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PAC-MAN Championship Edition (iPhone)

That Rev Chap — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Harumph, grump and botheration! I was very excited to play this last night, but found it completely impossible to control. I have no idea why, as it was fine at lunchtime. Oh well. Hopefully I haven’t lost all my skills forever.

PAC-MAN Championship Edition (iPhone/360)

That Rev Chap — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:42:00 +0000

So, the glorious Pac-Man C.E. arrived on the iPhone at midnight last night. It’s one of the finest games on the Xbox 360, but has it survived the transition?

Yes. Not perfectly, but I’ve been finding it very, very hard to put down. It’s a great conversion, only slightly hampered by touch screen controls that aren’t quite there. Very close, but this is one case where having a physical stick can only be an advantage.

Not that the controls are bad. Using the dual d-pad set up I’m mostly fine, but sometimes my thumbs move off centre when I’m going very fast and I get killed before I can readjust. It’s not a problem with the controls themselves – they’re perfectly responsive if you hit them correctly – it’s just a case of it being hard to keep your thumbs in the right place in the heat of the moment. (It’s lot a easier to tap the d-pads, rather than drag your thumb around, by the way.)

Just to check the 360 version is actually better in this regard, I gave it a quick go this morning before work – and promptly got a new high score. Nice.

There’s also been a bit of controversy regarding Namco’s pricing model. Basically, you pay £1.79 for the game, which gets you a selection of levels in a couple of different modes. Then you can pay £2.39 to unlock another game mode and lots more levels in the existing modes. Seems very reasonable to me. The game gives you lots and lots to do for your initial £1.79 – I’ve mostly just been playing one level over and over again, trying to beat my high score – but there’s more there if you want it and the total price ends up being very reasonable.

The only real downer is the unforgivable lack of online high scores, but even that’s not a deal-breaker when the game’s this good.

All in all, it’s a hair away from perfection, due to the limitations of the hardware, but it’s more than good enough to be worth getting.

Pac-Man Championship Edition (360)

That Rev Chap — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:39:00 +0000

This may be my last chance to play proper console games for a while, as my consoles are being packed to be moved tomorrow evening. So what did I choose to play to mark this occassion? Well, obviously, Pac-Man C.E., of course. Unfortunately, I was awful and didn’t come close to any sort of achievement or Achievement.

(And then I played Rush’n Attack, but lost all my three lives because I forgot which button was the special weapon button three times, so I’m going to ignore that and not post about it.)

Pac-Man Championship Edition (360)

That Rev Chap — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:07:00 +0000

I’ve finally stopped playing the main mode and I dipped into Challenge One. I can’t survive for the full ten minutes yet, but I’m already better than some of my terrible, terrible friends.

Pac-Man Championship Edition (360)

That Rev Chap — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:28:00 +0000

No new high score today, but I did come close.

Should maybe try some of the other modes some time.

Pac-Man Championship Edition (360)

That Rev Chap — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:33:00 +0000

After a couple of terrible games where I didn’t even last the full five minutes, I managed to beat my old high score and am now 571 in the world and second on my Friends list, behind a frankly score of 217.420 from Dimahoo.

Pac-Man Championship Edition (360)

That Rev Chap — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:30:00 +0000

Best retro update ever? Possibly.

Biggest gaming surprise ever? Possibly.

It’s Pac-Man, but better and faster. So much better. Wow. I’m just amazed.

And it works with the 360 controller, which is a bonus.

Pac-Man (360)

That Rev Chap — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:04:00 +0000

Bah.

I tried, but I was rubbish today.

Pac-Man (360)

That Rev Chap — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 06:13:00 +0000

Turns out that I can’t play Pac-Man before seven in the morning. Especially when I’ve just got up and my body clock thinks 7am is midnight.

Pac-Man (360)

That Rev Chap — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 21:03:00 +0000

Fearfully addictive, but I do wish the controls worked. The joystick is controller-smashingly imprecise, whereas the d-pad is merely maddeningly so… but the d-pad’s uncomfortable.

Still, got my score up to 20,080, which places me third on my Friends Leaderboard.