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Pocket Gamer's recommendation-a-day advent calendar: Pac-Man 256

One more addictive game from 2015

Pocket Gamer's recommendation-a-day advent calendar: Pac-Man 256
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| Advent Calendar 2015

Every day, as we count down to Christmas, we'll be sharing a brilliant and essential game from 2015 that didn't quite make our game of the year list. We'll reveal the very best iOS and Android games of the last 12 months on Christmas Day

Advent 10

December 9th - Pac-Man 256
iOS (Free) - Android (Free)

There have been a lot of crappy attempts to remake Pac-Man.

Does anyone remember Pac-In-Time? No, of course you don't. And Baby Pac-Man? Better to put that one up for adoption. Plus, don't get me started on Pac-Man World Rally. Just don't.

But there are some shining lights. Pac-Man Championship Edition is a frenzied twist on the formula. The super rare Pac-Man Vs turned the arcade hit into a raucous multiplayer romp. And now, Pac-Man 256.

Made by the masterminds behind Crossy Road, Pac-Man 256 turns the dot-chomping maze 'em up into an endless runner - but one that is surprisingly faithful to the source material.

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Eating dots gives you a multiplier. Chewing down on fruit pickups rewards bonus points. The ghosts have unique behaviours, but can be wolfed down when you eat a power pellet.

And you're being chased by the glitchy nightmare noise that would appear when you got to level 256 on Pac-Man, and the arcade board simply ran out of memory.

The best bit is the score system, where you try to chain dots and strategically go for fruit and ghosts. It's more nuanced and interesting than your typical Flappy Bird-style "get one point for each pipe" system, making it feel even more like a modern day arcade game.

So with all that, Pac-Man 256 belongs in the pantheon of "genuinely good Pac-Man games", and it belongs on your smartphone.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer