Game Review: Pac-Man And Galaga Dimensions

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

For: Nintendo 3DS

From: Namco Bandai

ESRB Rating: Everyone 10-plus (comic mischief, fantasy violence)

Price: $40

Dual screens aside, Nintendo's 3DS still has one advantage over its trendier, phone-call-making portable competition, and it isn't the 3D gimmick.

Rather - and as "Pac-Man Tilt" ably demonstrates - it's the ability to combine tilt and touch controls with real, tactile buttons and put all three into simultaneous, chaotic play.

"Tilt" represents one-seventh of "Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions," which combines five other games and a silly "Pac-Man" movie into a package that's both great fun and noticeably deficient.

For many, the star attractions will be the games they've played before. "Dimensions" includes arcade ports of the original "Pac-Man" and "Galaga," both of which play perfectly despite not being an ideal fit for the 3DS' horizontal screens. "Dimensions" amusingly compensates by allowing you to view the action through a mock cabinet, curved CRT monitor effect and all. Everything still looks a little small, but not so much that the games are hard to play.

"Dimensions" also includes the "Pac-Man Championship Edition" and "Galaga Legions" reboots. Given that these newer games were designed for widescreen displays and analog joysticks, their ports to the 3DS feel more natural. The only downside is the hardware's fault: That 3DS joypad isn't as precise as a 360 or PS3 controller's joystick, and you'll occasionally pay for that in "PMCE" with your life.

If you have a question right now, it's probably regarding why "Dimensions" includes those two games but not "Pac-Man Championship Edition DX" or "Galaga Legions DX," both of which released to even greater acclaim than their predecessors received. There's no good answer other than the likelihood of Namco holding them so it can double-dip with a second compilation. That's unfortunate, but the original reboots hold up awfully well, so it only partially stings.

Instead, "Dimensions" reserves those spots for two new games that take specific advantage of the 3DS hardware.

"Galaga 3D Impact" re-imagines "Galaga" as a first-person rail shooter, and you can use either the accelerometer or joypad to aim and shoot down contemporary representations of the "Galaga" waves you know and despise.

The new viewpoint is no replacement for traditional 2D "Galaga," especially as presented in "Legions," but "Impact" easily fulfills its mission as a challenging throw-in whose aim is to turn an arcade classic on its ear for one time only. It sticks to imitating the things that make other rail shooters fun, and enhances the experience with an upgradable weapons tree that makes inspired use of the iconic "Galaga" tractor beam.

Ultimately, though, it's "Tilt" - in which players run, jump, roll and ride as Pac-Man - that sheds enticing light on what's possible when the 3DS' control inputs are working in tandem.

At its core, "Tilt" controls like any other sidescrolling platformer with regard to running and jumping. But if you want to destroy certain obstacles and clear a level as quickly as possible for a higher score, you'll want to tilt the DS and send Pac-Man into a roll that's faster and more dangerous than his top running speed. A typical "Tilt" level also features platforms, cannons, bomb balls and other apparatuses that you must move and aim using the accelerometer - sometimes while simultaneously using the buttons to control Pac-Man and the touchscreen to activate a crucial power pellet.

"Tilt's" 30 levels make increasingly frantic utilization of these tandems, and achieving top marks is a legitimately tricky good time. Had Namco gone whole hog with the idea and upped the level count to the triple digits, this sliver of "Dimensions" may have been worth the price of admission all by itself.

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