Hey guys. So, I'm finally back with another review. This is actually a game that I've been playing for a while since last weekend. One of my favorite kind of games on my favorite system. Let's get started on the review!

Intro: Not as great as the arcade version but not bad at all!

Well, pacman is basically one of my favorite games I like to play, which is why I like pacmania. I've played the arcade version of this before. Then I decided to try out the Sega Genesis version. The arcade version basically has better sound and graphics then the Genesis version but the gameplay is about the same to me. The Genesis version is still pretty good though. 

In this game, you play as pacman in a 3D maze and you simply run away from the ghosts and eat all of the dots to move on to the next level. One advantage you have compared to the original pacman is that you can jump! Equally, one disadvantage you have is that there are more than 4 ghosts! (In the later stages, there are tons of ghosts!) 

Graphics: 8

Not as good as the arcade version in my opinion, however, it's still pretty good. The graphics are bright and colorful. The arcade version is somewhat a little dull compared to this version but it's a lot more 3D-ish though. In the intro (A picture that comes up before the main menu), pacman looks like some crazy maniac. He's standing there in a weird position smiling as if he's on a sugar rush standing so close to the short green ghost and the green ghost is just staring at him expressionless and somewhat afraid. But I guess it sort of fits this game.

In the game itself, the graphics are bright and animated 3D. (In other words, not real 3D but sort of like a moving 3D drawing, but it's still good.) Each and every ghost in this game seem to have different personalities just by looking at their faces. (Like the yellow ghost looks afraid, the blue one looks bored and serious, the purple one looks very serious and mad, the red one looks sort of expressionless... etc) And pacman is basically like a yellow sphere with a mouth that's gobbling up all of the dots and fruits. Each and every level looks bright and unique. 

One strange finding though is that in the arcade version, the blue ghost looks derpy with his eyes moving up and down in opposite directions. Meanwhile, in this version, the blue ghost looks serious and bored at the same time, while the green ghosts have the derpy eyes. lol. If I can say this much about the graphics then it's not bad at all. 

Sound: 9

The arcade version probably had a more HD and complex background musics than this version but this version it still pretty good. The sound effects are really fitting for this game. And each zone in the mazes have different background music that matches with the maze pretty well. (Like for example, Block Town's background music fits pretty well with the appearance of the stage.)

I also like the background music themselves pretty well. Even though they can be a bit repetitive, it helps you focus on the game since it matches the maze and your situation in the game. And they're just good sound tracks to hear while you play this game. It's basically something that you would want to hear while you play this game.

Addictiveness: 9

This is basically one of the main reasons that made me like this game. You simply want to go as far as you can in the stages and you just want to try to keep going even farther because you're excited to see how the next stage would be like. (And it goes by increasing difficulty). One noteworthy thing that makes this game more addictive is that when you get a gameover, you will still have the option to continue if you want. (However, you'd have to restart the current level you are in and your score will fall back down to 0.) So, instead of giving up after you lose, you'll still keep going since you have the option to continue anyways! Though, after you get a gameover like 2-3 times, then you won't get the option to continue anymore. 

Story: N/A

Uhhh... Pacman is chased by ghosts and he has to eat all the dots to continue to the next level? I dunno. I'm not sure if there is a legit story so I'll leave this section alone. I don't think there really is a story to this game anyways since it's just pacman. lol.

Depth: 9

One of the most noteworthy things that really contributes to the depth and Addictiveness to this game is that in the options menu, you can change the difficulty. You can choose between easy, normal, hard, and crazy! Playing the game with the difficulty in crazy mode is way too fun and insane for me. Depending on what difficulty you choose, it will change the speed of pacman and the ghosts, the smartness level of the ghosts, and the duration of the power pellet. (How long the ghosts stays blue when you eat a power pellet.) Each and every difficulty makes the game a lot more different because of this. In easy mode, the ghosts and pacman are extremely slow and the ghosts are pretty dumb. In crazy mode, it's totally the opposite! 

There is also an option to set it to 2 player mode (with 1 or 2 controllers). 2 player mode works by turns. There is also an option to turn the background music and sound effects on or off. And lastly, there is an option to enable pac booster. (Or set it to enable by pressing a or c in the middle of the level). What it does is that it increases your speed and make pacman move very fast. One disadvantage though is that he can be hard to control. You can use the Pac Booster for as long as you want when it's enabled. 

Difficulty: 8

Well, if you're talking about the difficulty of the controls, I'd say the controls are easy. They're only hard when pacman is moving too fast with Pac Booster or the green power pellet that sometimes come up (which gives a speed boost for sometime). Though, pacman can be very fast in later stages.

In terms of the game itself, that sort of varies with the difficulty that you set in the options menu. Easy mode is.... Uhh... Well... Easy. And very slow. Crazy mode is extremely fast. Both pacman and the ghosts move very fast and some of the ghosts move even faster than pacman in later stages. 

The green and dark blue/black ghosts both jump when pacman jumps. However, the green ghost's jump height is slightly lower than pacman's jump height so you can still jump over them. (However, be careful, jumping over them is quite difficult at times). The dark blue/black ghost literally jumps at the same height like pacman, so don't even bother jumping over them. (Unless I'm mistaking...) 

There are also more ghosts in later stages and they will all move faster as you go on, which can get overwhelming. One annoying situation is when so many ghosts are surrounding you and then you jump over one ghost and land on another ghost. Also, in later stages, the amount of time that the ghosts stay blue with a power pellet will decrease. So, there will be less time to be safe from the ghosts. And the mazes will be larger as you move on. So, that's quite a lot of ways of how this game can get more difficult.  

Overall: 8.8

Well, definitely a game worth trying out if you like pacman games. Thank you for reading this review and feedback appreciated! 

mohammedroxx3 : no the story is most important part. Great review on this pac-man game surprisingly it makes me want to play even though I really dislike pac-man but you put lots of good reasons why it would be an interesting game to play.

deg2000 : No, story is not even close to the most important, if you have crap gameplay and controls, but an incredible story ,it's good? I don't think so. But I respect your opinion, and I just wanted to point out mine.


I love this game a lot, apart from the original pac-man it's my favoruite pac-man game. The review was very detailed and unique. It was a lot different from most reviews, good job.

It's been a while since I last read a review from you. I always like your reviews. They're detailed and to-the-point. Looks like I have some catching-up to do after the hiatus I've been through the past months. ^^'

imamonster : I think story is only important in certain kinds of games, like epic RPGs. I don't think Pacman really needs to have an well-written story to be good fun.

Great review. I too am a huge fan of PacMan games. Mainly because they are such classical games. I can still see myself in that hospital bed with that small little box with tons of arcade games with a huge analogue stick on it. Such a great game Pacman is. Also once again great view. You went in complete detail and told us what this game was all about disputing that its on the genesis. I can also see that you love the Sega Genesis a great fair deal. You remind me of a good friend that I know named GenesisJunkie.