This game is categorically worse than Pac-Man World 1 in almost every single way. That's the take-away from this.
It's a good game in its own right, and it pretty much follows the exact same design philosophy the first game does, with a emphasis on precise platforming, and step-by-step processes to getting items, often triggering switches and backtracking (Bit of a surprise considering one of the big sells of the game is more open 3D environments, and this game uses its openness in a fine way.) It manages to do some things that Pac-Man World 1 simply wouldn't have been able to do.
But I think everything Pac-Man World 2 tries to do, Pac-Man World 1 succeeds better. Pac-Man World 1's more theatre-stage (I call it 2.5D) type levels and camera lends the game a level of density that highlights all of that game's strong suits. Precision Platforming is far harder and more engaging in that game, and the levels are a lot more multi-layered and interesting in terms of the things you need to do to gather all the items.
(Edit: I wanna give a big example to look out for in 2, by the way. Notice how little the game asks you to find a particular type of fruit in order to open a treasure chest. The doors in Pac-Man 1 are one of the defining pieces of its puzzle, and Pac-Man World 2 uses its equivalent so rarely, especially since it's clearly uncomfortable putting switches inside)
The level themeing is worse. It's like Pac-Man World 1 already used a lot of the cool go-tos, so Pac-Man World 2 had to scratch its head a little. Snow and Volcano back to back is kind of a smoking gun.
And the soundtrack in the first game kicks ass compared to this one.
The game had some promise to me when I was in the forest levels, which are really creative and fun and instantly stop messing around like in the first World, with death pits littered around. But... After that the Snow and Volcano levels are just a lot more linear, boring, and standard, and it kind of highlights why the new perspective the game uses to me is really just a concession for people who are a lot more comfortable with a game like this. If you're going to do a change like that, why not use it more by making cool, actually open levels instead of easy-peasy hallways?
A lot of little things add up too. Like the camera itself in this game for instance is shockingly terrible, it's baffling how how many times you have to make a bad or blind jump because it won't turn the way you want it to.
Or in the Volcano there's a lot more times where you feel like you want to die or death abuse on purpose because you messed up a step to get a item (and the game barely gave any lives before the Snow area for some reason).
The bosses are terrible, especially Blinky.
Or the fact that there literally doesn't seem to be a reason to collect items and go for completion; It's fun anyway, but at least PW 1 gave you lives based off your score, and it had the locked up family members which meant that you needed to do a lot of completion at least for some levels to beat the game.
It just doesn't feel like a very noteworthy game. Most other platformers I've played are a lot more exciting than this in one way or another. This is just about as average as average gets, with a good few warts included.
If you can't tell I did stop after the Volcano as well, and I'm not in a rush to finish. But I will soon. If the Water levels somehow blow me away as hard as Down The Tubes in Pac-Man World 1 did, I'll eat my hat, but I needed to talk about this now.
EDIT: Oh my good lord, the water levels are terrible. And the last levels aren't exactly spectacular by any metric either.
It's a good game in its own right, and it pretty much follows the exact same design philosophy the first game does, with a emphasis on precise platforming, and step-by-step processes to getting items, often triggering switches and backtracking (Bit of a surprise considering one of the big sells of the game is more open 3D environments, and this game uses its openness in a fine way.) It manages to do some things that Pac-Man World 1 simply wouldn't have been able to do.
But I think everything Pac-Man World 2 tries to do, Pac-Man World 1 succeeds better. Pac-Man World 1's more theatre-stage (I call it 2.5D) type levels and camera lends the game a level of density that highlights all of that game's strong suits. Precision Platforming is far harder and more engaging in that game, and the levels are a lot more multi-layered and interesting in terms of the things you need to do to gather all the items.
(Edit: I wanna give a big example to look out for in 2, by the way. Notice how little the game asks you to find a particular type of fruit in order to open a treasure chest. The doors in Pac-Man 1 are one of the defining pieces of its puzzle, and Pac-Man World 2 uses its equivalent so rarely, especially since it's clearly uncomfortable putting switches inside)
The level themeing is worse. It's like Pac-Man World 1 already used a lot of the cool go-tos, so Pac-Man World 2 had to scratch its head a little. Snow and Volcano back to back is kind of a smoking gun.
And the soundtrack in the first game kicks ass compared to this one.
The game had some promise to me when I was in the forest levels, which are really creative and fun and instantly stop messing around like in the first World, with death pits littered around. But... After that the Snow and Volcano levels are just a lot more linear, boring, and standard, and it kind of highlights why the new perspective the game uses to me is really just a concession for people who are a lot more comfortable with a game like this. If you're going to do a change like that, why not use it more by making cool, actually open levels instead of easy-peasy hallways?
A lot of little things add up too. Like the camera itself in this game for instance is shockingly terrible, it's baffling how how many times you have to make a bad or blind jump because it won't turn the way you want it to.
Or in the Volcano there's a lot more times where you feel like you want to die or death abuse on purpose because you messed up a step to get a item (and the game barely gave any lives before the Snow area for some reason).
The bosses are terrible, especially Blinky.
Or the fact that there literally doesn't seem to be a reason to collect items and go for completion; It's fun anyway, but at least PW 1 gave you lives based off your score, and it had the locked up family members which meant that you needed to do a lot of completion at least for some levels to beat the game.
It just doesn't feel like a very noteworthy game. Most other platformers I've played are a lot more exciting than this in one way or another. This is just about as average as average gets, with a good few warts included.
If you can't tell I did stop after the Volcano as well, and I'm not in a rush to finish. But I will soon. If the Water levels somehow blow me away as hard as Down The Tubes in Pac-Man World 1 did, I'll eat my hat, but I needed to talk about this now.
EDIT: Oh my good lord, the water levels are terrible. And the last levels aren't exactly spectacular by any metric either.
NOWITSREYNTIME17
3 months ago