Pac-Man World Re-Pac: The Pac is Back… Again

Pac-Man is a character that needs no introduction. I mean he is one of gaming’s greatest icons. He’s so well-known even people who don’t play videogames have at least heard of him.

But like many icons from the golden age of arcades, Pac-Man is no stranger to reinventions. These days it usually involves taking that original game and adding a new spin on things like Pac-Man 99, but in the 90’s and early 2000’s we saw Namco try a few different genres with the old dot muncher.

This ranged from puzzle games like Pac-Attack, to bizarre creations that made you wonder what everyone was thinking like Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. And given how popular 3D platformers were at the time it only made sense to put Pac-Man into a 3D platformer of his own.

Originally released in 2000 on the PlayStation, Pac-Man World was made as a celebration of the series 20th anniversary. It was my introduction to Pac-Man as a kid as I’m sure it was for many others and would spawn a series of its own with a few sequels and spin-off titles.

I remember the series being decently popular, but we haven’t seen a new entry since 2006, 18 years ago. That is until now, because we have a full-on remake of that original game with Pac-Man World Re-Pac. And yes, that is “remake” not “remaster” as it does in fact feature numerous changes compared to the original. But how well does Pac-Man World hold up today? Well let’s find out shall we.

Before we get to that though, I should specify that I am reviewing the Switch version of the game. While must versions run at 1080p and 60 FPS, the Switch version runs at 720p and 30fps. Which is expected given that’s how most Switch ports work. It’s still perfectly playable like this but there is one little oddity.

Buried in the options is a toggle for resolution mode which drops the performance but gives you better resolution, and performance mode which does the opposite. Take my advice, just use performance mode. The drop in resolution is barely noticeable and you get a much smoother experience.

Conversely, in resolution mode the drop to performance is very noticeable. The frame rate is so much choppier in resolution mode it makes it hard to play at times. I don’t even know why they bothered with the option when performance mode is so much better. It’s not even the default, and as I said it’s buried in the options menu so it can be easily missed. Why would they do this?

But while we’re talking about performance, the game overall runs well on Switch, in performance mode anyway. There were a view hiccups here and there, but it kept at a steady 30fps more often than not. It helps that Pac-Man World Re-Pac isn’t that graphically intensive.

Don’t misunderstand me, Re-Pac looks good. It manages to update the look while keeping with the original games style, and it is a generally colourful and pleasant looking game. But when compared to other PS1 remakes like Medievil or the Crash and Spyro trilogies it doesn’t look as impressive. It’s a much simpler looking game and isn’t as ambitious with its visual updates.

It is still a nice-looking remake. I especially love Pac-Man's animations, there’s some noticeable squash and stretch to him that add to his personality and I like that he shakes a little bit when standing on a moving platformer. That’s a detail I’m surprised we don’t see more often.

The story is simple. It’s Pac-Man's birthday and all the Pac People of Pac Land are holding him a surprise party. But an evil robotic doppelganger of Pac-Man named Toc-Man is also holding a party and sends his ghost minions to kidnap Pac-Man so he can pretend to be the real Pac-Man. But the ghosts are idiots and end up kidnapping all his family and friends instead. So now it’s up to Pac-Man to crash the party and rescue his friends along the way.

It's a simple enough premise for a platformer. You have a decent villain in Toc-Man, a clear goal in rescuing your family, for a platformer that’s all you really need. Re-Pac keeps true to the originals story with a few tweaks and changes.

Toc-Man now appears before every boss which gives him a bigger presence than he had in the original. I also like Toc-Man’s design in this a lot more. He still looks intimidating, but he isn’t as goofy looking as the original. Pac-Man’s family has also changed due to the ongoing rights issues surrounding Ms Pac-Man.

Like other recent re-releases, Ms Pac-Man was changed into Pac-Mom. It sucks that such an iconic female character got removed, but I don’t hate Pac-Mom's design and given the circumstances I don’t blame them for doing this. Although one weird thing I noticed is that the female Pac Folk don’t have noses now, but the men do. Are those their noses or their… you know what never mind.

Re-Pac follows the same plot, but the cutscenes have now been redone. They’re now done entirely in engine rather than the pre-rendered cutscenes of the PS1 original. They aren’t as charming as the originals, it doesn’t have Pac-Man’s infamous scream of anguish, but they do get the job done.

There’s also no voice acting now. Everyone talks in a Banjo Kazooie styled gibberish rather than having full voice lines. I do miss Toc-Man's intimidating mechanical voice from the original, but there wasn’t much voice acting in the original anyway.

