PixlBit

I love Namco and I love their classic titles. So when it was brought to my attention they were making a compilation of remixed games for the Nintndo Wii I was ecstatic. The Remix boasts 14 games in all, but the question is are they all on equal footing? Are they any fun? Well let's take control of Pac-Man and find out!

First off, I want to say something. There are two remixes that Namco made. The first is Namco Museum Remix in 2008. As I mentioned it boasts 14 games. Now this is fine and dandy, but they also gave us this.

A year later and all they did was add ten games. Even to the untrained eye it would be easy for someone to mistake these covers. I have both games, however we're going to take a gander at the one that started this whole terrible mess and that is Remix.

As far as classics are concerned you get 9: Cutie Q, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Gaplus, Mappy, Pac & Pal, Pac-Mania, Super Pac-Man, and Xevious. These should be enough in terms of nostalgia, but here is the thing... The controls are the main offender. You can play holding the Remote on its side and in most cases, with the Nunchuk alone. However, every control scheme is flawed, making even your favorite game a chore to play.

By far the worst offender is Cutie Q, an uninspired mixture of Breakout and pinball. I could only play it myself for a few minutes as the game should have been left well enough alone, you know like with a paddle controller. Super Pac-Man's awful control scheme annoys especially when you're have to eat keys and fruit to open doorways. Pac-Mania meanwhile, is uninspired furthering my belief that this was all a cash grab while they were busy developing Megamix for a release later.

As far as the actual "Remixed" titles go, It is hit and miss across the 5: Pac & Roll Remix, Galaga Remix, Rally X Remix, Gator Panic Remix,  and Pac Motos. Only Pac & Roll/Galaga are the real winners. They offer so much depth and fun. Each contains levels and various ways to play. If the rest of the remix was as fun as those two I'd recommend this game.

Gator Panic is astonishingly basic and painfully simple too. It's basically Whac-a-mole.  It's fun for about 2 minutes.Rally X Remix has Pac-Man drive a car, but made things horribly easy. It stretches out so much over so many levels, that it never really gets challenging, rather instead it gets exhausting and Pac Motos reminds me of a terrible mini game from Super Monkey Ball Wii or Step & Roll. Another two minute time waster and hardly worth it.

Overall, if you're still searching for the definitive Namco collection, this isn't it. The megamix has ten added games so you're better off getting that as it features these games and more. Even so, without Megamix...I can only half recommend this for die hard Namco fans

Review: 5/10

Alright...so what's up next?