Game review: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Published on Tuesday 14 December 2010 14:51

How do you make something as old-school as Pac-Man feel fresh and new? It's a fair point, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's impossible although, as with Pac-Man Championship Edition, developer Namco has once again proved its proficiency at updating its classics.

This DX edition of Pac-Man CE is insanely addictive, highly polished and while it follows the same pill-munching, ghost-dodging mechanics of the 1980 original, it finds new ways to turn the format on its head.

There are tons of modes to be unlocked throughout the game, but Time Attack is the standard variant, tasking players with racking up the highest score possible within the allotted time.

Eating all of the dots in a stage will make fruit appear that, when eaten, will morph one half of the maze into a different pattern. The constant shifts keep you on your toes and the incrementally increasing speed eventually makes for hectic, chaotic play.

The enemy ghosts make a return here, except now there can be well over 20 of them on screen at one time. Eating a power pill then chaining ghosts together is the key to hitting those high scores, and it really does add a tactical edge to gameplay.

For example, do you try and get more ghosts tailing you so you can nab a massive combo or do you play it safe and pick them off one by one? That such tactics enter into Pac-Man at all is testament to how fresh this new format is.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

7.99, Xbox Live Arcade/800MS

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This article was first published in The Scotsman, 1 January, 2011