Pac Man Fever by Namco is the newest addition to
the somewhat successful party game genre. Offering over 30 mini-games and an
assortment of characters from their most popular titles, Namco has made an
attempt to break in to this genre with a bang. Unfortunately with the mediocre
sound, average graphics, tedious pace and repetitive mini-games, Pac Man Fever
is more likely to make you bang you’re head against the wall, than make a
meaningful contribution to gaming.
Pac Man Fever is a 3d board game in which
characters from notable titles such as Pac Man, Tekken and Soul Caliber, stroll
along the game board. Players face off in mini-games rather than rolling dice
to advance. Their are several different boards available with different
backgrounds and mini-games. The mini-games are easy to pick up usually
requiring the use of one button and the directional pad (or analog joystick).
Their is a considerable variety of games but it quickly becomes obvious that
around number 20, new ideas were hard to come by. As a result, several of the
games have near exact duplicates with different backgrounds. The length of the
game can be modified to fit your taste with three options of board length, but
even on the shortest length the slow stroll of the characters along with the
fact that you must watch the AI characters play their mini-games, can make the
game seem to drag.
Graphically the game has some good points. The
game is bright and colorful, and the style of the different game boards is well
developed. However the character models are nothing special, and the dynamic
backgrounds tend to go to waste when there’s no possible interaction with them.
The audio is not very impressive. None of the characters have voice tracks and
the music or sound effects tend to be repetitive.
Pac Man Fever takes a good idea and executes it
in a mediocre way. While some of the mini-games are fun, a few good mini-games
are not enough to save a relatively boring title from falling into obscurity.
The game is rated E for everyone but I recommend you only buy it if you have
lots of friends with time to kill and liquor to drink. This is a party game
after all.
Gameplay: 5.5
Overly simplistic, repetitive and poorly paced.
Graphics: 7
Very Average. Not bad but nothing amazing.
Sound: 6
Teetering on the verge of annoying. At best it grows simply dull.
Difficulty: Easy
Extremely easy to learn.
Concept: 5.5
A mediocre rehash of an already used concept.
Multiplayer: 8
If you have a multi-tap and 3 friends
this game is at its best. Any other way…and…well…just get a multi tap.
Overall: 6
A below average game in a small genre. If you love Pac Man and love
mini-games you might think about this title.
