Pac-Man World 3 – XB – Preview

E3 Preview 2005

Pac-Man was
the man at this year’s E3. Gamers will see him in many of Namco’s big fall
releases, but the most significant will likely be the third chapter in his
adventure series, Pac-Man World.

Due for release on every platform
but the GBA and the Nintendo DS, Pac-Man World 3 marks the first time that the
pizza-shaped hero teams up with his original nemesis: the ghosts. Both Pinky
and Clyde will be playable. Their gameplay mechanics are unknown and the
reason for this turn of events has yet to be revealed. It apparently has
something to do with the new villain’s plot to destroy the world.

Okay, so
this won’t win any awards for great storytelling. It will, however, earn
accolades for its expanded gameplay. The worlds look larger, and the camera
appears to be more versatile. Pac-Man’s first adventure game was limited by
developers’ inexperience with 3D technology. Now that time has passed that’s
no longer a problem.

Namco has
its work cut out for it, but so far gamers won’t be able to notice a huge
difference between the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions of the
game. The developers are designing all five versions (PS2, PSP, Xbox, GameCube
and PC) to be as close as possible. All versions will have the same content,
and all versions are expected to be released at the same time. If any version
is to have exclusive content, you can bet it’ll be on the PSP.

Power-ups
return to give Pac-Man an extra boost whenever he needs it. Collect fruit and
enjoy the delicious taste of power-up smoothies. (It wouldn’t be such a bad
idea for them to start having these at E3.) Execute new special moves with all
three characters, and let us not forget about the Pac-Dots, Pac-Chains and
Power Pellets.