PAC-MAN 256 Review

Developer: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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PAC-MAN 256 isn’t anything like other Pac-Man games. From the makers of Crossy Road, it’s an endless take on the usual Pac-Man format. Instead of running around a maze you’re running upwards, collecting dots, munching up power pellets, and dodging ghosts. It’s a format that works but could do with offering you some more reasons to keep on playing.

Dispensing with virtual buttons, PAC-MAN 256’s control scheme is centered around swipes. At first, this might seem a little inaccurate but it soon proves quite straight forward and feeling a lot more natural than a virtual d-pad. As you progress, the maze grows in front of you, keeping you on your toes. Ghosts are easy enough to spot but you have to plan ahead in order to dodge their trajectory. Each type has their own personality too, meaning that some might follow a set path, while others home in on you, making things much trickier.

Fortunately, there are power-ups to pick up. Besides the trusty power pellet of old, you can also pick up a laser that will automatically shoot the ghosts, a tornado power-up and so forth. It’s simply done but that ties into PAC-MAN 256’s entire simple nature.

You’ll spend much of your time with PAC-MAN 256 trying to beat your previous high score an your earlier dot combo, but besides score chasing, there are limited reasons to come back for more. You can’t unlock new characters or areas so the game stays mostly the same no matter what.

While being free, you don’t have to worry about an energy meter with credits only used if you want to activate a power-up, but longevity is going to be the issue for PAC-MAN 256. It’s great fun for a time, but you’ll soon start to wish there was more of an aim to what unfolds here.