Game #857: Pac-man World

 White men can't jump, but what about yellow men?  

 I purchased Pac-Man World by accident. Y'see, I had this weird 3-D Pac-man game on PC and I thought that this was that game, it wasn't. Regardles, I found myself with a fairly interesting package.

 You see, with Pac-man World you actually get three different modes: Quest, which is the main mode in which you platform your way through six different worlds. Classic, which is the original Arcade Pac-man game and Mazes, which is a 3-D take on Pac-man. If you go for 100% when playing Quest you'll actually have to go through the Mazes!

 'Maze' doesn't work very well. The basic camera is too zoomed in, and the alternate camera angles aren't very good. Mazes have gimmicks that hurt you that don't work very well when being chased by ghosts. Laser walls that you have to wait for, dead ends because why not... these mazes aren't very good and it isn't a good twist on classic Pac-man.

Thankfully, Quest mode is actually really fun. Pac-man has a very interesting moveset: You can turn your jump into an offensive butt-bounce that also helps you with platforming since it increases the height of your jumps, plus, bouncing on top of an enemy will make you go even higher, which is sometimes necessary to get some hidden goodies. Pac-man also borrows Sonic's spin dash, but the running rev-up can also be used on some special platforms. Lastly, all those pellets Pac-man eats? You can shoot them offensively now!

 I'm surprised at how much fun the game is, Pac-man's moveset feels very well thought out. The game has some mildly challenging segments even on the early levels, but it's a fun challenge. The game is relatively generous with lives, so it's alright.

 The second boss is cheaply hard. During the first part you have to run away. Fairly easy. Then the real fight begins, you have to rev up four platforms and then attack his core. At first, the only obstacles are the lava pits between every platform, and falling means death, as well as the fireballs that shoot up from the pits. Very easy. After you hit it once, the boss adds a black tornado that chases you every few seconds, still very easy. Now, after the second hit, it adds another obstacles, fireballs that shoot from the background towards the platform you are standing on. A bit complicated, but still easy. Now, after the third hit, it becomes ridiculous, everything speeds up and the boss adds a constant barrage of pink lasers, starting from the left of the screen towards the right. I never managed to learn how to properly avoid these beams, and it feels like I brute forced my way through after wasting 20 lives.

 The other bosses are very gimmicky, to the game's detriment. The next boss is inspired by Galaxian, which is interesting since the game turns into a shooter, and then the next boss is a racing mini-game. I'd be more welcome to this bosses if the game had had small sections that used this gameplay, but it's just the bosses. So it's a bit weird having an entire game built around platforming, using a very fun moveset, and then having to contend with bosses that turn into mini-games.

 Overall? I think it's fine. There are a few moments that feel a bit cheap, sometimes, rarely, judging where you are and where a platform is might be can get bit tricky, but on the whole it's a pretty solid first effort to turn the series into a platformer. Y'know, I can find a lot of flaws with the new 'mazes', and the game itself is nothing spectacular, but I gotta hand it to the developers, they managed to make controlling Pac-man feel GOOD, which in turn made playing the game quite fun. The only moment that had me sweating a bit was after I spent most of my lives on the second boss, but the game is fairly generous so by the time I got to the sixth, and last, world I had over 30 to spare. It's fun, it's a fun game.

 7.5