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.
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.