Pac-Man:Championship Edition is the latest of the dozens of games that utilize the Pac-Man label. The majority of those games are, well, bad. They simply shrink-wrap a crappy game with a classic license of near-universal appeal. There have been countless attempts to capture what made the original arcade version of Pac-Man so much fun in the first place, but they are either too modernized or too similar to the original.
So along comes Pac-Man:Championship Edition. It's gameplay finds a terrific balance between classic Pac-Man action and brand new features that make it really unique. Any fan of Pac-Man is bound to get a good kick out of this game. It consists of regular, maze-traversing, ghost-avoiding, pellet-eating gameplay, but the maze is constantly changing as you collect pellets and the pellets are constantly reappearing. Instead of simply trying to last as long as possible, you are trying to last until the timer dies, which is after either five or ten minutes, depending on the selected game mode. The graphics in the game are, in short, super cool. They look straight out of one of those laser shows you see in Planetariums. The lighting effects are awesome(which seems strange to say for a two-dimensional game). There is a darkened game mode in which the only thing illuminating the maze is light produced by Pac-Man and the ghosts. This mode was especially cool. Each of the modes provides a unique challenge that's fun to shoot for.
My one gripe about the game is it's lack in content. The only thing you can do is try to complete the six game modes. There are no multiplayer options, or bonus levels. The game doesn't have much longevity. The 800 MSP price tag isn't effectively justified. It would have been a fantastic game at a 400 MSP price.
Fans of Pac-Man are going to really enjoy this game regardless of the price tag. People who aren't fans so much should either avoid this game or wait until the price drops. You know, assuming that even happens.