This is an awesome platformer, and Namco did a superb job of remaking it with more action and better levels.
Pacman World 3 is a masterpiece from top to bottom and seems perfectly polished, except for the music and audio, which is I will get to later. The story is simple. A villain named Erwin takes over the Spectral Realm, and...what's this!? Pacman must rescue the ghosts!? It is up to Pacman to defeat Erwin!? Not the ghosts!? In Pacman World 2, the ghosts were the ones causing trouble for Pacman, and he had to recover the golden fruits that they stole. I like that Namco changed it up and made the story different instead of original. This time Pacman talks. That is one thing I loved about this game. Pacman finally talks. I never heard his voice before, and now finally I did. And boy was it deep. Well, he turned twenty five. But he looks five. That's funny. The dialogue was like watching a t.v. show and I enjoyed listening to what they had to say. In Pacman World 2, he did not talk and it felt depressing. There is a ghost named Orson who talks to Pacman throughout the whole course of the game. Namco did a superb job of making this one more different and creative than Pacman World 2. It is harder and more challenging. Oh and I mean CHALLENGING. There are actually a lot of ENEMIES, including tocman robots that shoot lasers and spinning razors. Hey that rhymes. No, the tocman robots do not shoot spinning razors. They shoot lasers. The spinning razors are another enemy. The spinning razors are similar to Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom's G-gloves, if you have ever played that, only they have no hands and make a lot more noise. There are some places with robots and razors all over the place and you will have to do some hard use of powerups and punching to finish them off in order to run on a revroll plate without getting shot. There are new powerups that make this game even more fun to defeat enemies. There is this one powerup where when used will create orange lines on the floor when you walk, and you can draw a circle around an enemy or group of enemies to destroy them. Another powerup gives you the ability to shoot out blue electric beams that shock enemies when pointed at them for five seconds. Another powerup upgrades your butt bounce and when used sends out a green shock wave that shocks and takes out all surrounding enemies all at once. These powerups really come in handy when fighting a horde of robots and razors and can make the enemy punching chore a lot easier and more fun.
Gameplay is just, I don't know how to explain it. It's awesome. It's pure gold. It's full of action, adventure, and hardcore platforming. It's so addicting that you can't put it down. It sucks you in. It's so fun, entertaining, and enjoyable that it's evil. It's repetitive, but paths are so unpredictable and there are so many surprises to encounter that you just want to see what you are going to do next and what the next part of the world is going to look like and how easy or hard it is going to be that it just doesn't matter. I don't care. Most repetitive games provide that to make up for it. If it wasn't repetitive, then there would be too much to learn and to handle and it just wouldn't feel right. Gameplay is not anything new or extraordinary. It's a basic, standard platformer. But I think of platformers as just plain fun and awesome. The pac dot pads return, but this time in colors of red, blue, and green, and you must find the corresponding color crystal to travel with it. I thought this was unique, different, creative, a cool idea, and a satisfying, rewarding experience to complete. There are some levels in which you must find a missing part that goes with an object. This also feels very satisfying and rewarding, and again was unique, different, creative, and a cool idea. Gameplay is a mixed blend/combination of both new and old school platforming. The action of fighting enemies and the look of the worlds make it new school. The tasks and steps you have to take to reach a certain point make it old school. Such as swinging to and from poles or activating and jumping to and from hard to reach platforms. That's old school and is just a pleasure to play through all the time because it is nostalgic and just plain fun. You can also play as Pinky and Clyde. You use Pinky to solidify platforms for Pacman to jump onto. You use Clyde to make ghosts turn blue and then disappear, using a blue ray that comes out of his eyes, and to roar at objects to make them fall down or break for Pacman to walk through or across. In order to use Pinky or Clyde's powers, you must first find a spectral fountain. You need three spectral fountains for Pinky, and you just need to charge up in a spectral fountain for Clyde. What I hated about Pinky was this puzzle in one level. God it was so frustrating and impossible to figure out in solidifying the platforms that it drove me crazy. When I see Pinky, I think DRAT! Worlds look super awesome and are fun to play. At one point you may be in a forest. Another you may be in an inferno. Another you may be in a lagoon. And a whole lot more. What I didn't like is that you have to repeat the Spectral Realm three times. NO NAMCO. NOT COOL. That was a major disappointment and a serious letdown, but the level was of course different each time and each time was so fun. Nothing wrong with the level Spectral Realm, but wrong with the repetition of going back to it again. Even though with different gameplay and different background in the same level, it is the same VISUAL background and purple and red color, which gets annoying after awhile.
Graphics are awesome. The game is a visual masterpiece. It is bright, colorful, and makes the game stand out. The picture is good looking and high quality. I mean, they're not the best in the world, but as of the game itself, it looks great. Controls work great and I had no problem with them whatsoever. The camera works good too. It was annoying and off at times for me probably because my controller was screwy. But others should have no problem with it. I think. I'm not one hundred percent sure though. Surprisingly, music was not very nostalgic or as memorable as Pacman World 2 which was a shame. It could have been better. However, it is still lovable and fun to listen to while playing, and it fitted the better action of the game, so that makes it acceptable. Audio was horrible. You had to turn up the volume loud to hear what Orson or Pacman was saying. But then the overall sound and music becomes too loud and you have to lower it. But then you can't hear what the characters have to say. God. Namco should have realized this and fixed it. Pacman's voice wasn't so bad and you could kinda hear him if the volume is low (kinda), but Orson, no. Not even a little unless you turn it up loud.
Like World 2, World 3 provides that craving that hardcore or nostalgic platforming fans want. They just can't get enough like me. The game meets expectations and looks like it was fully developed to the best of Namco's ability. This is a must buy for platforming fans or nostalgic gamers and needs to be part of their collection. Though it may be overwhelming or undesirable at first, you'll get used to it fast and once you do, it's awesome and is a million times more fun than Pacman World 2 because of the added action of enemies. Enough said. If you are a platforming fan, stop looking. This is your game. This is an awesome platformer, and Namco did a superb job of remaking it with more action and better levels than Pacman World 2.