Pac-Man World 2

Pac-Man World 2
256px North American cover of the PS2 version.
Developer(s)	Namco, Full Fat
Publisher(s)	Namco, Zoo Digital Publishing, Hip Games
Distributor(s)	DSI Games Sony Computer Entertainment (Europe) Nintendo (GameCube Player's Choice Edition)
Platforms	GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox Game Boy Advance Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	February 24, 2002 PlayStation 2 GameCube Windows Xbox Game Boy Advance
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Pac-Man World 2 (パックマンワールド2, Pakkuman Wārudo Tsū) is a video game by Namco for Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows released in 2002. The Xbox version is not compatible with Xbox 360. Like the original Pac-Man World, the player controls the character of Pac-Man in a 3D platform game.

Story

Long ago, back in medieval times, an evil spirit known as Spooky had terrorized all of Pac-Land. In response to this, the great Wizard Pac created a potion that turned 5 ordinary fruits into the "Golden Fruit." A young knight called Sir Pac-a-lot fought against Spooky and sealed him underneath a large tree using the Golden Fruit, which were attached to the branches of the tree. In the present time, late at night, Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde sneak into the village and, in their mischief, pick the Golden Fruit off the tree in the center of town. Unfortunately, this releases Spooky from his prison. Spooky tells the ghosts to take the Golden Fruit and follow him if they wish to rid the land of the Pac-people forever. When Pac-Man awakens, he hears the news from Professor Pac about the Golden Fruit and Spooky, and sets off to defeat the ghosts and Spooky. After Pac-Man defeats the ghosts (who all used machines to stop him), he places the golden fruit back on the tree's branches. However, Spooky is still alive and tries to destroy Pac-Man. Harnessing the power of the Golden Fruit just as Sir Pac-a-lot had, Pac-Man re-imprisons Spooky and returns the Golden Fruit to where they belong. As the townsfolk are congratulating Pac-Man, the Ghosts plan to free Spooky again after hearing Spooky say his final words, "My ghosts will free me again!" Chomp-Chomp, overhearing the conversation, runs inside the house and eats some power pellets, turning the Ghosts blue. After realizing that, the Ghosts turned and fled, with Chomp-Chomp on their tails. He came back later and stood next to Pac-Man, with his lips stained blue.

Gameplay

The player begins with five lives instead of three. The game has 25 levels and 16 Galaxian mazes in six different environments. The plot involves Pac-Man finding five golden fruits that were stolen by ghosts. These fruits were vital to his town. Pac-Man sometimes must fight and defeat enemies in order to progress. At the end of each area is a boss. The boss is always a ghost in a giant machine (the fifth machine holds all four ghosts), excluding the final boss. There are many items to collect in this game including fruit, the traditional dots, and tokens. Each of the levels has eight tokens, as well as a single bonus token for achieving 100% completion on the level and another bonus token for completing the time trial. Because there are 19 non-boss levels, and because the Pac-Village doesn't have a time trial, the player has to beat every part of the game with 100% completion except for possibly the last level if you accumulate 189 tokens. Galaxians, which show up once in most non-boss levels, transport Pac-Man into a 3D maze, akin to the classic arcade games. Not all levels contain all of the collectible items, nor do they contain the same number of each.

The tokens unlock old Pac-Man incarnations in the arcade in Pac-Village. Critics have described these games as "perfect emulations". These unlockable "emulations" are Pac-Man, Pac-Attack (The updated version from the Japanese Namco Anthology 2), Pac-Mania, and Ms. Pac-Man, unlockable in that order. Also unlockable is a jukebox, which enables the player to listen to the game's soundtrack, as well as a gallery of concept art. However, the GBA version doesn't have any arcade games, even though it lists them in its copyrights when loaded.

Time trials

After completing any non-boss level, the player can attempt a time trial. The goal is to work through the level as quickly as possible after hitting the stopwatch at the beginning. Various clocks have been scattered throughout the level where items used to be. Collecting these clocks allows the player to recover the indicated number of seconds by stopping the clock; however, time clocks will not accumulate, sometimes making it better to skip a "2" clock less than two seconds after hitting a "4" clock. Unlike the standard game mode, the player must start the level over from the beginning if Pac-Man dies at any point in the time trial.

Reception

The GameCube version of Pac-Man World 2 has an average score of 73.83% on Game Rankings. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions each have an average score of 68.18% and 67.69% respectively. The GameCube version became a Player's Choice title, the PlayStation 2 version became a Greatest Hits title and the Xbox version became a Platinum Hits title. The game also has a score of 8.0 on Gamespot for the PS2 version, a 7.9 for the Gamecube version, and a 7.5 for the Xbox version. The game has been criticized for its camera system, but praised for its musical score.

The Player's Choice edition of the GameCube version included Pac-Man Vs. as a bonus pack-in in North America. Also for North America in 2008, Pac-Man World 2, along with Pac-Man World 3 and Pac-Man World Rally, were included in a 3-pack called Pac-Man Power Pack for the PlayStation 2.

Music

The music composed for this game is lighthearted, save for some rather intense boss battle scores. Pac-Man World 2's music is composed by David Logan Music, Inc.

External links

• Pac-Man World 2 at GameSpot
• Pac-Man World 2 at IGN
• Pac-Man World 2 SoundTrack at YouTube