Video Game Review: Incredibly Addictive ‘Pac-Man Championship Edition DX’

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CHICAGO – There are very few companies as talented at taking retro properties and making them new again as Namco Bandai and they’ve worked wonders again with the excellent “Pac-Man Championship Edition DX,” a totally-addictive variation on the arcade classic that merely proves once more that sometimes downloadable titles can be even more satisfying than some of the most-publicized disc-based games of the season.

Video Game Rating: 4.5/5.0

“Pac-Man Championship Edition DX” is such a deceptively simple title that it might be easy to write off its accomplishments. And yet you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more addictive game this season and when you factor in the incredibly-low price point ($10) with the immense replayability of this variation on one of the most influential arcade games of all time, this is a no-brainer. Get some credit or some Microsoft Points and clear out some hard drive space.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
Photo credit: Namco Bandai

The game is essentially a high-speed remix of what you know and love about “Pac-Man.” Everything has been turned up to eleven with faster animation, tougher mazes, and dozens of ghosts trying to kill you at every turn. Over the course of 11 mazes, the player competes in 5-minute and 10-minute Score Attack modes, trying to earn the most points in the predetermined amount of time. Killing ghosts turns up the speed, which turns up the potential points, and turns up the intensity. When you’re really kicking ass at “Pac-Man,” turning instinctually through the maze as thirty ghosts speed behind you, it can be as intense as any arcade game.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Photo credit: Namco Bandai

The Score Attack modes of the original 2007 award-winnning “Pac-Man Championship Edition” have returned and been enhanced with new Time Trials and Ghost Combo modes. The Time Trial is pretty self-explanatory. The player has a certain amount of time to clear a specific number of items. Like with Score Attack, your results are graded and thrown up on a leaderboard with your friends and the rest of the “Pac-Man” community. It’s incredibly tempting to try and beat your own score and those of your friends, bringing back memories of trying to climb the leaderboard at the local arcade or even just beat your own top score. Ghost Combo is Pac-Man carnage, giving the player points for the most ghosts eaten.

With multiple modes, mazes, and difficulty levels, “Pac-Man Championship Edition DX” is a game that’s very easy to play but wonderfully difficult to master. As you speed through the various incarnations, trying to best your own scores and earn all the achievements (which is shockingly easy to do in about an hour), you’ll either flashback to the arcade days of your youth or finally get what your parents have been talking about when they reminisce about “Pac-Man.”

Namco has done it again; I never would have guessed that “Pac-Man” would be the star of one of the most enjoyable titles of the fourth quarter of 2010. Maybe you can’t go home again, but you can go back to the arcade.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com