PLAYSTATION GAME RECOMMENDATIONS |

[#] Pac-Man World (Namco, PlayStation, 1999)

Ah shit, here comes Pac-Man.

I already beat the next two Pac-Man World games. Had to go for the hat trick, right? Mostly, I remember this one frustrating me as a kid--and then frustrating me as an adult, to the point where I actually streamed it back in 2019 only to give up on the Anubis Rex boss and play Minecraft instead. Sure enough, it all came flooding back to me--this game was built by assholes. It might look bright and colorful (and it certainly is lush), but it's got the heart of an NES platformer, so take your time, learn where's safe to stand for the bosses, be precise (I relied on the D-pad in my playthrough), and expect unavoidable damage.

Pac-Man has to (and I do mean has to, as the game rudely reminds you should to get to the final boss without them) rescue six of his friends from the clutches of Toc-Man, scattering them across six lands from ruins to space to weirdass, spinning funhouse levels. These levels are nicely varied, not all that long, let you save often, and provide ample opportunities for bonus lives, thankfully. Mazes are naturally built into the levels and provided as optional extras for finding Galaxians in levels, but the ghost AI and occupational hazards of some of the later mazes make them a headache, especially when you're trying to conserve lives for the actual quest portion.

And of that quest portion! If you're used to the free camera of the PS2 Pac-Man World games, here, you're given a fixed 2D platformer-like camera--though Pac-Man still moves in 3D. This means, yes, you can fall right off the edge of stages quite easily where your depth perception fails you. I'm not even getting into the variety of flame jet hazards, wonky spinning platforms, clunky bosses, and traps that basically expect you to tank damage. I don't like save states, but I wound up relying on them as levels got more..."creative" over time. At the end of the day, Pac-Man World is a quick, cute adventure with some neat ideas that nonetheless finds your suffering very, very funny.

Recommended for... those people who think beating really hard games is a badge of honor (dickheads).