Pac-Attack

"A fun and original game."

Pac-Attack is an original Pac-Man game for the Sega Game Gear. It is multiplayer compatible, and fun. The Puzzle mode is very addictive.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are not too shabby. The background detail is very good, for some strange reason it shows Pac-Man up on stage singing on a microphone. Not relevant to the game at all, really. The pieces aren't too detailed, but the ghosts are quite funny looking, and squirm around while you play. Funny to watch, and distracting. Pac-Man looks almost exactly the same as he did in the arcade.

Gameplay: 9/10

There are three different modes of Pac-Attack, Normal mode, Puzzle mode, and Versus mode. Versus mode can only be played if you have two Game Gears, the link cable, and two Pac-Attack cartridges. While those aren't easy to find, it's worth it to play the multiplayer mode. The objective of Versus mode and Normal mode are to get as many points as possible, but with no battery, it's kind of pointless to do unless you just really want to see how many you can rack up.
Puzzle mode consists of 100 different, increasingly difficult levels to play. You play using rectangular blocks, stacking them up and eliminating them like Tetris. There are also ghosts that you must eliminate. There will be ghosts interspersed with the green blocks. There will also be blocks containing a Pac-Man. In puzzle mode, you have 1-5 Pac-Men to eliminate all of the ghosts. Pac-Man is controllable at the moment he lands, meaning that you can choose whether he goes left or right, but after that, he will follow a course down to the bottom, devouring every ghost in his way. There is also a special jewel that destroys all of the remaining ghosts under it.

Sound: 8/10

The sound is very good. Although I can't really remember it that well, since my poor poor Game Gear's sound is failing, I remember the music like the last time I played the game was yesterday. The music is a catchy, upbeat song that will stay in your memory forever, whether you like it or not. The sounds for Pac-Attack, are pretty basic. They are pretty much updated sounds from the first game.

Replay: 10/10

The replay value on this game is extremely high. The multiplayer is great, and the Puzzle mode will have you playing for so long. I remember I couldn't put down the game until I finished the last level in Puzzle mode. The password system is a three letter combination, so it's easy to remember your password, you might not even have to write it down.

Overall: 8/10

This game was a pretty original puzzle game, seeing as how it wasn't just an update of Tetris. That puts it up there with the best of them.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/03, Updated 05/28/03