7 Reasons Why the New Pac-Man is All Kinds of Awesome

If you think Pac-Man is too old school, think again. Here’s why Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (PS4, Xbox One, PC — $12.99) has as much variety as any new game.

It’s A Cornucopia of Games

The gamemakers started with the original Pac-Man maze game, which is easy to play but difficult to master. They added the best of Championship Edition and Championship Edition DX. And then they injected more cool bells and whistles (literally: there’s a lot of amusement park-inspired sounds).

The Graphics Are Wild

They pop. There’s fireworks. Pac-Man becomes larger. He flies like Superman. At one point, Pac-Man becomes a Slither:io-like snake,chomping up ghosts who also have snake-like tails. As they say in the trailer, “Even the ghosts are scared.”

There’s A Giant Ghost

You better watch out. There’s a ginormous boss ghost out to get you. If Pac-Man clears a few mazes and eats a Super Pellet, he can attack the giant, who’ll split up into tiny cubes. What a way to defeat an enemy!

Ghost Trains Add Tension

When you pass a sleeping green minion, he wakes up. He attaches to his ghost leader to form a snake-like train. You have to know when to wake up a sleeping minion (and don’t bump into him). If they’re all coming for you at once, drop a bomb (X on the PS4) and you’ll go to your safe space.

You Don’t Have To Eat All The Dots

When your gauge is full and you eat some fruit, you’re ready to attack the ghost trains and move forward. You don’t have to clear all the yellow dots to move to the next maze. You just have to beat a high score. Beating 500,000 at the beginning is pretty easy.

Music And Sound Effects Really Get You Going

When you’re at on a carnival ride like the Himalaya, the DJ music and sirens go faster as the ride goes faster. In this game, it’s loud, fast and full of spirit. The electronica enhances the pulse-pounding excitement of gameplay.

So Fast You Need The Brakes

They may have made Championship Edition too fast. The controller sometimes has a little lag when you want to switch directions. So they let you brake if you miss turning (It’s L2 on the PS4 version).