E3 2010: Pac-Man Battle Royale Hands on Preview

I love Pac-Man... and Ms. Pac-Man. Who doesn't, right? At E3 2010 Namco Bandai were luring people to their booth with the promise of free Pac-Man lanyards. For those who've never been to an E3, free stuff that will last longer than the weekend is a big draw. However, Pac-Man Battle Royale is a game that stands on its own merit. According to the booth guy, it'll start appearing in on all three major consoles various consoles as downloadable content, and in arcades. That's right friends, it's a real coin-op. Sadly, it was the only coin-op at E3.

The arcade cabinet is a beautifully styled, there are four simultaneous players, and five levels. The objective of the game is to be the last Pac standing. The mazes start out small and increase in size and complexity after each level. The gameplay mechanics are pretty familiar to anyone who's ever played Pac-Man, (or who was on Google recently). Here's the rundown: After all initial pellets are consumed, three power pellets will appear. Power pellets increase Pac-Man in size and make players immune to ghosts; they cannot be eaten. The twist is that any other player who doesn't have a power pellet is turned blue and can be eaten.

Power pellets do not appear again until either all pellets are eaten or one player grabs a food item. There is not an even distribution of power pellets. If there are four players, only three power pellets will be in the maze. If there are two players remaining, there will be only one, and so on.

When any two players of equal status who come into contact will crash into each other and be repelled in opposite directions. This is a great strategy for killing an opponent. They can be bumped into a ghost, or into another player who has a power pellet. There is no credit given for kills. A win is only achieved by being the last player left, so there's no harm done in helping one opponent kill another.

The game is purely awesome and I expect most people who play it to fall in love. Pac-Man Battle Royale is exactly what needs to be in every arcade, bar, school, restaurant, and living room in the country.