Pretty standard 3D platformer of its time. Lots of charm, levels are fun, nothing really broken. The maze sections don't understand what makes a good pac man maze though with all the dead ends and stop-n-go situations and some of the boss fights can be a little on the hmmm side of things. If you like pac man and want to play a game starring the guy that isn't a maze game, this is a solid time.
A cool platformer held back by some abysmal boss fights. Play the remake instead, even if that version doesn't have as much soul in terms of cutscenes and having the correct Pac-Wife.
Normally this would have the opposite effect, but after playing this and thoroughly not enjoying it (I've made it halfway through before throwing in the towel here) I'm genuinely more interested in playing Re-Pac now.
It should go without mentioning this game's hellish start of development plus all its documentation regarding its lack of playtesting but every single moment of Pac-Man World reminds you of it. Too much does this game struggle to play smoothly, whether it's Pac-Man randomly choosing not to grab ledges, a ramp misfiring you into a pit, literally falling through moving platforms, or picking and choosing any of it's six main bosses that don't play fairly. The physics are not only awkward but inconsistent, as Pac-Man rolls and slides (or doesn't) on all kinds of slopes and angles that don't necessarily make sense. Every butt bounce is unpredictable, every dash roll is a Hail Mary. I've even gotten softlocked twice, both by butt bouncing at certain angles where Pac-Man gets stuck in the terrain on landing.
The difficulty, whether intentional or not, is all over the place. I had genuine trouble in the second stage (in the first world), game over'd twice there before I got it, and then breezed through until I reached Manic Mines, halfway into the second world. Most of my struggles actually were due to the camera movement/placement during sections that shifted perspective, as crucial platforms required to progress are obscured, made completely out of view unless you grab a glimpse of the way forward before the camera makes some weird angle shift that omits it from your viewpoint. Weird, unnatural leaps of faith become common unless you keep a keen eye on what's ahead. Bosses are just plain absurd as well, with the second boss being notorious for being unfinished and receiving the least amount of playtesting, but if I'm being honest each one that I got up to was on some similar level of bullshit. The bosses are the lowest points of an already meandering experience, as you're thrown into arenas and are ravaged with uncoordinated amounts of different projectiles with different behaviors. You know sometimes in Cuphead you could just get really unlucky and find yourself in a shitty split-second situation where the enemy projectiles just line up in a way where you just have to take the hit? Imagine that but that's how the game's bosses work. And no, I didn't get filtered by Anubis Rex. I got filtered by fucking King Galaxian, the spamming shit bastard.
Pac-Man World wants to play fair but unfortunately hasn't been made to. Which is a shame, because conceptually it is not a miss; while the setpieces are bland and boring and the soundtrack sounds like a phoned-in score for a Saturday morning cartoon, the platforming and gameplay as a whole can be, at times, thoughtful. You can see a glimpse of the polished Pac-Man World it was meant to be when you can successfully chain bounces, rolls, and make quick maneuvers through stage hazards in succession. It can almost feel like a Sonic game after some slight mastery, but I just kept calling this game "Ass Bandicoot" in my head as I fumbled along. Unfortunately, things just don't happen they way they're supposed to, and the duct tape and stapled-together Pac-Man World becomes a game that's only really fun to imagine rather than play.
Now that Re-Pac exists, however, I feel like I can look forward with some optimism, knowing it's not just a straight remaster but a full ground-up remake with better balancing and polish in mind.
It should go without mentioning this game's hellish start of development plus all its documentation regarding its lack of playtesting but every single moment of Pac-Man World reminds you of it. Too much does this game struggle to play smoothly, whether it's Pac-Man randomly choosing not to grab ledges, a ramp misfiring you into a pit, literally falling through moving platforms, or picking and choosing any of it's six main bosses that don't play fairly. The physics are not only awkward but inconsistent, as Pac-Man rolls and slides (or doesn't) on all kinds of slopes and angles that don't necessarily make sense. Every butt bounce is unpredictable, every dash roll is a Hail Mary. I've even gotten softlocked twice, both by butt bouncing at certain angles where Pac-Man gets stuck in the terrain on landing.
