Pac-Man World 3

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Pac-Man World 3
It's your world. Eat it!
Genre(s): Adventure
Platform(s): PlayStation 2
Nintendo DS
Microsoft Windows
Xbox
Nintendo GameCube
PlayStation Portable
Release Date: November 15, 2005 (PS2 and Gamecube)
November 17, 2005 (Xbox)
December 6, 2005 (PSP)
December 7, 2005 (DS)
December 8, 2005 (PC)
Developer(s): Namco Hometec
Blitz Games
Publisher(s): Namco
Series: Pac-Man
Predecessor: Pac-Man World 2
Successor: Pac-Man World 4 (Cancelled)

Pac-Man World 3 is a 2005 platform game developed by Blitz Games and published by Namco. It is the sequel to Pac-Man World 2 and due to the cancellation of the fourth game in the Pac-Man World series, Pac-Man World 4, it is the third/final installment in the Pac-Man World trilogy (if you doesn't count Pac-Man World Rally).

Plot

In a search for power, a short evil genius called Erwin has found a way to suck raw energy out of the world of the Ghosts (the Spectral Realm). He has created a syphon that can penetrate into the Spectral Realm. This is causing the Spectral Realm to collapse into the real world (Pac-Land), bringing about an environmental catastrophe. Meanwhile, Pac-Man is celebrating his 25th birthday with his family when he is teleported by Orson, a former arch-nemesis of Pac-Man from the original Pac-Man World. Orson communicates to him and tells him about the Spectral Realm (after Pac-Man complains to Orson about messing up his party and throwing him into a trash pit). Pac-Man is attacked by fiery Spectral monsters of the orange, green, and purple varieties which have been driven mad by Erwin's hypnosis with Inky and Blinky (Clyde) have been kidnapped as part of Erwin's evil scheme, but Pinky and Clyde (Blinky) managed to escape.

Now Pac-Man must join forces with the ghosts, Orson, Pinky, and Clyde (Blinky) to stop Erwin before he destroys both the Real World and the Spectral Realm.

Good Qualities

  1. Pac-Man's Butt Bounce move gains a new ability. Every third bounce creates a shockwave that stuns nearby enemies. There are also specialized Power Pellets that change the way his shockwave works.
  2. This is the first game in which Pac-Man speaks, and the voice acting he was given is great and one of the best he ever had, if not the best.
  3. Tight and solid controls, although not as much as Pac-Man World 2 since the jump is quite heavy in this game in comparison to the said game.
  4. Nice callback to the first Pac-Man World, where Pac-Man is trying to celebrate his birthday and it's goes wrong.
  5. Since the game takes place in a wasteland full of machinery, the music fits very well for the setting.
  6. Decent writing and story, with a lot of funny moments with the dialogues, although some of the jokes are predictable and not funny.
    • Some of the dialogues in a level can be funny too, like when Orson said "No you didn't, shut up" to one of the guy that you rescue in a level.
  7. The game introduces new moves, such as punching, swinging, and climbing, making the game having more variaty.
  8. You can play as Pinky and Blinky, which is a first for Pac-Man games, although they are just here for help and are not playable for a full level, but it still neat and is the only platformer in the franchise where you can play as them, and probably the only game in the franchise in general where they have a major roles in the playable roster.
    • You can also play as Toc-Man, the final boss of the first Pac-Man World, although his design is not the same and is mostly created just for a robot that Pac-Man can ride.
  9. The puzzles are interesting, even by Pac-Man standards, since they require some reflections and unlike some other games that had puzzles, most of these aren't impossible to know how to do them without seeing a video of the game.
  10. The game offers 7 to 8 hours of gameplay, compared to 6 hours from the previous game.
  11. Decent amount of replay value, mostly because of the maze or the fact that you can play the original Arcade game.
  12. The graphics are good for its time and it holds up pretty well today, as the graphics even for 2005 standards are incredibly well detailed and look more like an early Xbox 360 game than a 6th gen console game (with the exception of the Nintendo DS version), the PSP had slighly downgraded graphics, but still looks good enough.
  13. The PSP version has multiplayer, which can be accessed via the game's Ad Hoc connection.
  14. Most of the characters are likable, especially Pac-Man and Orson, and Pac-Man even said to Ms. Pac-Man and his childrens that they were the best present he had, which was possibly intended as a moral.
  15. The power ups are really good and even more interesting than in Pac-Man World 2, since some of them are great attacks or can make you being stronger, they also are more varied than in the first two Pac-Man World games.
  16. Despite having some problems, the combat is decent and feels pretty fun despite being a bit unresponsive, it's also easy to do and isn't delayed unlike these games that were also released in 2005.
  17. Lot of epic moments, such as when Pac-Man defeated Erwin and the latter died in his own ship, in fact it's might even to be the most epic Pac-Man game along with the first Pac-Man World and Pac-In-Time.

