Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 is a 3D Platformer released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS in 2014. As with its predecessor from 2013, this game is based on the plot and characters of the computer-animated TV show of the same name, which in turn very loosely mirrored elements of the classic Arcade game. For those who never watched the animated show, this game looks and plays almost like something made by someone who had Pac-Man described to them, but never played it themselves.

Unlike the prior game on Nintendo 3DS, this game is a direct port of the console version of the game, albeit scaled down with far less-impressive visuals (not that the original game was very impressive to begin with). This game uses a 3D world and characters and features the same level design as the console version, but is lacking a lot of environmental detail, has worse textures, has gotten rid of numerous background characters, and even with all of those sacrifices it still suffers from worse framerates.

In addition, many will likely be put off by the presentation here, as the character designs are the worst sort of market-tested trash made for children you can imagine, complete with cringe-worthy voices for the characters and a soundtrack that tries way too hard to be “cool” with its bombastic energy.

The gameplay, though only loosely related to anything gamers would recognize as Pac-Man, is actually pretty decent, with players working their way through largely linear 3D levels, chomping enemies and collecting pickups along the way. In particular I find it to be quite enjoyable when you get the opportunity to chain together ghost-chomping attacks one after another like a combo attack.

As I noted with the console version of the game, this game fixes the camera issues that were present in its predecessor on consoles, but there is one flaw from the prior game that remains here – aiming with special abilities still sucks, to the point where you may very well feel like you’re better off without those abilities if it wasn’t for the fact that the levels they’re acquired in outright need those abilities to progress.

In the end, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 is an unimpressive port of a game that was somewhat middling to begin with. It’s not a terrible game, but there are better choices for 3D Platformers on Nintendo 3DS. If you were a massive fan of the TV series, this will probably satisfy you. Otherwise, you’re better off getting a different Platformer.

tl;dr – Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 is a 3D Platformer based on the animated TV show of the same name that’s loosely based on the classic Arcade game. This game is a direct port of the console game, and it has unfortunately had to suffer quite a few cutbacks to work on Nintendo 3DS. What remains is a so-so port of a so-so Platformer. It’s not bad, but you have better options.

Grade: C

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