Pac-Man World Re-Pac Video Review

[Frank]

Hey guys! For my latest GameFrank video, I decided to do a video review of Pac-Man World Re-Pac. Forgot to add a disclaimer in the video, but a digital Steam of the game was provided by Namco for the purpose of review.





This is likely going to be the last video review for a little while since I want to focus more on my Frank's Five series. 

I also did a written review of it, you're welcome to check it out as well, although the video is more fun

https://opencritic.com/critic/7093/frank-v-

I'll still be doing written reviews here and there, just would like to focus the video creativity on other things!

[Moonface]

Since starting this game last night I've encountered a few negative aspects during my time so far, and was curious if you had come across any of them too so finally watched this review. You brought up one of them, which is the poor depth of field; I don't know what it is that makes it so hard to judge depth in this game, since I never had a problem with the Crash or Spyro remakes when it came to judging depth and it isn't like those games use a depth of field blur effect or something. My guess is maybe it's the camera being too low down at times and making the player reliant on the shadow, but I find I never remember to even use the shadow to judge where I'm landing.

Another big problem I've been having is the ramps you boost roll off of to get over gaps. It is horrifically inconsistent, especially in the Space area which is where I'm at right now. No matter what I did I could not get Pac-Man to make it over the laser gate at the start of the first level using the ramp, and had to do some weird jump mid-boost off the ramp to actually make it which seems wrong. There was also another ramp later where I barely even made it across a gap and didn't get close to the height needed to grab all the Pac-Dots floating in the air, yet I had a fully charged boost before hitting the ramp so I have no clue what was wrong.

I also find the grab mechanic hard to get used to. I forget if the original had it, but I don't remember having to fight with it so much as I am here. I can't really describe what the trouble is for me yet because it seems to get chaotic when I do have trouble with it so I can't actually tell what's happening.

I think the best thing this remake has done overall though is adding cutscenes to all the boss fights and improving the boss fights in areas that were poorly done in the original, rather than just keeping them as they were, flaws and all. Like you said, the level design is definitely dated in places and at times really shows its limitations, which I think gets really apparent right from the start since the Pirate Area has 4 levels, while both the Ruins and Space areas either side of it only feature 3 levels. It's a shame the remake couldn't have added an extra level in for areas that had less in the original, since I'm sure there are things that could have been done that weren't possible back in the original. For example, I think the Space Area could've utilized zero-gravity for its third level, by just implementing the swimming mechanic but placing it into air and potentially having it on a timer before gravity gets restored. It wouldn't be putting in a mechanic that is completely new as it would build off the swimming but put a twist onto it that fits the Space Area. Not too sure what the Ruins could have done to add another level yet though.
EDIT: Didn't get through the Space Area far enough before writing this to see that area does get 4 levels, which makes the Ruins Area stand out even worse now. XD

[Frank]

Another big problem I've been having is the ramps you boost roll off of to get over gaps. It is horrifically inconsistent, especially in the Space area which is where I'm at right now. No matter what I did I could not get Pac-Man to make it over the laser gate at the start of the first level using the ramp, and had to do some weird jump mid-boost off the ramp to actually make it which seems wrong. There was also another ramp later where I barely even made it across a gap and didn't get close to the height needed to grab all the Pac-Dots floating in the air, yet I had a fully charged boost before hitting the ramp so I have no clue what was wrong.

Sorry, it's taking me months to respond, but I did come across that and found an easier way to approach gaps was to butt bounce your way up. Not sure if the video review showed me doing it at all, but I think so.

[Moonface]

Another big problem I've been having is the ramps you boost roll off of to get over gaps. It is horrifically inconsistent, especially in the Space area which is where I'm at right now. No matter what I did I could not get Pac-Man to make it over the laser gate at the start of the first level using the ramp, and had to do some weird jump mid-boost off the ramp to actually make it which seems wrong. There was also another ramp later where I barely even made it across a gap and didn't get close to the height needed to grab all the Pac-Dots floating in the air, yet I had a fully charged boost before hitting the ramp so I have no clue what was wrong.

Sorry, it's taking me months to respond, but I did come across that and found an easier way to approach gaps was to butt bounce your way up. Not sure if the video review showed me doing it at all, but I think so.

No worries! The trouble I have with the ramp in front of the laser gate in the first Space Area level is that the ramp isn't close enough to the lasers to butt bounce off of it and make it over, at least not safely if it is possible at all. Luckily I got the Platinum trophy for this game so I won't need to go back through that unless I ever feel like replaying the game again for fun.