Thanks to AShadowLink and Wolfman for helping with edits.
One of my regrets growing up was never buying Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness. Surprisingly, however, the Pac-Man World trilogy mostly escaped my attention. The first one graced the PlayStation, a console I didn’t own. Thankfully, Pac-Man World 2 and 3 were multi-platform releases, and I did procure a GameCube copy of the former. While World 2 isn’t a genre-defining masterpiece, it is a mostly fun romp nevertheless. And those pleasant memories and a sense of curiosity inspired me to purchase Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary through the PlayStation Network earlier this year.
It’s Pac-Man’s twentieth birthday (hence the subtitle)! While he’s away, his family and friends are preparing a surprise party. Unfortunately, the malicious, attention-seeking Toc-Man orders the ghosts to kidnap everyone. They miss Pac-Man, naturally, and when the hero returns to his empty, vandalized home, he panics. Then, a flier advertising Toc-Man’s—sorry, the “real” Pac-Man’s—party descends from the sky, and the normally merry mascot seethes. Without a second’s hesitation, Pac-Man sails to Ghost Island…
Moving Pac-Man is done with the controller’s D-Pad, so he lacks proper three dimensional movement. It’s fine, though; most of the game is built around this. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Jumping is Pac-Man’s primary ability, one complemented by a subtle but satisfying squash and stretch animation. He feels weightless and carries zero inertia, however; if you stop pressing the D-Pad while airborne, Pac stops and plummets straight down. Changing direction in midair is, likewise, effortless, and taking advantage of these qualities makes hopping along even small platforms simple. Plus, if you just miss a platform, Pac-Man grabs on to the ledge. One stage, Spin Dizzy, is filled with rotating discs that awkwardly imbue Pac-Man with some inertia while jumping along them, requiring you to carefully angle yourself (hint: jumping with the rotation gives Pac-Man more horizontal distance).
Pac-Man can tank up to four hits from enemies and most hazards (some, like lava, kill him instantly). His main attack is the self-explanatory Butt Bounce, which doubles as a high jump. There’s also the Rev Roll, which can be used to tackle enemies, some of whom are only vulnerable from the side. Its primary purpose is to dash across chasms and power Rev Pads, however. The latter usually reside on small platforms that move when the yellow fella revs atop them. Finally, Pac-Man can throw the pellets he collects—he can charge this attack, too—though attacking from afar is only useful against a handful of enemies.
Every stage and some boss fights include multiple checkpoints. It’s pretty rare to go a long stretch without seeing one. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Ghost Island consists of six worlds: Pirate, Ruins, Space, Funhouse, Factory, and Mansion, and a hub connects them together. Stages are linear, blocky obstacle courses that mostly employ a side-on perspective. Quick detours contain collectibles, usually fruits that are kept in breakable crates or hover in the open. The most difficult of these diversions require you to carefully jump across platforms that disappear after being stepped on. Except World undercuts that challenge; making it back alive can be tough, but Pac-Man keeps the prize even if he dies. Considering how easy lives are to accrue, sacrificing one to score a cherry is hardly a punishment.
Alongside extra lives, health wedges, and standard pellets, stages are dotted by the franchise’s flagship Power Pellets. These, of course, allow Pac-Man to eat ghosts for a short amount of time, and eating several in succession restores some health. A new power-up is the Chrome Pellet, World’s Metal Cap equivalent. While one lasts, Pac-Man becomes impervious to damage (they’re occasionally placed near hazard-heavy sprints) and unable to swim. Since he’ll sink underwater, the stannic Pac-Man can jump atop and break submerged treasure chests. The seldom seen and, frankly, unnecessary Shockwave Pellets are World’s other new weapon. They cause Pac-Man to emit a shockwave after Butt Bouncing.
World’s difficulty curve is uneven. Pirate’s a welcoming introduction, Ruins becomes tough, Space is fun and easy, Funhouse is fun yet frustrating, Factory is simple and underwhelming, and Mansion’s a fair finale. (Image: Bandai Namco)
World has several collectibles. If you clear a stage after nabbing the six letters that spell “Pac-Man,” you enter a minigame where he can score extra goodies. Far more common, though, are fruit. Any fruit you find within a course can be used to open a corresponding door. Generally, the two will be nearby but separated by a platforming segment or two. In other words, you’ll clear a platforming challenge, nab a fruit, backtrack through that challenge, and finally redo it again after unlocking a door; it’s tiresome padding. World’s focus on backtracking feels almost hypocritical, too; stages regularly block off earlier sections, so if you missed any valuables therein, you’ll need to restart from the beginning.
So what’s behind those doors? Usually, an extra life, health wedge, another fruit, or the entrance to a more traditional Pac-Man maze (more on those later). The biggest rewards are the keys, however. Every world houses one, and they’re used to free Pac-Man’s pals. The twist: a world’s key and prison aren’t necessarily found within the same stage. Unless you’re consulting a guide, however, you’ll have no way of knowing which doors hide keys, so if you want to rescue Pac-Man’s cohorts, you’re effectively forced into getting most of the collectibles.