As a 3D platformer, Pac-Man World follows the design of Crash Bandicoot more than Mario 64. Meaning the levels are designed more like linear obstacle courses rather than open sand boxes that you’re free to explore.

The levels here are designed more like a side scroller only with use of the 3D space with wider play areas. Honestly it reminds me a lot of Super Mario 3D World although that game was a lot more refined.

It isn’t a bad take on the 3D platformer. Let’s be honest a lot of early 3D games haven’t aged all that well. Even classics like Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time are a little clunky by today's standards. So by keeping Pac-Man World in this pseudo side scrolling style has helped it age pretty well.

However, a lot of that is because the levels aren’t all that ambitious. There aren’t that many interesting set pieces which makes a lot of the levels blend together. The platforming is also a little rudimentary with little to make it exciting. The platforming isn’t bad, I’ve certainly played worse, but it is very vanilla.

It isn’t until the latter half of the game where the level design starts to pick up the slack. I will give them credit for having more interesting level themes like pirate, space, and factory settings rather than the basic grass world, desert world and volcano worlds you see in other platformers.

Each world offers its own unique enemies and obstacles which prevent things from getting boring. I especially like how the ghosts change outfits to fit each location. The core gameplay isn’t particularly great, but it is still decent fun for what it is.

It’s also not very difficult. There are some tricky moments, but for the most part it isn’t all that challenging. Which does make it very accessible to beginners. The only trouble I had with the platforming was the camera. It uses a fixed camera angle with a side view, kind of like the 2D in Crash. While it works well when platforming sideways, platforming along the y axis was a pain due to the poor depth perception.

It’s very easy to miss jumps because of this. You do have a drop shadow but with the remakes more natural lighting it isn’t entirely reliable. Whenever I missed a jump, it never felt like it was my fault, it always felt like it was because of the camera.

At least it controls decently well. Pac-Man’s move set isn’t as big as other 3D platformer mascots, but it works for his character. He has the Butt Bounce which can activate switches and helps him reach higher ledges, and the Rev Roll which lets him activate floor panel and dash up steep slopes or jump off ramps.

Both moves take advantage of Pac-Man's spherical design and are used frequently throughout the game in a couple of different ways. Both can be used with enemies, but with a few noticeable exceptions I found the Butt Bounce to be more reliable. The Rev Roll isn’t bad, it just isn’t as snappy as the bounce was.

The levels are straight forward and just involve getting to the end. Though, like with many 3D platformers there are a bunch of collectables and secrets to find. In keeping with the series roots the main two collectables are the pellets and the fruit.

The pellets can be used as a projectile attack, which is decent method of dealing with them if you can’t Butt Bounce them. while the fruit is used as keys to unlock doors. The fruit is also based on the fruit you would collect in the original Pac-Man arcade game which is a nice touch.

You can also find slot tokens which can be used at the end of the level in a slot machine to earn extra lives. There are also letters spelling Pac-Man which unlock a bonus level where you can earn more pellets and fruits. Everything you get add to your score and at the end of a level your rewarded with extra lives for every 10,000 points you accumulate.

It’s overkill how many lives they give you. I know games like Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country gave out a ton of lives, but it made sense to go overboard with the lives in those since you could lose them just as fast as you got them. In Pac-Man World things never get so difficult that you need that many chances.

The last collectable to talk about are the keys. These are what you use to rescue Pac-Man’s family. You’ll find them in cages which can only be unlocked using the keys you can find. Sometimes they’re in the same level, sometimes they are in separate levels though in those instances the key is always in the level before the cage. So at least it doesn’t force you to replay levels to save everyone.

And what would a self-respecting platformer be without power ups. You’ve got the power pellets which work like they did in the original arcade game and let you eat ghosts, but in Re-Pac they also turn you into a giant Pac Man that rampages through everything. It’s a cool addition even if it does lead to occasionally getting stuck on level geometry.

You also have a bomb which destroys all enemies when you use a Butt Bounce, though I think you use it about 3 times in the whole game. And then there’s the metal ball which is literally the metal cap from Mario 64. No joke, it works the exact same way. You become heavier, invincible and you can walk under water. It’s so similar to the metal cap I’m shocked Nintendo didn’t sue. I mean you know they would, they’ve sued for much less.

The level design is at its best is when you’re looking for the collectables. The problem is that very few levels truly take advantage of this. There are plenty of instances where you’ll need to backtrack to unlock certain doors, but the fruit you need to get is always just a short walk from the door, so you won’t even need to backtrack that far.

