SNES - Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Format
SNES
Publisher
Namco
Developer
Namco
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Shooter

Pac-Man 2

By Eric
26th Jan 05

Without a hint of a shadow of a doubt in my mind, I declare Pac-Man 2 to be the video game sequel which by far changes itself the most from the original. This game has nothing to do with going through mazes AT ALL. In fact, Pac-Man now sports a cartoony look, complete with arms and legs! The job now is to get the little guy around his homeworld while he completes various quests and sometimes subquests.

The thing is...you have no direct control over Pac-Man this time. He goes where he wants, and your control is limited to giving him power dots to eat ghosts, shooting him or other obstacles with a slingshot, and telling him which direction to look in. Usually, he'll also end up walking in that direction, but if you give in to your dark side and repeatedly abuse poor Pac-Man by shooting him in the face, he'll become so miserable that he doesn't really listen to anything you say.

Having limited control sounds terrible, but it can actually be quite fun due to the way it's executed. Pac-Man is well aware of your presence and will often respond to your actions in rather humorous ways. Keep feeding him with fruit you shoot down from trees and he'll become so happy that he goosesteps like an idiot. Piss him off and he's likely to go around kicking things, vandalizing, and even stealing in some cases. One of my personal favorite moments is watching an angry Pac-Man steal a balloon, then popping the thing with the slingshot so loudly that the explosion makes him fall on his back in a state of shock, twitching and staring wide-eyed at the sky.

Of course, there are chapters to complete, but the missions are beyond lame. Get some milk for baby Pac...get a flower for Ms.Pac Man...get Pac Man Jrs. guitar back...yada yada. For some reason, Pac Man opts to go about these tasks like a typical male, meaning in the most difficult way possible. No, you can't just go to the florist for Ms. Pac Man, can you? You have to climb a damn mountain to pick ONE flower off the top, you little idiot! During the entire game, the ghosts (you know the ones I mean) try to stop you because their witch leader commanded it. Why would she want to stop Pac Man from doing errands, anyway? Up until the end of the game, he's completely oblivious to her existence. She doesn't seem to have any evil plans other than being a jerk, either. But maybe I'm being too hard on it. The game is meant to be fun and cartoony, and cartoons don't have to have competent villains.

Pac-Man's homeworld is evidently more dangerous than the back alleys of Vice City, so you'll be spending most of your time getting him from point A to point B in one piece. Of course, just walking there is no fun, and you need to interact with the environment to make Pac-Man do hilarious things if you want to enjoy yourself. There's also plenty of times where you'll need to shoot something that's a danger to Pac-Man or tell him to look out before he walks off a cliff or wakes up a mean dog or makes whatever dumbass mistake he would make without you there to watch his back. That's fun, but the hang glider and mine cart mini-games are not. All you can do is tell him to go higher/faster and shoot him to make him descend/jump over obstacles. Not only that, but these minigames can be unnecessarily long and frustrating. I hate all mine cart levels now thanks to this game. There's only three or four of these moments, but I'd rather there be none.

The original Pac-Man can be played, of course, but you'll need to get Pac-Man into the arcade every time you want to. It'd be nicer just to select it from a menu, although it is funny to watch him kick the arcade cabinet and sulk when he gets his butt kicked. All in all, Pac-Man 2 is a pretty short game, and there are some moments that make you hate it, but I couldn't help but enjoy myself. It can make you feel like Pac-Man really is your buddy that you have to watch out for...either that or he's your poor little whipping boy. However you treat him, he'll react to you realistically, making him perhaps the most interactive character in the 16-bit era. So c'mon...shoot down that food so Pac-Man can have some lunch...No wait, that's a stray cat! Aim to the right! Oh dear...that looks like it hurts...so many scratches...

-- Eric 26th Jan 05

SNES Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures Images