A slew of new baddies, most of whom are thematically tailored around each world, complement the ghosts. None of them are threatening. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Developer Namco Hometek’s inexperience with 3D platformers is palpable. World’s camera can make it hard to gauge where Pac-Man, solid ground, and enemies are in relation to each other. To their credit, they seem to recognize this and sometimes try to help by adjusting the camera, but these efforts are usually disorienting and can obscure oncoming obstacles. Mansion’s levels awkwardly ask players to walk towards the camera at times. An invisible wall might protect you from falling off in some stages; other times there’s no such luxury, so… walk through Toc-Man’s manor slowly. Oh, and any hazards that move fast—Funhouse’s bumper cars or Ruin’s swinging logs, namely—can fling Pac-Man anywhere if he grazes them while airborne; World’s physics are… strange.
A bevy of mazes populate Ghost Island, paying tribute to Pac-Man’s roots. Some stages contain one, and nearly every one has a bonus maze or two (after clearing these, they can be accessed through the main menu). Finishing one requires devouring every dot found therein. The iconic quartet of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde pursue Pac-Man, though they lost their unique movement patterns from the arcade games. The real threats are each labyrinth’s stylized, plentiful hazards; fireballs rain down on specific tiles in the lava-filled ruins, for example. You can zoom the camera in and out during these gauntlets, which helps. Altogether, World’s mazes are… fine, but certainly aren’t engaging enough to replay.
Mazes contain four Power Pellets, fruit appears randomly, and tunnels teleport you or the ghosts from one side to the other. World includes the original Pac-Man as a bonus, too. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Boss fights are World’s weakest area. Anubis Rex is the worst and most notorious one; designer Scott Rogers admits his duel “didn’t get the design attention or final tuning that it needed.” Which is regrettable, since it spans five phases. The first is a sprint through a long, spike-infested corridor. A mummy that’s faster than Pac-Man chases him; you have to Rev Roll a few times to maintain a safe distance. The next four phases follow the same formula: jump atop and charge four Rev Pads, and once they’re sufficiently charged, Anubis Rex’s weak point, his heart, becomes vulnerable. Thing is, you have to do this while dodging projectiles, which grow more numerous and unfair, and you’re only given a small window to hit Rex. It took me fifteen tries to beat him, and I consider myself lucky.
Aside from the first boss, whose fight requires carefully timing Butt Bounces, all of Rex’s contemporaries feature their own frustrating intricacies. King Galaxian and the Clown Prix are genre shifts, ones whose mechanics aren’t fleshed out and are jarringly incongruous with the rest of the game. Scraping the Krome Keeper requires using Chrome Pellets to safely hit switches. But if any of the suspended, moving magnets grab the metallic Pac-Man, they’ll immobilize him, dragging out an already long, boring process. And the lengthy brawl against Toc-Man’s just unpolished (don’t jump whenever he Rev Rolls, since you’ll risk getting flung off-screen. Endure the hits; your friends restore your health once each).
Levels and bosses close with a roulette wheel minigame. Once you get the timing down, you’ll easily rack up extra lives—especially if you have a good score, which grants even more. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Though the game’s presentation has obviously aged, I would like to stress how charming it is. Visually, Ghost Island’s colorful environments are aesthetically pleasing. It includes a widescreen toggle, which was a novelty for the time. World’s catchy score is energetic, adventurous, and tastefully incorporates familiar Namco melodies. Toc-Man’s a memorable antagonist despite a dearth of screen time; he even amusingly sabotages the title screen if you get a game over. World also includes a cute “outtake” reel reminiscent of Pixar’s.
And while this aspect of Pac-Man’s pioneering 3D platformer was lessened during development, it incorporates elements from other Namco classics. It’s cool, and a concept I’d like a sequel to explore further. Heck, it’s almost a harbinger for how Masahiro Sakurai would handle Pac-Man in the Super Smash Bros. series; he doesn’t just represent his own franchise there.
The cutscenes in World are better than their counterparts from its recent Re-Pac remake. Compare the star’s frustration in the original, which his exaggerated expression and camera work nicely convey, with his newer, blander one. (Image: Bandai Namco)
Yes, this review details a lot of Pac-Man World’s shortcomings, and I stand by my criticisms. It’s a rough experience, one definitely demanding of a remake. Although I haven’t yet played Re-Pac, I’m glad it exists, is making World available on modern platforms, and has apparently smoothed out some of its rough edges (though the loss of Ms. Pac-Man, who was replaced by the hideous “Pac-Mom,” is unfortunate). Because I like Pac-Man World! It doesn’t approach Super Mario 64 or other, stronger works of its era, but it packs enough charm and fun moments to proudly stand alongside them.
By the way, World’s ending is phenomenal; the guy’s ruthless. (Image: Bandai Namco)
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