Pac-Man Collection

"Not Really Much of a Collection"

Opening Remarks: When I see the word "collection" in a game title, am I expecting too much when I expect there to be an actual collection? When I see the title "Pac-Man Collection", and I expecting too much when I want a game that has Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Pac-Man Jr, and Pac-Man 2? I think not. Too bad, since only one of those games is present here.

Gameplay: Here we've got Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Man Arrangement. You all know what the original Pac-Man is. Pac-Attack is the Tetris rip-off that's fun for about 15 minutes. Pac-Mania is Pac-Man with an isometric camera angle, and the ability to jump. Pac-Man Arrangement is the best game in the collection, an all-new Pac game based on the original. This game alone is worth spending $10 on the collection.

Pros: Four decent games...
Cons: ...that should have been six or eight.

Graphics: They're all pretty faithful to their arcade originals. You know what Pac-Man looks like. You can play this is a close or far away viewpoint. The other three games look like your basic Super NES games. Nothing special but nothing bad.

Pros: Faithful to the original arcade graphics.
Cons: Nothing.

Sound/Music: It's Pac-Man. You know the music. In the three additional games, you've basically just got remixed Pac music. As with the graphics, it's nothing special but nothing bad.

Pros: Decent music.
Cons: Nothing.

Play Control/Game Design: Pac controls tightly in all three games. Moving the puzzle pieces around is easy in the fourth. Simple.

Pros: Tight, easy controls.
Cons: Nothing.

Improve: Include more games.

Recommended if you like: Any arcade collection.

Final Words: Although I'm disappointed that this isn't really a good enough collection, it's still hard not to recommend for people looking for a Pac fix on GBA. Your only other option is the NES Classic Series Pac-Man, which is $10 more than this, and only includes the original Pac-Man. It's sort of a no-brainer.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04