In a meeting room at Namco’s main headquarters sits a whiteboard, and on that whiteboard is a spider diagram with the phrase “Making Pacman Great Again” residing in the middle. Sprouting from there are a wild collection of ideas including an animated series, a 3-D platformer tied into the animated series, a Telltale game and an appearance in Smash Bros. Executives are shouting, throwing paperwork at each other, one intern is pitching his gritty Pacman reboot, and all the while, one developer is playing Crossy Road on his phone. Guess where, in that narrative, did the inspiration for PAC-MAN 256 came from?
Not even power-ups or the all-seeing eye of a 35 year old glitch can stop PAC-MAN 256 from just being the same old stuff we’ve already seen before, and done better in previous titles like the excellent Pacman: Championship Edition. Saved only by the fact it’s cheap, PAC-MAN 256 is not a game that will linger long in the memory.
The Humble Best of Bandai Namco Bundle just launched. It features games like Code Vein, Project Cars 3, and Tekken 7, and more. A percentage goes to support charity.
Neil writes: "Bored of Yakuza already? Had enough of Watch Dogs Legion? Done with DIRT 5? You'll want to get involved in the latest set of discounted Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles like those found in the Deals With Gold Sale. Fully playable across Xbox Series X|S as well, checking out the lists of cut-price games is a great way of filling your digital library. And the sale for 17th-23rd November 2020 ain't a bad one either."
The Humble Bandai Namco Bundle 4 is out now. It features games like Katamari Damacy Reroll, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, Pac-Man 256, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Premium Edition, and more.
