Gamer reviews for PAC-MAN 256 - Endless Arcade Maze

Glitch Perfect

Pac-Man's infamous glitch is now its own game. Map 256 is an impossible level to beat in the original Pac-Man title as the game just splits the screen into an incoherent mess. The reason for this is the game being programmed as an 8-bit integer, 255 being the highest value it can hold. If I remember correctly some PlayStation era games has this integer limitation too, specifically the Final Fantasy games (e.g. you cannot raise your characters' stats past 255 in Final Fantasy VIII).

History lesson aside, this arcade classic exploits the premise of its buggy origins. Pac-Man 256 is beauty in the middle of chaos, not just because of its colorful visual aesthetics, or my own personal nostalgia, but because it updates the classic game with modern gameplay mechanics.

Pac-Man 256 is free to download and play, though it retains its arcade roots. Do not worry, Hipster Whale did make sure that you won't be hemorrhaging coins out of your pockets. The in-app purchase options of this game is wonderful. A credit is required to play the game, and you spend this credit if you continue after you navigated Pac-Man to his death. The credits is limited at six and you can replenish it after a few minutes. The credits are also used in using power-ups. You can bypass the entire system and have unlimited credits by paying $7.99. There are other options too like coin doublers and credit boost, but why bother? Just get the unlimited credits and you are done.

Pac-Man 256 is an endless runner which has a pretty high difficulty setting. It is not impossible to play though, if that is what you are asking. However, a little bit of skill is needed if you want to go far in this game. The core gameplay is familiar, as you are going to eat pellets and run away from / chase the ghosts just like before. This time around, there is an added challenge: running away from the glitch that slowly disintegrates the game. The game is more about survival, as you will get overwhelmed anyway, but this is all about being able to

The power-up system is buffed up in order to keep up with the added complexity and difficulty of the core gameplay. The power pellets do exactly the same as before, but you can unlock additional power-ups as you spend more time playing the game. And you will spend a lot of time playing the game because it is fun, and the gameplay is just timeless and eternal. You'd thought that you cannot improve on the classic Pac-Man, but you can. This is a testament of that.

Pac-Man largely relies on its art direction. Though we have seen 3D Pac-Man before, and it did look and play good, there is nothing that exceeds the 2D low fidelity. There might not be thousands of polygons in this game, but wow, the colors are just lighting up my brain. Music is also great because it is the same as ever, iconic munching in chiptune greatness!

Download this game immediately and pay for the unlimited credits. Nothing in the AppStore comes even close to this game in terms of value and polish. Pac-Man 256 is how you treat a classic IP and bring it to a new audience, and pleasing the hardcore fans at the same time.