Pac-Man World

Pac-Man World
European cover of Pac-Man World.
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco Zoo Digital Publishing (EU, GBA)
Distributor(s)	Destination Software (NA, GBA)
Designer(s)	Scott Rogers, Hardy LeBel
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	September 30, 1999 (PS) November 17, 2004 (GBA 25th Anniversary Edition)
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone

Pac-Man World (パックマンワールド pakkuman-worudo^?) was released on the 20th anniversary of the creation of Pac-Man. It is a 3D based free roaming platformer for the PlayStation released on September 30, 1999. It was released for the Game Boy Advance on November 17, 2004.

Storyline

Pac-Man arrives home on his 20th birthday (the game was released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original Pac-Man in arcades) only to discover that his friends and family -- Ms. Pac-Man, Baby Pac, Pac Jr., Professor Pac, Chomp Chomp the dog, and Pooka have been kidnapped by the evil Toc-Man, who is a giant robot Pac-Man impersonator that was created by Orson, who is bent on stealing Pac-Man's identity. Pac-Man sets off to the Ghost Realm and works to free them, each of whom is held captive in one of the different worlds.

Gameplay

The game was a standard 3D platformer that played heavily into the history of the character; every non-boss level featured a maze that played by the rules of the original game (though the pac symbol was still present, letting the player survive being touched by ghosts up to four times). Every level was littered with pac-dots, fruits and ghosts, much of the music was modified from early entries into the series (one of the common themes in all the levels is the intermission music from Pac-Man modified according to the theme of the level) and the original Pac-Man arcade game was available for play from the menu screen.

In addition, Pac-Man had been given a handful of standard platform maneuvres, including a "butt-bounce", reminiscent of Mario's ground pound and the Rev-Roll, reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog's spin dash. Also, he'd gained the ability to use the dots offensively, throwing them at non-ghost enemies.

The level format was fairly straightforward; each world consisted of three or four levels. The first level in a world would introduce a new technique or enemy type. The second and third would require use of that technique to complete, and couldn't be completed without it. The fourth level of each world was a boss battle requiring unique gameplay or puzzle-solving to defeat.

The second levels also included a key that, while not essential to complete the game, was required to free whichever of Pac-Man's friends was held prisoner in the third level. Every freed character would then appear to aid Pac-Man in the final battle against Toc-Man.

Sequels

First came the spin-off Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness. Instead of having Pac-Man, it has Ms. Pac-Man, but Pac-Man is playable in the multiplayer mode.

There was a Game Boy Advance version in 2004. Due to hardware limitations, many features were left out of the game, such as Maze Mode, the original Pac-Man and many levels cut out. There was a sequel, Pac-Man World 2, on February 24, 2002. It is available on the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Game Boy Advance.

Pac-Man World 3 was released in 2005. This game introduced new moves and powers to Pac-Man and gave him a full voice.

The latest game in the series is the spin-off Pac-Man World Rally.

External links

• GameSpot
  • Pac-Man World (PS)
• MobyGames
  • Pac-Man World at MobyGames
• Pac-Man World Game Boy Advance