By the late ’90s, the golden age of the arcade was a dim and distant reminiscence, and with it the ever-present Pac-Man fever of the early ’80s. Not ones to let the yellow puck factor fall by the wayside, Namco moved to reinvigorate its online game icon by having him star in a 3D platformer, which had been all the fad on the time. After an preliminary failed try at it with the canceled Pac-Man Ghost Zone, Pac-Man World ultimately got here collectively and proved itself to be a strong and profitable entry within the Pac-series. Now, Namco has seen match to revive it as soon as extra as Pac-Man World Re-Pac, and although this new launch isn’t an impressive instance of what a 3D platformer may be, it actually does present why these video games are fulfilling.
The story opens with the Pac-Household placing the ending touches on the decorations for Pac-Man’s birthday, once they’re out of the blue accosted by the nefarious ghosts and whisked away. It seems the ghosts are working for the evil Toc-Man, who’s celebrating his personal birthday and despatched them to seize Pac-Man. Pac-Man returns house and realizes what occurred. Keen to avoid wasting his household (and have a good time his birthday), he thus units out on a quest to rescue them and put Toc-Man in his place.
Gameplay in Pac-Man World Re-Pac gives an fascinating tackle 3D platforming—it’s clear this was designed at a time when the style was nonetheless very a lot discovering its footing. Moderately than exploring giant overworlds with a freely managed digicam, you traverse a collection of largely linear ranges which might be seen with a set digicam, considerably like taking part in a 2D platforming stage that offers you a bit extra freedom of motion. On this sense, it’s extra Tremendous Mario 3D World than it’s Tremendous Mario 64, however that’s to not say that it looks like a lesser expertise for taking the extent design in a unique route.
The objective of each stage is just to interrupt the Toc-Man statue on the finish, however the route you’re taking to get there’s sometimes rife with obstacles, enemies, and collectables tucked away on transient aspect trails. Most foes may be dispatched with a easy Butt Bounce, which additionally can be utilized to interrupt sure objects and to present Pac-Man a bit extra top on his jumps. And for many who battle with making a number of the extra exact jumps many ranges demand of you, Pac-Man has a useful flutter leap (identical to Yoshi) that can provide you a bit extra hold time to make it throughout gaps. Rounding out his moveset is a useful Spin Sprint-like transfer that can be utilized to destroy enemies, cost sure platforms, or give a burst of pace to stand up steep slopes.
There are an honest quantity of gimmicks to assist every stage really feel distinct from the following, which assist to maintain Pac-Man World Re-Pac feeling contemporary all through its comparatively brief run. For instance, one stage has you dodging cannon fireplace from varied pirate ships whereas one other has you working by way of a terrifying clown funhouse. And although you possibly can attain the top of any given stage in only a few minutes in case you’re dashing it, there’s much more enjoyable to be present in choosing up the assorted collectables alongside the way in which.
For instance, you typically come throughout Fruit Doorways that want a sure fruit to open, often requiring you discover a aspect route or backtrack a bit. There are additionally switches you possibly can hit that can modify some a part of the extent, similar to inflicting hidden platforms to look.
Although ranges really feel appreciably distinct from one another, even once they share a standard theme, we discovered the extent design basically to be relatively unimaginative. After you’ve performed a number of levels, you begin to know the place you possibly can anticipate finding a ‘hidden’ fruit, for instance, and it typically feels just like the stage gimmicks distinctive to every stage take a backseat to the slopes, doorways, and cost platforms that you simply see in each stage. Moreover, the problem stays flat for a lot of the expertise.
A part of that is seemingly as a result of non-linear nature of the extent development—you’re supplied three worlds price of ranges proper off the bat—nevertheless it has the impact of feeling such as you’re not essentially progressing a lot when a lot of the levels are equally suited to be the participant’s first. This isn’t to say that Pac-Man World Re-Pac is boring; the controls really feel tight and the extent designs have simply sufficient problem that they really feel satisfying to finish. The issue is that that is the sort of sport that feels prefer it’s perpetually caught in first gear, prefer it’s ready to indicate you extra advanced ranges and mechanics that by no means materialize.
Nonetheless, there’s one thing notably alluring a few platformer that doesn’t attempt to knock your socks off with excellent results or mind-bending stage design, as a substitute specializing in only a few fundamentals that it does rather well. Grabbing an influence pellet and clearing a room of ghosts feels nice regardless of what number of instances you do it right here, and you may’t match that feeling of lastly snagging the final collectible letter in Pac-Man’s title that had eluded you in your first run of a stage. Bosses are appreciably goofy—with a shmup-themed Galaxian combat being an enormous standout—and the entire journey is over simply earlier than the purpose the place it overstays its welcome. It will be relatively troublesome to make the case that Pac-Man World Re-Pac is among the many absolute better of its style, nevertheless it’s actually among the many finest ‘B-tier’ video games.
As for presentation, Pac-Man World Re-Pac isn’t as intensive an overhaul because the considerably latest Crash and Spyro remasters, nevertheless it does a strong job of cleansing up the PS1 visuals and updating them for a brand new era. Contemporary cutscenes have been made to suit the brand new aesthetic (and to get across the weirdness surrounding the rights to Ms. Pac-Man) whereas the worlds general have a brighter, sharper, and extra coherent look than they did earlier than. Positive, it could not really feel like a lot of a reimagining of a 20+-year-old sport, nevertheless it’s clear that that is additionally rather more than a easy remaster; Bandai Namco did a great job in preserving the spirit of the unique whereas buffing out the tough edges.
Efficiency for the Swap is predictably spotty, though there is a useful toggle between efficiency and determination. In decision mode, you’re a relatively unstable 20-25FPS expertise, whereas efficiency mode considerably boosts the body price to what seems to be close to 60FPS, with some minor drops when issues get busier. What’s extra fascinating is that the decision drop for the efficiency mode is nearly imperceptible, to the purpose which you could’t assist however surprise how such a minor change is inflicting such a massively improved body price. For those who do find yourself scooping this up, we’d advocate the very first thing you do earlier than taking part in is swap to efficiency mode.
The soundtrack doesn’t have many memorable tracks, nevertheless it does an important job of matching the tone and theme of every world as wanted. For instance, music impressed by sea shanties performs within the seaside world ranges, whilst you’ll hear theremins and lasers when romping by way of the house world. Combined into all this are varied traditional sounds and samples of tracks from Pac-Man’s arcade heyday, which assist to tie all of it collectively and really feel much less generic than it in any other case would possibly.
Conclusion
Pac-Man World Re-Pac isn’t a sport that we’d counsel you rush out and purchase without delay, nevertheless it does a great job of reviving an honest 3D platformer for contemporary audiences. Tight controls, plenty of collectables, and fulfilling stage design finally outweigh minor efficiency hiccups, and a normal lack of creativeness. For those who don’t take into account your self a fan of platforming or Pac-Man, nothing right here goes to vary your thoughts and we’d counsel you go. For those who like classic-style 3D platformers, Pac-Man World Re-Pac will completely show itself price your time, even when it doesn’t impress like the perfect within the style.
