Review: Ms. PAC-MAN

Overview From the iTunes' Page: "Relive the retro action with the undisputed queen of the arcades in Ms. PAC-MAN for your iPhone. Chomp yoru way to a champion score as you gobble dots, chase down delicious bouncing fruit, and eat up the ghosts when they're feeling blue. Learn the twists and turns of four unique maze designs in the 256 stages of this faithful rendition of the classic game." Gameplay The blushing and bowed Ms. PAC-MAN gets a make-over for her iPhone debut, bringing her foes Blinky, Pinky, Inky, & Clyde (the ghosties) along with her.

Tap the screen to get started and you're greeted with a few choices: Play Game, Options, High Scores, and Help. High Scores are, well. . . high scores. Options only allows you to toggle sounds off/on. And Help, well, if you need help playing this classic, you need more than this game has to offer (though the Hints & Tips make for an interesting read). Play Game is where the action begins, and upon firing up a game you'll be prompted with the biggest decision of your Mrs. PAC-MAN life: which control mode to enable. Now, this isn't something to make light of, as your choice will determine whether you'll be tapping, swiping, or tilting your iPhone in your quest to gobble pellets.

Okay, it's not that big of a deal, as once you select your control mode and enter the game, you can change it by accessing the Menu button in the bottom-left corner of the screen (which also pauses gameplay). You start with 5 lives and 3 options to continue, though once you complete a level you can always begin a new game from that point going forward. Additionally, if you get a phone call, want to access another program, or accidentally hit the iPhones 'Home' button, relaunching Mrs. PAC-MAN will drop you right in the middle of where you left off -- for better or worse. Chomp up all the pellets to advance levels and gain points. For serious bonuses, eat the ghosts upon activating one of the four power pellets and the food (fruits & pretezels) as they bounce by. Review I have to admit, Ms. PAC-MAN at least started out pretty rad. I remember sweating away the summer afternoons in my garage on this sit-down arcade classic, and admit Namco's iPhone rendition brought me back.

Though the key to fun relies heavily on selecting the proper control-mode:

• D-Pad: Difficult to tap the pad in the correct spot while trying to watch & maneuver Mrs. PAC-MAN.
• Accelerometer: One word... NO.
• Swipe: Uber-responsive, doesn't inhibit your view of the action, and doesn't matter where you swipe on the large touch-screen.

Now, 'Swipe' mode, which I've now dubbed the best and most efficient control setting, wasn't running correctly on previous versions of Mrs. PAC-MAN, which might explain their lowly iTunes' average rating of 2.5 stars. Aside from this, I found the game neat for being able to pick-up right where I left if I had to close the app suddenly. Also, being able to start a new game from the furthest point I'd unlocked made things more interesting than having to sweat through all the lowly levels again. However, at the end of the day, it's pretty much just PAC-MAN. I'm not sure about you, but nearly 3 decades after its initial release, and with the current eye-candy available today, I can only run around downing dots for so long. Namco's main attempt to modernize the classic, integrating Accelerometer controls, left much to be desired (i.e. having it work remotely well). Summary Fun for a while, but fails to bring enough new-school flavor to keep me engaged long-term... especially for the price, Mrs. PAC-MAN isn't exactly the cheap date she once was.

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