The difficulty, whether intentional or not, is all over the place. I had genuine trouble in the second stage (in the first world), game over'd twice there before I got it, and then breezed through until I reached Manic Mines, halfway into the second world. Most of my struggles actually were due to the camera movement/placement during sections that shifted perspective, as crucial platforms required to progress are obscured, made completely out of view unless you grab a glimpse of the way forward before the camera makes some weird angle shift that omits it from your viewpoint. Weird, unnatural leaps of faith become common unless you keep a keen eye on what's ahead. Bosses are just plain absurd as well, with the second boss being notorious for being unfinished and receiving the least amount of playtesting, but if I'm being honest each one that I got up to was on some similar level of bullshit. The bosses are the lowest points of an already meandering experience, as you're thrown into arenas and are ravaged with uncoordinated amounts of different projectiles with different behaviors. You know sometimes in Cuphead you could just get really unlucky and find yourself in a shitty split-second situation where the enemy projectiles just line up in a way where you just have to take the hit? Imagine that but that's how the game's bosses work. And no, I didn't get filtered by Anubis Rex. I got filtered by fucking King Galaxian, the spamming shit bastard.
Pac-Man World wants to play fair but unfortunately hasn't been made to. Which is a shame, because conceptually it is not a miss; while the setpieces are bland and boring and the soundtrack sounds like a phoned-in score for a Saturday morning cartoon, the platforming and gameplay as a whole can be, at times, thoughtful. You can see a glimpse of the polished Pac-Man World it was meant to be when you can successfully chain bounces, rolls, and make quick maneuvers through stage hazards in succession. It can almost feel like a Sonic game after some slight mastery, but I just kept calling this game "Ass Bandicoot" in my head as I fumbled along. Unfortunately, things just don't happen they way they're supposed to, and the duct tape and stapled-together Pac-Man World becomes a game that's only really fun to imagine rather than play.
Now that Re-Pac exists, however, I feel like I can look forward with some optimism, knowing it's not just a straight remaster but a full ground-up remake with better balancing and polish in mind.
i didn't know what i did there
[clown music]
I bought this game for my PS1 a couple years ago, and with the remake coming up, I figured I would finally go ahead and play through this game.
Now that I have, I can say that I think Pac-Man World is... decent. It doesn't do very much that makes it particularly stand out over other platformers of the time, but obviously not every game needs to be a home run and as it is, I do think Pac-Man World is fun, enjoyable platformer with some flaws that I do think hamper the experience a bit.
The level design in this game is somewhat of a mixed bag. For the most part, I do feel like this game's levels are fun enough. The platforming challenges are decent, and the game also offers some good exploration with the "PACMAN" tokens and looking for keys to rescue Pac-Man's friends (which, spoiler alert, you'll need to do for to unlock the final boss), in addition to fruits and Galaxian tokens to open doors, the latter allows you to play new takes on the original Pac-Man arcade game which I like.
That said, there wasn't really too much about the level design that really stood out to me, and even some of the things that did... weren't for very good reasons. Occasionally you'll find levels that hold some pretty annoying mechanics and gimmicks that make platforming tedious in some aspects - in which case the 'Spin Dizzy' level in particular really annoyed me with having the player hop between spinning platforms in a way that leads to a bunch of mis-timed or just outright bad jumps.
On top of this, the enemy and hazard placement in some areas feels odd. Part of it I feel like is a result of the game's camera system and depth perception, but I recall a few moments where I would run into an enemy or hazard that I didn't even know was there or coming towards me - in many such cases I would end up 'butt bouncing' into a hazard or enemy on the ceiling that I didn't even knew was there while trying to open a chest or jump on the bouncy pad thingies.
Also, as far as bosses go I'll just say that the Anubis Rex boss was designed by Satan.
The controls work fine for the most part - I do like the mechanics Pac-Man has but aside for the 'Butt Bounce' allowing for higher jumps it doesn't really feel like the other moveset options - namely the 'Rev Roll' and pellet attack - don't really come into play until the final boss. His movement feels fine, nothing mindblowing but it works well enough.
The game also has a weird issue where for some reason it doesn't reset your lives count to a minimum when you get a game over - meaning that if you save your file with 1 or 2 lives, and you game over from there, you'll still come back with, well, 1 or 2 lives. So if you get done with a particularly hard level that ends up costing most of your lives, to move on to another fairly hard level, you'll most likely have to go back to the earlier stages to try and grind for more lives. Admittedly it isn't so much of an issue since the game is pretty generous with lives especially if you go for the Pac-Man tokens... at least in the PS1 version.
