Pac-Man World Rally

Ever since Mario Kart hit the scene back on the N64, the world has gone completely mad with kart racing games. Good gosh, we’ve seen just about every video-game character in a weapon-laden go-kart, and the games overall don’t get much better or different than Mario Kart was … most are copycat titles trying to borrow off of the success of the original, and Namco Bandai has released a new kart racer that unfortunately doesn’t fare any better.

Pac Man World Rally features all of the characters form the Pac Man games, including Blinky, Inky, Clyde, Ms. Pac Man, Pac Jr., and of course Pac Man himself. There are a few others in there to unlock as you go, as well as a couple that were from some other Namco titles (no Dig Dug … what gives???), and each one of them gets a kart with different size, weight, acceleration, speed, handling, and so forth. The game controls are relatively simple, and there are buttons to brake, launch weapons or powerups, and of course hit the gas as you race other opponents around 15 different tracks.

There are a couple of game modes to choose from in Pac Man World Rally … a career mode which allows you to race “fruit cups” in order to try and place first and unlock new tracks, a quick race mode in which you can just race one track for fun, and even a battle mode that has you running around an arena grabbing weapons and powerups and trying to demolish the other players in order to be the last man standing or grab as many points possible through deathmatches, etc.

As stated in the opening paragraph, this game really doesn’t do anything new that we haven’t seen in umpteen billion other kart racing games, including scattered weapons like bombs and snowmen or shields that are dropped or shot around the track. Granted there are shortcuts that can be unlocked by grabbing fruit powerups, and by eating enough dots your car becomes a big mechanical Pac Man for 10 seconds while other racers turn into blue ghosts so you can eat them, but these things really aren’t a main focus outside of a nice distraction to avoid monotony.

Secondly, the game’s racing (the main focus) really isn’t that fun. There’s jumps, speed ramps, sharp turns, and again shortcuts … but there’s not a real feeling of speed or even a challenge that you encounter. In addition, regardless of how all of the racer’s stats get set up in the categories, no one vehicle feels like it handles any differently than any other, thus making kart selection simply a matter of personal character choice rather than trying to get more acceleration on a curvy track or more speed on a straighter on and so on.

Lastly, even though there are tracks and characters to unlock, the fun factor and overall lasting gameplay just aren’t there. Once you’ve done the races (which won’t take you more than an afternoon) and seen what there is to see, it’s a pretty sure bet that you probably won’t have a whole lot of want to pop the game in and play it again. There are three different difficulty levels, but neither one seemed any harder than the other. Again, no challenge really to the game, and no reason to go back and try to go over it after the first time.

Ultimately, I have to say that I was disappointed in what could have been a really unique opportunity to make kart racing into something unique given the long track history (no pun intended) of the Pac Man franchise. There are a couple of elements that give it its own flavor … but overall anyone who’s played kart racing games before will have seen everything that this game offers, and probably will be quick to walk away from it as well. If you’re thinking of giving it a try, see if your rental store has it on a rainy day.

Gameplay: 5.0
There are some unique elements to Pac Man, like the fruit shortcuts and being able to chomp other racers, but outside of that everything from track design to powerups just looks like the same recycled ideas that we’ve all seen a thousand times before. The game is also way too easy and won’t take long to go through.  

Graphics: 6.0 
Cartoony and colorful, yet washed out looking. Everything just kind of blends together in the background as you whiz by at what seems like 20 MPH. The characters were represented well, but sometimes had quirky or weird movements to some that just didn’t make a lot of sense.

Sound: 5.1
OK … I have to say that someone has to be creative to come up with different variations to Pac Man music, but listening to it over and over again in horror, rock, latin, etc. styles just gets repetitive. In addition, the characters don’t do or say much outside of grunts or squeaks. 

Difficulty: Easy
As stated a few times before, the game really doesn’t pose any challenge regardless of difficulty level. Players that are experts and players that are not in the field of kart racing will be able to pick the game up and run with it and probably beat it without much problem.  

Concept: 5.2
This could have really done something unique, especially with everything that Pac Man and friends have been involved in over the years, but unfortunately it doesn’t. The race modes are too easy, and the battle mode just seems too clunky to even be really fun.  

Multiplayer: 6.5
Obviously in games like this multiplayer shines out and usually holds it together. The multiplayer is a lot more fun than the single-player mode since it is two humans versus each other, but even this probably won’t cause anyone to want to hang onto it for long.

Overall: 5.2
Well, unfortunately Pac Man has shown us why he does good at eating, but not at driving. As stated before, if you really want to give this game a try then go and rent it. The couple of days is more than enough to do everything you can do with it, and you will get to take it back for something else later.