Pac-Man 2 is a completely different game. But it's fun.
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures for the Sega Genesis was the first true Pac-Man Sequel. Many other Pac-Man spin-offs were created between the release of the original and this game, but this one is completely different.
The story is basically the same. It's basically Pac-Man vs. the ghosts, but the gameplay is nothing like the original. It's a side scroller instead. Pac-Man walks, and interacts with his environment on his own though. You feel more like you're telling Pac-Man what to do, rather than actually controlling him.
You tell him which direction to go in, and you also have a slingshot that shoots two things. One, it shoots just basic rocks which you use to either tell Pac-Man to walk through a door into a building, or, this is the fun part, you can shoot them at him, or various things in the environment. This was implimented very heavily in the game. You can shoot apples out of trees, and have Pac-Man eat them, or shoot a dog to have him get angry at Pac-an and chase him. You can even shoot a bird to have it fly down and attack Pac-Man, and the bird ends up knocking down items that Pac-Man can't reach on his own. The second item you can shoot are the morphing balls that change Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man. These work basically the same way as the balls that turned the ghosts blue in the original Pac-Man. You only get three maximum, so use them stratigically.
Pac-Man 2 has some reflex-based stuff in the game, but by and large it's a strategy game. There are clever puzzles you have to solve in order to move on, and the game is very humorous.
Pac-Man himself has much more character in this game than the ball-eating Pac-Man from the original game. He acts funny, and his mood changes depending on what happens in the game. Shoot him with the slingshot, and he'll get angry and sad, let him eat an apple and that makes him happy. Some points of the game can't be beaten unless Pac-Man is happy, because he just ends up not caring about solving the puzzle, turning around and walking away. Pac-Man is also very aware of his surroundings, which is a good thing, as bad A.I. would've totally ruined this game, because it depends on it so much.
The game also provides some distractions. You can hang glide for example, and you can go to an arcade in the game and play the original Pac-Man and Pac-Man Junior, which is a nice touch. Overall, the gameplay in Pac-Man 2 is fun, but isn't for everybody, and for some it can get boring pretty quickly. I, personally, enjoyed it.
The graphics in Pac-Man 2 are good for the Genesis. The levels have some nice details and are very colorful. The items and animals in the game all look good too. Pac-Man himself looks great. He has a nice array of expressions, and they're very well done. You definitely can see easily what kind of mood Pac-Man is in just by looking at him. Overall the graphics in Pac-Man 2 are well done.
The sound in Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures isn't horrible, but it's not standout good either. Pac-Man speaks, but only in gibberish. The sounds of the slingshot are average, the music is good at setting the tone for each specific area, but nothing of it is too shocking. It turns out the best piece of sound in the game is when you're playing the classic Pac-Man in the arcade part of the game, just due to the nostalgia. Like I said Pac-Man 2's sound isn't bad, but it's not a memory that'll just burn into your mind like the original Pac-Man or Mario or Sonic, or Zelda or any of those games.
Pac-Man 2 is a game that unfortunately gets boring rather quickly. It's fun while it lasts, but if you keep doing the same thing like in this game, iit gets a bit dull and repetitive, even though the game is so witty and the nature of the game is pretty fun.
I gave it a 9 for tilt because I really did enjoy this game. If you're a Pac-Man fan who hasn't played this, then I'm sure you would enjoy it too, despite it's shortcomings. If you still have a working Genesis, and get bored one night, why not check out the back catalog of Genesis games and get this? Or you could just get a ROM, that would be easier. Either way, Pac-Man 2 is completely different from the original Pac-Man, but it's still very fun.