I haven't played the GBA version but apparently not only did they not fix that issue but they basically exacerbated it by removing stuff like the Pac-Man tokens and mazes meaning you can only get lives by exploring the levels themselves (with a worse depth perception issue since the game has an isometric view... yeah don't play the GBA version lmao).
Overall, Pac-Man World is a decent time, but I do feel like it's somewhat letdown by some issues with the level design and lives system. If you do want to play this game, I would probably suggest at least waiting until the remake comes out and seeing how that is.
Now that I have, I can say that I think Pac-Man World is... decent. It doesn't do very much that makes it particularly stand out over other platformers of the time, but obviously not every game needs to be a home run and as it is, I do think Pac-Man World is fun, enjoyable platformer with some flaws that I do think hamper the experience a bit.
The level design in this game is somewhat of a mixed bag. For the most part, I do feel like this game's levels are fun enough. The platforming challenges are decent, and the game also offers some good exploration with the "PACMAN" tokens and looking for keys to rescue Pac-Man's friends (which, spoiler alert, you'll need to do for to unlock the final boss), in addition to fruits and Galaxian tokens to open doors, the latter allows you to play new takes on the original Pac-Man arcade game which I like.
That said, there wasn't really too much about the level design that really stood out to me, and even some of the things that did... weren't for very good reasons. Occasionally you'll find levels that hold some pretty annoying mechanics and gimmicks that make platforming tedious in some aspects - in which case the 'Spin Dizzy' level in particular really annoyed me with having the player hop between spinning platforms in a way that leads to a bunch of mis-timed or just outright bad jumps.
On top of this, the enemy and hazard placement in some areas feels odd. Part of it I feel like is a result of the game's camera system and depth perception, but I recall a few moments where I would run into an enemy or hazard that I didn't even know was there or coming towards me - in many such cases I would end up 'butt bouncing' into a hazard or enemy on the ceiling that I didn't even knew was there while trying to open a chest or jump on the bouncy pad thingies.
Also, as far as bosses go I'll just say that the Anubis Rex boss was designed by Satan.
The controls work fine for the most part - I do like the mechanics Pac-Man has but aside for the 'Butt Bounce' allowing for higher jumps it doesn't really feel like the other moveset options - namely the 'Rev Roll' and pellet attack - don't really come into play until the final boss. His movement feels fine, nothing mindblowing but it works well enough.
The game also has a weird issue where for some reason it doesn't reset your lives count to a minimum when you get a game over - meaning that if you save your file with 1 or 2 lives, and you game over from there, you'll still come back with, well, 1 or 2 lives. So if you get done with a particularly hard level that ends up costing most of your lives, to move on to another fairly hard level, you'll most likely have to go back to the earlier stages to try and grind for more lives. Admittedly it isn't so much of an issue since the game is pretty generous with lives especially if you go for the Pac-Man tokens... at least in the PS1 version.
I haven't played the GBA version but apparently not only did they not fix that issue but they basically exacerbated it by removing stuff like the Pac-Man tokens and mazes meaning you can only get lives by exploring the levels themselves (with a worse depth perception issue since the game has an isometric view... yeah don't play the GBA version lmao).
Overall, Pac-Man World is a decent time, but I do feel like it's somewhat letdown by some issues with the level design and lives system. If you do want to play this game, I would probably suggest at least waiting until the remake comes out and seeing how that is.
As the first in an overall good series, it gets a pass/10
Fun for sure, but very uneven difficulty across the adventure and very strange world designs.
Very interesting game that could have used a bit more time ironing things out. The level design is fun, and the music is good, as are the graphics for the time. But the biggest issue is the game's physics. This game is super janky. It's definitely still playable, but it can be hard to control Pac-Man sometimes, especially when bouncing. Also some of the boss fights are really bad. Overall still a fun game though.
Also this game has a widescreen option. For a game released in 1999. That's insane.
Also this game has a widescreen option. For a game released in 1999. That's insane.
1er vistazo #40
UUUFFF... este juego era lo que necesitaba luego de haber finalizado la trilogía de los DKC de SNES OwO.
