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IGN Review of Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions
Namco has consistently provided some amazing classic collections over the years. With a dearth of 3DS games to play, Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions promised a collection of great old-school, new, and exclusive games. But Dimensions is a weak anthology, and at times is actually a bastardization of two awesome game series. Whoops!
There are six total games in the Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions: the classic versions of Pac-Man and Galaga, the updated, crazy cool XBLA/PSN versions of both games, and two brand new titles exclusive to the 3DS.
Pac-Man Tilt is a platformer where you physically rotate your 3DS to traverse the levels. It's kind of like playing the Casino Night Zone in Sonic, but you have to tilt to run up walls. If that doesn't sound very fun to you, that's because it isn't. The levels are boring, and the tilt mechanics are poorly implemented, forcing you to turn the 3DS far more than is comfortable. The level design doesn't do anything clever with the mechanic, instead just forcing you to use it because the ledges are too high to jump over. Awkwardly rotating my 3DS just to progress isn't fun.
Galaga 3D Impact is an on-rails, first-person space shooter where classic Galaga enemies fly onto the screen, working towards the boss at the end of each level. You can absorb enemies to upgrade weapons, and it has some promise to it, but the game is old school to the point of feeling dated (you start completely over every time you die, BOO!) and the game is so rigid that it quickly loses its excitement and novelty.
Both of these games are bad for the same reason: they completely ignore their parent game. Nobody buys a Pac-Man game and says, "I hope he has arms and legs, and requires me to use pinball flippers!" And if you want Galaga, you aren't looking for a mediocre Panzer Dragoon clone.
What's really odd is that Pac-Man Tilt turns off the 3D option (because tilting the system ruins the effect). Not to nitpick here, but it's the 3DS. It has 3D. It's kind of the whole damn point. So if you're going to play a game that actually takes away the selling point of the system, it better be f---ing incredible.
Pac-Man Championship Edition and Galaga Legions are the highlights in the collection. These are both amazing games, and while I've had them on my Xbox 360 for years now, it's nice to have a cool, 3D portable version. But these should be $5 downloads in the 3DS e-shop, not tacked onto a full priced 3DS release.
The classic versions of Pac-Man and Galaga are just that, and their game mechanics are past the point of critique. However, they're confined to the top screen of the 3DS, making them too small. They still work, it's just not a very impressive presentation.
Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions also includes a 3D movie about Pac-Man. It doesn't really affect the score, but this is one of the most batsh-- things I've ever seen. It actually creates a mythos for Pac-Man that turns a classic arcade game into an absurd Saturday AM cartoon. And Pac-Man already had one of those, remember? He was a park ranger, and it was terrible.
©2011-08-01, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
There are six total games in the Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions: the classic versions of Pac-Man and Galaga, the updated, crazy cool XBLA/PSN versions of both games, and two brand new titles exclusive to the 3DS.
Pac-Man Tilt is a platformer where you physically rotate your 3DS to traverse the levels. It's kind of like playing the Casino Night Zone in Sonic, but you have to tilt to run up walls. If that doesn't sound very fun to you, that's because it isn't. The levels are boring, and the tilt mechanics are poorly implemented, forcing you to turn the 3DS far more than is comfortable. The level design doesn't do anything clever with the mechanic, instead just forcing you to use it because the ledges are too high to jump over. Awkwardly rotating my 3DS just to progress isn't fun.
Galaga 3D Impact is an on-rails, first-person space shooter where classic Galaga enemies fly onto the screen, working towards the boss at the end of each level. You can absorb enemies to upgrade weapons, and it has some promise to it, but the game is old school to the point of feeling dated (you start completely over every time you die, BOO!) and the game is so rigid that it quickly loses its excitement and novelty.
Both of these games are bad for the same reason: they completely ignore their parent game. Nobody buys a Pac-Man game and says, "I hope he has arms and legs, and requires me to use pinball flippers!" And if you want Galaga, you aren't looking for a mediocre Panzer Dragoon clone.
What's really odd is that Pac-Man Tilt turns off the 3D option (because tilting the system ruins the effect). Not to nitpick here, but it's the 3DS. It has 3D. It's kind of the whole damn point. So if you're going to play a game that actually takes away the selling point of the system, it better be f---ing incredible.
Pac-Man Championship Edition and Galaga Legions are the highlights in the collection. These are both amazing games, and while I've had them on my Xbox 360 for years now, it's nice to have a cool, 3D portable version. But these should be $5 downloads in the 3DS e-shop, not tacked onto a full priced 3DS release.
The classic versions of Pac-Man and Galaga are just that, and their game mechanics are past the point of critique. However, they're confined to the top screen of the 3DS, making them too small. They still work, it's just not a very impressive presentation.
Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions also includes a 3D movie about Pac-Man. It doesn't really affect the score, but this is one of the most batsh-- things I've ever seen. It actually creates a mythos for Pac-Man that turns a classic arcade game into an absurd Saturday AM cartoon. And Pac-Man already had one of those, remember? He was a park ranger, and it was terrible.
©2011-08-01, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved