Mobile game of the week: Pac-Man 256

[Read the post]

I’ve been playing this game on and off for a few days on my Kindle Fire TV. I’m not sure if I enjoy it, or if I just play it to kill time. It’s more difficult than the original Pacman/Ms. Pacman, but not really difficult in a fun way … like it’s really easy to get trapped by the ghosts. Maybe that’s because the maze is random, but it’s not like i have the original Pacman maze committed to memory.

Another criticism I have is the layout of some of the scoring elements. During game-play, you are rushing towards the top of the screen in a maze, but there are huge score/multiplier indicators smack in the middle of the maze that you are trying to navigate. Also, the zooming in and out when you do certain tasks, such as eating a ghost, hampers maze navigation.

Finally, I don’t find the power-ups to be all that compelling. Honestly, I think I find the free-play more more fun without the power-ups.

I like the concept of a Pacman endless runner, but I think this one needs some work.

Being a big fan of the original Pac-Man (as played on MAME, emulating the arcade classic), I don’t usually like newer versions and hate their controls on touch screen devices.

But this one is different. I feel as if the developers have truly achieved to bring the spirit of Pac-Man to the modern age in a fun and visually stunning game. The cash-grab elements are unfortunate but add to the enjoyment in their own way: if you don’t feel like handing out any moolah, you’ll treasure the few ā€œcreditsā€ you get over time just like you would quarters way back when.

If you play it for some time you’ll get to discover all the monsters’ different behaviors and become able to precisely predict their motion, just like in the old game. The only quibble I have is the collision detection and movement around edges, which is too different (worse, in my opinion) from the original.

Still, I’m regularly in Game Center’s top 20 of most 256 chains :sunglasses:

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.