I really didn't like this game before, and I got annoyed at some levels and found some of them very long and boring, but after playing a few questionable SNES games that I got bored with and didn't find all that fun, I decided to beat this one outright. for all. everything, and also because I was tired of playing shit and I wanted to play something relatively good and a little relaxing, and my God, the feeling of playing a good game after playing some bad and mediocre games is so satisfying because everything you pointed out was "bad" that game makes you appreciate it more, and even the most difficult parts almost become a Lego game, without stressing you out too much, but of course if you're used to new games you'll suffer a little here.

The game has nothing special, it's a 3D platform game with a 2D camera, not exactly 2.5D, something a little close to a beat em up but rather a platform game, different from other games where you kill enemies by jumping on them . If you press the jump button twice, Pac-Man will make the jump which is used both to destroy some normal enemies and to jump higher and is better to control than the common jump which is a little slippery, some enemies are not defeated by the towed jump, but rather, throwing a "pac-dot" as if it were a bomb and which honestly isn't used much, but in the last stages and Toc-Man and other enemies that are ghosts can only be defeated by "power pallets" (or something similar) that just like in the original game you can eat the ghosts, the game has a somewhat exploratory feel, as to access the doors you will need fruit, some bells and the Galaga icon, the fruits and the bells open doors that can have buttons that can activate hidden platforms, things to progress or give ghosts where you have an original Pac-Man session (which I actually don't see much use for unless you want to get a high score or recover energy) or letters with "P-A-C-M-A-N" which if you put them all together you will get pro bonuses and the Galaga icons release a "bonus" where you play the original game but with a specific theme and danger, what you will need most in these doors are blue keys that free the Pac family who are trapped in a cage (which strangely enough a Dig Dug enemy is also there), and if you don't free them you won't be able to get into the final world or the final boss (I don't care, I remember which one), which can be a little interesting, but it gets tiring later and you just want to move on.

The bosses kind of exist, like there's the boat in the first phase that seems a little difficult to defeat, but it's just spam jumping on the button and a target plate bounces off the shot and even if the shot misses a little it counts as if the boss took it damage, there is the second one which is the "most difficult" which was supposed to be a dinosaur that chases you in a Crash Chase vibe, but then when you go to face it it is a statue that you need to turn on the switches to hit its heart using a dash which makes Pac roll and with each damage the fight becomes more difficult and unfair because hurricane, meteor and some projectiles that are difficult to dodge come, he was the boss that gave me the most problems before, today I know how to deal with him a little, he has the third, which is a good reference to galaga where the gameplay changes from platform to shoot em up, the problem is that you don't need to hold down the shoot button, tiring your fingers very quickly, the fourth is a race against the "joker" and his henchmen with the strangest control I've ever seen, it's not difficult, but it's strange, then there's the fifth one which is "Frankie the Chicken Puller" which throws you some metal boxes and every now and then a wooden box that you use a power steel and you need to press the buttons that heat up, but you have to be careful with the magnets that hold you when you are like this and finally Toc-Man who has the same powers as you and will have to use the same skills as you can to defeat him. it. I think the most memorable are Rex for being the hardest boss, Pac-Nave for the reference to Galaga and Toc-Man for being the last boss, being a kind of Wario and defeating him with the same attacks as him. he does.

There's also a power-up that, when Pac picks it up, destroys all enemies on the screen, but it's not that useful so I didn't mention it before.

Anyway, it's not a great game, but it's a relatively good platformer and if you learn to master the bouncy jump it becomes easier to play. But be prepared for certain phases.

PMW doesn't do much if you seek anything that's interesting but it succeeds at being a fun 2.5D Platformer in the veins of crash bandicoot, although unlike that game where the difficulty can be determined widely based on your decision to go for 100% or not, World suffers from sudden difficulty spikes from the questionably designed boss battles to the level design reliance on backtracking when it comes to the collectibles, some are vital for even accessing the climax so ignoring them isn't given option,
Credits where it due, the designers avoided stretching the backtracking road further by having the collectibles placed close by the locked doors to avoid making this task tedious, in most cases it revolves around circling a bit back which is nice, investing time to collect them all outside mandatory keys can lead you to bonus stages like the mazes or post-level bonus round where you can potentially raise your live count and score depending on how well you do in the challenges, the mazes are fine challenge although stage hazards didn't really remove the tedious repetitious nature while bonus round are fine time challenges that actually offer variety.

Pac-man was good enough to maneuver around the levels, his butt bounces specially can be useful for reaching higher grounds and allow potentially experimental players to bypass large obstacles, same can't be said for his other moves, the Rev-Roll and Pac-Dot Attack, both moves I use of in extremely situational, specially the Rev-Roll with moments like bypassing obstacle or activating switches, not all that fun or interesting like the butt bounce.
The Level design and visuals look great, I'm glad to see the developers willing to explore other avenues compared to most other platformers, the likes of the Pirate island, Circus Carnival, Space station, etc. are all treat to be hold, I'm specially glad the game doesn't shy away from the gloomy atmosphere like the dark temple levels with moody soundtrack and great lighting which unfortunately missing from many modern platformers

Unfortunately same can't be said for the boss battles as I mentioned, like of Anubis Rex and King Galaxian being extremely frustrating specially the former with how much projectiles they can spam at a moment notice overall resulting in unbalanced, unfair fight, but thankfully the final boss fight with Toc-Man is a great spectacle and definitely ends the game on high note by having to test your moveset against giant man himself!.

despite the awkward implementation of certain mechanics and designs choices, I still had good time and would gave it a solid recommendation from any platformer enthusiast out there.