship Edition was released to mostly rave critical reviews, with reviewers stating the gameplay was "fresh and exciting,"[5] "one of the best 'exclusive' pieces of downloadable/casual entertainment available,"[6] and that it was "nice to see a classic remade instead of simply repackaged."[7] Jared Rea of Joystiq called it "The first true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man."[8]
Criticisms include a lack of a multiplayer mode, and an apparent relapse to patterns that had been in the original.
As of April 14, 2009, the Metacritic score is 83.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ "Pac-Man CE now on iPhone, starting at $3". Joystiq.com. December 10, 2009. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/10/pac-man-ce-now-on-iphone-starting-at-3/. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ Joystiq, June 5, 2007
- ^ Joystiq, June 7, 2007
- ^ "IGN: Pac-Man: Championship Edition". IGN. http://psp.ign.com/objects/027/027595.html. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- ^ IGN, June 6, 2007
- ^ 1Up, June 11, 2007
- ^ Team Xbox, June 9, 2007
- ^ Joystiq, June 8, 2007
- ^ MetaCritic: Pac-Man C.E.
[edit] External links
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