Overall 6.8 Graphics 4.6 Sound 3.2 Addictive 4.6 Story 4 Depth 4.3 Difficulty 7.2
1
Pac Man is a big reason for Atari's downfall (My 25th review) gamerforlifefor..
Back in the 80's Pac Man fever was huge and Atari thought they'd cash in on this phenomenon by making a port of the game for their 2600 console, resulting in one of the worst arcade ports of all time. Along with E.T. this game helped ruin Atari's reputation forever and was also a leading factor of the video game crash of 1983 and almost destroyed the gaming industry forever. If it hadn't been for Nintendo stepping in that probably would've been the case. I'm now going to give a review for this travesty of a game. This is going to be one of my shorter reviews but hopefully it'll be good enough to help explain why this game's so awful.
Graphics: 1/10 The biggest problem with the graphics for this game was way that the ghosts looked and the fact that they keep flickering for some reason. All the flickering hurts my eyes and there's no excuse for that. Also it's hard to tell if you can attack the ghosts because it's hard to tell what color the ghosts are which really hurts this games enjoyability which I'll get to later.
Sound: 1/10 The audio for this game is absolutely awful compared to the original Pac-Man. All the sound effects were completely butchered. Everyone reading this review should watch a video of the arcade version and the Atari 2600 version and you'll see what I mean. The sound is atrocious so for that reason I give the sound a 1.
Addictiveness: 1/10 Pac Man for the arcade is one of the most addicting games of all time. Pac Man for the 2600 is the total opposite. Some reasons for this include the graphic problems that I mentioned earlier and the awful audio. These 2 issues combined destroys the Pac Man experience. This game is not fun at all and there are not very many games out there that are less fun than this abomination. For that reason I give the addictiveness a 1.
Story: N/A Pac Man doesn't have a story therefore I'm leaving this category blank.
Depth: I can't really give the depth a fair rating because Pac Man games don't have depth they usually have addictive gameplay that makes you want to keep playing. For this reason I'm leaving this category blank as well.
Difficulty: 10/10 Pac Man for the Atari 2600 is more difficult than it's arcade counterpart mainly because of the problems with the ghosts not having enough diffference in color between when you can and can't eat them. This makes playing this game much harder because at times you have to guess whether you can attack or not... For this reason I give the difficulty a 10 it's too hard to play you're better off playing another version.
Overall Score: 1/10 Pac Man for the Atari 2600 is the worst arcade port of all time because of it's terrible audio, terrible graphics, flickering (or flashing) ghosts and it's uncanny ability to take one of the best arcade games of all time and turn it into one of the worst games ever. There are few games out there that I'd be willing to say are worse than this game. One of them happens to have been made on the same console: E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL FOR THE ATARI 2600! I'd like to know what you think about this review.
Graphics 1 Sound 1 Addictive 1 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.4/5
Submitted: 01-20-15
Updated: 01-31-15
Review Replies: 11
6.1
Pac's Review of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 Pacman+Mariofan
Hey, this is Pac's review of the rushed Atari 2600 conversion of Pac-Man. It's been about 11 months since my last review, and I apologize for that. I completely lost motivation. I already made a review of this game a long time ago, but it was crappy and I posted it in the Game Discussion forum. This game is the worst Pac-Man conversion of all time.
Graphics: 6.5
I understand that the Atari 2600 couldn't have fantastic graphics, but I'm still disappointed in this game's graphics. The maze and the pellets are both the same color: light brown. First of all, the Atari 2600 definitely could've handled a better color for the maze, so it's stupid that the maze is light brown. Same goes with the background, blue. Next, Pac-Man doesn't turn for upward or downward movement; he continues to face left or right. Also, the ghosts flicker almost constantly, and they're poorly colored.
Sound: 4
All of the sound is really basic and it's bothersome to most players. The game starting music is only 4 notes, and it's irritating. There's no background beat unless the ghosteater pellet is in effect.
