Pac-Man Party
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is a
party video game A party video game is a genre of video game that stems from in-person party games, involving player-to-player interaction as the central gameplay element. These games are often defined by simple controls which can be easily picked up and understoo ...
by
Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...
for the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
,
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDA). Designed to be the portable equivalent of the Windows desktop OS in the emerging Mobile device, mobile/port ...
, and
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
(with the latter released as ''Pac-Man Party 3D''). It is similar to the ''
Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...
'' series and ''
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
'' games for the Wii. In the game's story mode, players must retrieve a stolen cookie recipe from
Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...
's enemies Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde and return it to its rightful owner, Mr. Cookie. The game was released to coincide with Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. The game notably features redesigns of the main characters which would carry over to following ''Pac-Man'' titles in the mid-2010s, culminating with '' Ghostly Adventures''.


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
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
s, 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 video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
arcade games—''
Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...
'', ''
Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. 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 ...
'', and ''
Dig Dug is a maze arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player digs underground tunnels to attack enemies in each level, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rock ...
''—with either the
Wii Remote The Wii Remote, colloquially known 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 an ...
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, Ninten ...
. 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 mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...
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 1,000 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'' received "mixed or average" reviews, while ''Pac-Man Party 3D'' received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to the
review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. Many critics would criticize the minigames for being too repetitive or similar to others, and for the game going on for too long. In Japan, ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' gave the game a score of one six, one seven, one six, and one seven for the former; and two sevens, one six, and one eight for the latter. ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
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 series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...
'' 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 '' Compute ...
'' 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


External links

* {{Pac-Man series 2010 video games Digital board games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo 3DS games Pac-Man Party video games Tose (company) games Video game spinoffs Video games developed in Japan Video games set in castles Wii games Windows Mobile games