Come on, 1980!
There are few games that have survived nearly three decades as well as Galaga and Pac-Man. You have seen this in the arcade (still in the arcades, where you can find arcades), on many different consoles and now you can find them on the iPhone. Who would have thought that nearly 30 years of technology and one of the best experiences you could have with a game like Pac-Man would be on a cellular device? Of course, who would have thought a device like the iPhone could have been possible?
Namco brings the goods though, in its classic tale of yellow pizza-like creature going bi-polar on some odd-ball ghosts. The point of the game is to eat dots, run away from ghosts and obtain power pellets to take out the ghosts. If you eat all the dots on the board, you advance. Each level isn’t gauged by a number, rather it’s represented by a fruit. I know it sounds odd, but that’s how the 80s worked!
This time around, the classic game of Pac-Man gets a small overhaul. It comes in two forms, using virtual controls and tilting the phone and swiping the screen. The first way of doing things is for the most classic of gamers. The virtual controls are basically a virtual joystick (like the arcades) that will allow you to move our little pac friend back and forth on the screen. It’s the most simple way of doing things. It probably brings home the original feel of the game more than any other way of playing Pac-Man. This is my preferred method of choice as it is the easiest and the least path of resistance. The only real complaint I have about it is that sometimes I’m paying so much attention to the screen that my thumbs slip away from the virtual controls. That leads to misdirection (sometimes no direction) and eventual pac-death. Regretful? Yes. Frustrating? I’m in the middle of the road with it. All-in-all, it’s still my preferred method of choice.
As for the second method of playing the game, I’m just not buying it. You can tilt the screen in the direction in which you want Pac-Man to go. It’s certainly going along with the theme of the iPhone’s usage, but much like Sony’s venture into the six-axis controller, it’s merely a gimmick. It’s not very practical and I can’t really recommend it. Again, if you’re looking to get use to the iPhone’s purpose, then it may be up your alley. My patience runs thin though when it comes to this method, therefore I’m bound to reject it. Any case, try it for yourself before you make a quick judgement.
As for everything else about the game, it’s completely intact. I feel like the classic game is still very much alive and breathing. You get a nicely lit screen, plenty of real estate to move on and a classic that certainly looks the part. I would download this game over and over on a portable format, it’s just that nice. Considering I use to own this game on the Atari 2600 (yuck!) and 5200 (yay!), I’m happy to see Namco still hugs its love and joy so well even 30 years later.