First Impressions…. Pac-Man 256

-Published by Namco Bandai Games

-Developed by Hipster Whale

-Released on Android, iOS

Pac-Man 256 is a stupidly awesome idea. You turn Pac-Man into a Crossy Road-esque endless runner but still make it play like the classic arcade game we all grew up with. Add that with placing a infamous kill screen as a game mechanic and you’ve got a really cool mobile game worth holding your time.

I guess I can start by talking about it’s gameplay. Unlike other endless runners, it keeps the Pac-Man mechanics by not giving you points by distance. Stuff like Temple Run, Crossy Road, track the score as a “how far have you gotten in a single run” gauge, but this is as Pac-Man as it gets, and you’ll want to hit 256 pellet chains, nom on ghosts, and collect fruits. You will have to keep treading forward as if you don’t, you’ll get swallowed by the mess that is the kill screen glitch. There are even types of ghosts created that as if they were in the kill screen mess, named “Glitchy”. Each type of ghost has special patterns and tricks, like how Pinky goes at a fast straight speed towards you, and how the sleeping ghosts wake and follow you, similar to Pac-Man Championship Edition. There’s power-ups too, but I’ll mention that in a bit.

Visually speaking, it looks like something made by Hipster Whale. The characters are voxel-based, but their look is still reminiscent of their iconic pixelated looks. It’s very basic looking, but it’s still pretty nice.

Unlike Crossy Road though, it’s model is vastly different. Crossy Road’s model was very unobtrusive, but this one somewhat gets in your way. You have credits, and this is kind of like a energy system that recharges overtime. You can play as many games as you want, but if you want to play a game with your selected power-ups, you’ll have to pay up a credit. It takes a few minutes to recharge one, similar to energy systems. The power-ups are a neat addition, but I could be totally fine without them, which is why this model is oddly enough, not as intrusive as I thought it’d be. There’s an option to get unlimited credits by spending eight dollars, which is actually not a bad deal. It’s a bit pricey for me (Since I could get something like Metal Gear Rising for cheaper via Steam sales) but if you really, really love this game, it’s worth it. That said, it’s quite the disappointment seeing this kind of model as Crossy Road has done super well with just cosmetics as a micro-transaction.

Crossy Road’s coin currency returns, and it’s used this time for upgrading the power-ups you use when using them. The upgrades take real-life time to fully take effect, but the upgrades are so subtle they personally don’t do much other than a reason to spend the coins.

It feels weird to say that I don’t find it unobtrusive, but that’s because I don’t. I’m way too used to the flurry of micro-transactions forced down your throat in these kind of games, so it’s welcome to see something that still would generously please free players as well as let those who really like the game to put down significant money.

It’s fun. It’s a cool idea. It’s well executed. It’s free.

I’m not sponsored by Namco or any crap like that, but I honestly really enjoyed trying to beat my high score over and over. It’s a shame that this at the moment isn’t gaining much traction, because this is a really dandy mobile game. It’s a good time killer, that’s what it is.

I recommend Pac-Man 256 to any arcade fanatic, those with a phone (And need things to play), and anybody who likes casual fun. It’s model is a bit iffy, but it didn’t stop me from munching tons and tons of pellets.

But that’s not the only mobile game I’m talking about, because I’ll be discussing Final Fantasy: Record Keeper tomorrow as a full fledged review!