With a slick retro presentation, frantic gameplay, and unlockables aplenty, Pac-Man has never been cooler.
The original Pac-Man arcade game took the video gaming world by storm in 1980. The Pac-Man arcade machines were gobbling up quarters like power pellets. A countless number of ports of the game made its way to numerous consoles. Though it is a historic game, I only considered the game itself to be "decent". It simply became too difficult for non Pac-Man enthusiasts after only a few stages. Pac-Man: CE DX is designed so that beginning, experienced, and expert gamers can all jump in and begin playing.
Unlike the original arcade game which had one maze, there are more than a half-dozen different mazes to play in Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. Each maze contains more than a dozen challenges that revolve around the game's two primary game modes: time trials and score attack. The objective in a time-trial is to eat a certain number of apples before time expires. In the short time trials the player usually will have to eat eight apples within one minute. After completing so many of the time trials in one maze, the ten minute time trial for that maze will be unlocked for play. The ten minute time trials require the player to make Pac-Man eat sixty-four apples before the ten minutes is up.
The score attacks require you to rack up as many points as possible within a certain time limit. There are five minute score attacks in which garnering 500,000 or more points will usually result in unlocking a new challenge or stage, then there are ten-minute score attacks in which earning 1,000,000 or more points will unlock something new. Points are acquired by chomping up pellets, ghosts, and fruits. In the original Pac-Man, you could only eat up to five ghosts when you gobbled up a power pellet.
When Pac-Man nabs up all of the small pellets on one side of the stage, a fruit will appear on that same side of the stage. When he consumes the fruit, the other half of the stage will redecorate itself with a fresh maze layout. The constant shifting and changing of each individual stage make staleness an impossibility. The stages in Championship Edition DX are filled with sleeping ghosts that awaken and take pursuit of Pac-Man when he passes by them. When Pac-Man eats a power pellet, he can eat the ghosts. Eating ghosts in CE DX is the most satisfying ingredient in its gameplay. Devouring dozens-even hundreds of ghosts at a time is indescribably enjoyable.
As you accumulate points, the game's speed and difficulty will intensify. Pac-Man and his enemies will move faster. At the bottom-center of the screen is a meter that reads the level's current speed. Challenges usually begin at around a speed of 10, but as you gather points, the speed will increase. The highest level of speed is at level 50. When Pac-Man loses a life, the speed decreases. One of the difficult aspects of the original Pac-Man was the sheer pain of running slap into a ghost without warning. When Pac-Man is about to encounter a ghostly fiend, the game goes into a slow-motion, giving you a chance to safely bail. If that is not enough to save your yellow rear, Pac-Man can also use a bomb to blow the ghost(s) hot on his tail right back into the ghost box. All of this adds some interesting new elements to a formula that is otherwise worn down and outdated.
The mazes in Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and its new gameplay elements make it a very impressive refinement of a historic game. The graphics are slick and are even customizable to an extent. You may select various visual styles and character sprites to fit your fancy. The music is a mix of old and new; a concoction of retro tunes with a spur of electronic beats both of the inferno and easy listening variety. The sights and sounds of Pac-Man are treats for the gaming senses. Namco has molded its beloved arcade game into a fast, fun, and affordable retro treat, making Pac-Man once again relevant and cooler than ever thirty years after its birth.