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by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 10/23/2013, 1:31pm PDT |
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Jerry Whorebach wrote:
The original Pac-Man CE is in my top ten games of the generation, partly because it gave me something to do with my ridiculous bachelor stick besides lose at fighting games, and partly because it was everything I ever wanted out of Pac-Man. If DX is as good as you say, I may have to amend that to everything I ever knew I wanted out of Pac-Man.
After watching a couple videos, I'm getting a serious "infinite spin" (good for the easily discouraged, irrelevant to hardcore score chasers, death to all us normal guys inbetween) vibe off the new bullet time and screen-clearing bomb mechanics. But at the same time, the pseudo-3D Pac-Mania visuals are maybe the most appealing thing I've ever seen. Why did I never buy this?? Oh, now I remember! It's because I was waiting for an XBLA sale, and apparently Namco doesn't participate in those. That probably explains why I never got the new Mr. Driller, either, despite being the world's number one fan of drilling shit.*
*Don't tell my social worker, she would send me to the TAR SANDS :(
I almost certainly fall within that "easily discouraged" category, but it feels like DX+ does an excellent job turning "easily discouraged" into "hardcore score chaser." While it's to be expected that I've had to use bombs less and less as I've gotten better, the fact that the game condescends to/punishes you by reducing the game speed when you use a bomb is an excellent incentive to learn how to play chicken with oncoming ghosts whenever possible as well as map out paths that leave escape options. Of course, the ticking clock demands efficiency in your pathfinding, so there's an additional level of risk/reward wagering added to ghost management if you want to have a super long line of ghosts (and sufficient power pill secreting ghosts) AND make it to the ghost-heavy + power pill screens that take 3:30-4:00 min of better-than-fucktarded play to unlock. Reducing your speed too often via death or bombs will ensure you don't see those screens and won't improve your score.
I'm not sure if the bullet-time is because it's impossible to react quickly enough at Speed 50 to use a bomb when suddenly cornered or if because it genuinely reduces the difficulty level a la infinite spin, but it doesn't feel like it makes the game a cheat the way modern Tetris is.
I love Mr. Driller. Ever since the Dreamcast days. No good at that either, but I love it. |
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