It was bound to happen someday.  Pac-Man, being a round yellow ball, was destined to star in a game that emulates those old marble maze games where you tilt the maze to roll around a marble.  Similar to Kirby Tilt N Tumble, you must tilt your tablet device to roll Pac-Man around a maze, eating all the dots and avoiding all the ghosts in order to make it to the exit of each level.  But luckily, Pac-Man has friends to help him this time.  Pac-Man Friends is available to download on iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.

In each level, you must tilt your tablet to make Pac-Man eat all the dots in the maze and then make it to the exit door in time.  In later stages you may have to nab a key to open the door as well.  In many levels, you’ll have to avoid colliding into ghost monsters.  If you do, you’ll lose a life and must start the level over again.  As you eat dots, bonus fruit will appear.  Make sure to eat all the fruit for the highest score.  If you spot a power pellet, make sure to gobble it so you can chomp any ghosts for a limited time.

However, in most mazes you not only have to keep track of Pac-Man, but his friends as well.  Pac-Man’s friends roll around the mazes along with Pac-Man, and they can eat dots, too.  But you must also keep them away from ghosts, as if they touch one, you’ll have to start the level over.  Pac-Man’s friends are different colors and have various abilities and skills.  Gray Pac-Men are made of metal and roll at a different speed than Pac does.  The invisible Pac-Man can sneak by ghosts, and the luminous blue Pac-Man glows in the dark and can light up the way to see in dark mazes.  There are many other friends you can unlock later.

When you complete levels, you’ll earn up to three stars.  You’ll want to earn as many of these stars as you can as that’s how you unlock new worlds by collecting a certain number of stars.  You can earn a star by getting Pac-Man to the exit, and another by getting all the Pac-Men to the goal.  Oftentimes you’ll have to get a high enough score to get that last star.

If you get hit by a ghost or run out of time, you’ll have to start the level over.  But if you have a cherry in reserve, you can start right where you left off.  Once per day, you can get a free cherry or time extender, or you can buy them with real money at the in-game shop.  Use your cherries wisely for the tougher levels.

The game provides many options on how to control the game.  You can choose to hold the tablet at an angle, flat, upright, or even upside-down (for when you’re lying in bed I guess).  Unfortunately, Pac-Man moves a bit sluggish, so it’s hard to avoid the speedier ghosts in levels.  Plus it can get difficult and it seems like they purposely made it so you’ll HAVE to use cherries or buy more to finish a stage.  Plus the game has an amateurish feel to it and doesn’t have that classic Pac-Man vibe like other tablet Pac-games have (such as Pac N Jump or Pac-Chomp).  But other than that, the game’s not too bad.  At least it doesn’t use characters and designs from the awful Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures cartoon!

Kid Factor:

Reading skill is helpful for the text instructions, but the game is pretty easy to figure out just by playing.  Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the high level of difficulty.

Tags: Game Reviews