Description:






Welcome to Pac-man's hometown, Pac-Land! In this TV Series-inspired game, Pacman must guide a lost fairy back to her home land. But the mischievous ghosts have got other ideas. They have a new addition to the gang: Sue. They know Pac's got the fairy, and they want to steal it. Guide Pacman through mysterious forests, high-to-the-sky mountains, and even through castles with confusing paths to take. Once the fairy is home, Pac is rewarded with a pair of magical boots to help him get back home safely.







This game was my favorite Pac-man game of all time. It was something special. I got even more excited when I heard about it's relation to the TV Show. This port for the Turbo Grafx was my favorite because it had some many things the arcade version hat so that is why I chose to review this version. I made a review on this specific game and port, but it was very small and did not explain anything. So I decided to redo it.










Graphics: 9







Pac-Land's graphics really stand out against most other games, because most are focused on being realistic or smooth. But if you think about it, this one is attempting the opposite. The game's gorgeous graphics try to take on after the cartoon series, "Pacman: The Animated Series". It almost gives you the feeling that you are taking control of the show. This port's cut scenes also look a little bit like you are watching a scene from the show, except in pixel-y details. The ending also has beautiful depictions of every character, like a 16-bit postcard. The part where it says "THE END" is written in a script-like font. The Palettes sort of get dark greenish when you try PRO. I will explain it later. Some of the game's graphics are taken from other games, most notably the font. 



You can also say that they took Pac-man's design, made him like Pinocchio, made him tell some lies, turned him back to normal still having his long nose, and then placed a Red Alpine Hat on him.






Sound: 9







The sound adds to the animated feel of the game. Most of the game's music is also from the TV Show, but with a few nice touches added. It even sounds like the songs from the show are put into a 16-bit machine and played on there. I have plenty of examples too.  The short song when you finish a level sounds like the song when you watch episode title of the TV series. The main song sounds like the intro part of the show. The song when you are on a fourth round sounds like the song when Pac's trying get away from something. Though not all the songs sound like the show; yet they still remind me of the eighties. The noise when the ghosts can be eaten is very similar to the one made in the original game, Pac-Man. I also noticed that the "Insert Credit" sound is a copy of the noise made when eating a dot in Pac-Mania, which contains a reference to Pac-Land when looking at the high-scores.  The music also fits well when Pac is getting the magic boots, considering he is in Fairy Land. The ending's music sounded almost like a 16-bit party with a bunch of portions of the regular song placed carefully to sound totally different.










Addictiveness: 9










When you get to the harder levels or you are trying to make a nice score or stunt, this game can make so many "One More Time" moments






when you are playing. It makes you want to try again. This port includes a continue feature letting you restart from the last level you played. Keep in mind that doing this WILL reset your score and lives, so if scoring high is your goal, you might want to select "No" at the continue screen. The PRO mode might make this less addictive or more, because they are four times as hard as the regular levels. I also got stuck on the later levels because plenty of new mechanics were introduced. There is even one level that stands out like a single rose in a field of tulips. Round 27 reused the castle's mechanic of limiting the player's view of the level, but the things blocking your sight is pitch black. This level also tends to make players come back for more because the ghosts in this level come out of random places or in random vehicles like a car.






Story: 5










The story is great, but it is a little short and doesn't connect too much. Although, the game's story does get a little more bigger and better as you play the game. With the help of this port's cut scenes, the story expands to explain what is happening between every trip/stage.  If you were to watch the show, then the story behind all the characters besides the fairies would be explained. The game's ending makes it seem that the ghosts stopped trying and they all made peace. But it's just a theory... (No. I know one of you guys reading this will comment on this quoting that last part and then saying, "A GAME THEORY" along with "Sorry I just had to." But why does that matter? I am getting off topic.)










Depth: 8










This game has 8 trips with 4 rounds in each."Trips" are the game's term for levels, with "Rounds" representing 1/3 of the level. The 4th round has you going back to Pac's House using the newly-equipped boots Pac received from the Fairy Queen. There are 32 rounds/sections in total, 64 if you count the PRO mode's levels. All of them have different themes. There are 7 themes total:






Town: The pellet-munching hero's hometown.



Forest: Woods that Pac can explore through.



desert : Empty fields containing nothing more than cacti and quicksand pits with skulls waiting to eat you in.