Addictiveness: 7
This game is surprisingly as addicting to me as any other version of Pac-Man. I can play it a few times before getting tired of it.
Depth: 5
This game offers little depth because it's just the same maze over and over, just like every other version of Pac-Man.
Story: 0
Nothing to say here.
Difficulty: 8
There are only 2 tunnels instead of 4, the maze is different, and the ghosts can catch you much more easily, so this is pretty difficult.
Overall: 6.1
This is an OK game, especially for one on the Atari 2600. I recommend you try it if other versions of Pac-Man are easy for you. Sorry that this review was short. There was nothing else I could think of to say and I'm trying to get back into reviewing again so I might make short reviews for a while until I get my review swag back. :P
Graphics 6 Sound 4 Addictive 5 Depth 5 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 10-17-14
Updated: 10-17-14
Review Replies: 6
6
A26: PAC-MAN - Review by Dean2k13 Dean2k13
Considering the concept of Pac-Man it's actually kind of funny to think it's one of the most successful franchises in video game history. I'm sure most of you have played this game and will know what it's all about. I decided to review this game as I've only been reviewing Pokémon games, so now I'm going to review all different games from different platforms and consoles, starting with Pac-Man.Alright let's go! :DGraphics 5/10Considering this is an Atari 2600 game, I'm not going to be very harsh and take other consoles into consideration. The graphics are very old and primitive even for an Atari game, mostly due to the fact that the game is practically made up of basic coloring and mathematical shapes of different sizes, and that's really all it's really made up of. I thought the orange and blue color scheme throughout the game put a great strain on the Iris (eye muscles). The colors were very dull and also very bland, they weren't very eye-pleasing, even for an Atari game. I thought maybe using one dark color, perhaps as a background and one brighter color for the walling in the game would have been very effective and would most definitely be more attractive. I also don't particularly desire the ghost's, they were the exact same color and flickered at a constant rate which extremely curled my skin, especially my eye lids.Sound 4/10There was hardly (if even) any sound in this game, the four notes you hear at the start. The other terrible sound you hear in this game is the annoying noise Pac-Man makes when he gobbles a snack, that specific noise really gets on my nerves, despite the fact that it's the only sound you hear throughout the course of the game it's very grating on the ears. However, there is a sound that I might just like, it's the chime that rings through your ear canal when Pac-man eats a power-pill, although low-pitched it's pretty effective considering it's the only half-decent spell of music you hear in the game itself.Addictiveness 7/10To be fully honest, putting all the graphics and sound aside I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game! It's one of those venerable classics that you just can't get enough of, and this game also contributed to my childhood. Playing the game over and over again can actually be very fun and challenging which is why I really enjoy playing it. The levels and mazes in the game did not change which was really disappointing so it really downgraded the game in a sense. The ghosts do not speed up or get any way trickier so it's really not fun, and can get really annoying at times. All in all, this game was addictive, at least for a while, it's worth a try.Story N/AHonestly, there isn't really a particular story introduced in this game. How you are a small circular disk in this not very eye-pleasing maze surrounded by hundreds of snacks and four nasty predators, the ghosts. I would have preferred an introduction into the game, this would allow you to absorb any details that may be useful on finding out what the game is actually about, and really how it has come to be that you are a character trapped in a maze. The ghosts in this game are designed to terminate you and should be avoided at all times if you plan to succeed in this game.Depth 2/10There really is no depth to this game, it's very straight forward. You are a circular object of some sort trapped in a maze with ghosts and plenty of food to survive. There are no surprises in this game, what you seen in the screenshots is all you're going to get from this game. A maze. Four Ghosts. Yourself. And a great amount of food. Basically, you eat all the food to complete the game, this can be done within a minute, so the game is really a minute long.Difficulty 3/10Pac-Man is not very challenging nor is it very difficult to conquer and succeed. It's all straight forward as I illustrated above. There is only one real challenge in the game, which are obviously the ghosts. They can trap you and kill you, this will reset the game and you will have to try again.Overall 6/10Overall I have to say this game is FUN. It's a good game to play when your bored, it really can impact on your mood and in a way, cheer you up. Although it's a very bland game even for an Atari game it's still very advanced for a 1981 game. It's definitely worth a try if you haven't already given it one.
