While not on the same level as the series that inspired it, Pac-Man World Rally is still an enjoyable kart racing title.
Let me just get this out of the way. Pac-Man World Rally is not as good as the past few entries in the Mario Kart series. It is however an enjoyable kart racing game in it's own right, and brings enough Pac-Man flavour to make it stand out from other mascot-based racing titles.
There are 11 characters available at the beginning of the game. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man are joined by the 4 classic ghosts, Pac-Devil, Tac-Man, Spooky and Edwin. There are 3 other Namco characters to unlock as well. There's Dig-Dug and his classic enemy Fygar, as well as the fan favourite Prince of All Cosmos.
The bulk of Pac-Man World Rally's content is found in a standard Circuit Mode. Instead of having different classes there are four levels of difficulty to choose from. They are Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare. After clearing the appropriately named Cherry, Grape, Watermelon and Classic Cups in each difficulty level, you will be presented with a Rally Cup which consists of one lap around each of the game's 15 tracks.
While the tracks are taken from various locations found in the Pac-Man World universe, for the most part the they feel derivatave. There's a standard desert track, an ice track, a castle and even a haunted mansion to race through. There were a couple pleasant surprises to be had though. There is a track modeled after the original Pac-Man maze from the 1980 arcade classic and a track based on Namco's cult favourite Katamari Damacy series, complete with a version of the the now-classic theme song. The tracks are fairly well designed and the path is usually distinct and easy to follow.
As you race around the tracks, you will find shortcuts that can be activated by collecting different fruits. There is also a Power Pill meter that you fill by munching down rows of the iconic yellow dots you will find along your way. Once activated, the Power Pill turns your 7 opponents into blue ghosts and you then try to chase down and devour them. The more opponents you chase down, the better your weapon pick-ups will be. These twists help add a distinctive Pac-Man flavour to the game. The weapon pick-ups in this game are mostly standard for the genre. There are fake item boxes to drop, various bomb types and banana peels. There are also more powerful weapons like pellet-launching machine guns and missiles, though they rarely come into play in the Circuit Mode.
They do come into play quite a bit in Pac-Man World Rally's Battle Mode though. Battle Mode plays alot like a family-friendly version of Twisted Metal or Jak X Combat Racing. Battle Mode is broken down into 5 flavours. There's a standard Deathmatch in which you try to reach a set number of kills before your opponents. Free for All Mode challenges you to simply get more kills than your opponents within a set amount of time. Last Kart Driving Mode will end when all opponents have been killed or fallen victim to a course's traps. Binge Mode tasks you to collect more fruits than your opponents in a set amount of time. Lastly, in Classic Mode you will try to munch as many yellow dots as possible. Every aspect of the battle modes can be customized, from the amount of A.I. controlled opponents to the number of kills and time limits in each match. The only real drawback to Battle Mode is that there are only 4 arenas to play in.
Rounding out the content is a Time Trial mode for you to challenge and a Quick Race option. All in all, there is quite a bit of content to be found in Pac-Man World Rally that should keep you busy well beyond the 3 or 4 hours it will take you to complete the main Circuit Mode. The bulk of the game's modes can be played with 2 players also, adding a decent multi player element.
As far as the game's look is concerned, Pac-Man World Rally will not win any awards. While the game is bright and colourful and the character models look alright, there is a lack of polish that can make the overall package seem blurry and underdeveloped at times. You will see quite a bit of aliasing and pop-in on some tracks, and the collision detection can be highly suspect at times. Even with these problems, it does not render the game unplayable or frustrating like was the case with the recent Sonic Riders. Given Namco's excellent track record of developing highly polished racers like the Ridge Racer series and Mario Kart Arcade GP, Pac-Man World Rally's graphical presentation comes off as a disappointment.
The soundtrack fares a bit better. All of the tracks except for the Katamari Damacy one contain a remixed version of the classic Pac-Man theme. For the most part they fit the feeling of the track you're racing on. The castle track's song has an epic adventure sound to it, and a jungle track has a tribal sounding version of the song. The song's arrangements are all very solid, but there is a distinct lack of stereo separation and overall muddiness to the audio fidelity. This game actually sounded better through my TV speakers than my surround sound setup.
While it's not on the same level as the series that inspired it, Pac-Man World Rally is a solid choice for people looking for a family-friendly combat racing game. It can be easy enough for your 5 year old sister or daughter on Easy and Normal difficulty and hard enough to give dad a challenge on the Circuit Mode's Nightmare difficulty. Most importantly, it's fun to play alone or with a friend, and should nt be passed of as just another Mario Kart clone.
--Brian J. Papineau