Pac-man reviewYou know, pac-man used to be called puck-man, but they were worried that they would scratch out the "P".....yeah, I got that from Scott Pilgrim. What? You never heard of that film? Well, I'm reviewing a game, not a film, and today we're talking about pac-man. This game has a lot to talk about, but not many people talk about that kind of stuff. They know it's a fun game to play, but they don't go as in-depth as some people do. I am one of those people, and I'm going to show you why this game is simple, yet exiting at the same time.
So your a hungry yellow mutated hockey puck that wants to eat pac-dots in this maze, but you are chased by ghosts. After you eat all the pac-dots, you'll advance to the next level. Why? Why doesn't pac-man realize that he is in the same maze every time? Why is he chased by ghosts? How can he eat so much? Well, like most arcade games, they have no story, you just play the game. Also, not many people ask these questions, but it's probably for the best. What can I say? The game play is very easy to pick up, so just about anyone can play it. It is also addicting. It's always satisfying running....rolling.....how does this guy move? I like to say he walks in a wack-a, as that is the sound he makes when he moves, where was I? Oh yeah, wack-aing away from those monsters, more commonly known as "ghosts" is always fun to do, and even better when you swallow a power pellet.
This turns them blue. This some how makes you able to eat them, instead of dying when you touch them. I wonder why that is....oh well. When you eat them, their eyes comically go back to the middle box, where they are revived again. The music is incredible. Not becuase it's amazing, but how it's
not annoying. The music in game is the same two notes playing over and over and over and over and.......you get the idea, only changing in pitcxh when you eat more pac-dots. I don't know about you, but normally that would drive a player up the wall, btu here, you enjoy it, and would never say "PLEASE WILL YOU TURN IT OFFF!!!!!" and that has to be a record.
The music before and during some animations are classic and are easy to remember. You could even have them as ring tones. When you beat three roundd (or was it two?) you get a humorus animation. I never get tired of it, always makes me smile. Now for the enemies. You are chased by four ghosts. They have names you know. The red one is called "Blinky" The pink one is called "Pinky" the green-blue one is called "Inky" and the orange one is called....."clyde" They have interesting personalities. In the Japanese version, they were called "chaser" "ambusher" "fickle" and "stupid" respectfully (if you can be respectful when calling some one stupid =P), and their nick names were "red guy" "pink guy" "blue guy" and "slow guy" respectfully. Interesting, huh.
But the most interesting and most infamous thing about this game is the "Split-Screen Level". This is legendary stuff. Often called the Pac-man Bomb Screen. The game's level counter was a single 8-bit byte could therefore store only 256 distinct values (0–255). Reaching the 256th level causes the counter that is used while drawing the fruit to overflow to zero, causing 256 fruits and seven blank spaces to be drawn. And then creates the first half of the level normally, but the second half is......completed messed up. You can turn when your not supposed to, can't turn when you think you can, go off the screen and appear on the other side, it's basicly behaving in such a way that the level is impossible. The highest score possible is 3,333,360, if you can get that score, you truly are a pac-master. In fact, in 1999, Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 to anyone who could pass through the Split-Screen Level before January 1, 2000. The prize went unclaimed. Legends say that Chuck Norris was the only one to complete this level. Sadly, he was so good, the game crashed because he was so good.
Well, overall I give this game 8.4/10, this game is a classic. It's bland, but somehow able to say "No, I'm not, it seems it, but I'm rather fun" and in a way, doesn't seem bland, but rather exiting and fun to play. Give it a go.
Graphics
7 Sound
8 Addictive
8 Depth
5 Story
1 Difficulty
7
User Notice 
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.jpg "Pac-Man (Tengen) Box Art Front")
-3.png "Pac-Man (Tengen) Screenthot 2")
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