Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade) review "Ms. Pac Man has always been one of my favorite games, ever since I first played it in the Arcade some several years ago. Everything about the game was simply awesome for me. It was not the most complex game ever, sure, but it was damn fun to play, and isn't that all that really matters, anyways? This is one of my favorite arcade games of all time, and it is definitely better than Pac Man, at least in my opinion. "

Ms. Pac Man has always been one of my favorite games, ever since I first played it in the Arcade some several years ago. Everything about the game was simply awesome for me. It was not the most complex game ever, sure, but it was damn fun to play, and isn't that all that really matters, anyways? This is one of my favorite arcade games of all time, and it is definitely better than Pac Man, at least in my opinion.

There is not really much of a storyline to this game, all you do is just go into the actual game and eat power pellets and stuff. I think there is a reason for Ms. Pac Man chasing the ghosts, or vice versa (Pac Man couldn't get the job done?) but the game never really explains it, so I am not going to go into much details about the storyline, because I will probably look like a fool for making stuff up, so let's just move onto...

Graphics. The graphics in the game are rather good. For those of you that are unaware of this (rookies!), this game was made a long time ago. Therefore, the graphics are not going to be mind blowing 3D virtual style graphics or anything of the like. Instead, there is basically a white screen with a black background. Inside of the white screen, there are little dots, with long dark white lines as borders for the various rows. In between the rows are the dots, and there are big, dark dots which represent the big power pellets.

The ghosts are well designed, and you can tell the difference between the ghosts, which is always a good thing. This is a historically graphical game because the pretzels and prizes actually bounce and move around the screen, which was revolutionary for its time. I really did not think much about it at the time, but I read one day in a magazine that this was the first game with moving stuff, so I figured I would mention it.

The music in this game, for the most part, is non existant. The only real music you will really hear is present between stages, where the cut scenes take place. Otherwise, there is not really much music featured in this game at all. This is probably a good thing, because music featured during the actual stages would be distracting and pretty stupid, in my opinion.

Now, onto the sound effects in the game. The sound effects are decent, as most of you may know the only recognizable sound effect in the game is the sound of Ms. Pac Man eating the dots. It is a ''Wakka Wakka'' sound that sounds pretty cool, and it is definitely a classic sound effect. Other sound effects include the sound of you eating items and prizes, and running into ghosts and dying. Also, eating ghosts makes a different sound than when you eat dots. Just another piece of useless information.

The control in this game borders on mediocre. I think this might have to do a lot with the fact that the machine at my arcade had a messed up joystick, but the control in the game just did not cut it for me. Far too often I would be ready to turn and eat some dots, only to my dismay I would not turn and run into some enemy or obstacle instead. Otherwise, the control was all right, the only real thing you need is the joystick, there are no buttons or anything.

The actual game itself is very awesome, one of the best arcade games I have ever played. As most of you should know, this is the sequel to Pac Man. So, a lot of the stuff found in Pac Man is also found in this game. The game has the same basic concept. Run around, collect dots, eat power pellets to turn ghosts blue, eat ghosts, watch as ghosts get pissed off at you, avoid ghosts, eat more dots, rinse and repeat until you finish stage. Yes, that is the basic gameplay in a nutshell. But this is one of the most addictive games I have ever played, without a shadow of a doubt.

Like I have already mentioned, this is one of the most addictive games I have ever played. I remember about four or five years ago, I would stay at my arcade for up to an hour just playing this game over and over again. Some of you may be saying that I have no life, and you are 100 percent correct. I no longer play this game, but I will say that this game got me to do something few games could, so it has to have something going for it.

This is not a very challenging game, although it is somewhat of a challenge. Like most games, it is fairly easy early on, then it gets challenging after a while. The game is easy for the first few rounds, then it picks up challenge when the ghosts get knocked up on some crasy crap and go after you a heck of a lot harder. Who woulda ever guessed that old Inky had the ability to chase you down quicker than the speed of light, anyways?

Overall, this is one of the best arcade games I have ever played, and I definitely reccomend playing this classic game. There were also some console versions that are well worth checking out, but nothing beats the classic feeling of a nice, clean game of good old Arcade Ms. Pac Man. Now only if I could find an arcade around here that still has this game.. see what happens when I don't go to the arcade for six months straight? They seem to change!

Community review by psychopenguin (March 08, 2005) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.