Namco recently released its latest iPhone / iPod Touch offering Pac-Man Remix. Although this is a notable addition to the Pac-Man world, it fails to bring exciting content to the non-Pac-Fans expecting a modern-day competitor. On the other hand, iPhone toting Pac-Man followers will definitely want to pick up Remix as it brings enough to the table to peak their interest.
This time Pac-Man hits the touch screen with an overworld, end-level bosses, and power-ups. If that wasn’t enough, Namco also revamped the entire look of the original game with a 3D viewing angle, brisk colors, themed graphics, online rankings, and a lively soundtrack. All the old-school sound effects are still present which we were thrilled to see.
Gameplay is pretty standard for a Pac-Man title. The goal is to work your way through mazes eating all the pellets and avoiding ghosts. Ghosts can be eaten too provided you have eaten a Power Pellet first. A chomped ghost will scurry back to its home and emerge in original form. A Power Pellet is the game’s retro power-up, but Namco has a few other new ones in the mix. Users can now jump over ghosts with a Jump Item, whereas Dash Items give a quick speed-boost. An illusion of Pac-Man is created when the Ninja Item is obtained. This will trick the ghosts into following the decoy. Our AppSmile team particularly enjoyed the Lucky Item which turns all pellets into Power Pellets -- hooray! Other items include the familiar fruit collectables plus locks and keys.
Coincidentally over the weekend I had the chance to play an original Pac-Man table-top for a while. One of the frustrations in that old friend was the control mechanism. The joystick seemed to go unresponsive at all the wrong times. Unfortunately, Namco hasn’t corrected this condition 29 years later. Two control schemes are available in Pac-Man Remix -- D-pad and flick. D-pad would be the natural choice in this retro game, but the awkward layout made it virtually impossible. Flick mode wasn’t much better. Flick your finger across the screen to control Pac-Man’s direction. At times we garnered no response and were helplessly led into a ghost’s path. Here’s hoping Namco fixes this serious flaw with a proper control scheme in a future update.
If you can master the controls, you’ll have some fun battling bosses, riding elevators, chomping ghosts, and imagining you’re in Pizza Hut circa 1985. But if you’re not an all-out Pac-Fan and you’re looking for an iPhone game that’ll wow your senses, we suggest you spend your $5.99 on one or more of our 5-Dimple Standouts.
Pac-Man Remix gets our AppSmile 3-Dimple rating:
