Some characters have all the luck. I mean, look at Sonic. His speed makes him a natural
fit for anything that involves...well, speed. And how about Mario? The dude
has so much charm, he gets away with anything.
Baseball. Tennis. Throwing...parties.
But not all gaming characters are so lucky. Some of them are limited. Some of them don�t
have legs.
And when you add them, it just...it gets weird.
Pac-Man is an interesting character. Not, like, inherently...but he�s interesting
in this context. I mean, who�s a bigger gaming character than Pac-Man? You can count
them on one hand, and yet...unlike Mario and Sonic and Donkey Kong and all those other
iconic characters, most people only know Pac-Man for one game.
Pac-Man Pinball Advance isn�t that game.
Thing is, Pac-Man�s just a yellow ball. So the character�s not exactly versatile.
So many times, Namco has tried to turn Pac-Man into a mascot like Mario or Sonic, a mascot
that can transcend its original game. That�s just never worked with Pac-Man, and that�s
what makes this attempt so disappointing.
Unlike most of his spin-off attempts, pinball works for Pac-Man. It makes sense. The only
problem is...even though Pac-Man is a ball, the game never really gets rolling.he�s
certainly not a pinball.
Pac-Man Pinball Advance gets a few things wrong right off the bat. First off, this idea
that people are going to associate Pac-Man with things like grass worlds and haunted
houses...Pac-Man�s not Mario. The idea of combining pinball with Pac-Man�with the
pellets and the mazes and the neon�never actually goes in that direction.
It�s just Pac-Man in a pinball game.
Not a Pac-Man pinball game.
Conceptual issues aside, your pinball is a legless Pac-Man. So at least the game gets
that right. There are pellets scattered around the table, which you can collect and use to
buy power-ups. There�s even the occasional power pellet, which lets you eat the ghosts.
So there�s definitely a little Pac-Man here...your multi-ball is actually Ms. Pac Man, for god�s
sake. But again...it�s all just placed on top of a generic pinball game.
It�s aesthetic additions without any meaningful design integration.
Even once you get past the design shortcomings, you find out that the gameplay�s a disappointment,
too. Pac-Man Pinball Advance struggles with some really bad physics, most notably. It�s
like there�s no consistency from shot to shot. Things like the angles, the speed...you
can never really figure them out. You can hit the ball with the same timing, same force,
same momentum...and it goes somewhere else.
Speaking of things that are unexpected, Pac-Man Pinball Advance is a pinball game that doesn�t
keep track of high scores. I mean, I realize that may not sound like a very big deal if
you haven�t played a lot of pinball, but...high scores are kind of the whole point of pinball.
That�s like a face with legs.
It�s a crime against nature.
As a guy who likes old-school games and Pac-Man in particular...believe me, I get no joy from
telling you this. But Pac-Man Pinball Advance is just a poor pinball game. The license feels
tacked on, the physics are questionable and most importantly, the game just isn�t any
fun. Apparently, a big yellow ball does not a pinball master make.