Graphics 5 Sound 4 Addictive 7 Depth 2 Difficulty 3
Review Rating: 3.6/5
Submitted: 06-12-13
Updated: 06-18-13
Review Replies: 12
5
This game isn't as bad as everyone says it is... NovemberJoy
Ah, Pac-Man. How many people DON'T know what Pac-Man is? Actually, how many people have never PLAYED Pac-Man? I'd like to find them, and get them to play it. But, enough talk about that, let's talk a bit about the game.
You will immediately notice that the maze has been apparently run through a paper shredder, and barely even resembles the original maze. I'd guess it's due to size restraints, considering the size of this maze in comparison to the original. The maze, along with the other graphics, aren't really terrible - The worst part is actually Pac-Man himself, due to looking more like a blob than a round ball, and also due to being unable to face up or down. Also, for some reason, instead of eating round pellets, like in the arcade version, he's eating dash-shaped objects, which appear to be wafers. This is baffling, because it probably would use less pixels, and therefore less RAM, to just use a pellet.
One of the biggest problems noted about the game is that the ghosts flicker too much, so you can't see them very well. While it might be just because I'm playing on an emulator, I didn't have too much of a problem with it. Yes, it makes the game slightly more difficult to play, but it's not a game-breaking flaw.
The sound is ear-piercing, and is about as painful as an ear-piercing. When you start the game, and when you lose a life and restart, this horrible beepy noise plays. It really acts as a motivation to not die, so that you don't have to hear that horrible sound again.
Of course, this game only has the one maze, just like the original Pac-Man. It's really not too bad by Atari standards, by my judgement. Of course, there are problems, like the fact that the ghosts can go any direction from the ghost box, making the game that much harder. For some reason, it takes about two seconds to reappear on the other side of the maze when you use one of the shortcuts. This delay costs you valuable seconds, seconds that could be used to eat dots and run from the ghosts. I consider this a large flaw.
Of course, being an Atari port, the ghost AI is quite simplified, so that it mostly just tries to pursue you and cut you off. The maze design just makes it that much easier to get trapped by two ghosts, which I always hated.
The scoring system is also very simplified, with a digit removed and some point values being completely changed. The pellets/dots/wafers only give you ONE point, and basically everything in the game gives you more points than the dots and Power Pellets, which is a motivation to eat ghosts and treat items.
Of course, like the arcade version and almost all Atari games, the game gets more difficult and the ghosts become faster. After a few levels, it just gets really hard. The difficulty is somewhat lessened, by the fact that every time you complete the level, you get a free life.
Instead of describing the story, since there isn't one, I'll instead describe just how this game ended up the way it did. You see, the Odyssey console line was still in existence, and it was up to the Odyssey II, not to be confused with the Odyssey 200. To my knowledge, the system seems to have about as much or more power than the Atari 2600, but very little is known about it.
There was a game called K.C. Muncher, which was strikingly similar to Pac-Man, which hadn't come out on the Atari 2600 yet. Atari tried filing a lawsuit against them for making a game that was basically Pac-Man with a different name, but the game had enough differences that Magnavox won the lawsuit. Atari was then faced with a crisis - they had forgotten to work on THEIR version of Pac-Man, and it was only
five weeks in development at the holiday season where it was planned to be released!
Atari, unfortunately, proceeded to just release the game as-is, as in an alpha state, to the public. 12 million copies were made, despite the fact that there were only 10 million Atari consoles, because they thought that the game being on Atari 2600 would boost the console's sales. The game didn't do too well, of course, and they ended up with a large number of copies unsold. It's been speculated that this game was a large contender in the Great Video Game Crash of 1983, but, really, what more was expected?
