Pac-Man Fever

Download Pac-Man Fever and join your favorite arcade hero in a fast-paced board game adventure! Race against opponents, collect power-ups, and navigate tricky mini-games in this classic party game. Get your friends together and play now!
a game by Mass Media, Inc.
Platform: Playstation 2 (2002)
Editor Rating: 4/10, based on 1 review
User Rating: 9.0/10 - 4 votes
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See also: Board Games, Pac-Man Games
Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever

What defines addiction to this ever-hungry yellow ball? Pac-Man Fever, of course! Since the success of this prominent arcade game's release, we've seen an incarnation of the game on just about every digital device or console available. This time around, we view a Gamecube release that looks to harness the success of party games and translate them into a Pac-Man format.

You stop and wonder whether there's enough lore behind the Pac-Man universe to justify an expansion into different genres? Well, Pac-Man Fever is giving it a try anyway. The game is forced to bring other friends from Namco on board to compensate for condensed lore. It has to create a more intriguing set of Pac-Man-based party games somehow. Let's see how this works.

Gobbling to Glory

So what makes up the core of Pac-Man Fever? Just like any other party game, your objective is to finish first on the gameboard. You'll march through each turn, landing on a specific minigame - and winning helps you advance down to the finish line. So now we've established the elementary rules of this seemingly uninspired gameplay - it's up to the minigames to save the statue of Pac-Man and co!

Honestly, the minigames don't do much to revive the interest in continuing. Where you'd be excited by the idea that there are over 30 games to play, most of them are remarkably similar. They all seem to involve shooting, catching, or farming something. Worse yet, they are just as uninspired as the core gameplay itself.

The decent visuals try to mask the fact that Pac-Man Fever is a below-average party game but really doesn't cover that fact very well. Players will find themselves bored with the game pretty quickly. The best way to put it is like someone tried to organize a birthday party in an hour with little or no effort at all.

We'll give it to Pac-Man Fever that there are a few giggles and memorable moments to share. But there are simply not enough of them to justify the slow pace of gameplay, lack of variety in minigames, and odd character placements. Yes, the game had to look to Soul Caliber, Tekken, and Ridge-Racer to fill up a roster. To add to the mundane gameplay, it feels confusing and out of place.

Ain't No Party in a Pac-Man Party

Pac-Man Fever seems to take the allure out of the party game. It is a half-baked attempt to capitalize on the success of Mario Party and unlikely to even appeal to fans of Pac-Man. It's far-fetched from the original game and doesn't have much appeal factor beyond solving the issue of what to do on a Friday night with friends.

4

Frankly, there are better party games for this console. Albeit Pac-Man Fever has its palatable moments, they won't last long - and will only constitute a fraction of fun for the general drag of the gameboard. All considered, look elsewhere for your multiplayer madness - unless being a bit of a buzzkill is your thing.

Pros:

  • Visuals bring the Pac-Man universe to life
  • Moments of good fun, albeit in short bursts

Cons:

  • The core gameplay of board progressions is not exciting
  • The minigames are mostly the same
  • The character roster feels out of place

Download Pac-Man Fever

Playstation 2

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Snapshots and Media

Playstation 2 Screenshots