time for a pac-attack.

I got Pac-Man collection for the GBA several years ago when I found it for 10 bucks and lent it to my brother. He recently returned it to me so I finally decided to rip open this collection and see what it contains. Well it contains a whole lot of Pac-Man but there are a few surprises in the game.

The games.
Pac-Man.
Ok this game is probably the worst game on the cartridge and isn’t that the arcade classic is badly emulated it’s that being a first generation game boy advance game they didn’t know how to display it on the dark screen of the original Gameboy advance. So we have two ways to play. First is a really zoom in version that lets you see the action regardless of what screen your playing, problem is you don’t see the whole field so getting ambushed is easy. The other mode is a zoomed out mode were you can see the whole maze like your suppose to but even on the game boy player the maze is really to small to see all of the action. Each has an issue that keeps this classic from being the classic it should be.

Pac Attack.
Pac-Man gone Tetris, WTH. Actually it’s not a half bad puzzle game, the idea is like Tetris to complete lines and lower the blocks to keep the screen from getting full. But a lot of block have ghosts and you can’t complete lines with them in the way, so you have to wait for a Pac-Man block to come in position so he can eat the ghosts. The game is a bit of a challenge because there is no way to know which direction Pac-Man will go when he starts to eat the ghosts and aliening them up right can be a chore. Still it’s not a bad puzzle game to play on this collection, but I wouldn’t spend 8 bucks on the Wii shop channel for it.

Pac-Mania.
A 3d isometric Pac-Man what could go wrong, well a few things like not seeing the whole screen and even easier ambushes then the half screen version of the original pac-man presented on the cart. But it’s not a complete loss different mazes and the ability to jump lead to more interesting gameplay.

Pac-Man arrangement .
The best game on the 4 game arrangement is Pac-Man arrangement. It takes the orginal game and adds a lot more to it. First the 3d isometric is used here but it’s more of a top down and easier to see. The gameplay is more of a classic Pac-Man but new thrills are seen here. Things like the ghosts can now get special powers that speed them up or allow them to jump around the board for example, but these ghosts will give you bigger bonuses if eaten. Also things like dash arrows are added in leading to even more chaos on the board.

Extras and Emulation.
This is an early GBA collection absolutely no extras are found. The emulation though is pretty good with the graphics and sound being pleasant in each of the emulated title, with the exception of the original game were neither version presented is really a good solution to the GBA size and light problems.

Final Recommendation.
Pac-Man contains a lot of Pac-Man which is pretty easy to find, still if your looking for a portable Pac-Man for your GBA or DS this isn’t bad now that it’s less then 10 bucks, and the fact they threw in a odd ball game like Pac-Attack makes it more worth your money.