Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Overview

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (later known as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+) is a maze game developed by Namco Bandai (along with MINE LOADER) and published digitally by Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360 on November 16, 2010 and for the PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010.

The sequel to the 2007 game Pac-Man Championship Edition, Championship Edition DX adds several new features (including multiple game modes, difficulty settings, and alternate visual and audio styles) while revamping the original's gameplay. Along with Galaga Legions DX, it was one of the two games sold under the short-lived "Namco Generations" label intended for a similar style of modernizations.

In addition to the traditional roaming ghosts, players will now find sleeping ghosts that "wake up" when moving past them, forming a long-winding "train" of ghosts. Both sleeping ghosts and ghost "trains" can be eaten while in Power mode for much larger combos. To aid with these new obstacles, the game includes two new additions: manual-use bombs (which, when activated, send ghosts back to the center of the maze, cutting the score multiplier in half) and a slow-motion effect in near-death experiences (allowing players to escape with either careful movement or bombs).

The game was later released for Windows Phone devices on May 3, 2011 and for Windows 8/RT (via Windows Store) on December 26, 2012. On September 25, 2013, the game received a free update that adds more detailed leaderboards and new paid DLC (including new courses and audiovisual styles), re-branding the game as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+. This version was released for the PC (via Steam) on September 27, 2013 and to iOS and Android devices on July 23, 2015.

Gameplay

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX expands on the classic Pac-Man gameplay with the same visual style of Pac-Man Championship Edition.

Instead of running away from four ghosts within the maze, Pac-Man wants to get as many ghosts as he can to follow them. Throughout the maze are sleeping ghosts and to get them to follow Pac-Man he must run past them and they will follow Pac-Man. More ghosts will spawn at intervals during the game allowing Pac-Man to wake more of them up.

Power pellets will spawn at intervals, which when Pac-Man eats them he can turn around chomp on the ghosts trailing behind them. The more ghosts Pac-Man eat the higher the score will be, but the more Ghost chasing Pac-Man means higher risk.

The longer the round goes on for the faster Pac-Man will move, his speed and the ghosts speed increases gradually during the game.

In order to keep the game progressing, players must eat all the pellets in one half of the level. Once they have done this, an item will appear, and once that is collected that half will "respawn" with all new pellets and ghosts for Pac-Man to eat. The key to keeping the game going is to alternate between the two halves of the level without missing any pellets.

Pac-Man has a new ability which allows him to drop a bomb, by dropping a bomb he can remove all the moving ghosts and send them back to the Ghost house, they will eventually all come back out still following Pac-Man in a train. Anytime Pac-Man uses a bomb it cuts down his speed slowing down the speed off the game.

Whenever Pac-Man is about to run into a ghost, the game will enter death-brushing mode (similar to bullet-time) where everything will slow down giving the player a chance to traverse out of the way from the ghosts or deploy a bomb.

Before the round starts, there are options to change the background visuals, the characters sprites and background music. These visuals range from different pixelated and retro effects including a Pac-Mania theme.

Game Modes

• Score Attack - Score as many points as possible before either the timer expires or all lives are lost. Played in 5-minute and unlockable 10-minute limits.

• Time Trial - Collect all items in the level as fast as possible. This mode ignores score, instead encouraging players to speed through the levels without paying much attention to eating ghosts. Only the first segment of Time Trial is unlocked from the start, and players will have to unlock and complete all Short Trials to unlock the main Time Trial mode.

• Ghost Combo - Eat as many ghosts as possible in one extended combo (or until the 10-minute timer expires). This mode ignores score, instead keeping track of the current combo. Unlocked after completing 10-minute Score Attack.

Courses

The game features eight total Courses (with four added as post-release DLC), each including unique maze layouts. Unlike the previous game, Courses do not have any particular rules applied to them (such as pitch-black walls).

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX features a selection of new mazes including Championship I, the original maze from the first Pac-Man championship game and a free mode which has options to choose a map and freestyle settings. The new mazes included in the game are:

• Championship II
• Highway - Unlocked after completing Championship II.
• Junction - Unlocked after completing Highway.
• Spiral - Unlocked after completing Junction.
• Manhattan - Unlocked after completing Spiral.
• Dungeon - Unlocked after completing Manhattan.
• Championship I - Based on the Championship Mode course from the previous game. Features no sleeping ghosts. Cannot be played in the 10-minute Score Attack mode. Unlocked after completing Dungeon.
• Half - Only the left-most half has dots and sleeping ghosts. Cannot be played in the Score Attack or Ghost Combo modes. Unlocked after completing Championship I.
• Championship III - Added as DLC in DX+. Redesign of Championship II.
• Highway II - Added as DLC in DX+. Redesign of Highway.
• Mountain - Added as DLC in DX+. Layouts resemble a triangle, or "mountain" design.
• Big Eater - Added as DLC in DX+. Features a large amount of sleeping ghosts.

In addition, the game includes two unlockable customizable courses: Darkness and Free. The Darkness course allows players to play any other unlocked course with one new rule: the backround and maze walls are pitch-black and can only be illuminated when near the player, a ghost, an item, or a Power Pellet. The Free course has additional customization options and is meant more for practice.

Soundtrack

The Soundtrack to the game was released on November 23, 2010 by Namco Bandai Games Inc. under the Namco Sounds artist name. It consists of 7 electronic / club tracks, including Giant Bomb's top pick for Best Original Song of 2010, "Entrance".

PC System Requirements

Steam Version

• OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
• Processor: 1 GHz or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 9 graphics device
• DirectX: Version 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 500 MB available space

Windows Store Version

• OS: Windows 8, Windows RT
• CPU: 2.0 GHz or faster (Excluding Intel Atom and other CPUs for mobile devices)
• RAM: 2 GB or higher (x86), 4 GB or higher (x64)
• Hard Drive: 500 MB available space
• Graphics Card VRAM: 512MB or higher
• DirectX: Version 9.1 or higher
• A tablet PC or a monitor that supports multi-touch is required to use the touch controls.
• Supports Xbox360 USB controllers