

That Pac-Man sure is full of hot air, huh?Īt this point, it seems as if Ghostly Adventures not only caters to a young audience incapable of discerning thought, but doesn't even respect them. It's nice to know that even the fiercest of enemies can make nice. Pinky, Blinky, Inky, and Clyde-the ghosts from the original Pac-Man-roam the halls as if they aren't spirits, and you talk to them instead of trying to eat them. A school serves as a hub world for Pac-Man, and though that's hardly strange given that he's just a boy in Ghostly Adventures, the company he keeps begins the surreality that flows throughout this game. For those who enjoy A Game of Thrones, it can be funny to imagine that Sir C is really Cersei Lannister, though the big-nosed professor isn't quite as ruthless as the queen regent, at least not as far as we're shown. Characters loudly enunciate their lines as if they belong in a Saturday-morning cartoon, and the dialogue never ventures outside of the dry exposition that pushes the plot ever onward.

Who knew that Pac-Man had a dark side?Ī benign introduction welcomes you to the city of Pacopolis. In Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, the abstract barrier has been removed, and in the process, there's a surreal wrinkle to this entry-level platformer. Prepare to have your happy memories turned on their heads. After all, how could a yellow circle eating colorful doodles possibly be ominous? And the eyeballs of your eaten foes-those shocked, disembodied eyeballs-drifted back to the ghost hideout like a silly gag. But it was easy to ignore this endless endeavor when abstract visuals shielded you from the worst of Pac-Man's deeds. Like an unaltered version of a Grimm fairy tale, the Pac-Man games exist in a world in which he must constantly consume ghosts until he is eventually overwhelmed by the relentless determination of his poltergeist pursuers. There has always been a sinister underbelly to Pac-Man's maze adventures.