Pool: Small bodies of water Pac must avoid contact with. Little islands might be located in here. Usually a springboard is near to allow him to glide over them.



Castle: A unique place that Pac must escape before time runs out using keys found to open doors. The ghosts do appear in this stage, but not in any vehicles, making this the only other time you see them not in a vehicle. This is exclusive to the TurboGrafx version, along with the PRO mode and Continue menu.



Ruins: A Castle in ruins which has a body of water at the bottom. It also tends to splash up to grab Pac and take him down. The ghosts do roam here, and the broken parts of the bridge don't help that.



Mountains: Climb high as Pac must not fall off. Crazy log platforms that push you back while ascending or descending should slow him down. If not, then there are log bridges that begin to break down should.



The game's levels also have these themes mixed up in most levels. (ex. A forest and pool in the same round.) The only exception to this is the Castle.  The Ruins do appear in the fourth round but only one time.










Difficulty: 7







This game can be really tricky to figure out. The game's mechanics can also get very complex hard to comprehend. Like jumping on the springboard. Most people don't hit a button after jumping on it and end up falling down instead of getting across. When Pac gets high enough in the air, you have to repeatedly hit the right button rapidly to make sure Pacman doesn't fall in the water. In one level, there are no springboards and you have to jump onto the ghost planes to cross. This is one place plenty of people have a hard time to get the right timing, but that is only where half the challenge. The other is staying on the planes without falling or hitting the blades. Plus, with every trip does the time the ghosts are vulnerable become shorter. Sue follows you from behind and if time runs out, she dashes toward you and if you were on a fourth round, your magical boots disappear. Then there's the PRO mode I have been mentioning. The PRO mode is basically the same levels with the ghosts movements harder to predict and avoid. The levels have also been slightly altered to be harder. It is unlocked if START is pressed during the game's ending. With PRO out of the way, I would like to mention something else. If you like getting high scores, eight things can help you achieve a goal for a high score:



1. Balloons in fourth rounds: If you happen to push something back while leaning on it in the fourth round, 7 balloons appear flying in the sky. 6 contain 100 points and 1 contains 7650 points. You have to be quick because they eventually fly away.



2. Eating 5 ghosts, with Sue the last: If you happen on a power pellet and all of the ghost gang are chasing you, eat it and then gobble all the ghosts up. Be sure to eat Sue last, and then a Pac-Man with a L in it's mouth will appear and start flying. Eat it, and your time will be turned into points, then the time will reset.



3. A ghost that drops ghost bombs have a chance to drop a Galaxian Boss that will fly around. Eat it for 7650 points.



4. When you finish a level, Pac will walk slowly but if you jump, Pac-man will gain bonus points depending on how much of the jump has been completed when he freezes so the time is turned into points. Since Pac-man falls into Fairy-Land, the game will give you 1000 points.



5. If you happen to have 15000 points and no lost lives on Round 2, An opportunity to skip all the way to Round 9 opens up. Simply walk against one of the three tree stumps closest to the entrance. If it moves, keep pushing until Pac-man freezes and you hear the extra live sound. Pac-man will suddenly fall out of the sky at his house. Your score will be set to 150,000 points, causing a few extra lives to be given to you.



6. In some levels with objects you can move, pushing against one that moves will give you a helmet. This gives you 300 points for every ghost bomb that comes in contact with the helmet. If you have died, the helmet will not be attainable for that round.



7. Fruit can spawn at random or when something happens. Eating them will give you points. The points go up after eating one until eating 4, where the points gained when eating another one resets to the number of points when eating the first one.



8. If you manage to eat a 6th ghost, (a ghost bomb) 7650 points will be gained for that ghost and every ghost after that.






OVERALL: 8.9







This game has only a few issues, but it is mostly good. The TV Show was turned into a video game and it turned out to be great! Anyone who appreciates the show would love to play this game! The controls and story are the only things holding it back. All Pac-man fans would truly adore this colorful game. It is just a shame that it didn't get much attention. Until Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS came out. Pac's moves included kicking fire hydrants that spew water bolts out, an object from this game. Pac-Land also became a stage in the Wii U Version.







I really hope this review made perfect sense, didn't reveal spoilers or anything like that. Please rate it and give me some constructive criticism for future reviews like this one. David, if you see this and I accidentally broke a rule, tell me where it is and what it was without doing anything bad to my account. Thank you for reading this review.