PAC-MAN MUSEUM+

Review

My first-ever meeting with Mr PAC-MAN was in the 80' on a family summer holiday in Cattolica, a popular destination located on Italy's Adriatic coast. The daily schedule was very basic; sunbake to lobster tone from 10 am to 3 pm, then from 4 pm until dinner time, walk down the main strip and visit all the gaming lounges! And everything single one of them had at least one of the super-popular, the one and only PAC-MAN Arcade game! I kid you not. And we had to wait our turn in those days; sometimes, it could take up to an hour. Aahhhh, the good all days! After a few years, Pac-Man games started to be released on consoles, and I am so glad to have the opportunity to revisit them with PAC-MAN MUSEUM+.

PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ is a compilation of 14 PAC-MAN games developed by NOW PRODUCTION and Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment on the 28^th of June 2022 on the Steam platform. This compilation is only available on PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.

I love these types of compilations where you can see the evolution of a classic game, and it’s also interesting to see how they can morph into different genres of gameplay. In PAC-MAN MUSEUM+, you'll have seven games where you need to insert a coin to play a game, just like an Arcade game machine, and seven other games which do not need a coin. However, you must play at least two games to unlock another PAC-MAN game. And as you probably guessed, you'll start with the original PAC-MAN, followed by SUPER PAC-MAN, and so on, until you unlock all the games. Don't worry about the coins, as you'll start with 500 in hand, and it is very easy to accumulate more coins. Each time you play any of the games, you'll receive a minimum of two coins, and if you do complete one of the game missions, such as eating a certain number of ghosts, completing a certain number of rounds, passing a specific score or beating your last best score, you'll be rewarded with more coins.

You’ll also receive items by completing missions which you can use to customise your own gaming lounge, which is a lot of fun.

It’s nostalgic and so enjoyable to replay some of these originals; I loved some and disliked others, and also played new ones that I hadn’t experienced before. I can hear from my desktop, coming from the four corners of the globe . . . How can you dislike a PAC-MAN game? In fact, I disliked a couple of them. As much as I enjoy good platformers these days, I couldn’t get into PAC-LAND and PAC-IN-TIME. Even the nostalgic aspect of these games couldn’t stop me from cringing; I know it’s harsh, but PAC-MAN almighty, playing these two games took a lot of courage and positivity to get through. PAC-ATTACK was better, but yeah, a Tetris genre with a PAC-MAN twist didn’t do it for me. The other big NO NO for me is the PAC-MAN BATTLE ROYALE, I just don’t get it! A lot of people may like this battle royal genre of game, but it’s not my thing.

The original PAC-MAN is still my favourite followed closely by PAC-MANIA, PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT CS Ver and PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION. The big surprise for me was the PAC-MAN 256 which I hadn’t played before, and I went back for more!

You’ll appreciate all the graphics and the controls work well, except for the few platformer games (cringe, cringe). Plenty of items to unlock to customise your gaming lounge. You’ll have plenty of fun and nostalgia playing PAC-MAN MUSEUM+, especially if you experienced the original game back in the 80s. You’ll be back for more each time you have a few minutes to spare.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ Steam Store Page