Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Description

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures is a side-scrolling adventure game “sequel” to Pac-Man.

Pac-Man 2 incorporates light point-and-click adventure game elements

Gameplay:
Pac-Man 2 carries a style of gameplay similar to that of traditional Point-and-click adventures, but with a few key differences that set it apart from other games in the genre. Unlike most Point-and-click games where the player can interact with the environment via various commands, “the player has no direct control over Pac-Man”. Instead, he independently moves and interacts with the world, characters, and sometimes the player. The player’s main ability is to influence, rather than control, the character’s actions. The only command that can be given is via the “Look” button, which makes Pac-Man look or turn in whichever direction is held on the control pad. The player takes the role of an observer, armed with a slingshot that can be used to indirectly affect or strike objects in the world, including Pac-Man himself.

Pac-Man 2’s puzzles also depart from the standard mold of inventory, logic and physics puzzles typical of most point-and-clicks. Instead, solutions to puzzles often depend on managing Pac-Man’s wildly different moods. Pac-Man’s mood can change in response to what he encounters in his environment or the actions the player takes; for example, shooting down an apple for Pac-Man to eat will make him happier, whereas shooting him on the head will either enrage or sadden him, depending on the circumstances. There are other moods as well, including sadness, fear, and cockiness, each with varying intensities. Making Pac-Man too happy, for example, will make him smug, which makes him braver, but also much ruder and less cooperative. While negative moods can often make progression difficult and can be difficult to change, sometimes these moods can be needed to progress in the game. Throughout the story line, Pac-Man is repeatedly harassed by Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde, the recurring ghosts of the Pac-Man series. When he encounters them, Pac-Man becomes paralyzed by fear and eventually faints, unless he is fed a power pellet by the player, of which 3 can be held at a time. If he eats one, Pac-Man briefly becomes Super Pac-Man and flies across the screen, eating any ghosts he sees. In some cases, the ghosts may be guarding important objects needed to advance further. (wikipedia)

Story:
After an introductory sequence in which Pac-Man introduces himself and the game’s mechanics, the plot unfolds as a loosely connected series of misadventures stemming from Pac-Man’s quest to complete tasks for his family, all while the ghosts and their mysterious leader plot to destroy him. Pac-Man is first tasked with finding milk for Pac-Baby, which he procures from the local farm. Some time after, Pac-Man is asked by Ms. Pac-Man to pick a special flower for Lucy, a friend of Pac-Jr’s for her birthday. Pac-Man is given a trolley ticket which he uses to venture into the nearby mountains, hang-gliding and dodging ghosts and boulders as he searches for the flower. Upon returning home with the flower, Pac-Man is exasperated to find that Lucy’s party has already started, and that she has already been given another flower. Some time after, Pac-Jr comes home crying, and tells his dad that his guitar was stolen by ghosts while he was in Pac-City. Pac-Man is given a train ticket to travel to the city, where he meets a man selling balloons, and takes on a disgruntled security guard to get the guitar back. In the final segment of the game, Pac-Man discovers from a news report that the ghosts are stealing ABC gum from children all over Pac-City, at which point the Ghost Witch of Netor takes over the broadcast and challenges Pac-Man to face her and her newly created Gum Monster. He sets off to work his way through the abandoned factory where the monster is being created. The game culminates in a final battle between Super Pac-Man and the Gum Monster. After the Gum Monster’s defeat, the Ghost Witch and her minions flee, and Pac-Man is congratulated by the town and his family as a hero, except that he did not save their ABC gum. (wikipedia)