Pac-Man Fever

"It has minigames and you can play with 3 friends, there I said something nice about it!"

Pac Man Fever is exactly what its name implies. Pac Man is in the game and you'll get sick of playing it quickly. A four player free for all in which you play a mini game at the start of each turn in order to determine the amount of spaces you move. Whoever reaches the end first, wins. Namco nailed that part head on. What is more important is what they missed completely. Starting with...

GAMEPLAY - 2

Even with a multitap and three friends you'd be working real hard to extract any fun out of this game. Winning a mini game moves you 5 spaces, 2nd gets you 3, 3rd is 2 spaces, and just showing up moves you 1 space. In other ''party'' type games I've played it usually is in your best interest to win ever mini game no matter what. In Pac Man Fever if you're clever enough to notice what kind of space you are approaching then you can factor that into the next mini game and try to win or lose depending on how many spaces you'd like to move. For example if a space that springs you ahead is the next space you'd move then it would make more sense to just go ahead and lose the next mini game in order to move 8 spaces ahead rather than win and move only 5 spaces. So sometimes mini games become a contest of trying to lose rather than win.

The mini games themselves are the only good thing about the entire game. The instructions for them aren't very detailed and if you've never played before it will take a few seconds to catch on to what you're supposed to be doing. All while your opponents are smashing you. But of course the computer characters have no remorse and will try to win at any cost. They can be beaten, the game isn't too hard but you have to stay interested to finish and that was my problem.

This game is too random to be any fun. You move to a space, you do what the space says, actually its more like it just happens to you. When the wheel spins on the surprise space you don't even get to stop it, it just does it for you. You are forced to watch the computer characters play games for tokens which is just plain boring. Rarely do you actually ever feel like you're playing the game as compared to watching the game play itself. And there are only 3, yes 3 whole whopping game boards to choose from. The Mario Party games on the N64 had more than that. Next on to...

GRAPHICS - 3

This is a Playstation 2 game? The opening cinemas are nice, the menus are animated, the characters are detailed enough that you can easily tell them apart, but game boards and mini game graphics look like something from the first Playstation. Nothing makes you feel like this is a game from 2002. Maybe I'm spoiled by the presentation of the Mario Party series but how hard could it be to at least try and have some quality visuals?

SOUND - 1

Annoying. Just annoying. The game board music is overbearing, repetitive, and probably took about 20 minutes to compose. Namco has a long list of music tracks that could have spiced this game up and gave it a true ''Namco All Star'' feel. The original Pac Man theme, Tiger or Heihachi's Tekken theme, Astaroth's theme from Soul Caliber, any music from the last few Ridge Racers, but none of that is here. None. Instead the Tropical theme sounds like a bad loop from a dangerous scene in a jungle movie, the Space theme reminds me of a low budget rap beat, and the Medieval theme is naturally soft flutes and whistles. If you have a stereo, just turn the volume on the TV off. You won't need or miss it. Heck even if you don't have a stereo turn the TV volume off.

REPLAY VALUE - 2

The only way to unlock all the mini games is by playing and finishing the main ''Fever'' boards. Some of the mini games are definitely worth trying to get if you can stomach the main game. Ultimately you'll get tired of only having 3 boards to choose from since they only differ in the mini games that get played. The spaces you land on do the same things in every board. There is always a ghost space, store space, revenge space, etc. Once you play all the mini games there is nothing left to do unless you absolutely can't get enough of them. In which case spending money on this game is justified. I can't honestly recommend this game to anybody though.

OVERALL - 2

There are flash games on websites that kick most of these mini games in the dirt. If you have a Gamecube or an N64 you should rent a Mario Party game if you aren't familiar with the series, the mini games are much, much better. You could rent this game for a weekend to play with some friends but you'd have more fun with a deck of cards. I'm not kidding and I wish I was.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/04