PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ Review

Earlier this year, Pac-Man Museum+ was released, and I got a chance to check it out on Game Pass for the Xbox; this title is full of Pac-Man goodness! Guaranteed you have played some of the games out of this collection of 14-titles. Still, there are a couple that you probably aren't familiar with, like the Pac-Man 256 or the Japan-exclusive Pac & Pal . 

Pac-Man Museum+ is interesting as it is not just a collection of games; you will need to complete the required task to play each game. Most of the games require you to play the titles that you have unlocked at least twice, like playing Pac-In Time twice. So you can't just jump in and play anything you feel like; it will require some work! The nice part about this is you will try out every game, not just a few you already know.

Besides going around eating pellets and avoiding ghosts, you will also be in charge of running an arcade. You get to choose where you want all the arcade cabinets placed, where decorations like balloons and statues will go, and what kind of carpet the arcade has. You get to put vending and gacha machines where you want. When you play, you will earn coins for the tasks that you complete that you can spend on more tries for the games or other items like figures from the gacha machine. If you love collecting all the figures in real life, chances are you will spend a lot of coins here! The different ghosts like Blinky will visit your arcade the more you play, which is neat to see; it's satisfying to see others enjoying your game centre. 

The graphics in the main game while you are in the arcade are bright and colourful and are in an isometric style. The games look just like the original titles but are cleaned up and look super crisp. There is an option to turn on a CRT filter for the games, but for the older titles, it just doesn't seem to work well and looks bad. So I didn't bother; the original games looked good without trying to add this filter on top. Pac-Man Museum+ has excellent sound in the arcade; you can hear music playing from the other arcade cabinets, making you feel like you are visiting this place that only has Pac-Man titles to check out. The sound effects are crisp and clear and fit very well with the feeling of the gaming centre.

The 14-titles in this collection range from the original Pac-Man arcade game released in 1980 to more recent releases in the franchise like Pac-Man 256 from 2016. Some titles are single-player, but others like Pac-Man Battle Royale support up to four players fighting it out to become the best Pac-Man; there can be just one! The ultra-colourful Pac-Man Championship Edition is here to make your eyes go crazy and challenge you to get the highest score possible! I played a ton of this game when it first came out, so I had to see how bad my hand-eye coordination has gotten over the last few years.

A lot of the titles were a lot of fun to check out. I never had a chance to try out like Pac-Attack. This puzzle-type game feels like Tetris with Pac-Man-themed items to stack, or Pac Motos, an action game where you try to knock opponents off the platform; these are a ton of fun to play! Pac-In-Time was not a great addition to the collection; this one felt frustrating and not fun. I only played it twice to unlock one of the other games! 

I find the multiplayer titles are the ones I keep returning to. Pac-Man 256 is essentially Crossy Road but has you playing as different versions of Pac-Man or cars or even a chicken trying to stay away from ghosts and the crazy-looking kill screen Glitch that is chasing after you by heading to the top of the screen. This game supports up to four players, and you work together to get as far as you can. Even if you die, your teammates can bring you back to life if they collect the Pac-Man-shaped icon on the screen, so this game gets hectic and crazy very fast! There are various themed levels you can play on, including one with flowers and bugs, another with vehicles, and even one set in an office. 

Pac-Man Battle Royale has players trying to collect more pellets and eat the super pellets so they can eat ghosts and other people they are playing against. If multiple Pac-Men have eaten pellets, you will bounce against each other until someone's power runs out, and they shrink again. Once this happens, they are susceptible to being eaten. If all the super pellets have been eaten, collect the fruit to make the pellets replenish the area again. This leads to more crazy chaos as you all race toward the super pellet, trying to be the most powerful of the group.

Pac-Man Museum+ is a lot of fun and is an excellent collection of games from the Pac-Man franchise. Some titles have aged better than others, but I don't think you can go wrong from having this piece of history in your personal collection. Even if you are just trying to get the highest scores possible on all the titles since all the games have online leaderboards that you can try to be at the top of!