Overall 8.8 Graphics 8 Sound 7 Addictive 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
7.3
Pac-Man in color? Oh yeah, that is normal Pacman+Mariofan
Review PreviewHey, vizzed members! It’s the Pac-Fan Man here to review a 2-in-1 game called Pac-Man Special Color Edition, or Pac-Man & Pac-Attack! Namco released this game in 2000, the year I was born. Which gives me the perfect reason to take my time reviewing it!
Have fun reading this and hopefully playing some Pac-Man games afterwards!
GRAPHICS
8/10The title screen isn’t all that great, it’s just a black screen with words on it and a Pac-Man logo. But the words “Special Color Edition” are gold with red all around them, matching the logo. The game
select screen is no different. All it shows is the logos of the games, but the cool part is that 2 Pac-Men are pretty much pointing at each logo when you tap the arrow key to put them there.
When you
select Pac-Man (the game), you’ll notice that the title screen and the game greatly resemble the Game Boy version except for the added color. This game was meant to be, as the title suggests, a colored version of that so it does what it was meant to. This also applies to Pac-Attack. However, there is a difference that I noticed. Pac-Man is shaped differently in this version. His mouth is wider, which looks wrong after playing the Game Boy version.
Most of the color choices in both games are very well-done and, in Pac-Attack, they’re bright and appealing! But in Pac-Man, one thing I don’t like is that the point values, that show when you eat a ghost, are dark blue. Dark blue on black is difficult to see, and I have pretty good vision.
The blocks in Pac-Attack look very cool. They have waves of color, transitioning smoothly from yellow to orange to red. Another plus about Pac-Attack is the intro. Multiple text colors are shown and the brick pattern is even.
In Pac-Man, the graphics don’t bother me, even the zoomed out sprites for ½ mode. We don’t talk about the ugly strawberry, forget about it.
ANIMATIONS
6/10When you
select a game, the logo blinks until you’re transitioned to that game’s title screen. Transitions are key to a game having a solid animation rating. I thought that blinking animation was clever because in Pac-Man, the maze blinks once you have completed it.
The other transitions are not impressive though. You can discover that before you start playing Pac-Attack in puzzle mode. Instead of any fading out or other movements, the game basically warps you to the next screen.
Another flawed aspect of the animations is the ghosts blinking in Pac-Man. For the first few levels, they blink blue and white for 5 seconds until they finally return to their normal selves. It’s fooling you to make you think you should run away from the ghosts faster! Don’t fall for Namco’s trick, and time their blinks until level 5 where the blinking decreases.
Good animations are present too in this game. The ghosts’ eyes traveling was done well and same with Pac-Man eating the ghosts (I’m referring to both games in this sentence). The cutscenes in Pac-Man look like the original’s.
SOUND EFFECTS
10/10The sounds in Pac-Man sound just like the Game Boy version. They all are sounds I don’t mind hearing repeat every level.
Pac-Attack’s sounds differ from the Game Boy’s though. This version sounds more high-pitch. I love the sound that occurs when you have made a row of blocks and then they fall away. All of the sound effects are great in my opinion, but that one is the best. It makes me laugh too! There’s also the sound of Pac-Man eating many ghosts in a row that makes me have victory.
MUSIC
5/10Like what I mentioned with the sound effects, the music is also higher-pitched in both games than their Game Boy versions. That works well in Pac-Man with the startup music and cut-scenes, but not as much in Pac-Attack.
In Pac-Attack, I much prefer the Game Boy’s notes for the music. Sure, the music sounds more upbeat in this one, but I don’t care for how it sounds. If I was playing this with headphones I’d be almost irritated. The title screen’s theme in Pac-Attack bothers me the most. A few notes sound like music to my ears but the rest makes me not want to sit on the title screen for a minute.
ADDICTIVENESS
7/10If it wasn’t for the mass amount of games I play now, this would be a game I play on a regular basis, I guarantee you. Before I even used vizzed to play most of my video games, I played this game and Ms. Pac-Man Special Color Edition all the time for hours each day. I love classic Pac-Man games, always have, and I have few preferences for which version I get to play of each game.
STORY
0/10*
insert buzzer sound here* It would be difficult to put a story to games like this, and I’m glad Namco didn’t try to. It’s just a 2-in-1 enhancement of the Game Boy versions of Pac-Man and Pac-Attack. Nothing else to say here, so scroll down!
DEPTH
7/10For a game with only 2 games, the replay value here is pretty good. Pac-Man has a full-size mode where the game has to scroll through the maze. The other mode is ½ mode, where you can see the whole maze at once, and the important part is that you see all 4 ghosts moving at once so you don’t get ghost-corner’d. That’s always important. And both of these modes you can do with 2 players.
Pac-Attack has a 1-player and 2-player mode. Next, you decide whether you (and maybe a friend) want to play regular mode or puzzle mode. That should keep you guys busy deciding and then actually playing it.
DIFFICULTY
8/10Both games would be very difficult for new players. For experienced players like me, they’re still pretty difficult. I’m hardly ever able to get far in both games, I’m just good at racking up good high scores.
In Pac-Attack, you have 4 difficulty modes to choose from: easy, normal, hard, and hyper. I have a hard enough time with easy since I’m not a puzzle game person, so I almost always choose that one. :D
When it comes to what level I reach, I find Pac-Attack easier because the only obstacle is your mind… :O No, seriously. There isn’t any bad guy stopping you from winning. You just have to prevent the blocks and ghosts from reaching the top of the screen, like Tetris.
OVERALL (not counting story)
7.3/10This game is ideal for gamers who want to play different types of games… on the same game. I would also recommend it for gamers who want a variety of challenge that doesn’t take excessively long unless you have already played it for so long and you reach really high heights in both.
This collection game doesn’t take up near as much time as some would. Some collection games have 4+ games, but this one only has 2. I like that since I don’t play video games for 3 hours on end like I used to.
Thank you for clicking on this review! Let me know what you thought of it below, and have a nice day!
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Addictive 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 07-20-17
Review Replies: 2