MillerTime2523
12-23-2006, 03:25 PM
Well.. here it is - my first review. I chose to write it on Pac-Man for the Xbox Live Arcade. Let me know what you think of it!
http://metagamers.com/?view=review&id=102
At a Glance
Like other arcade games on the XBLA, Pac-Man does a good job of replicating the original, but not much else.
Presentation - 6.8
When you first boot up Pac-Man on to your Xbox 360 console, you may be thinking to yourself one thing. "There isn‘t much here?" And you would be correct. As you start up the game, you will see a menu with 5 options. The first is "Play Game." Pretty much the only option you will use in this one. Next will be "Leaderboards." A nice feature hone your Pac-skills and compare your them to the world, or to your friends - an obvious must have in live arcade games. Another option is "Achievements," which are kind of lame. Out of 12, 8 of these achievements deal with eating fruit that pops up on the screen in various levels. The other 4 are eating 4 ghosts with one power pellet, Eat 16 ghosts in 1 round, Clear Round 5, and Clear round 21. I was hoping for some better achievements in this one. There is a level selector in it, making all of these achievements extremely easy. I polished off 11 out of the games 12 achievements in a good hour and a half. The next option is "Help & Options." The help section explains how to play the game, and the options section changes how many lives you get, and how many points it takes to gain a new life. This is another way that they made the achievements easy, although your score is not updated to the leaderboards unless you leave them as the default. The last option in the menu is "Return to Arcade." and that's it. Everything is presented nicely with a nice layout and nice sights in the menu. Once you click the "Play Game" option, you are catapulted in the arcade classic game. I was expecting a little more out of this game to be honest with you. In this day and age we expect more as gamers, especially in the next generation. You may be saying "Well what more do you expect? It’s Pac-Man?" That may be true, but we’ve seen so many other games come to the XBLA with Co-Op and Live play. Take a look at Robotron: 2084. In it’s port to the XBLA, it received a 2 player Co-Op feature, and an Xbox live feature. That's something I would have expected from Pac-Man. A 2 player Vs. feature would have been nice, weather it be on live or on a single console. In this day and age, I think that gamers are going to expect more bang for their buck, and Pac-Man fails to deliver that.
Gameplay - 6.2
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the gameplay, but I’ll try my best to explain it either way. 4 Ghosts are Pac-Man’s enemies, and try to keep him from eating the dots through various stages. Pac-Man will also eat power pellets through out the stages, which allow him to eat the ghosts. Various fruit also appear throught the stage which Pac-Man can eat for points. All of the dots must be eaten to complete a given stage. This is the basic and simple gameplay we’ve all come to know and love. Nothing new here, but this aspect of the game staying the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The use of the analog stick hurts in this game, it isn’t as responsive as it should be. The use of the D-Pad just feels awkward in your hands. Like I’ve previously mentioned though, no multiplayer or co-op hurts this game. For those of you who grew up with Pac-Man, you’ll love this game, but for those of you younger gamers who haven’t, chances are you’re going to be expecting more out of this Xbox Live Arcade title.
Visuals - 7.2
This, along with the audio, is the only thing that can save this game. The visuals are spot on with the arcade classic. The arcade cabinet art on the side is a nice touch while playing the game. But still, for the most part, What you saw from Pac-Man 20 years ago is what you see now. What would have been cool would be a 3D version of this classic updated for the 360, but instead, just a port, and a lackluster one at that.
Audio - 7.4
The same thing can be said about the audio that was said about the visuals. No new upgrades in the audio department here. Again, what you heard is what you get now. This is defiantly not a bad thing though, I mean, if they came up with entirely new sounds for the game, it wouldn’t give you that Pac-Man feel.
Longevity - 5.9
Chances are, you won’t be playing this game for long. During my time with Pac-Man, I played it for a good 2 hours, and gave up. The only thing that kept me in the game were the achievements. When I unlocked all but one, I immediately popped in something else. True, you may be finding yourself playing this game just for the nostalgia, but that's about it. If your looking to get this game for a fresh new experience - Don’t. You’d be wasting your time and your money. This game is only good for the nostalgic purposes, and maybe the achievement points. Move along people, there is really nothing else to see here.
The Good
- It’s Pac-Man baby! Need I say more?
- Familiar sounds and visuals will bring you back to the glory days at the arcades.
- Achievements and leaderboards are always a nice feature.
The Bad
- It’s Pac-Man. Nothing more, Nothing less.
- Achievements are far from complex, as they range from eating the fruit that pops up, to.. well.. that's about it.
- I was expecting something other than just the game, maybe they could have thrown in some co-op somehow or some 2 player online Vs mode. Even an offline 2 player Vs. mode would have been nice. People come to expect more these days, and Pac-Man really doesn't deliver in that aspect.
Overall - 6.7
I can’t stress it enough. Pac-Man for the 360 is not at all a new experience. You can find it anywhere these days, from cell phones to right here in the Metagamers.com arcade. Why should you pay for it when there are so many other ways you can get it for free? Maybe if there was something new delivered to the classic, but sadly there isn’t. Pac-Man for the Xbox Live Arcade brings us back to the 80’s and scrapes up a 6.7 out of 10.
http://metagamers.com/?view=review&id=102
At a Glance
Like other arcade games on the XBLA, Pac-Man does a good job of replicating the original, but not much else.