But the main issue is that the collectables don’t amount to anything. aside from extra lives they don’t unlock anything else. The only important thing to get are Pac-Man’s friends, everything else is inconsequential.

So the game is at its best when going for the collectables, and the collectables mean jack all. You can see the problem here right. It makes the game feel shallow because the collectables are the only depth the levels have.

There is one thing that is worth going for however, the mazes. In each level there’s a door with a Galaxian symbol that takes you to an unlockable maze level with gameplay just like the classic arcade game. There’s also a maze mode where you can play the ones you unlock, as well as a few more bonus mazes, and even a marathon mode you get when you unlock them all that lets you play them all in a row.

These mazes are a lot of fun. They introduce new obstacles which spices up the classic gameplay, though there are times when they will put you into a position where you’re guaranteed to get killed which sucks. You’ll need to plan you’re moves out if you want to beat these without dying.

The maze mode is entirely optional, but it is a decent distraction from the main game. Fans of the arcade game should get a kick out of this, though that arcade game is also unlockable in this game as a nice bonus. Or it would be if there weren’t a billion other ways to play it on Switch.

The last thing I want to talk about are the bosses, and it’s where most of the changes in Re-Pac are. While the bosses remain true to how they were in the original, they have been tweaked slightly and honestly, it’s for the better.

The bosses are much better here than they were in the original. Anubis Rex is nowhere near as annoying as he was before, and the clown race is in first person. The bosses re one of the high points of the game and have seen a big improvement here, though King Galaxian is still the best. It’s a great tribute to the Galaxian series and a fun change of pace from the platforming. Same goes for the Clown Race but King Galaxian is better.

That covers the main game, but now I want to talk about the changes Re-Pac made. I already mentioned the bosses and power pellet transformation, but another change is the addition of a flutter jump move. It’s like Yoshi’s, because Namco are just tempting fate at this point, and is useful for helping make those trickier jumps.

The swimming controls were also tweaked. Now Pac-Man sinks automatically, and you rise by pressing the jump button, rather than have rising and sinking being different buttons. It works well enough, though I can’t compare how it felt to the original since it’s been a long time since I played it.

The hub world also got changed. The maze mode is now found in the hub, along with a movie player, and the layout of it has been changed. It has the same basic idea with having three segments that let you choose which worlds to tackle, but with a more concise design. It even has teleporters to make getting around easier.

One of the bigger changes is with how you rescue your friends. In the original this was required to reach the final boss, but in Re-Pac it’s now entirely optional. You do get help from them during the final boss if you rescue them so it is still worth doing, but you can ignore them if you want. You know if you want to be a dick.

There’s also a brand-new ending. I don’t know exactly how you get it; I think you need to rescue everyone but I’m not 100% sure on that, but there is a new ending and I like it a lot more. It’s a lot more wholesome and doesn’t make Pac-Man look like a massive prick.

Pac-Man World isn’t a great 3D platformer. The gameplay is too simplistic, and the level designs lack depth. It’s a perfect example of a mid-platformer, nothing egregiously awful but nothing outstanding either.

But even with that I still found myself liking Pac Man World when it was all over. It may lack depth, but the core platforming is done well enough that you can have a decent amount of fun with it. The maze levels are also a fun extra, and the presentation is solid. But the best part of it is the music.

The soundtrack was done by Tommy Tallarico of Videogames Live fame, and it absolutely slaps. Every track is catchy and does a great job of integrating classic Pac-Man motifs into the music while making it its own. It’s a wonderful soundtrack.

So, is Pac-Man World Re-Pac worth picking up? Yeah, I’d say so. The game isn’t very long and can be beaten in about 6-7 hours. Not too long but it also doesn’t outstay it’s welcome either. And with all the updates Re-Pac is now the definitive version of it.

£30 isn’t a bad price for what you’re getting, but there are other 3D platformers I would recommend before this one that are cheaper. A Hat in Time, Froggun and Demon Turf are some that come to mind. If you’re a fan then get it now, if only to show support for the series, but if you’re new to the series it’s best to just wait for a sale. Trust me Bandai Namco are good when it comes to that stuff.

And that’s Pac-Man World Re-Pac. A mid game, but one I still found myself liking. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Pac-Man World. I would love a remake of its sequels, especially World 2 since that’s the one everyone raves about. Hopefully we see that at some point given how many remakes Namco have been doing lately. But one thing is for certain, the Pac is definitely back.