Pac Man Pinball

One Response to “Pac Man Pinball”

1. David P. Castellani says:

   April 22, 2010 at 10:58 pm

   This pinball game takes elements from the PACMAN series and uses its classic theme in the form of pinball. And it all ties in well. This is video pinball at its best with some small comings. It incorporates most elements that made Pacman a classic such as collecting pellets, avoiding ghosts, collecting potential-ups and chasing ghosts in the realm of a visually appealing pinball game that makes you marvel why an thought of this caliber hasn’t come about sooner. The Pacman theme fits seamlessly with a pinball game. This game features a 3-dimensional pacman as the ball and characters from both Pacman and Pacman World has bumpers and triggers. It goes beyond just theming out a table with Pacman graphics, its gameplay is fused well with Pacman elements that made the original and its followings a classic.

   From the launch of the ball (Pacman), the ghost are caged up for 30 seconds and bumpers are in place of the gaps to prevent
   
   immediate loss of life as standard with pinball. Upon expiration of the “safety” cycle, the ghosts are released from the cage and are positioned underneath your paddles and the bumpers are removed. Certain triggers upon impact will release potential-ups. If these potential-ups are collected by Pacman then the ghosts will turn blue and be released out onto the penetrate, vulnerable to be eaten by Pacman. The game also features ramps and other portals that are opened up by triggers, all the elements of pinball that you come to expect plus elements that until now have been untouched.

   Pellets are sporadic amongst the penetrate in set locations. When all the pellets are eaten, you will advance one level, fruit will be released and the pellets will reset. New fruit will come availabe when you the ball (pacman) gets shot up one ramp 4 times. Each fruit progressively worth more points. Multi-ball / pacman is a lot fun as well as it is intuitive, the focus on the screen shifts to always cover the ball that’s coming towards your paddles. Many pellets, points and ghosts can be had during this mode and it all adds to the excitement. These pellets can be used as currency or coins to shop at the store, which is in the house that opens up by accomplishing certain triggers and ramp quests. With this cash, you can open up mini sports meeting or release elements of the game (such as fruit or ramps). Different sections of the house (main area shop, cellar and observatory) will open up with different triggers and quests, each section hosting a different mini game. The cellar hosts an all out collect pellets marathon, flip you paddles to shoot Pacman into as many pellets as you can before falling owing to the gap between the paddles, which will transfer you back to the regular penetrate. Collect all pellets, and the pellets reset into a different shape on the cellar penetrate (Pacman, ghost, circle etc). Endless fun, points and pellet credits will be bought until you let Pacman fall owing to your paddles. The observatory hosts the vertical scroller, very similiar to a retro racing game, which Pacman flies owing to space and tries to avoid the ghosts who roam back and forth while he collects pellets and potential-ups. Both mini sports meeting are both fun and intuitive. Especially the observatory game, it makes you marvel why such brilliance hasn’t been thought of sooner.

   Mini sports meeting add a lot of exciting to video pinball and has been the essential element to prolong excitement in console pinball sports meeting since the original “Pinball” for NES. Mini sports meeting such as being taken to cellar of the house, where you go owing to a series of collecting pellets and another where pacman is zapped owing to space to collect pellets owing to a dynamic vertical scroller really add to the excitement and replay regard. Its very well done.

   Pros: Real time physics are used, emulating an actual pinball game. Surpising for its theme yet welcomed. Such physics make for a gradual learning curve, making it harder to hit triggers and targets at first. But with some experience, the user will grasp the controls. Offers two boards to play, each penetrate has two different affect schemes. The game offers a excellent variety.

   Cons: No high score saves. Reminiscent of back in the NES days when the gamer had to write down his scores in a notebook. There is no need for that anymore, I’m not sure why they didn’t include this in the game.

   No tale mode, despite flawless and fun gameplay, a common feature of this genre is to add elements of a tale mode and level progession. You won’t find any of that here. Which is unfortunate because a game this fun could substantially increase its replay regard with some tale mode or level up progession, each level offering up a different penetrate. This game could some clarification from Sonic Spinball(Sega), Sonic Pinball (GBA) and the like. Video pinball on consoles has the capacity to be so much more, why limit yourself to one penetrate and elements of real space — video pinball demands more depth and dimension in order to succeed.

   This game offers very small in the line of features. No high score penetrate and no level of difficulty. No control menus or configurations except for muting sound efx and music. I hope they make a sequel that incorporates tale mode, penetrate progression, tournaments and more features such as a hi-score penetrate. This game has a lot of potential to be so much more but until then I won’t give it a exact score but one that comes pretty close.

   Ratings
   
   Graphics: 4 out of 5
   
   Sound and Music: 4 out of 5
   
   Gameplay: 5 out of 5
   
   Replay regard: 3.5 out of 5
   
   Mini-sports meeting, quests and side quests: 5 out of 5
   
   Level and Penetrate variety: 3 out of 5, more boards and tale progression would help
   
   Fun factor: 4 out of 5

   By and large: 4 out of 5
   Rating: 4 / 5