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Hey, vizzed members! Today I’m reviewing Ms. Pac-Man for the Sega Game Gear. Just like I did with the Game Boy version, I’m noticing that this is based off of the Namco NES version. Why, Sega? Whyyyyy would you do this to so many people?

GRAPHICS

10/10

I rated this a 10 because I like the different graphics and how each maze changes color. I think that the arcade version should have done the same thing, and it makes me happy to see that this version did. All the ghosts look very different from Pac-Man for the Game Gear. They’re back to being more tall than wide and Pinky looks a little more like he should. The fruits also look pretty nice.

The title screen logo is glittery and cool, and I really like the layout of the maze in the regular display. The lives, fruit, and score are all shown on the maze instead of beside it. The score is on top, the fruit is on the bottom, and Ms. Pac-Man’s lives count is right above the fruit.

½ mode looks really similar to how it does in the Game Boy/Game Boy Color versions. That’s a nice touch since both of those versions are good to play.

ANIMATIONS

8/10

I rated this an 8 because the cutscenes could be improved. In the 2nd cutscene, “The Chase”, we see Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man chase each other. How cute, right? Well, something is wrong. Their action does not go along with the music.

The cutscene transitions are off too. After completing level 2, I had to wait a couple seconds before the name of the cutscene appeared. Other animations such as the fruit bouncing were done well, though.

SOUND EFFECTS

5/10

I rated this a 5 because, Sega, let me ask you again: why? Every sound effect except the fruit bouncing is based off of the Namco NES version of Ms. Pac-Man. That wasn’t a wise decision because the Namco NES version is terrible. At least a good majority of the sounds are a little better here.

When the fruit is bouncing, it sounds like it bounced its way straight out of Pinball for the NES. And when Ms. Pac-Man earns an extra life, she must be swearing with joy because I hear some beeping noises. Or her alarm on her Apple watch is going off. Whichever it is, I don’t know but I don’t want to ever hear that sound again.

Ms. Pac-Man’s dot-eating doesn’t even sound great! And the pause sound effect is nonexistent.

MUSIC

6/10

I rated this a 6 because fortunately for my ears, not all of the notes in each song are off-key. But besides the starting theme, some notes are and it makes me want to skip the cutscenes. There’s even an extra note where it shouldn’t be in the “They Meet” music.

DIFFICULTY

9.5/10

I rated this an 8.5 because Ms. Pac-Man’s reaction time is pretty goofy. Sometimes she will respond to my key press right when she’s supposed to, but sometimes she has a delay. That alone makes it difficult for me to get past level 7 if I manage to come that far. A lot of otherwise avoidable deaths happened for that reason.

Since this game has a hard mode, that adds even more difficulty to the rating. Normal mode is OK when you adjust to the annoying controls, but hard mode… yeah, good luck getting anywhere and you’ll have to try your hardest to have fun probably.

DEPTH

10/10

I rated this a 10 because you will find that there’s a ton to do. You have one player and 2 player mode, regular size maze and ½ mode, and then you have normal and hard mode. Each mode provides a different type of gameplay and that’s really great for a game like this.

ADDICTIVENESS

3/10

I rated this a 3 because there are plenty of versions of Ms. Pac-Man out there, and almost all of them have better controls than this one. Not being able to move Ms. Pac-Man around the maze effectively all the time makes it difficult to become hooked on this game. Also, the sometimes-irritating sound effects increase my likelihood of playing this game muted while listening to music on my phone.

STORY

0/10

Wwwwhaaat? There isn’t a story? But I needed a bedtime story, and I thought this would have one! Excuse me, I
need a tissue…

OVERALL (not counting story)

7.4/10

Once you get past the reaction time problem, this game isn’t too bad. But I want to tell you that you should never play this game with headphones on and your volume up high. When Ms. Pac-Man gets that extra life, you might deeply regret it and your ears will yell at you to shut the game off. I recommend this game to people who are bored.

Thank you for reading my review and have a nice day!