Super Pac-Man

You'd be forgiven for being less than enthusiastic about the release of yet another Pac-Man game. The little yellow munching-machine has probably had more sequels than Mario and Sonic combined, and spawned a small army of clones on top of that.

Considering this is both a sequel and a conversion, you're probably close to losing interest already. Perhaps we should quickly mention then that this is a conversion of one of the best – yet often overlooked – arcade games of the 1980s.

Super Pac-Man is a remake of the 1982 title of the same name, which added a selection of tasty improvements to the original Pac-Man. This new version is essentially the same game, only with much improved graphics and sound.

At first glance, the traditional maze will be instantly recognisable to any Pac-Man aficionado. A gang of multi-coloured ghosts occupy the central box, while a selection of fruit and Power Pills litter the maze.

Look closer, however, and you'll notice sections of the maze are blocked off by pink-coloured gates. And that there are sinister looking, rapid-pulsing green pills scattered about the place in addition to the standard pellets.

These green-glowing Super Pills have the exact opposite effect on Pac-Man as kryptonite does on Superman, temporarily turning him into a mighty being of strength and speed. With this new strength comes an increase in size, invulnerability to ghosts – with or without a Power Pill – and the ability to bash through those pink gates as if they were made of tracing paper.

As if this weren't enough, pressing and holding '5' on the keypad also grants you super-speed while in this enhanced form.

In addition to these new super powers, scattered around each level are keys. Each key is linked to one or more of the gates, opening them instantly without needing a Super Pill. Both of these elements might sound gimmicky but they work nicely, and distinguish Super Pac-Man from the many other versions of the game.

Every now and then, you get a bonus level containing no ghosts and a 'perma-suped' Pac-Man. The objective in these levels is to simply gather as many pieces of fruit as you can before a timer runs down. Staggering the pace this way breaks up the slightly repetitive pellet-munching play, and gives you a chance to stomp around an entire level as giant-sized Pac.

One of the game's best aspects is the aforementioned improvement to the graphics and audio, which vastly exceed the quality of the original. We can state this confidently because NBGI has shrewdly included an option to play the game in Classic mode, which highlights this difference.

Classic mode is exactly the same as the normal mode of play, only with the original graphics from 1982. Aside from being a cunning way of showcasing its update, Classic mode is likely to bring a nostalgic tear to the eye of anyone who remembers playing the game 25 years ago.

Super Pac-Man is by no means perfect – the controls are occasionally sluggish when played with a joystick and there's a tendency for ghosts to act incredibly stupidly. But none of this is enough to warrant anything more than a gentle tap on Pac-Man's wrist (if he had one).

Most importantly, the game retains all of the core gameplay of Pac-Man and yet manages to introduce new elements which enhance the Pac experience without breaking its core. The new extras blend perfectly into the Pac-Man structure as if they belonged there in the first place.

If you thought you were tired of clones, sequels and re-releases of the same old game, Super Pac-Man might just be the yellow fella who changes your mind.