Pac-Man Party
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is a party game by
Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...
for the
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and
Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
. It is similar to the ''
Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...
'' series and ''
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
'' games for the Wii. In the game's story mode, players must retrieve a stolen cookie recipe from
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
's enemies
Blinky Blinky may refer to: Characters * ''Blinky'' (comics), a character in the UK comic ''The Dandy'' * Blinky (ghost), a red (sometimes orange) ghost in the ''Pac-Man'' franchise * Blinky (mascot), the mascot of FreeDOS * Blinky (The Simpsons), thr ...
, Pinky, Inky, and
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by going to a location called Mirage Oasis and return the recipe to its rightful owner, Mr. Cookie. The game was released to coincide with Pac-Man's 30th anniversary.


Gameplay

The game includes a story mode known as "Mr. Cookie's Recipe". It also has a party mode for up to four players. It also has over 50 minigames, which when played, allows players to unlock bonus content. It also has a "Classic Games" mode where players can play three classic
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
arcade games including ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'', ''
Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to ''Galaxian'' (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starshi ...
'', and ''
Dig Dug is a maze game, maze arcade game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them unde ...
'', with either the
Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...
turned sideways or a
Classic Controller The is a game controller produced by Nintendo for the Wii home video game console. While it later featured some compatibility with the Wii U console, the controller was ultimately succeeded by the Wii U Pro Controller. In April 2014, Nintendo d ...
. The 3DS version of the game allows players to do link-up 4 player with only one cartridge. The Wii version has two extra boards that the 3DS version does not have. A scaled-down version on
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
has 2D graphics and contains 10 mini games. It lacks the "Classic Games" mode that the Wii and 3DS versions have but all three of the games from that mode have had their own separate releases on Windows Phone. In the game all players start at Mr. Cookie's factory with 1000 cookies. The main object is to collect a number of cookies and get to the cookie factory to win. When a player goes to an empty space or an empty castle, the player can build a castle or claim it. When players go to their own castle they receive cookies (depending on the level). A player landing on an opponent's castle will battle in a minigame (attack and defense). If the attacking player wins, the player takes the opponent's castle. If the defending player wins, the attack player/players lose the number of cookies (depending on the castle's level). If a player lands on a Millionaire Manor, something good may happen. If a player lands on a Tarot Tent, something bad may happen. If a player lands on Dr. Labo's Lab, the player might go to a different space. Should the player pass an exclamation point (!) space enough times, and something major will happen, and then the player will play a boss minigame. The player can then return to the cookie factory to get a cookie bonus along with a castle bonus for each castle gained.


Reception

''Pac-Man Party'' was met with mixed reviews from critics. Many would criticize the minigames for being too repetitive or similar to others, and for the game going on for too long. It holds a 59/100 on review aggregator website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. ''Eurogamer Italy'' was the most critical of the game, disliking its slow-paced gameplay, "uninspired" soundtrack and repetitive minigames, saying that the board game aspect was "convoluted" in comparison to the ''
Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...
'' series. ''
GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'' criticized its low difficulty level in the single-player campaign and sound effects for being "annoying", while ''Nintendojo'' criticized the tilt controls in some of the minigames. ''Nintendo World Report'', ''Eurogamer Italy'', ''Nintendojo'' and ''GamesRadar+'' would all criticize some of the minigames for being too similar to each other and for being repetitive after a while, with ''Eurogamer'' in particular labeling many of them as "unoriginal". ''Nintendo World Report'' also criticized the lack of other ''Pac-Man'' series characters such as Ms. Pac-Man, and that the included arcade games should have been those from the ''Pac-Man'' franchise instead of other Namco titles. Despite its criticism, reviewers would praise its minigame selection, presentation and inclusion of Namco arcade games. ''Nintendo World Report'' was the most positive towards the game, praising its cartoony art-style, entertaining minigames and easy accessibility for players, saying that it has enough unique ideas to distinguish it from being a ''Mario Party'' clone. They also praised the board game aesthetic for its quick pace. ''Nintendojo'' commented that it made for a good family game, praising its soundtrack, minigame selection, and for the arcade games being a "great bonus". ''Eurogamer Italy'' echoed a similar response, saying that the inclusion of the arcade games was one of the only few positives for the game, alongside its interesting control layouts for some of the minigames. ''GamesRadar+'' applauded the game's presentation and graphical style, which they commented look good for a Wii title.


Notes


References

{{Pac-Man series 2010 video games Digital board games Multiplayer video games Nintendo 3DS games Pac-Man Party video games Wii games Windows Phone games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in castles Video game spin-offs