Partiendo con una curiosa cinemática, todo termina por justificarse, hasta cierto punto, para llegar a un desenlace que no me "esperaba"... ya que rescatar a todos parecía algo más para el "true ending" xP.
Si bien los niveles no "parecen" tener algo que los haga destacar a simple vista, el uso de los interruptores permite utilizar los espacios recorridos para plantear un reto adicional, además de brindarle su encanto :3.
Sumándole el control de Pac-Man... UUUFFF x2... entre salir disparado en un carrera y el rebote luego de dar un salto, son varias las posibilidades presentadas dentro de "simples" escenarios B).
Debido al punto anterior, resulta ameno el coleccionar todas las frutas de los niveles, explorando los mismos en el proceso ya que, en ciertos casos, deberemos ir un poco más allá de los mismos :3.
Además de jugar con las perspectivas en ciertos puntos... da paso a buscar en lugares que uno consideraría inaccesibles, pero que, luego de un par de vueltas en el escenario, llega a toparse con la "solución" :D.
En ciertos escenarios, se hace un pequeño despliegue de pac-puntos, distribuidos de tal forma que recuerdan a fases de aquel clásico título de arcade... pero el juego no solo se queda con ello x.X...
Ahí termina por aparecer los laberintos, zonas especiales de regular tamaño que sí reflejan las fases antes mencionadas xP, solo que se le añaden alguna característica distintiva del mundo donde se presentan B).
Pasando a los jefes... UUUFFF x3... aunque, casi todos ellos, traen a la mesa una jugabilidad distinta que no fue introducida en los niveles "normales" ¬¬... tienen su respectivo lapso de tiempo para aprender las mecánicas.
Digo... de la nada te suben a una nave para empezar a dispararle a todo lo que se mueva... similar a Galaga... ya saben... fans de Galaga cuando... uhm... no sé... "nunca" lo jugué :v (aunque vi videos al respecto xP).
Y ya del jefe final no hablo porque escribiría tanto que mejor me pondría a elaborar un video opinión para poder apoyarme de imágenes que respalden mis puntos xD (quizá algún día... I guess).
Acabo de recordar el contenido extra que trae y... ASU... mejor dejarlo aquí por ahora. Si bien la duración del mismo no es tan extensa, dejan a uno con el deseo de jugar más niveles (y reclamar ese que se ocultó xD).
UUUFFF... este juego era lo que necesitaba luego de haber finalizado la trilogía de los DKC de SNES OwO.
Partiendo con una curiosa cinemática, todo termina por justificarse, hasta cierto punto, para llegar a un desenlace que no me "esperaba"... ya que rescatar a todos parecía algo más para el "true ending" xP.
Si bien los niveles no "parecen" tener algo que los haga destacar a simple vista, el uso de los interruptores permite utilizar los espacios recorridos para plantear un reto adicional, además de brindarle su encanto :3.
Sumándole el control de Pac-Man... UUUFFF x2... entre salir disparado en un carrera y el rebote luego de dar un salto, son varias las posibilidades presentadas dentro de "simples" escenarios B).
Debido al punto anterior, resulta ameno el coleccionar todas las frutas de los niveles, explorando los mismos en el proceso ya que, en ciertos casos, deberemos ir un poco más allá de los mismos :3.
Además de jugar con las perspectivas en ciertos puntos... da paso a buscar en lugares que uno consideraría inaccesibles, pero que, luego de un par de vueltas en el escenario, llega a toparse con la "solución" :D.
En ciertos escenarios, se hace un pequeño despliegue de pac-puntos, distribuidos de tal forma que recuerdan a fases de aquel clásico título de arcade... pero el juego no solo se queda con ello x.X...
Ahí termina por aparecer los laberintos, zonas especiales de regular tamaño que sí reflejan las fases antes mencionadas xP, solo que se le añaden alguna característica distintiva del mundo donde se presentan B).
Pasando a los jefes... UUUFFF x3... aunque, casi todos ellos, traen a la mesa una jugabilidad distinta que no fue introducida en los niveles "normales" ¬¬... tienen su respectivo lapso de tiempo para aprender las mecánicas.
Digo... de la nada te suben a una nave para empezar a dispararle a todo lo que se mueva... similar a Galaga... ya saben... fans de Galaga cuando... uhm... no sé... "nunca" lo jugué :v (aunque vi videos al respecto xP).