Bad Qualities

  1. The Nintendo DS version is terrible, with it being full of glitches and having controls that are extremely unresponsive, not to mention that some levels had much worse level design than the console and PSP versions.
  2. Only two boss fights, both of which are the same, only one of them is harder.
  3. Erwin is a very weak villain and a poor fallow up from Spooky from the previous game, also his design feels very out of place, and looks more like a rejected Jimmy Neutron character.
  4. Despite most of them being funny, some of the jokes are predictable and not funny.
  5. Just like the first Pac-Man World game, save points save your current life count, meaning that it's could ruin your save files if you didn't have enough lives, it doesn't help that having extra lifes in this game is rather hard at times.
    • The PSP version doesn't have any save points, so if you get a Game Over, you have to restart at the beginning of the level.
  6. It's way easier than its predecessors (Except for the Gigatron battle, where Erwin launches K-Trons), since the enemies barely attack you in any ways and mostly can be killed easily without any problems, howewer some levels are still pretty hard and challenging.
  7. The framerate can drop significantly if there are at least four enemies on the screen at a time, howewer it isn't that noticeable.
    • The framerate is even worse in the PSP version, well in certain areas that is. That being said, the framerate in the Nintendo DS version is 5 times worse.
  8. Poor camera, as it's very janky and can cause some cheap hits or even deaths, the Nintendo DS version had an even worse camera.
  9. While the combat is decent, it still had problems since it can sometimes be unresponsive or even the fact that there's not many variaty in your attacks with the exception of the Pac-Butt bounce move.
  10. The North American PC version also has the infamous StarForce copy protection system, making it almost impossible to play on modern Windows systems.
    • Thankfully, the European versions instead use SecuROM, allowing the game to be played on modern Windows systems.

Reception

The game has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. However, the DS version has received generally unfavorable reviews due to glitches.

Metacritic holds a score (in order) of 44% for Nintendo DS, 61% for PlayStation Portable, 63% for PlayStation 2, 65% for Xbox, 66% for GameCube, and 74% for PC.

The game also got very divise opinions about it, some think that this game is good with some flaws and some that say that this game is not that good and is weaker than the other Pac-Man World games (more than World Rally), howewer most gamers had given this game positive reviews.

Trivia

  • The game was originally going to be subtitled "The Elixir of Life", but was shortened to just Pac-Man World 3 upon its release.
  • This game marks the first time Pac-Man has voiced dialogue within a video game. Previously, he had only made noises or screams, or had text appear on-screen. Pac-Man's voice is played by Martin T. Sherman, known for voicing characters such as Thomas the Tank Engine in the CGI-era of Thomas & Friends.
  • Unlike the previous two Pac-Man World games, Pac-Man World 3 was not released in Japan, likely either due to the formation of Bandai Namco Games or the heavy language translation process it would require.
  • This is the first Pac-Man game where the ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde and Orson) make an alliance with Pac-Man and are not portrayed as antagonists. The antagonist roles are filled in by Erwin, the Spectral Fiend, Spectral Monsters and Spectral Ghosts.
    • Other notable instances of Pac-Man forming alliances with the original Ghost Gang includes Pac-Man Monsters and the Pac-Man & the Ghostly Adventures series.
  • The Pac-Village design seen in the opening resembles the Pac-Village in Pac-Man World 2.
  • The Maze Mode in Pac-Man World 3 features power-ups that function very similarly to the power-ups in Pac-Man Arrangement (1996).
  • This game makes heavy usage of the Clyde and Blinky error, more so than any other entry in the series. The error is very noticeable in-game, and has led to lots of confusion.
  • According to Retro Gamer Magazine issue 207, a Game Boy Advance version of Pac-Man World 3 was planned, but was ultimately canceled. Very little information is known about it, but judging by Pac-Man World 2's GBA version, it likely would have greatly differed from the original.
    • Additionally, Blitz Games has stated they didn't know that a Game Boy Advance release was ever planned. This may suggest it did not get very far into development, if at all.
  • As Pac-Man's teleporting all over the place until he's in the air one last time, before he flies towards the cake, he says "Aah, well. Least this birthday's still better than my twentieth!" This is a reference to him mentioning his 20th Anniversary/20th Birthday in Pac-Man World.
  • The Museum features posters and banners originating from different Pac-Man games and ports:
  • The Bally Midway marquees and promotional flyers of Pac-Man can be seen in the museum, though all mentions and marks of Bally Midway are digitally erased.
  • A cover resembling the Neo Geo Pocket Color box art of Pac-Man can be seen (specifically based on the U.K. version), though the artwork is replaced with a 3D Pac-Man render from Pac-Man World 3. Most mentions of the Neo Geo Pocket Color are also erased; though strangely, the bottom line reading "Neogeo Pocket Software Cartridge" in plain text remains visible.
  • The classic winking pose of Pac-Man, using artwork from the first Pac-Man World game.

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