Presentation - 6.8
When you first boot up Pac-Man on to your Xbox 360 console, you may be thinking to yourself one thing. "There isn‘t much here?" And you would be correct. As you start up the game, you will see a menu with 5 options. The first is "Play Game." Pretty much the only option you will use in this one. Next will be "Leaderboards." A nice feature hone your Pac-skills and compare your them to the world, or to your friends - an obvious must have in live arcade games. Another option is "Achievements," which are kind of lame. Out of 12, 8 of these achievements deal with eating fruit that pops up on the screen in various levels. The other 4 are eating 4 ghosts with one power pellet, Eat 16 ghosts in 1 round, Clear Round 5, and Clear round 21. I was hoping for some better achievements in this one. There is a level selector in it, making all of these achievements extremely easy. I polished off 11 out of the games 12 achievements in a good hour and a half. The next option is "Help & Options." The help section explains how to play the game, and the options section changes how many lives you get, and how many points it takes to gain a new life. This is another way that they made the achievements easy, although your score is not updated to the leaderboards unless you leave them as the default. The last option in the menu is "Return to Arcade." and that's it. Everything is presented nicely with a nice layout and nice sights in the menu. Once you click the "Play Game" option, you are catapulted in the arcade classic game. I was expecting a little more out of this game to be honest with you. In this day and age we expect more as gamers, especially in the next generation. You may be saying "Well what more do you expect? It’s Pac-Man?" That may be true, but we’ve seen so many other games come to the XBLA with Co-Op and Live play. Take a look at Robotron: 2084. In it’s port to the XBLA, it received a 2 player Co-Op feature, and an Xbox live feature. That's something I would have expected from Pac-Man. A 2 player Vs. feature would have been nice, weather it be on live or on a single console. In this day and age, I think that gamers are going to expect more bang for their buck, and Pac-Man fails to deliver that.
Gameplay - 6.2
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the gameplay, but I’ll try my best to explain it either way. 4 Ghosts are Pac-Man’s enemies, and try to keep him from eating the dots through various stages. Pac-Man will also eat power pellets through out the stages, which allow him to eat the ghosts. Various fruit also appear throught the stage which Pac-Man can eat for points. All of the dots must be eaten to complete a given stage. This is the basic and simple gameplay we’ve all come to know and love. Nothing new here, but this aspect of the game staying the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The use of the analog stick hurts in this game, it isn’t as responsive as it should be. The use of the D-Pad just feels awkward in your hands. Like I’ve previously mentioned though, no multiplayer or co-op hurts this game. For those of you who grew up with Pac-Man, you’ll love this game, but for those of you younger gamers who haven’t, chances are you’re going to be expecting more out of this Xbox Live Arcade title.
Visuals - 7.2
This, along with the audio, is the only thing that can save this game. The visuals are spot on with the arcade classic. The arcade cabinet art on the side is a nice touch while playing the game. But still, for the most part, What you saw from Pac-Man 20 years ago is what you see now. What would have been cool would be a 3D version of this classic updated for the 360, but instead, just a port, and a lackluster one at that.
Audio - 7.4
The same thing can be said about the audio that was said about the visuals. No new upgrades in the audio department here. Again, what you heard is what you get now. This is defiantly not a bad thing though, I mean, if they came up with entirely new sounds for the game, it wouldn’t give you that Pac-Man feel.
Longevity - 5.9
Chances are, you won’t be playing this game for long. During my time with Pac-Man, I played it for a good 2 hours, and gave up. The only thing that kept me in the game were the achievements. When I unlocked all but one, I immediately popped in something else. True, you may be finding yourself playing this game just for the nostalgia, but that's about it. If your looking to get this game for a fresh new experience - Don’t. You’d be wasting your time and your money. This game is only good for the nostalgic purposes, and maybe the achievement points. Move along people, there is really nothing else to see here.
The Good
- It’s Pac-Man baby! Need I say more?
- Familiar sounds and visuals will bring you back to the glory days at the arcades.
- Achievements and leaderboards are always a nice feature.
The Bad
- It’s Pac-Man. Nothing more, Nothing less.
- Achievements are far from complex, as they range from eating the fruit that pops up, to.. well.. that's about it.
- I was expecting something other than just the game, maybe they could have thrown in some co-op somehow or some 2 player online Vs mode. Even an offline 2 player Vs. mode would have been nice. People come to expect more these days, and Pac-Man really doesn't deliver in that aspect.
Overall - 6.7
I can’t stress it enough. Pac-Man for the 360 is not at all a new experience. You can find it anywhere these days, from cell phones to right here in the Metagamers.com arcade. Why should you pay for it when there are so many other ways you can get it for free? Maybe if there was something new delivered to the classic, but sadly there isn’t. Pac-Man for the Xbox Live Arcade brings us back to the 80’s and scrapes up a 6.7 out of 10.