Pac-Man Collection

"Great, Near Perfect, Collection of The Almighty Pac"

Pac-Man... simple game, easy to pick up and play, and stop immediately. A game quality that just makes it so perfect for a portable system, like Game Boy Advance. And though flaws exist in this collection, including Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania, it's still just plain darn good!

Gameplay (9/10): Pac-Man plays almost exactly as it did in the arcade... eat dots, eat power pills, eat ghosts while they're dark blue, though a couple of changes have been made from the arcade version, for reasons I couldn't imagine:

1--Ghosts sometimes exit the ghost house on the right. In the arcade, it only happened if you ate a power pill while the ghost was still in there, or to Clyde in the first level because of a natural reversal. It seems to occur randomly here... if they couldn't get the exact physics right, they should've just made it so the ghosts always exit on the left, for without it, important strategy is lost.

2--The ghosts flash for a slightly shorter period of time. For the most part, it's a minor complaint, but perhaps serious in maze 5, 7, 8, and 11, in which a more serious flaw is noted: the ghost only blink 4 times before turning back to normal, whereas in the arcade, they'd blink 5 times. I can't tell you how many times I've died because I forgot that the ghosts don't blink a fifth time in those levels. Again, I don't understand why they changed the time power pills last.

Pac-Mania is like Pac-Man, in a pseudo 3D view, and Pac-Man has gained the ability to jump over ghosts. Seems pretty easy, except for when you consider that levels can have up to 9 ghosts total, and that some ghosts can also jump starting in Sandbox Land!

From the arcade, a big change in Pac-Mania though, for the worse: 4 levels have been added. In the arcade, level was was Block Town, 2 and 3 were Pac-Man's Park, 4 and 5 were Sandbox Land, and 6 and 7 were Jungly Steps, and all the different levels were 2 different color schemes (i.e. level 2 had a blue theme, and level 3 had a brown theme), for variety's sake. Then each level repeated 3 more times, using 3 different color schemes (for example, Pac-Man's Park added a blue-violet color scheme, though the ones from levels 2 and 3 were also repeated again).

In this game, levels 1 and 2 are Block Town, 3-5 are Pac-Man's Park, 6-8 are Sandbox Land, and 9-11 are Jungly Steps. What this means is that each different place is more drawn out than it should be, and it feels like it'll take forever just to get to the next place. To make matters worse, only 2 color schemes are used for each one (i.e. levels 3 and 4 use the exact same blue theme, and level 5 uses the brown theme for Pac-Man's Park), so it seems like you're doing exactly the same level twice in a row! Not a good thing, especially since they didn't have to... if you get to where the levels repeat 3 times each later in the game, you'll see the third color scheme for each place, meaning they are included, but for some bizarre reason, didn't include it in the extra levels added.

Pac-Attack is an interesting Tetris-type game. You have to form lines across the screen, and gaps are filled automatically... but there're pesky ghosts that also fill those gaps, and if a line across the screen has a ghost in it, it won't disappear. But never fear, for every third piece has a Pac-Man in it to eat the ghosts (who go from red to blue whenever Pac's on the screen). The game goes way too fast way too early, though (even on easy!), and the playing field is almost half the size of Tetris' playing field, meaning it's not as fun as it should be, and not nearly as fun as Tetris.

Pac-Man Arrangement, though an arcade game, I have never seen, much less played, in an arcade, so I cannot compare this version with that one. What I do know is that it's an extremely fast-paced fun version of Pac-Man with fairly nice sceneries. Some powerups, dash arrows that speed Pac-Man up, and warp pads are in this game, but the big thing that makes this game interesting is a fifth ghost, named Kinky, who is yellow, and wears glasses. He's trouble--he can combine with one of the other 4 ghosts to become a big ghost, with special powers. Combined with Clyde, he'll spit mid-sized dots back onto the board. Combined with Inky, he'll be able to split into 2 Inkies. Combined with Pinky, he'll be able to leap across the board to get to where you are. Combined with Blinky is likely his toughest form, as Blinky can dash very quicky across the board.