The fact that this game was an alpha version seems to cement that this isn't as bad a game as everyone says it is. It's fun for an Atari 2600 game, and a lot of fun by those standards, so where's the big problem with this? I just don't see where the bad rap comes from.
Rating - C+(Pretty good, but not good enough)
Graphics 5 Sound 1 Addictive 5 Depth 5 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 06-30-12
Review Replies: 5
7
Inferior to the other versions, but still very overhated. Rayman85
Please send this post to the Trash Can.
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 08-25-19
Updated: 11-16-19
Review Replies: 0
4
Unsatisfying Reproduction PalladiumPony
Okay, how do I put this? This is a horribly, absolutely terrible imitation of a reproduction. Hold on, let me try that again. This is almost insulting. There we go, nice and concise. Instead of rambling on in a single paragraph like most newbies would, I'll break this up into 5 categories; Graphics, Sound, Likeability, Depth, and Difficulty. I am leaving out Story, because, as it is all right there in the manual, it doesn't affect the game directly, and is a stupid concept altogether. I'm sorry, that was mean. It was childish.
Graphics:
This game, if you hadn't noticed, is on an Atari system, so, simplicity is to be expected, and, as seen in plenty of modern pixel graphic games, can be a very, very good thing indeed. However, the graphics here are astoundingly bad, especially in comparison to such games on the same system as Pitfall. First off, the wafers. They could have just used dots instead, and it would have been better for other reasons. Next, the Fruit. Okay. Acceptable, you made them into square cookies. At least they only show up occasionally, so they aren't as bad as the wafers. The ghosts are beyond all recognition, but their blinking could have been a clever intentional bit to show that they are meant to be invisible, so no points lost here. Pac-Man, poor Pac-Man, however, looks like a weird lobster claw, which is unacceptable, and can only face left and right, which is also unacceptable. All in all, I rate graphics in at a six. It was on limited hardware, after all. Their design choices however, resulted in ungodly lag.
GRAPHICS : 6
Sound:
It did well to keep the tune of the original game, but it was rather screechy at times. Honestly, there isn't much to talk about here, unlike in later games with various sounds and music. The screeching was insufferable, however, so, despite my desire to respect their effort in maintaining the original's feel, I'm giving sound a one.
SOUND : 1
Likeability:
There are better versions of Pac-Man out there, and though the game itself is addicting, this version is the furthest thing. It gets another one. Make no mistake, though, at the time, this was revolutionary. People could go home and play Pac-Man, no quarters required, so, that is definitely something worth mention, at least in passing.
LIKEABILITY : 1
Depth:
It has the same depth as the original Pac-Man, in truth, but that wasn't much either, so this, and the original, both get a two. Admittedly, eating ghosts is kind of cool, but, all you do is navigate a maze with no exit while eating tennis balls, or, in this case, wafers, and popping pills that let you eat spirits which are at the same time trying to kill you. Actually. Scratch that earlier remark. They get a seven. I hadn't thought of it like that until just now.
DEPTH : 7
Difficulty:
On to the big enchilada, the difficulty. Lag, graphical issues, and odd time frames galore make the game ridiculously difficult, never mind the changes from the original that eliminate several anti-frustration features. For one, the side teleports take several seconds to complete, which is difficult to get around. Secondly, eating a ghost makes Pac-Man stop, which allows another ghost to easily catch you unawares. Finally, ghost can come out of the box from any direction. It seems small, but it really has a devastating effect. Go to get that treat, and BOOM. Ghost. All in all, it gets a rating of eight on difficulty from me.
DIFFICULTY : 8
I hope this was of some help to you, dearest reader, though it probably wasn't. You tell me if it was good, or if I rambled too much, because, quite honestly, I'm quite new at this sort of thing. Anyway, all in all, this game gets a four, and I tell you, it earned it.
