Pac Pac

NOTE: I'm writing about the Atari VCS (a.k.a. Atari 2600) version, which is not to be confused with the original arcade game.

I can understand the Pac-Man craze that came about following the game's release. After all, it was the first video game in which you controlled a creature with an actual identity as opposed to Random Space Fighter #259. But I would have thought that Atari would at least show our yellow friend a bit of dignity.

The entire maze is etched in a puke-brown color on top of a blue background that hurts my eyes. Couldn't they just make the background black?! The ghosts flicker a lot, and some of the most irritating noises in the game world are pumped through your television speakers. The only saving grace is that the Pac-Man "eating" sound and the sound when he dies have been injected into miscellaneous techno songs and stuff, as well as an episode of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force".

Stay away from this and stick with the far superior arcade game or even the (excellent) NES port.

Rated E.

Pakkuman or Pacman is one of the greatest early games ever.This game was released in 1980 yet the graphics and gameplay are simply excellent.The graphics are just as good if not better than other games that came out in 1980 but Pacman is most known for its addicting gameplay.You control a little pizza like thing and you must eat as much yellow dots as you can and watch out for the ghosts.However you can eat a special something which turns you into super pacman or something and enables you to eat your ghost enemies.But this only happens for a period of time.Pacman is a very fun and good arcade game and I recommend it.You can probably find a cheap imitation somewhere on the internet.Most of them have the same premise.

8/10

Is it just me or is Pac-Man a metaphor for taking too many ecstasy pills? Think about it, you've got some happy little face stumbling around in the dark munching as many pills as he can get but when things go bad he's chased by ghosts all over the place until he can get more pills. Either this is really subliminal subtext by designer Toru Iwatani or it's just an amazing coincidence and I'm reading far too much into it.

Either way Pac-Man is like THE biggest ever arcade game, which is quite amazing since many more advanced and technologically superior games came out after this. And it has one funky little theme tune!

This is the game that started it all, it truly was the first in video game franchises, icons, and just everything, without this little guy we wouldn't be where we are now. "Pac Man" was more than just a game, it was a phenomenon as it has become a staple in the 80's decade.

This guy just like in the maze was just everywhere and going places, there was a board game which was fun, a cartoon show from Hana Barbara which was also fun, multiple video game ports, the old VDF color handhelds from the 80's, stand alone games "Pac Man Championship Edition 1 and 2". He even referenced in the visual media, "The Simpsons", "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Futurama" and featured in the underrated film "Pixels" to this day there is almost not one place without an arcade cabinet of this game.

I mainly got into the Pac Man series playing ports of the game and after those I was hooked on the game franchise for life. It's such a simple concept where it's basically just a chase in a maze, but this simple concept turned out to be the most brilliant. Though also kind of strange as you are simply cute flying or floating yellow head that is constantly moving chomping a bunch of dots that are point rackers. And you are chased by multicolored ghosts, each of them with different speeds and go all kinds of directions.

Yeah strange but fun and they are characters in video games after all it doesn't mean they have to be realistic or even human. This is also by it's nature a scoring game as you play the same maze over and over but as you get further the game gets a little more difficult as the ghosts get a little faster and change their maneuvering patterns. Anyway, the concept and gameplay is simple and yet there is a lot to it. What I like about this and the other Pac-Man games is the fact that you use your head to beat your ghost opponents.

The overview design of the maze is finely designed, the fact you can see overhead put you a step ahead of them because you'll be able to know when the ghosts are heading your way and with that brief knowledge being prepared to outmaneuver and even hide from them. Really like those warp holes, which not just take you to the other side of the maze but can slow the ghost's momentum which give you time to get away.

Then of course you have the power pellets which I always love which always give you home court advantage where you powered up and are able to give the ghost the chomp down as they all turn blue and in a sick state and are just moving as slow as zombies making them easy targets. But of course, this only last briefly, there is a risk reward factor because you really don't want to be around when they change back color.

There is also the fruit that always appears in the middle of the screen next to the base, it's pretty much extra credit as you gain a few more points eating them. But even that has a risk reward factor as the fruit only appears briefly and the ghosts move to the middle sometimes as well, so get it while you can. Even like how after a series of levels there a little cut scene is even, which is basically a skit comedy and I thought those were really cool even like that frantic music, sort of your halftime show only it's actually good.

Overall, a solid start to the series thought personally this ranks number five on my list in the series as I like the sequels even more as they have a little more to them much like how I feel about the "Friday the 13th" franchise, but that's me. For old and young games this is a timeless classic that continues to chomp into our hearts.

Rating: 3 stars

There are very few people out there that have never played Pac-man. I know I played it, whether it was putting coins in an old arcade cabinet or playing the Atari 2600 version I played this game a lot. Pac-man would spawn other arcade titles such as the also famous, Mrs. Pac-man, Super Pac-man and even Baby Pac-man. Each would have differences to the original from the subtle such as a few small differences in the maze and the character like in Mrs. Pac-man to the extreme like in Baby Pac where part of the arcade cabinet was a pinball machine. This one was pure simplicity, in a world now full of first person shooters, one learns to appreciate simply going through a maze avoiding the evil ghosts who dwell within.

The game play, as I have stated is simple. You guide Pac-man through a maze. Your objective every time is to clear the maze of dots which you eat. During your travels to eat the dots, you must avoid the deadly ghosts as they try and get Pac-man, seemingly knowing where he is at all times. However, you can turn the tide when you gobble down a special dot that allows you to turn the table on the ghosts and eat them. They do not stay gone, but it can turn the tide in your favor allowing you to grab the last few dots.

The Atari 2600 version of the game is a much weaker animal than the arcade cabinet. I do not really know why it has become so scorned recently, because despite its inferior graphics it still plays nearly the same. They may have been able to smooth over the graphics a bit better, but none of the games from the arcade ever remotely looked like their counterpart on the Atari. I was more disheartened by Donkey Kong as it left out a screen of play in it. So while it does not look like the arcade, it was still a nice way to pass the time. Let's face it, all the arcade cabinet does is play one game, of course it is going to look better.

There have been many spin-offs and such of Pac-man during the years. At his height he had his own cartoon and at one point at the Six Flags in Georgia he even had his own play land (later turned into a looney tunes play land). There have also been other games, there was one in the arcade that was based around the cartoon and was more of a Super Mario type game as you guided Pac-man on a side scrolling quest. I even viewed a short film that was rather humorous as it was from the ghost's perspective. For such a simple character, he has chomped his way into many forms of media.

So there you go, in the game you guide your character through the deadly maze. It takes virtually no knowledge to pick up this game to play it and only minimal skill to do fairly well. As you go, the ghosts become increasingly more difficult to dodge, but even the least skilled gamers of the world can make their way past a board or two. Sometimes it is the simplest things that are the most fun.