Bleak as it may seem, there's a plus--Kinky is rarely yellow. Most of the time, he'll be dark blue, and as all other ghosts that color, you can eat him. But even better, eating him will turn the rest of the ghosts blue, and since Kinky counts as the first ghost, the point count goes from 400 for the next ghost, then 800, 1600, 3200! Also, big ghosts are worth twice as much, so in later levels where multiple Kinkies come to combine with more than one ghost... well, that's a lot of point potenial.

Graphics (10/10): Yes, I know, it doesn't look like games today, but for when the games were originally made, they looked pretty good. In Pac-Man, the only change in graphics I noticed was the graphic showing the points for getting fruit has oddly shrunken, and in Pac-Mania, the dots have been altered a bit to look more 3D, but neither one hurts. You have to appreciate the little touches they did leave in, that I was worried might be left out (for example, Blinky getting angry if you take too long to complete a stage in Pac-Mania is kept in this game).

Also, a nice option in Pac-Man that allows you to see the whole maze at once, with lesser quality graphics, or a vertically scrolling maze with almost arcade-perfect graphics, to please everyone.

Sound/Music (7/10): First, keep in mind that the sound effects are supposed to sound old, so the fact that they're mostly ''retro'' effects doesn't hurt the score... but there are 2 irritants:

1--The sound effect for getting an extra life in Pac-Man is wrong! Seriously, Game Boy Advance, 20 years older than Pac-Man, and they still can't get this sound effect right... or even close, for that matter! It's much softer, and higher pitched, and not ''clangy'' at all! It may not be too bad to lower the sound score any, but there's still no excuse for it--it sounds like a sound effect you'd hear out a Game Boy, not a Game Boy Advance!

2--This one, however, is very good reason to lower the music score severly. The music in Pac-Mania is extremely botched! Apparently, someone got lazy, and decided to cut out most of the music. If you've ever played Pac-Mania in the arcade, you'll realize that the music loops way too early! Sandbox Land, which lasts for 112 beats in the arcade is the least affected, going down to 48 beats before the music loops. Block Town, lasting 236 beats in the arcade before looping, only goes 64 here. And Pac-Man's Park is by far the worst--208 beats in the arcade, a mere 32 in this game, meaning over 80% of the Pac-Man's Park theme has been cut! And the music from the Jungly Steps is completely missing, replaced with Block Town's theme.

These 2 things taken into consideration, the music is still pretty good. Most of the sound effects in Pac-Man sound spot on, and ALL the sound effects in Pac-Mania are spot on, even the extra life sound effect this time! Also, the little music they actually kept in Pac-Mania is spot on as well. I have not played Pac-Man Arrangement in the arcade, so I can't compare, but the music that's there is pretty good in the game, though the sound effects for eating ghosts and fruit is too muted in that game.

Control (10/10): Much as the sound isn't perfect, it's not too important... contol is, though, and no problems whatsoever with it! Pac-Man controls just as easily as ever, just pressing left, right, up, and down. And jump if in Pac-Mania. And yes, Pac-Man retains the same odd jumping physics for Pac-Mania as in the arcade. For Pac-Attack, the pieces move fluidly, as in the NES Tetris, and not like the Game Boy Tetris, which is vital in such a game as this, where you need to quickly move falling pieces into place.

Overall (9/10): Great as it is, I am simply not able to give it a perfect score, due to the notable problems in Pac-Mania (extra levels making it more drawn out, and music looping way too early). Pac-Mania is still fun, mind you, but certainly not arcade perfect. The problems in Pac-Man are minor enough to completely overlook, though. And Pac-Man Arrangement is such a blast on its own, almost worth owning the cart just for that! But as you also get 3 other games with it... it just makes it such an almost perfect purchase!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/02, Updated 06/02/02