Reader Reviews

Pac-Man Vs. (GameCube)

by David Beamish

Pac-Man Vs. is bundled free with US copies of R: Racing Evolution and I-Ninja from Namco, and you can import and play them both (or just I-Ninja) using FreeLoader.

Originally this free game did not seem appealing to me, and I wanted R: Racing Evolution much more. How the tables have turned now it has arrived. Whilst R: Racing Evolution is not bad, its not the GT clone I was hoping for. But Pac-Man Vs. is a real gem. To play this game you need several friends so any hermits out there - stay well away. Controller-wise you will require up to three (preferably WaveBird) controllers and one GBA with a GC/GBA link-up cable. The GBA part is critical and you cannot play the game without it.

The game is exactly the same as original Pac-Man, with a twist. The person with the GBA controls Pac-Man and can see the whole map on the GBA, and everyone else controls a ghost. The ghosts can only see a small part of the screen around themselves and it is their job to hunt down Pac-Man, which is done best as a team. Pac-Man leaves an evaporating trail, which the ghosts have to pick up on, and follow. The aim of the game is to get to a set amount of points. Of course, Pac-Man gets points for eating the dots as normal, the fruit and the power pills, which enable him to chow down on the ghosts. The ghosts get points by eating fruit, or eating Pac-Man. After Pac-Man is caught (and believe me, he will be) you swap controllers so the winning ghost player is now Pac-Man and the defeated Pac-Man is now a ghost.

And so the game turns into a frantic shouting match of people asking "Have you seen Pac-Man?", "Where is he?" and "HE'S GOT A POWER PILL BOTTOM LEFT RUN AWAY!!!". Graphically it's not much to look at. The GBA looks like original Pac-Man mostly, however on the TV/Projector (it's much better on a projector) everything is 3D but even then, it is hardly pushing the GameCube's graphics engine. And who cares? Graphics whores may not like this but this is all about the playability. Yes, it rocks. I believe you can play the game with less than four people, but who would want to? Drag random people in off the street to make up the numbers, as this game deserves to be played by four screaming gamers, mildly drunk, and with a passion for fun. People turned their noses up at it when I described it and even when I loaded it up, but after minutes everyone was really enjoying themselves. That is the mark of a true game.