Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Review (iOS/Android)

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It’s neither a new IP nor a new game, but in its touchscreen form, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX truly shines.
Wow. I just looked it up, and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX came out five years ago. It doesn’t seem like that long, and at the same time that’s a long time for a game to stay simply as an Xbox Live, PSN and Windows Phone game, without appearing on either iOS or Android platforms.
The basics of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX follow the Pac-Man Championship Edition formula, with levels split into left/right halves that change as you collect all the pellets on each side while avoiding the classic ghosts. The big change in the DX variant is that you have sleeping ghosts who only awake when Pac goes past them. They then follow him in an exact pattern fashion, so that relatively shortly, you’ll be being chased by upwards of 20 ghosts through a simple maze.

It’s not “new”, but it’s “new” to iOS and Android

That’s where the power pellets, which appear when set mazes are cleared come into their own, because it transforms what is part arcade title, part puzzle into a high score frenzy. If you get into trouble, the game slows down a touch to help you think, and you can use bombs that clear the ghosts chasing you, although their supply is quite limited, and sending all the ghosts “home” to the center of the maze uses up precious scoring seconds.
Each level is played against a clock or to specific objectives, with a variety of both mazes and Pac-Man art styles to choose from.
Ever had that feeling that somebody is following you?
Ever had that feeling that somebody is following you?

All that was set in stone back in 2010, and leaving issues of timeliness aside, the real question for a mobile version is whether or not it works. Fast paced action games and touchscreens aren’t always the best bedfellows, after all.
Thankfully, swipe controls work well enough to control Pac-Man as the game hops up the speed, at least for the most part. It’s a little easier on a tablet screen — I tested with an iPad Air and an iPhone 6 — because there’s more room to swipe around — and it can be a little frustrating when bomb pinches aren’t registered and you die as a result — but for the most part, you feel like you’re in control of Pac-Man and continually engaged to deliver higher and higher scores.
It apparently does also work with MFi controllers and the iCade, although I’ve been unable to test that particular feature out myself.
You won't play Pac-Man Championship Edition DX for long -- but that's pretty much the point.
You won’t play Pac-Man Championship Edition DX for long — but that’s pretty much the point.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX delivers on a mobile platform in a way that it doesn’t quite manage on its console cousins. Because Pac-Man Championship Edition DX works against a strict timer, it’s an excellent game for when you’ve got just a few minutes to spare. All you’re doing is chasing high scores, and it’s pretty rare that you’ll run out of lives before you run out of time.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is a $6.49 Universal app for iOS and just slightly more expensive on Google Play at $6.54. That’s moderately high priced for a mobile game, but given there’s no IAP or advertising to contend with, and it’s a great game to while away just a few minutes while you chase ever increasing high scores, I’d say it’s well worth it, even if it has taken quite a while to make its way to non-Windows Phone mobiles.

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