So what exactly is in Pac-Man Collection?

First up is the the original Pac-Man, playable in two modes: full screen or scroll. Full Screen allows you to view the entire field at once, at the expense of having a squished view. Scroll on the other hand lets you play the game at a better resolution, but you're only able to see portions of the field at once. However, you're also allowed to view other parts of the field by pressing the L or R buttons. If you loved the classic gameplay of Pac-Man, this is definitely the game you'll be playing the most out of the entire collection. Everything is pretty much identical to the arcade classic that many of us have come to know and love.

The second title featured is Pac-Mania - a fun update to the original Pac-Man game which incorporates an isometric view, instead of the traditional overhead perspective. The graphics in the game are unique to Pac-Man, containing a psudeo 3D look, giving the impression that it's pre-rendered. Pac-Mania offers one significant gameplay element - the ability to jump. This feature drastically changes how you play the game since most of the playing fields you'll come across have a hell of a lot more than four ghosts on them. You'll find that this ability will be a useful weapon, that is until the ghosts start learning it themselves. Although Pac-Mania is slower paced than the original, it's still a lot of fun to play. And the best part is that the GBA conversion is a one-to-one pixel conversion, so you'll get an almost perfect conversion of the game. However, like the original Pac-Man, this means that the action doesn't fit exactly like it did in the arcade versions. It's not exactly something that deters from the fun of the game, but it can make tracking ghosts a little harder than it should be.

The next installment in the collection is Pac-Man Arrangement, which is a semi-upgrade of the original edition. Despite the premise of the game having the same theme as the original title, the gameplay arc is signficantly different. In Pac-Man Arrangement, players will gain some extra help from the playing field in the form of Dash and Jump Points. Both abilities are pretty self-explanatory; Dash points allow you to dash from one region of the field to the next, while Jump Points transport you (almost instantaneously) to another Jump points located throughout the level. Dash points also allow you to zip past ghosts, knocking them dizzy for a short amount of time, and thus giving you the opportunity to have a free run on the field. Both add a decent degree of variety for what what essentially make Pac-Man Arrangement a mundane experience. Additionally, these new features also present a new level of strategy to avoid those pesky ghosts that populate the field.

Speaking of the ghosts, there's a whole new breed quite unlike the original group players faced in the classic installment. New to the group is a ghost named Kinky, who can combine with any of the other four ghosts to create a brand new, huge ghost with special abilities. If he merges with a red ghost, the two become a giant bull ghost that will charge Pac-Man if he sees him. If Kinky melds with the pink ghost, the two become a giant bunny ghost that can hop to any location on the maze (noted by a target). If the blue ghost and Kinky combine, they'll transform into a large blue ghost that can split into two parts, and float around the board doing double damage. Kinky and the orange ghost will turn into a large orange ghost that will spit larger dots out on the field, and these dots will slow Pac-Man when he eats them. On the plus side, Kinky by himself can be eaten without a aid of a power pill. In addition to the power pills, Pac-Man can also pick up other powerups that will give him different abilities. One powerup will allow Pac-Man to split into two; one decoy and one real McCoy. Another power-up will gather all the ghosts and hold them temporarily in a carrying bag while you go about your business. In all, the game is extremely enjoyable, and it's probably the best game out of the entire bunch.

Last but not least we have Pac-Attack, a Tetris-style puzzle title featuring Pac-Man and ghosts as tile pieces. The original version of the game came out in 1993 for the Super NES and Genesis, and also shipped with Pac-Man: Special Color Edition on the Game Boy Color. The idea is to fit falling groups of blocks coupled with the familiar Pac-Man ghosts in a way that a line of bricks will disappear, much like Tetris. Ghosts will only disappear if eaten by a Pac-Man tile which appears every 4th block. The Pac-Man tile will move in the direction he's pointing, and eat ghosts until it reaches a dead-end -- then it disappears, and the rest of the pile falls into place. While it is a fun distraction, it's not nearly as fun as the other three titles in this collection, but it does give a little more variety to the whole Pac-Man series.

While the Pac-Man Collection could be a great addition to anyone's GBA library, be warned that this game doesn't go beyond what it wants to do. It's basically a no-frills version of some of the best Pac-Man games ever, and it makes no excuses about it. The one thing that's lacking from this game is the addition of a save battery, which would've been awesome to include in the game to save high scores, but it's something that is not sorely missed at all, except for those purists who just love filling their high scores list with their favourite initials. In the end, Pac-Man Collection is a game that shouldn't be missed by any gamer who wants a shot of nostalgia injected into their bloodstream.

· · · Reno