Y ya del jefe final no hablo porque escribiría tanto que mejor me pondría a elaborar un video opinión para poder apoyarme de imágenes que respalden mis puntos xD (quizá algún día... I guess).
Acabo de recordar el contenido extra que trae y... ASU... mejor dejarlo aquí por ahora. Si bien la duración del mismo no es tan extensa, dejan a uno con el deseo de jugar más niveles (y reclamar ese que se ocultó xD).
super mario 64 but it's a good IP.
Very melancholic
I was an idiot with my old review the game is pretty damn fun
I find this game to be a pretty fun mascot platformer most of the time, but if it wasn't for the constant backtracking needed for mastery and some horribly designed levels and bosses (Anubis Rex, King Galaxian, Spin Dizzy), It ends up being pretty mid for me. Best I can describe this game is the "1999 Backtracking Simulator"
The remake fixes a lot of my problems.
The remake fixes a lot of my problems.
the opening cutscene to this game is legitimately unhinged and traumatizing
https://youtu.be/ZKr9drt0y94
https://youtu.be/ZKr9drt0y94
munch those pellets white boy
Subestimado
Não é o meu pac Man word favorito, mas foi divertido jogar, lembra um pouco crash
Este es uno de los primeros juegos que jugue en consola, podria decir que el primer juego que jugue en mi vida y bueno en ese tiempo no sabia ingles o usar la play, pero si recordaba que el juego era sencillo en partes y muy dificl en otras.
Lo rejugue por el remake y pues vaya mi yo de 6 años tenia razón; pero el juego es aun peor en partes
Simplemente al ser 3 niveles con diferentes temáticas al parecer los desarrolladores decidieron hacer los niveles muy largos y a la vez muy inconsistentes; hay niveles que o son demasiado fáciles, son demasiado complejos o empiezan de la forma mas sencilla y luego la dificultad aumenta de manera estrepitosa haciendo bien frustrante el nivel; lo mismo aplica para las letras PACMAN, la fruta y los pajaros esos que desbloquean los laberintos tematicos; simplemente el plataformeo se vuelve muy jodido debido a que necesitas mucha precisión para varios de los hazards.
Otra cosa de mierda es la cámara, la cual es muy inconsistente, hay momentos en donde quiero caer a una zona en la que estuve de una altitud no muy alta, pero a la puta cámara se le da por no seguir a mi personaje y luego me mata, pero a veces no funciona asi en otros niveles y bueno no entiendo el porque.
La otra cosa es que sinceramente esto funcionaba mejor como plataformero 2D ya que hay un vacio a los lados en los cuales es muy fácil caer especialmente si es un camino estrecho.
Y bueno, los enemigos son una mierda, no por ser difíciles, si no por que pese a encajar con el nivel, realmente no destacan en nada y son demasiado genéricos, mas presenta desafío el plataformeo que los enemigos.
Aun no llego a los jefes pero segun dicen el del segundo nivel es difícil asi que uno mas a la liste de cosas inconsistentes.
Y finalmente los checkpoints, o son muy generosos o son muy escasos.
Pero no todo es malo, este juego tiene mucho carisma desde su pantalla de título, sus cinematicas, el como eliges opciones y ves a pacman moverse por el menu junto al fondo; el mundo donde eliges escenarios también es muy tematico y algo interactivo, el movimiento de pacman esta bien y la cantidad de contenido del mismo es buena; lo mejor serian los laberintos temáticos que no solo tienen texturas del nivel, sino que los fantasmas tienen la temática del nivel y de paso hay hazards en el mismo laberinto (aunque la cámara esta demsiado enfocada en el personaje); el audio es bastante bueno especialmente cuando recolectas fruta o pasas por un checkpoint, no es algo lineal, posta una vez acabas el nivel inicial puedes empezar el nivel 1 de cualquier otro mundo ah y la música es bastante buena, pese a ir en loop y no durar bastante es bastante variable e iconica.
En conclusión: Este juego no es tan bueno y sus secuelas al parecer hicieron un mejor trabajo en varias cosas; pero al menos sentó las bases para lo que seria la saga de pac-man world y la verdad es disfrutable cuando el juego no es insufrible, ojala el remake lo haga menos injusto en partes.
