PlayStation 2

Pac-Man World 2

Despite its mostly copycat design and the few minor annoyances I mentioned, Pac-Man World 2 is a keeper. It's fun for the whole family -- even my girlfriend has spent hours playing this one -- and it will challenge most skill levels to a certain degree. This is not your father's Pac-Man or even your crazy Aunt Selma's Ms. Pac-Man, but it's definitely a worthy addition to the Pac-Line of Pac-Games.

He’s cute, round, and yellow but enough about Homer Simpson! Pac-Man returns for some 3D hop-n-bop action. If you’ve got an appetite for an adorable platform adventure, Pac-Man World 2 will hit the spot.

The original Pac-Man World for the PlayStation remains one of the best-executed remakes of a classic arcade game--not that that's saying much. But the game did an excellent job with its source material--Namco's incredibly famous arcade classic--both in terms of the aesthetics and its play mechanics as a platform game. The PS2 sequel closely follows the original's formula and improves certain aspects of the first game in the process. Specifically, the sequel's level design is varied and interesting, and the individual environments are well paced, challenging, and packed with a whole lot of minute-to-minute action. Pac-Man himself boasts a couple of new moves and has access to some unique modes of transportation, including skates, swimming flippers, and even a submarine. All this boils down to a good amount of diversity, which is precisely what keeps the game from ever growing stale, as can be the case with less-polished platformers.

When it comes to 3D platformers, Pac-Man World 2 doesn't bring any new ideas to the table, but because the game is straight and true in its purpose -- it's a straight-up 3D platformer built to mimic Super Mario 64 -- it's hard to resist. And aside from the irresistible charm of Namco's little yellow beach ball, there are enough platform techniques, tricks, and ways to play the game throughout it that it warrants immediate inspection.

However, the game offers that type of pure and simple button mashing fun that was so prominent in the early 2D titles, and manages to bring that enjoyment into the third dimension. For anyone looking for a great title for their children, or for anyone longing for a quasi-nostalgic gaming experience, Pac-Man World 2 is definitely worth a weekend rental.

Overall, whilst Pac-Man World 2 steals most of it's ideas and levels from other platformers, allround it still manages to come up smelling like roses - fresh that is! Less is definitely more in Pac's world and it's pure, unpretentious style is actually quite compelling. We think it'll appeal to older gamers looking to revisit their arcade roots as well as it's obvious younger target audience although it's rather unforgiving difficulty in later stages may present a few barriers to the youngest out there. The camerawork is a major stumbling block and holds it back from being great but it's wholesome fun nonetheless. You'll also find a fair few hours of gameplay here with some replay value found in unlocking and playing the original arcade classics.

One thing in its favour was the gorgeously rendered fruit, that look so realistic and juicy that we swear we were salivating during our time with the game - but that's about as good as it gets. The game's by no means awful. In fact compulsive platform freaks won't be totally disgusted with what's on offer here, but it's so lacking in technical merit, and lacking anything even remotely approaching a new idea that it just reeks of contractual obligation. A by the numbers, inoffensive collect 'em up that neither inspires rage nor the compulsion to play for any length of time. For the asking price, it seems a hefty wedge to pay for an average game, with a few badly implemented retro classics tucked away inside it. For the real Pac-Man heads among us, we guess we're going to have to wait another few years before Namco can properly revive this flagging franchise.