OVERALL : 4
Graphics 6 Sound 1 Addictive 1 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 03-11-17
Review Replies: 1
0.1
Worst Arcade Port Ever Evil G
Hello, it's Evil G, that user that is always lurking. Y'know, that one. I'm reviewing Pac-Man 2600.Pac-Man is one of the best arcade games ever. It pretty much was the game that took the video game industry to a new level. (Get it?)
When it was announced to hit the 2600, people were excited as all heck. Then they sadly played the game. And that's the version we're talking about.
Regarded as the worst arcade port of all time, Pac-Man 2600 likely led to the infamous Video Game Crash of 1983, with E.T. and Custer's Revenge. Here, I'll explain why
GraphicsThey are plain terrible. I coudn't tell the difference between a normal ghost and a vunerable one. You might be saying, "Butt dis iz teh 26hudwen." I'd say,"Look at Pitfall. It has good graphics."SoundI would let Fluttershy say this, but I have to thanks to a lack of media tags."Awful, just awful."AddictivenessAbout as addicting as watching kittens massacred or Ray William Johnson. You pick between the two. DifficultyIt's extremely difficult....thanks to the hideous amount of glitches.Verdict:I actually recommend you play this, not because it's a good game. Just because of how deplorable it is, you need to play this. Just once.
Graphics 1 Sound 1 Addictive 1 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 2.9/5
Submitted: 01-16-13
Review Replies: 3
5
Not too bad cplegogame25
Story:
Pac-man doesn't have a story, just eating ghosts.
- - -
Gameplay:
The gameplay plays like the original Pac-Man, go around collecting Tic-Tacs and eating ghosts, the way to eat ghosts is getting the super Tic-Tac which glows. There are suppose to be 4 ghosts that chase after you but i could only see 2 of them. Honestly there is nothing left to say, it's a basic Pac-Man game. The controls are fine, you move around with the joystick and eat the Tic-Tacs through a maze like structure. The difficulty is sorta hard, the original game was hard because there are more enemies to avoid and the maze changes. The mazes in this game don't change much, they just have a differnet backround color.
- - -
Graphics:
The graphics a primitative, it doesn't look like Pac-Man but it is atari after all, you can tell what everything is, the only annoying graphic thing is the ghost, they just flicker and it's annoying to concentrate.
- - -
Music/Sound:
The music is only present when you start and when you end. The sound effects don't sound like a Pac-Man game, the original sounds like a wakka sound and this one is more of a boing sound.
- - -
Final Verdict:
The game is not as bad as people say it is. The gameplay is good, graphics are decent, sound is annoying, the difficulty is standard.
Graphics 6 Sound 2 Addictive 5 Story 1 Depth 3 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 2.5/5
Submitted: 11-29-13
Review Replies: 4
6.5
Pac-Man Review Marcmoney
Overall - 6.5
Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 is less likely to be played cause it is also on the NES. In this game, it is a whole lot complicated. They are not the same levels. It seems to be a little messed up, but I am not so sure about it. Anyways, Pac-Man is a fun classic game to play, but not on the Atari 2600. The game lacks a lot of things.
Graphics - 7
The graphics look Atari-like. Like I said, the graphics are a bit messed up. The way that is messed up is the enemies are a bit holographic. It is kind of hard to tell if they are still able to be eaten or not.
Sound - 8
The sound is a bit okay. It is just an average Atari sound.
Addictiveness - 5
Like I said, there is a Pac-Man game on the NES so I would not play this as much as the one on the NES. It is okay, but I could never beat the first level in this one.
Story - N/A
There is no story in this game. All you do is eat everything and continue to the next level.
Depth - 5
There is not a lot to offer in this game. It is somewhat close to the one on the NES. It is okay, but not that good.
