[quote name='pachi']$20 is still $15 too much for Pac-Pix. It's a fun game but when you realize there is nothing to it and you'll get bored after 10 minutes it's just not worth it.[/QUOTE]
My review of Pac Pix, its not the best game but I liked it and I finished the game on both Book I and II. If you want to see more reviews, I reviewed just about all of them (since I buy every DS game when they come out in the US, and some from Japan) as soon as they are released (check my website -
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/hwong and scroll down to Nintendo DS reviews):
Pac Pix
Graphics = 6
Sound = 6
Control = 8
Gameplay = 9
Touchscreen = 9
Multiplayer = No
My Progress = Book II, Chapter 8
Overall = 7.60
Summary / Description
Everyone knows Pac Man. The sliding, eating, yellow pizza pie minus a slice looking video mascot is practically the beginning of all video games today (some will argue Pong and Space Invaders, both also great games). Pac Man had some serious broad based appeal. Simple game play was easy to learn, difficult to master and appealed to both boys and girls. But what happens when you mix this gameplay with a touchscreen? You get Pac Pix.
This started as a tech demo at last years E3, but has matured nicely in a full fledged game. It might be difficult to conceive, but Pac Pix is actually very intuitive and easy to learn. Basically, you have a bottom screen with different types of ghost which you must devour with Pac Man. You create a Pac Man to do the chomping buy drawing the Pac Man on the screen. Your wireframe Pac Man comes to life and chomps his way across the screen. You can then direct your creation by drawing a line in from of the Pac Man indicating where you want him to go (left, right, up or down). Chase the ghosts and eat them to complete the level. Easy, right? Well, at least it starts out easy.
As you progress, different obstacles and skills will open up. Soon, you'll have to step on key switches to open the door so you can go to the top screen and grab a special item or get more ghosts. Ghosts will start to float on the top screen where you can't reach them, so you'll get the Arrow ability, where you can draw an arrow on the bottom screen and shoot the ghosts (or other switches) on the top screen. Later, certain ghosts will appear in a sort of armor, or certain switches you need to hit will be covered by a barrier. Now you'll get the Bomb ability, which allows you to draw bombs and connect fuses to candles to blow up barriers or freeze the ghosts. But sometimes the candles aren't lit and you have to either shoot or chomp and switch on the top screen to lite the candle. See how complicated this can get? Well, let's just say, you'll be furiously drawing all sorts of things on the screen while directing three Pac Men around the screen (you can have three on the screen at a time) frantically trying to catch all the ghosts before time runs out by the time you get three quarters of the way through the first Book. It's fun…and throughly addictive.
Namco does a great job using the touchscreen and dual screen capability of the DS. Simalrly to Yoshi Touch & Go, this is a gaming experience you won't get from any other system, portable or console. There are two Books to complete, each with 12 Chapters a piece. The second book gets pretty difficult, so get ready to redo levels several times over. Playing the game will allow you to open up bonus gallery cards, which are nice, but do nothing to add to the actual game. Although there isn't much replayability after you're done, the gane itself should keep you happily occupied for at least a couple weeks. And with the light $29.99 (which is how much I paid at EB) price tag, it's well worth the purchase. Now if only there could have been more to the game, like an endless mode with a top ten scoreboard or mini games where you shoot arrows in a Missle Command or Space Invader clone. Let's just hope new and innovative games like this will continue to come out, because if so, the DS will certainly be a winner
