It's your world...Eat it." I remember reading these words for the first time on the backside of the Namco Museum 50th
anniversary booklet. "Wow. That looks like it could be a good game." I remember thinking to myself. Let's see if it was...
Graphics: Up until the time I had played this game, I had never seen anything like it! The graphics were awesome! From explosions, to sparks flying from the saw blade bots (as I call them because I cannot remember their name for it.) to the beauty of the spectral realm to the
design of the characters, enemies and environments. The graphics to me were fully awesome. Although now I would not see them as great, having played several Wii U games and the Mario Galaxies. The graphics were awesome in their own time frame. I remember hopping into the first level. Oh...Man! How did I get here! i'm in some sort of pit of slime surrounded by lots of things with big pointy teeth that want to turn you into lunch! Lasers, spectral monsters, energy siphons, robots and worlds are just some of the things that we can enjoy within this department. The slime throughout the worlds, the lava, and the spectral energy all looked and seemed to have their own texture. The slime
looks as though it is little more than contaminated water, the spectral looks akin to lava but perhaps cooler and a little runnier, but at the same time thicker than the slime. And the lava that you find in various spots seems very hot and extremely thick. Almost as though it is about to solidify back into rock. In different levels, you could literally see the grass blades and individual flowers. The fruits were well textured, and overall, every graphic seemed much more real than that of Any Pac Man game that was ever created before. Another piece that I had really liked was the spectral monsters. They almost looked see through, but they also had an undeniable form. And their texture really brought out the monster look. I also liked that they had hands with fingers, it seemed to make them look more vicious. I could go on and on about the various things that make the graphics so awesome, but I am going to try to cut the boring factor and just say that I give the graphics a 10.
Sound: This is another department that gets a 10. The music was great, and fit all the levels, from the slime pit to the
ancient ruins to the spectral realm, to Irwin’s Fortress. The sounds were equally as satisfying. The sound you made when you punched the monsters, or when you blew something up, or when you deactivated Clyde or Pinky, or when you, used the sonic boo, or even the windmills on the mountain.Everything seemed more realistic. Even when you were in the caverns, you could hear the lava hissing and bubbling beneath you. The scorpions hiss and attack was a really good sound that I was very impressed with. I just loved absolutely everything about this department. Everything was new and fresh and awesome. Yep, sound deserves a 10.
Addictiveness: This department gets a 10. I spent so many hours after completing the game to perfect it, and even now, having perfected would love to play it again. This game is just a lot of fun to play. All of the elements combine: from Namco’s originality in the story and gamestyle, to the graphics and sounds, and difficulty and depth. This is the game that I have played over and over again even after completion and perfection. There are not too many modern games that I desire to play after achieving game perfection. (100% completion, plus mastery of the many aspects of the game) I would love to attempt a deathless playthrough with 100% item
collection and beating all the scores. That would be awesome!
Story: The story is great! This is one of the few games that does not rely wholly on cutscenes, but on in-game dialogue with voices that I can actually hear. Not like the silent speakers of Mario and rpg games (and others, I’m sure.) This story, unlike all the other Pac Man stories, has nothing to do with an attack on PacWorld. The main attack is not from the ghosts, either; but from an evil, short statured scientist that sends his robots to do the dirty work. (except for a couple times that you face Irwin’s robot). The attack is against the spectral realm. What? What IS the spectral realm anyway? It is the home of the ghosts. (akin to the modern day Netherworld of PacMan cartoons. The main difference being that the Spectral realm is above PacWorld…Whereas the netherworld is below. Anyways…) Irwin is using some sort of machine that he built to siphon energy out of the spectral realm. At first, it seems that he is just hogging all this energy for his robot army, but does he have another purpose? Well, I do not want to spoil it all, so I shall stop there. There is some humor to be found throughout the game and a lot of good voices, as well as tie-ins to the first game of this trilogy. Overall, I was never once disappointed by this story, and therefore give it a 10.
Depth: The game is fairly large. You travel over several different worlds as you try to take out the energy siphons, and foil Irwin’s plan. But this game is not just about winning. It’s about eating all the fruit in the levels, finding cards, trophies, and even improving your level high scores. Overall this game has a ton of stuff to do, and is a blast trying to get it all done. There was even one watermelon that took me forever
to find. (Here I must admit that, I did not find it, but my brother did.) But I will give this game’s depth a 9; just for the fact that I think there should have been an extra level to unlock after all the stuff you did to find all the fruit, cards, trophies, and high scores. Difficulty: The game has a lot of controls to master. (almost all of the ideas presented to me at the time seemed completely foreign to me, so this added to the difficulty at the time.) There were a ton of puzzles that were difficult for me to solve at the time, and there was a lot of action that I was not entirely used to. So, I gave the difficulty a nine (just because I think ten would be unbeatable.)I have and still do absolutely love this game, and I hope to be able to get my hands on it again someday…This game gets a 9.8.