I’ve been a gamer since I was a little kid, and, when I was a kid, I played Pac-Man. First, it was on a Commodore 64, then the Atari 800, then the NES and the SNES. I transcended the game, upgrading to the NES-CD when I was in college, and finally I got a PlayStation 2 that I still have to this day. I finally got around to playing the original Pac-Man on the PlayStation Network, and it was pretty awesome.
Since Pac-Man came out in 1980, a lot has changed in the gaming world. While the concept of playing classic games on newer platforms has been a staple of gaming for decades, the idea of a full-fledged remake of a classic game has only been attempted once before. That game was Pac-Man 3D, which saw a mixed reception, but this time Namco has decided to go back to the drawing board and create a true successor to the first classic game. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Is this game really any good?” and the answer to that is a definitive “yes”.
Tetris 99 is a brilliant adaptation of a classic, but if Pac-Man 99 is any indication, this model for wild battles with 99 players can of course work perfectly with many classic games. The99 games are especially ideal for players who normally don’t like multiplayer or Battle Royale. They are still playing a single-player game, but with more potential complications due to the 98 other players. Pac-Man 99 essentially pits 99 players against each other, who must play the classic arcade game as best they can. Just like in Tetris 99, other players can make each other’s lives miserable. In this case, if you take an energy pill and eat ghosts, the ghost pacman sends jammers into other players’ screens. When you hit those jammers, you slow down. So the goal is to get an energy pill and eat the longest ghost train possible to overwhelm the other players with jammers.Pac-Man 99 Overview: Natural evolution of classical
It’s messy, it often feels completely random (and sometimes frustrating), but it’s absurdly fun. Granted, the actions of other players are generally not as disruptive as in Tetris. After all, your opponents can’t suddenly fill the screen with blocks. So Pac-Man 99 is pretty much the same as it’s always been, and the skills of individual players are a bigger factor in survival than what the other players do. Pac-Man 99 also plays like a classic arcade game, and the game manages to feel strange even in the modern era thanks to its strict controls. Pac-Man is not as agile as a running mouth. To turn it the other way, you basically have to do the movement before the actual turn. If you’ve never played a game from the series, it will seem archaic. Fortunately, Pac-Man 99 is free to download if you’re already a subscriber to the Nintendo Switch’s online service, so it’s not worth experimenting. Namco Bandai has done a remarkable job in developing Pac-Man , especially in the past decade. The Championship Edition games, for example, are excellent, but none of the iterations have changed the core gameplay. 99 simply expands the tried-and-true gameplay into a massive multiplayer competition, but the game itself remains completely old-school. That’s impressive. 
The graphics and soundtrack are instantly familiar, but they’re modern and impressive enough to not feel like a game that’s almost 40 years old. Joining a match is easy, it only takes a moment and you can join another match as soon as you are eliminated. Each round you gain experience points and you can level up. This makes it easy to show the experience level of a particular player, while adding a sense of progression. Pac-Man 99 is absolutely great as a completely free-to-play multiplayer game, but of course there are ways to spend money here too. The richest microtransactions are the skins, which go far beyond adding classic arcade backgrounds. Here the themes of many classic games change the overall look. So if you choose the Dig Dug skin, all characters and images will literally be changed to match that game. There are a total of 28 skins, including Rolling Thunder, Xevious, Bravomanand even mashups of classic Namco games. In addition, there are instant Pac-Man-themed skins that allow you to experience a log cabin, a garden, an igloo, and a pastel maze. Each new skin costs $2. In addition, you can unlock additional new game modes for $15. These include the ability to host private matches, CPU Battle mode (offline version of the game 99 against bots), Score Attack and Blind Time Attack. Score Attack is a race against the clock to maximize your score, and the final game is a challenge to complete the maze before time runs out. You can also opt for the deluxe package for $30, which gives you all the features. It’s hard to spend that much on a free version of a decades old game. Especially since the Tetris 99expansion for both standalone and single player mode is only $10, which is much more fun.
Pac-Man 99 : review –Buzz
Professional
- A classic game updated with clever Battle Royale elements for 99 players.
- An absurd pleasure, even free.
- Extra skins and modes for more variety
Cons
- The optional content package is a bit expensive
- Online subscription required on Nintendo Switch
- The controls can feel very unstable, especially for today’s players.
Pac-Man 99 is a must download. It combines intense online competition with classic single player gameplay to create an entirely new, yet familiar experience. The additional content is excellent, but too expensive. Whether you opt for the free version or spend money to buy additional content, there’s no shortage of entertainment. [Note: The free version of Pac-Man 99 for Switch Online] was used for this review.
