After having my DS suffer from inserting Robots into it, it was glad to see that crap wasn’t being put into it this time. Instead, a fun and challenging game like Pac-Pix was inserted and my DS was happy. It told me so!

Very few games utilize the DS’s touch screen functions as primary control inputs, yet Pac-Pix manages to use them in a great new way that is both fun and challenging. The game revolves around Ghost Ink, which has the power to turn anything that is drawn with it into ghosts. The world is over-run with these nuisances so Pac-Man sets off to put an end to their terror. Pac-Man decides to put all these ghosts into a book, and just as he is finishing the job, he is cursed and is forced into the book himself. Now, using the Magic Pen – your DS stylus – it is up to you to save Pac-Man and put an end to this curse.

The game starts relatively easy, with the only “gesture” available being Pac-Man himself. Gestures are what your creations are called; if you successfully draw one, it’ll come to life and serve its purpose. There are a total of three gestures available in the game: Pac-Man, the arrow, and the bomb. Each gesture has a different purpose, for example, the arrow – if drawn correctly – will shoot forth in the direction it is facing allowing you to stun enemies and hit switches and ghosts that are located on the top screen. The bomb allows you to blow up barriers, enemies, and certain switches that were otherwise invulnerable to your attacks. And finally, Pac-Man himself serves one primary – and obvious – function: eating each and every ghost from the pages. Each gesture becomes available at a certain chapter in the book, so you will not be able to freely draw the gestures and use them in every single page. While these three gestures are great and add a variety of gameplay elements, they are simply not enough to create a grand experience for Pac-Pix. A few more gestures and maybe a couple more chapters in each book would have been a great addition, but Pac-Pix suffers from being a little too insufficient as far as content goes.

To truly see how dual-screen, touch-screen gameplay can create new experiences, you must play Pac-Pix and see it for yourselves. Bosses require all gestures to beat, and enemies are not always easy to get to. This is seen when enemies float above your reach on the top screen, protected by a sturdy barrier impenetrable by your arrow gesture, forcing you to seek a different method of catching them. You must determine a sequence of events which are all dependent on your speed, awareness, and execution; there is so much going on on-screen at the same time. This is where Pac-Pix gets a little difficult. With so many things going on at the same time – and a limited number of Pac-Man and time available – it is hard keeping track of your Pac-Man, your enemies, and what you are trying to accomplish all at the same time. The challenge is made even more arduous once you beat Book 1 and Book 2 becomes available. Consider Book 2 Pac-Pix’s Hard Mode, and hard it is. In hard mode, more enemies are on the page and your time is decreased as well; a brutal and welcome challenge to the game.

One of the first things that I had to learn for myself that I was mistaken on was that you cannot just draw a huge Pac-Man that covers the entire touch screen and expect to win. It was a harsh realization to see my poor enormous – and deformed – Pac-Man bounce around being hit by enemies and then fly off the page, never to be seen again. The game had taught me a lesson and I have learned this lesson well. A key to victory is knowing what sized Pac-Man to draw for certain enemies. Some ghosts have a protective barrier covering them from the front making their behinds their weak spot. However, these ghosts can unexpectedly turn around, making your Pac-Man bounce off and causing you a life. If this is the case, you must draw a small-sized Pac-Man to do the job. Bigger-sized Pac-Man move more slowly, while smaller Pac-Man move at a quicker pace. Thus, it is important to be aware of the situation and to see what is needed to overcome each obstacle.

Pac-Pix consists of twelve chapters with a boss fight in each even numbered chapter. Some bosses are relatively easy, such as the first boss, which only requires you to draw a Pac-Man with a bigger mouth than the size of the boss itself. Later bosses, however, require the use of many different techniques used in succession, and each gesture plays a key role to the defeat of the boss. The final boss can only be described as one word: fun. I really had an amazing time using every gesture and every technique to defeat this nemesis, and it was all worth my time. I felt great defeating him and ending the curse on Pac-Man, and the end credits just brought a smile to my face. The end credits are really clever and nice, showcasing various deformed Pac-Man that were drawn and are seen moving along the screen as the credits roll; they are a great little addition.

Hearing Pac-Pix is not as bad as I thought it would be. As soon as you draw your Pac-Man, you will hear the classic noise of his moving mouth, eager to eat ghosts. Each ghost has a sound and when they move, you are able to identify the movement. The classic Pac-Man intro music is also included – obviously – into Pac-Pix and it is great to hear it at the beginning of each page. As you play each page, the same music always plays in the background, which can get annoying at times. There really isn’t a variety of music in the game, but the music that is there is suitable to the game.

While it lasted, Pac-Pix offered a great enjoyable experience using the DS’s unique capabilities. Although it ultimately came up short in content, it was still able to prove that DS is just getting started, and that games to come will expand upon the gameplay elements included in Pac-Pix. Namco did a great job creating a new gaming experience using Pac-Man that was previously impossible, and Pac-Pix should be tried out by everyone in order for them to witness the challenge and fun for themselves.