Pac and Pal reviewHello everyone, today I will be reviewing a classic arcade game, Pac and Pal! This is a classic arcade game that was only released in Japan in 1983 by none other than Namco. I just thought this would be a fun arcade game to review and since I was running out of ideas, I remembered this collection of classic games called Namco museum 50th anniversary that came out in 2001, and this is one of the games on it. So without further a do, lets get onto the review shall we?
Gameplay:
Before getting onto the graphics or anything else in the game, I thought I would just go over the rather simple gameplay in this game. You are basically supposed to go around the area and eat all of the fruits and items without being caught by the ghosts. It is similar to super pac man, but you have to turn over cards to get to the items rather than keys. You also have an assistant with you, called Miru, or pal which is the little green ghost that helps bring items around that you've unlocked and she will wander around giving you a chance to grab it from her, otherwise she will go in the ghost room where it will be lost forever. Another thing I thought I should bring up are the special items in this game, rather than super pellets that make the ghosts turn blue, you can get useful items in the corners of the screen, which include the ability to shoot a ray at a ghost to confuse them, you can shoot smoke at them, and also musical notes, these 3 items will give you the same point values you would normally get from them, such as 200, 400, 800, 1600. That is all I wanted to cover as far as the basic gameplay.?
Graphics: 6
The graphics of this game aren't too bad, they aren't really that much better or worse than the original pac man graphics. The only thing I thought I would point out is that the maze is a lot smaller, not to mention that also means there are less places to hide and also shake off or avoid the ghosts in the game which can be a pain. They are always constantly behind me. Nevertheless, the ghosts and pac man himself are still the same, he is still a small circle, and the ghosts are still the same as well. Overall I wasn't really disappointed with the graphics, but at the same time, I wasn't really blown away by them either, they are basically the same as before, except the maze is smaller and different, and you also have pal to help you finish each round. So that is why I ended up giving the graphics a 6 overall, not that bad, but nothing really special either.
Sound: 7
The one thing I really liked about this game was the sound, it was pretty catchy and it is a lot different compared to the original Pac Man and even super Pac Man as well. Plus there isn't the constant waka waka waka you would normally hear. There are also a few new sounds in the game like the sound when you use the ray power up to confuse the ghosts and also the smoke and musical not ones which all have their own unique sounds when used to stop or confuse the ghosts. Otherwise the sound of this game is pretty much the same. However I do think the song that plays in the background to be rather catchy which I wouldn't really find to be the case in most other pac man games I have played before. So the sound is quite different and there are a few new sounds as well as some catchy background music you can listen to while completing each round which is why I scored the game's sound a 7 overall.
Addictiveness: 5
The game is decently addicting, maybe not as much as other arcade games, but I still find it to be so, to a degree. You basically do the same thing over and over each round to get points to add to your high score. Other than that, there isn't really that much to it. I also get a different feel when I play this game, but maybe that is just because you aren't munching on dots or getting pellets to eat the ghosts rather than just confusing them. Usually whenever I play this game I go back and play it again another 2 or 3 times just to see if I can do better, but other than that, it isn't extremely addicting to the point that I am glues to this game 24/7. So for that reason I scored the addictiveness a 5 which is pretty neutral. I may have scored it a 5, but you may find it more or less addicting, so I just left it at that, because the re play ability of this game is up to you depending on if you really like this game or not.
Story: N/A
Just like most arcade games, there isn't a story in this game whatsoever. There isn't a reason why you are in a tiny maze turning over cards to eat items and confuse ghosts, there is absolutely no back story or plot to this game whatsoever. Personally, as I have said before in previous arcade type games, I think it is best left that way. And in all honesty, the story isn't the most important factor in a game like this anyway, you confuse ghosts, collect items and finish each level and that's pretty much it, there really isn't much to it. So I just left it as N/A because there isn't a story to this game, and if there were, it would probably over complicate the game and it would be completely different from your average arcade game.
Depth: 4
This game isn't really that big, there also really isn't that much to it, you do the same thing over and over again but it just gets continuously harder each time. That is pretty much how it works with most arcade games in some form or another. How much this game offers is variable on how good you are at this game and how many levels you can get through. Besides, it is a simple arcade game, and it isn't like some legend of Zelda or pokemon type game that takes time and patience to beat, mainly because you can get through a level of this game in about a minute and it is the same thing for each level, only with a little bit more of a challenge added on each time. So because of that, I scored this game a 4 as far as depth goes because it really doesn't go or progress anywhere. It is meant to be simple and repetitive to get a high score.
Difficulty: 5
Like all good arcade games, it is only normal for it to get harder as you go on. The first few levels of this game are really easy and take nothing at all to get through, but with every level you get through in this game, it is going to get progressively difficult to get through each level. The ghosts will get faster and the special items won't have as long lasting an effect like they did during the early on levels. If you are good at Pac Man games, this shouldn't really come as a surprise to you, and it probably won't be much different difficulty wise. You don't have to be an expert to play this game, it is rather simple control wise, all you have to do is move around with the arrows and fire your special ability of music, smoke or the ray by pressing whichever button you have set and you have all the controls you will need to play this game. So to wrap it up, this game is really simple and gets a little harder with each level, but that is the whole point and it wouldn't really be much of a game if it didn't get more challenging progressively now would it? For that reason, I scored the difficulty of this game a 5 because anyone can play it and you don't have to be a Pac Man expert to get the hang of it.
Overall: 8.5
Altogether, this is just another classic little arcade game I decided to review to add to the collection of the ones I have already done. Would I insist that you play this game right this second? Not necessarily, the choice is yours, and I think it would be worth a try if you are a Pac Man fan or a classic arcade type gamer. I think this game is fun and it adds a nice little twist to the original, and I think its worth a try for those of you that like the series of this classic game. Otherwise, you will have to waka waka waka somewhere else to find a game!
So what did you think about my review? Please feel free to comment or provide constructive feedback so that I can become a better reviewer. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Graphics
6 Sound
7 Addictive
5 Depth
4 Difficulty
5
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