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Xbox 360 | Family | Pac-Man Championship Edition

Boxart for Pac-Man Championship Edition
Pac-Man Championship Edition 14 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 5.00
  • SOUND: 3.50
  • CONTROL: 4.00
  • FUN FACTOR 4.75
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.9
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.8
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Pac-Man Championship Edition

Review by Dave Rudden | 07/31/2007 | 14:23:16 PM PST

After two decades of spinoffs featuring extended family and awful kart racers, Pac-Man is back with an all-new dot-chomping arcade experience that just may be better than the original.

WHAT IS IT?

If the original Pac-Man had a lovechild with the ship from Geometry Wars and then raised it in a European techno club, it would probably resemble Pac-Man Championship Edition. PM:CS takes the core elements of the original arcade game--chomping pellets while alternately running away from and hunting ghosts--but adds new features that actually improve on the formula.

Like Geometry Wars, top scores require panache and persistence. Chaining power-pellet ghost binges will net you more points, and the points-per-pellet ratio will increase as you eat more of them without dying. The stages will only end when you run out of time or lives--pellets will keep regenerating as long as you eat fruit--so the game has a continual, hectic feel.

The stages are quite different and masterfully designed--some bunch up power pellets at points, only to make them scarce for a few minutes, others feature long passageways for tense showdowns, and there are, of course, many that recall classic arcade designs . Namco has stated they're the first new stages from the game's original designer in over 25 years, and it is definitely worth the wait. -DaveMayCry

PROS:
CONS:

FINAL VERDICT: Combining the old-school feel with new-gen intensity, Pac-Man World Championship is the best Xbox Live Arcade game since Geometry Wars.


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