THE little yellow ghost hunter Pac-Man has hit the big 'three-zero', so to celebrate 30 years of being awesome Namco Bandai have released Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. Much like the original Championship Edition from 2009 that took everything that made Pac-Man such an enduring classic and reduced what made it a sometimes frustrating experience, DX takes that idea one step further by making the player feel more empowered than ever before.As with the original Championship Edition the mazes in DX constantly change as you eat bonus items (fruit, keys, crowns, etc.) that appear after eating a collection of Pac-Dots. And as per usual, the maze changes happen on the opposite end of the screen that you are currently on, so it's never too jarring. On top of that the longer you play the faster the game gets - so much so in fact that the speed can feel almost overwhelming. But to help the player out Pac-Man has a few new tricks up his sleeve.
The biggest addition is the bomb, which can be triggered at any point to return all pursuing ghost back to the centre of the maze and cause all sleeping ghosts to ignore you for a while. On the downside it reduces your speed, you score multiplier and you have a limited supply. That said, obtaining more is pretty easy and if you use them right you'll never get backed in a corner. The other, more subtle, addition is the slow down that occurs when you are about to get hit by a ghost. For a brief second or two, right before you would usually die, Pac-Man and the ghost slow right down, giving the player a chance to reconsider their last move.It's hard to not get swept up in the action when playing DX. The music is simply awesome and fits in the action perfectly, while the range of graphical filters means you can make the game can resemble a number of classic Pac-Man games. On top of that there are a number of fun challenges, such as eating an insane amount of ghosts or blazing mazes as quickly as possibly, to keep you occupied for quite a while. In all DX is a great game all round and it feels like this is how you should celebrate Pac-Man's birthday.
But, DX isn't perfect, and truth be told I still prefer the original Championship Edition. The biggest problem is that the game feels much easier than previous Pac-Man titles and so the sense of accomplishment is not as great. Getting every power-pellet and eating all four ghosts in the original was a challenge, and no small feat in later levels, nor was it always an easy task in Championship Edition where the ghosts felt a lot smarter than they do here. That's not to say that the game isn't satisfying. After all, building up a train of ghosts then devouring them in quick succession never gets old, but at the same time I never felt overly threatened. Championship Edition kept just enough of what made the original such a good challenge, but DX ditches most of it in exchange for a faster, more glitzy style of game.
Having said that, not every game needs to be hard to be fun, and that's certainly true with DX. The satisfaction you get from being the hunter instead of the hunted is as good as ever, and DX does a good job at tricking you into thinking you're a Pac-Man master by giving you little helping hands along the way. It’s not my favourite in the series, but I constantly find myself going back to it for a few more rounds before realising an hour has just slipped me by. It may not be perfect, but it’s a great game and one that will appeal to every type gamer.
GRADE: B
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is out now on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Review written after hours of play, reviewed on an Xbox 360. Review guidelines
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