PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle Chomp Champs, Review of a classic in multiplayer format

Even before Super Mario, Pac-Man it was the biggest mascot of the “first era” of video games: the character created by Atari has lost its leading role in the sector over the years, but has still been the protagonist of a series of interesting experiments.

Among these experiments, we mention PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle Chomp Champsa multiplayer title designed to let online multiplayer lovers experience the sensations experienced by the first arcade gamers: mission accomplished? Let’s find out in our review.

The hero of the past in a new guise

Let’s start by talking about the aspect that made the most “eating” character in the world of video games iconic: his gameplay. Contrary to what we have seen in recent projects, in PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle Chomp Champs the Gameplay proposed is exactly the original one.

We then move inside a labyrinth (or rather, a series of labyrinths) in which we find points to collect and enemies (the diabolical ghosts) to avoid. At the end of a short tutorial which shows us the already well-known foundations on which the franchise has been based since 1982, we enter the ultimate gaming hub.

Within the latter we can change some options, such as deactivating or activating cross-platform multiplayer, the give the go to our games, or customize our Pac-Man avatar.

Customization delivers a good variety of cosmetic items for which we can also select different colors. By completing a series of challenges, we can obtain new objects to embellish our avatar increasingly irreverent and fun, such as wigs and fake mustaches.

But what makes this new (yet another) version of Pac-Man special? The game mode: the maze, as we said earlier, this time it is multiple. The aim of the game is in fact to score more points than the opponents we will encounter during our online game. As if that wasn’t enough, it won’t simply be a comparison of scores over a given period of time… because we can enter the opponent’s game And spoil the holidays!

As if it were a real battle royale, in fact, we will be able to eat the little ghostsbut also our adversaries online, giving new verve to the game and presenting the player with new possibilities to refine their gaming strategy and win the game. Let’s point out a problem in this regard: the game’s servers are far from full of players, so form a lobby (which should consist of 64 players) requires some waiting. Is an update needed to add content that will entice players to approach the title?

Pad in hand (we played the title on a PS5) we can say that the gaming session is rather confusing: bright colors and the huge amount of elements on the screen lead to occasional slowdowns and, especially if equipped with “bulky” cosmetic items such as wigs, small graphic bugs.

Under a profile purely artisticinstead, we can only consider ourselves fully satisfied: the re-design of the characters and their animations is good, with a more youthful and childish touch which never hurts if the audience you want to conquer is that of new players, a good variety of super colorful backdrops for our labyrinths and, above all , a nostalgic but modern soundtrack which works without being overly intrusive.

We report a good presence of trophieswho manage to guide us step by step within the different ones Game sectionsbut, at the same time, a failure to exploit the potential of the PS5 controller: vibration, microphone and motion sensors, unfortunately, have not been taken into consideration.