Arcade Maze Game Review: Ms. Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-Man was the follow-up to one of the most influential arcade games of all time. It had unquestionably large shoes to fill, but surprisingly it not only matched the brilliance of the original, but managed to improve upon it in big ways.

The story of the development of Ms. Pac-Man is fascinating. The Japanese developer Namco developed Pac-Man and distributed it in Japan, while Midway distributed it in North America. When the 1980 maze game became a worldwide hit, Midway was anxiously waiting for Namco to develop a sequel. In the meantime, a Massachusetts company known as the General Computer Corporation created a board set to upgrade Pac-Man to a game known as Crazy Otto. Midway liked the game so much that they signed a deal with GCC to purchase the game and to give the developer a portion of the residuals. Midway then had it revamped with artwork that hewed closer to the original and distributed it to arcades as Ms. Pac-Man.

GCC's game upgraded Pac-Man in a few notable ways. The original game had static maze layouts that merely changed color as the game went on, whereas Ms. Pac-Man has maze layouts that change alongside the colors. The bonus fruit also are no longer static in the middle of the maze under the ghost gate. They now bounce into the stage, travel along the mazes, and then bounce back out through the tunnel exits at the sides. A suitably throbbing heartbeat of a sound effect also plays when the fruits are on the screen. The game also has new cutscenes that involve both Pac people, and new cutscene music to match.

The ghost pathfinding artificial intelligence has also been improved, as their movement is less predictable and more random than in Pac-Man. This, combined with the fact that the ghosts can chase Ms. Pac-Man through tunnel exits, make the game more challenging. With a game as popular as Pac-Man, this was especially important as gamers had memorized the ghost patterns in the original game.

Ms. Pac-Man is a game that improved upon a game that was already a classic, and has since become a classic in its own right. With new ghost patterns, new maze layouts, and new cutscenes with new music, it a game that should be played at least once by every video game affectionado.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5