Pac-Man World 3 (Nintendo DS)

Pac-Man World 3 (Nintendo DS)
This port should be eaten by Pac-Man himself.
Genre(s): Platformer Beat 'em up Adventure Action Platform(s): Nintendo DS Release: NA: December 7, 2005 EU: May 5, 2006 Developer(s): Human Soft Publisher(s): Namco Country: Hungary Predecessor: Pac-Man World 2 (Game Boy Advance)

Pac-Man World 3 is a platform video game developed by Namco Hometek and Blitz Games and published by Namco. The Nintendo DS version was ported by Human Soft, however, unlike the console versions that got mixed-to-positive reviews, the Nintendo DS port was panned by critics which will be the main focus of the page.

Plot

The plot is the same as the console versions.

Why Pac-Man Can't Go Home

1. The graphics are absolutely terrible, even for a 2005 DS game. Even games like Super Mario 64 DS, Pac-Pix, Spider-Man 2 , Sonic Rush, Kirby: Canvas Curse all came the same year on the DS and look much better than this game; it's also as far as looking like a whatered-down Nintendo 64 game that was ported to the Nintendo DS because of the N64 being discontinued.
2. Despite the controls being tight and decent in the console versions, this port has some terrible controls to the point of being very unresponsive and broken. Even worse, the game is extremely glitchy on this port (see WPMCGH#3), making it even worse than expected.
3. This port is for no exception to be the most glitchy version of this game, to the point that Pac-Man wants to force Human Soft to make the game less glitchy, as there are glitches almost everywhere and it's so bad that sometimes you will even get stuck in walls or on a platform. In fact, There's even a glitch where Pac-Man walks in the air! It could look as if this port was extremely rushed, almost on par with Sonic '06.
4. The levels are also rifled with invisible barriers, and you won't even know that these barriers are here.
5. Some of the music plays at the wrong levels; for example, The Spectral Vale music plays in The Spectral Cliffs instead of the said level.
6. All of the dialogues are gone, so now the game feels almost lifeless without them, as these were making the charm of the console version too, along with other good ideas, but here they're now gone, so there's no more funny moments, and it feels weird when you have played the console versions before.
7. Like the GBA versions of Pac-Man World and it's sequel, there aren't any FMV cutscenes due to the DS' hardware limitations, so the cutscenes are basically static images with text, and they are extremely awful, even more than the first two games on GBA. Even the Toru Iwatani interview uses static images instead of FMV!
8. While all versions of Pac-Man World 3 have a poor camera, this version is no exception for having the worst camera out of any versions of the game, because if the player was busy fighting, the camera wouldn't show where exactly the enemy who is preparing to attack is, and it can also move in a very incontrollable way.
9. All of the cutscenes, aside from the main one, which appears in the beginning and end, were eliminated. This was probably to speed up time to complete the game and have it released. The problem is that it's made this port feel like the game doesn't have a decent plot compared to the original version of the game, including the decent PSP version.
10. You have to use the touch screen to do a rev-roll. The problem with it is that the screen doesn't react well to your fingers, so if you don't have your stylus, the Rev-Roll is pretty much useless; even worse, some of the puzzles require it, making this port a real chore if you don't have a stylus.
11. There are fewer levels than in the console versions.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The soundtrack is still great, like in the console versions.
2. There are some extra levels and environments that were only in the Nintendo DS version that weren't in the other ports.

Reception

The DS version received overwelmingly negative reviews upon its release. The game holds a score of 44/100 ("Generally unfavorable reviews") on Metacritic and received a 4/10 from IGN. Nintendo World Report gave it a 5.5/10. The game was criticized for its level designs, an erratic camera, useless collectibles, and too many gizmos, while 14 lengthy levels, a "VR Maze Mode", and "cool" platforming elements were praised.

References

https://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/pac-man-world-3 https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/03/15/pac-man-world-3

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