Difficulty - 7
This game is hard. Like I said, I was never able to beat the first level. It was so hard for me. Then again, I was never a pro at Pac-Man games. The enemies go at you most of the time and the worst thing about this game is that when you get a power up, it is a little amount of time to be able to gobble up the enemies. It is so hard to get them if they are back to normal in like 3 seconds.
Wrap Things Up...
Pac-Man is a good game to play, just not on the Atari 2600. I would recommend trying this game out if you like playing Pac-Man games. It is not as fun as you will think it is when you have played all the other Pac-Man games.
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 5 Depth 5 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 2.3/5
Submitted: 10-01-11
Review Replies: 4
1
This port is just plain bad. Drweegee64
I love pac-man but this is just a bad port. The controls are annoyinly stiff. I can get through level 1 without dieing once in the arcade version. But this? I did not even make it past the first level alive on my first try. In the arcade the ghosts kill you by overlapping you a bit. In this port, they kill you right on contact. WTH! And the ghosts flicker. I can hardly see where they are. And once i get a power pellet, it's hard to tell when they are blue or not, and i end up killing myself. It's a horrible port, end of. Me giving this game a 1 overall is generous.
Graphics 1 Sound 1 Addictive 2 Depth 1 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 2.2/5
Submitted: 09-29-10
Updated: 06-12-11
Review Replies: 0
8
Pacman on the Atari is rather ok Excelsior2000
I find pacman on the Atari to be pretty fun but the only problem is the graphics on the ghosts are a bit poo.
Graphics
Now the graphics are kinda weird the ghosts are very holographic and that does get annoying and of course pacman only faces left and right so that does muck it up a bit the PAC-dots are now called wafers due to the fact that the Atari can't make them circular but apart from that the maze is... hey wait a minute did I tell you about the fact that the teleporters are now up and down and take a while to come out of them.
I may have found problems with it but it is still okay especially when compared to E.T
Sound
Now were there are problems with sound it is still pretty good for an Atari game.
Addictiveness
I would give this game a pretty good rate as I do like it and its game play.
Story
I find games that don't have stories are good to use your imagination to make one post a comment if you have an idea for a story.
Depth
Now I wouldn't give this game too much in depth it takes a while to finish so that's bassically it.
Difficulty
like all games of pacman it is hard but more so because the ghosts don't stay eatable for that long.
In conclusion it is hard but fun.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 8 Story 4 Depth 5 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 2.1/5
Submitted: 01-30-12
Review Replies: 3
8
Pac-Man (Atari 2600) diegomamelli05
Awesome game, even being in 1981, yet addictive spends hours and hours trying to beat records
Graphics : You can not expect much of a graphic Atari 2600 game, but delivers what it promises, simple and efficient.
Sound : Not much to say, the simplicity of the game.
History : There is no story in this game, but there is the challenge of escaping the ghosts.
Depth : Basically, it's the same maze that changes color every stage completed.
Difficulty : It's a game that is hard, but holding the player because challenge to pass this stage.
Graphics 10 Sound 6 Addictive 8 Story 8 Depth 7 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 1.9/5
Submitted: 01-15-13
Updated: 01-15-13
Review Replies: 1
1
One of the reasons the Crash of 1982 happened InkNimations
Hello guys, today I am going to review Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. It is pretty obvious how to play, eat the video wafers, (yes, that's what the instruction manual calls them, VIDEO WAFERS.) power pills, and vitamins. (seriously? vitamins? why not use fruit?) But he's not alone, there are 4 ghosts, and they might look like the're the same color, but they're different colors. You can't tell because they are flickery as heck. The graphics are awful, the sounds are awful, the controls are awful, and it is the reason the Crash of 1982 happened. If you want to play Pac-Man for the 2600, play Pac-Man 4K, 8K, or the Ms. Pac-Man hack. Definitely pass on this and play a good Pac-Man home port.
Graphics 4 Sound 1 Addictive 3 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 1/5
Submitted: 11-17-17
Review Replies: 2
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