Pac-Man World debuted on the PlayStation back in 1999 and was a game I completely missed due to wrapping up my college career. I had heard from friends how wonderful the game was when it came out but didn’t recall a lot of buzz back then. By this time in Pac-Man’s life, he had gone through many iterations including finding himself in VR, on a NEOGEO Pocket, and through several museums, which meant Pac-Man World was easy to miss.
This time around, I didn’t miss Pac-Man World Re-Pac. It’s a remastered version of the PlayStation game that brings the same charm and love the first game introduced, while also bringing everything that you would expect from Pac-Man’s world. It’s not perfect, but damn is it fun.
Let’s get right into it.
Toc-Man and his plight
Pac-Man’s friends and family have been kidnapped by the evil mechanical Toc-Man, a robot Pac-Man of sorts. He has hidden them away in a series of different lands, all of which Pac-Man must traverse to set them free. It’s a classic tale of rescuing friends, freeing a land, and defeating a seemingly impossible foe. Nothing special overall, but certainly something new to the Pac-Man world.
While it’s a typical, two-dimensional story that is just a few notches below Super Mario-name-one, it’s still a nice departure from the original Pac-Man vision. This seems to be the true turning point where Namco (at the time) understood that Pac-Man was more than just a power pellet maze adventurer. The story and setup they created to emerge their brand protagonist onto a bigger, three-act narrative worked well, as it was entertaining. Pac-Man World Re-Pac and Pac-Man World seem more fleshed out than any other attempts prior. There were smaller adventures for Pac-Man, nothing to this extent, especially on the villain side of the tracks. Toc-Man is more vicious than any ghost in the game, which speaks volumes about how much of a departure he was from the usual baddies in the Pac-Man series. He is a vicious villain that takes a lot of personality training from Mario’s Bowser. He works and helps create the perfect storm for our hero to go through rough waters to face this foe. He is a good antagonist, though his motivation is a bit flimsy.
Regardless, I enjoyed him in this game, as well as the overall story. It’s goofy, and very 90s at times, but it defines and shapes Pac-Man’s world a bit more than any other game prior. It certainly should have launched a newer direction for Bandai Namco’s favorite child, and maybe it will after this remaster.
Anyway, it was a good story and it worked within the confines it was given.
Anything but old Pac-Man gameplay
Complimenting the story is the gameplay design. Right from the get-go, the game throws you into the story and then defines the gameplay design you’re about to immerse yourself into. If you have never played this game before, the structure is like the original Super Mario Bros. game on the NES, where you’ve got a set of worlds you must adventure through before you can meet the final boss. The game is linear in nature but allows you to choose one of two worlds to begin with, so you’re not just stuck with a linear path. Having said that, you still must defeat sub-levels to complete the whole, and the only way to open new sub-levels is to beat the only one open to you. In a sense, it’s still linear, but that’s okay. That was the design back in the day and it shouldn’t deviate from that design, and it didn’t.
The game is broken into a collection of different stages, each with its own personality, difficulty, and set of enemies. For example, you have such levels as a robot-driven, pollution-emitting mechanical level. There is also a level where you’re adventuring through a graveyard fighting skeletons and stormy rain clouds. The best level in my opinion is a circus-themed level, which has switches, moving platforms, and plane-flying clowns. There are a variety of different and creative environments in Pac-Man World Re-Pac. One of the motivations to keep playing is to see how many unique experiences you’re going to have with the levels. I thoroughly enjoyed trucking through these for the last 2-3 days. They were fun and surprising at times. I was impressed with how much thought and creativity went into them, especially the bosses, which were crafted to match their environments.
On the gameplay side of the tracks, much of the game is entertaining to control, as it has a hint of Crash Bandicoot run-jump-destroy with it. It also comes with some minor power-ups, which include the classic Pac Power Pellet that allows Pac-Man to chomp down on ghosts and pretty much anything that gets in his way. The game also features a metal power pellet that turns Pac-Man completely metal and impervious to any sort of attack. The metal Pac-Man goes beyond just temporary invincibility, as it also acts as a weight during water stages. It’s a clever design element that works for this game.
What doesn’t work for this game are the classic angles and the lack of camera control. While I’m sure the intentions of the developers were to keep some classic elements from the original 1999 release, the angles and camera lock could have been a bit more flexible. I can’t tell you how many times I fell off a stage or completely missed bouncing on top of an enemy simply because I couldn’t get a good barring on where I was jumping. This works hand in hand with controlling the camera, which you don’t do through the game. Had I been able to move the camera, even just a slight bit, I would have been able to avoid needless deaths due to a bad jumping angle. The camera gets especially irritating during the fight with Toc-Man, though it is manageable.
If you can get beyond the camera and angles, there is a lot of content in this game, and you will go back and forth trying to gather everything. The level design creates fun puzzles to solve and secret places to unlock. One positive of the locked camera is that you might miss something you didn’t see before and get to go back and experience something new.
Most of what you get from the gameplay revolves around gathering fruit to unlock cages, which lead to treasure chests full of items, buttons that unlock power pellets or new paths or launching Pac-Man into mazes. That last part is particularly fun, as the game will shift from 2D/3D to classic Pac-Man mazes you must complete. Anyway, each level is cleverly designed to hide these items and the overall gameplay design is built for you to go forward, backward, and then back on the right path to the next item. It works from beginning to end, and you will find yourself playing these levels quickly as they move along with just the right amount of completion time.
The other motivation to keep you going in the game is the total completion of each level. You will have to find letters to spell out ‘P-A-C-M-A-N’, gather all fruit and collectibles, find the boss, and potentially complete a bonus level. If you do everything right, you are awarded a gold crown. If you miss anything, your crown can be demoted to silver or bronze. Getting a perfect gold crown across the board is easy motivation to go back and perfect your gameplay. Right now, even after beating the game, I want to go back and find all the items. I missed a few letters here and there, all related to the fruit and Pac-Man items locked away. The game will allow you to go back at any point.
Before we wrap gameplay, it should be noted that if you beat the game there is a nice surprise waiting for you. What is that surprise? Well, I’m not telling, but it’s a good compliment to the release. If you’re a fan of Pac-Man, then you won’t be disappointed with your reward.
On the presentation side of the tracks, the game does look considerably better than the original, which isn’t difficult considering what was ‘wow’ with the first PlayStation at the time. The textures, lands, enemies, and overall feel of the game have been overhauled. While the cutscenes aren’t far off from the original, the game does function like it should on a current generation system. No, Pac-Man World Re-Pac isn’t to the level of a God of War or Miles Morales with ray-tracing and unbelievable details. It’s a considerable upgrade from the original game.
On that note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Pac-Man World Re-Pac brings a classic back to life and then some. While the locked camera and tricky angles might frustrate some, it is still a fun game that expands the Pac-Man universe and reminds us that this old power pellet eater still has a lot of life left in him.