Lo rejugue por el remake y pues vaya mi yo de 6 años tenia razón; pero el juego es aun peor en partes
Simplemente al ser 3 niveles con diferentes temáticas al parecer los desarrolladores decidieron hacer los niveles muy largos y a la vez muy inconsistentes; hay niveles que o son demasiado fáciles, son demasiado complejos o empiezan de la forma mas sencilla y luego la dificultad aumenta de manera estrepitosa haciendo bien frustrante el nivel; lo mismo aplica para las letras PACMAN, la fruta y los pajaros esos que desbloquean los laberintos tematicos; simplemente el plataformeo se vuelve muy jodido debido a que necesitas mucha precisión para varios de los hazards.
Otra cosa de mierda es la cámara, la cual es muy inconsistente, hay momentos en donde quiero caer a una zona en la que estuve de una altitud no muy alta, pero a la puta cámara se le da por no seguir a mi personaje y luego me mata, pero a veces no funciona asi en otros niveles y bueno no entiendo el porque.
La otra cosa es que sinceramente esto funcionaba mejor como plataformero 2D ya que hay un vacio a los lados en los cuales es muy fácil caer especialmente si es un camino estrecho.
Y bueno, los enemigos son una mierda, no por ser difíciles, si no por que pese a encajar con el nivel, realmente no destacan en nada y son demasiado genéricos, mas presenta desafío el plataformeo que los enemigos.
Aun no llego a los jefes pero segun dicen el del segundo nivel es difícil asi que uno mas a la liste de cosas inconsistentes.
Y finalmente los checkpoints, o son muy generosos o son muy escasos.
Pero no todo es malo, este juego tiene mucho carisma desde su pantalla de título, sus cinematicas, el como eliges opciones y ves a pacman moverse por el menu junto al fondo; el mundo donde eliges escenarios también es muy tematico y algo interactivo, el movimiento de pacman esta bien y la cantidad de contenido del mismo es buena; lo mejor serian los laberintos temáticos que no solo tienen texturas del nivel, sino que los fantasmas tienen la temática del nivel y de paso hay hazards en el mismo laberinto (aunque la cámara esta demsiado enfocada en el personaje); el audio es bastante bueno especialmente cuando recolectas fruta o pasas por un checkpoint, no es algo lineal, posta una vez acabas el nivel inicial puedes empezar el nivel 1 de cualquier otro mundo ah y la música es bastante buena, pese a ir en loop y no durar bastante es bastante variable e iconica.
En conclusión: Este juego no es tan bueno y sus secuelas al parecer hicieron un mejor trabajo en varias cosas; pero al menos sentó las bases para lo que seria la saga de pac-man world y la verdad es disfrutable cuando el juego no es insufrible, ojala el remake lo haga menos injusto en partes.
waka
I used to have fever dreams involving this game intro that creeped me out as a kid
Very neat game. Good level design (except for the mazes and some levels and bosses), amazing music, SUPER CHARMING...
It's just a neat platformer. Super easy and short, too, even if there are some difficulty spikes that get kinda annoying because it's on pretty difficult bosses or the physics of the game get weird.
Nonetheless, a very good and fun game!
It's just a neat platformer. Super easy and short, too, even if there are some difficulty spikes that get kinda annoying because it's on pretty difficult bosses or the physics of the game get weird.
Nonetheless, a very good and fun game!
YEAHHHH GO PAC MAN GO PAC MAN GO PAC MAN GO GO GO
Really stupid save points and it was full of bugs, this game was broken
i'm not fighting Anubis Rex
Ta bien
You don't know primal fear until seeing Toc-Man celebrating on the game over screen after not seeing him because you skipped the cutscenes.
Overall an excellent and creative 3D platformer, and a genius way of putting Pac-Man in this genre. Although Anubis Rex's final phase is still a pain, and sometimes the camera angles aren't the best.
This game is fucking awesome, really good 3D platformer but its hard as shit at the end for no reason. Physics in this are trash but in a kinda good way, if you wiggle your stick at all times during movement you go faster and its sus as fuck. Level design is nice and simplistic but can also be a fair challenge for all ages. 7/10
The first game I remember playing. For that reason it has a very special place in my heart.