Welcome to another edition of Genesis Does. The review article that looks at all things Sega Genesis. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m pretty sure you’re all well acquainted with the character in our game for this week. Pac-Man is often considered one of the most recognizable characters of all time. So, with his longevity, and positive history, it’s a given that any game to feature him would be at the very least playable, right? Well, maybe that might not be the case. But let’s find out anyway with this week’s review ofPac-Man 2: The New Adventures.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
PUBLISHER: Namco
GENRE: Point and Click
Pac-Man is a legend in the gaming industry. Since debuting in 1980 in the arcade’s, the game is easily one of the most iconic, and perhaps the most played video game of all time. You’d seriously be hard pressed to find a major console that doesn’t have Pac-Man ported in some way or another.
Pac-Man himself is often considered by many as the first video game protagonist. The popularity of the character in the 80’s was major, as he became a pop culture icon. He had his own cartoon show, as well as everything from pasta to cereal. Pac-Man’s success was astrononical. And it seemed like almost every game that was made with the character was solid quality.
That is, up until 1994, when Namco brought Pac-Man to the Genesis and SNES in a new game called Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures in 1994. The biggest, and most confusing thing is the title of the game. Pac-Man 2? Pac-Man had plenty of games prior to this one, so how this was the first direct sequel to the Pac-Man lineage was confusing. Even more so, the game in Japan is known as Hello! Pac-Man. So there’s certainly some deception in the title. But maybe the game is still solid despite its questionable title.
COVER STORY
It’s a decent cover. Pac-Man looks quite humorous, and it shows off one of the major parts of the game in the hang gliding, and it’s well drawn. If you’re a fan of Pac-Man, it’s a definite eye catcher for any fan of his.
STORY
It’s a day in the life of one of the most beloved video game characters of all time. Join Pac-Man as he has to do tasks for his family, as well as take on an evil which and her ghost cronies, as she intends to bring a giant bubblegum monster to life. Can Pac-Man save the day?
GAMEPLAY
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures is a point and click style adventure game. You control a cursor, as you have to help Pac-Man find his way around to complete the many tasks he has to perform. You move the cursor in all eight directions with the D-Pad. You use a slingshot that can deal with obstacles that get in his way with the B button, as well as tell him to go into a certain door. You can tell him which way to go with the C button. And you can throw a super pellet at Pac-Man with the A button. The six button controller is not needed to play this game.
The way the game works is as follows. You have to get Pac-Man to go from one spot to the next in order to find the items needed to complete each level. So, this is a fetch quest. You tell Pac-Man which way to go, and try your best to help him get there. You’ll have to do tasks like collect milk for Pac-Baby, get flowers on a hill, and save Pac-Jr.’s stolen guitar. So, yeah, the “New Adventures” so to speak are nothing more than glorified fetch quests. There are only a few stages in this game, but each get slightly more lengthy with the amount of stuff you have to do.
Now, all of that would be pretty simple to do, and the game would be somewhat enjoyable. But there is one big issue with the gameplay. And that’s the gimmick of Pac-Man’s mood. You see, the more you screw up, the worse Pac-Man’s mood can get. Slip up way too much, and Pac-Man gets depressed, and even angry at you. And the more upset he gets, the less likely he is to respond to the task you need him to do. And it can take a while to get him back in a good enough mood, so this can break the game at times.
This is the biggest problem that plagues the game. Pac-Man is touchy. He’s a major coward over practically everything, and unless you do everything just right, he’ll suffer from mood issues that can screw you over big time. Is this really how Namco wanted to represent their most beloved character? As a really emotional individual, who won’t listen to reason? This idea could have been handled a lot better.
For example, if certain events mattered more depending on the mood Pac-Man was in, similar to how Super Princess Peach handled things, then maybe I could cut it some slack. But considering how easy it is to mess up in this game, it never comes off as fun. It’s just pure tedium.
If you find ghosts to face off with, you can use a super pellet to turn Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man, and he’ll eat up all the ghosts in his way. You can store up to three at a time, and can find plenty more in certain areas. You’ll also have to go on a mine cart, as well as hang glide from area to area. There is definitely some variety when it comes to what has to be done to survive many of the hazards within, it’s just that most of them aren’t as fun as they honestly could be.
The game has two arcade games you can play. One is a port of the original Pac-Man, and the second is Pac-Jr, which is a remake of Ms. Pac-Man. You have to find the pieces of the Pac-Jr cart to play it, but once you find the arcade, you can go in and play until your heart’s content. It’s kind of sad when the mini-games are more fun to play than the actual game itself.
You can’t really get game over, since there are no areas to die in the game. However, you do get a password at the end of each level. It’s a decent length, and shouldn’t be too hard to remember. The game can be beaten, it just takes a lot of trial and error to keep Pac-Man from being whiny and impossible. It’s a real shame this game is as bad as it is, because there is an interesting title involved. It’s just a really poor showing.
GRAPHICS
The game’s graphics are really well done. Backgrounds look lush and cartoony, and all are very well detailed and colorful, using the Genesis’ limited color palette to the best of its abilities. While I harp on Pac-Man’s emotion system, it is easily the best example of the game’s quality graphics. PacMan himself is extremely expressive, and all of his emotions have their own quirks to them. He’ll be smug and energetic when he’s really happy, he’ll be shivering and timid when scared, and he’ll be red faced and kicking the ground when angry. The expressive nature of the character makes him one of the most memorable sprites of the 16-bit era, and a really great way to handle this character design-wise. It’s just a shame the game involved is so terrible.
MUSIC
The soundtrack is okay at best. The songs used are very cartoony and silly, but nothing really sticks out as ear candy. The best song is most likely the Super-Pac man theme that is very fast paced and zany. But other than that, it’s rather forgettable.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This is a bad game. When the character you have to “control” is often unresponsive, you really aren’t in for a treat. You’ll get far, and most likely one or two slip ups will start to blow that momentum, and it will often lead to tedium and annoyance. Which is a shame, considering how great the graphics look. If this was truly intended to be the sequel to Pac-Man, then it certainly doesn’t live up to the original in any way.
And that reason is simple. This feels like a total insult to the character of Pac-Man. The brave, ghost munching hero that we are all familiar with is degraded into an absolute coward, and this game never leaves you feeling satisfied with him, but just ticked off that this is how the mighty have fallen. Not to mention it’s just a game that gets really boring really quick. There are far better games to handle point and click style games as well. This is a game that is on par with the Atari port of Pac-Man as the worst game to have his likeness on it. If you find this game, you should just not bother with it. I’d say this game is better left avoided.
RATING: Thumbs Down