PC

The Latest Pac-Man Game Breaks The Rules

You touch a ghost unaffected by a Power Pellet, and you die. That’s how it was. That’s how it should always be. This is madness, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2.

It’s just the sort of madness fans of the first Pac-Man Championship Edition game should get a kick out of. Touch a ghost once, bounce off. Touch that ghost a second time, it flies into the air, and when it lands it is coming for your round yellow arse.

It’s a new twist that goes against everything we’ve been taught since Pac-Man first became a thing, but then the Championship Edition series isn’t much for tradition. Like the original, the sequel is all about speed and reflexes and finding the perfect path. The ghost-bump is an advanced tactic that a player in complete control will never have to resort to. They will leap over gaps via the new jump platforms or use a bomb jump to pick up a stage’s fruit, shaving seconds off their run time.

Here’s me, trying to be all fast and stuff. Mind you I am playing with keyboard controls, as the Steam version is not playing well with Xbox One controllers and Windows 10.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, like its predecessor, is a game that’s meant to be played in a trance-like state. The colours and lights and sounds, those are for onlookers. All that matters is dots and ghosts. When that kicks in, be it in the numerous challenge modes or the new adventure mode, you barely even notice the crimes against Pac-nature.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is now available on Steam, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.


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