Pac-Man is, with Space Invaders, one of the most cloned games in the world. However, Pac-Man clones are much less common in recent years than Space Invaders clones(can you say "Crusaders of Space"?). Why?
Maybe it's because Pac-Man cloners somehow feel that they have to include the character himself in their games, no matter how insulting or copyright-infringing it is to Namco, the creators of the original. With the advent of 3D graphics, Pac-Man clones have almost exclusively been in that medium, or at least are designed to look that way(the abysmal Packs Adventures comes to mind). Another fault common to these clones is the addition of superfluous game mechanics(the teleporters in Packs Adventures are a good example of that). Be they lasers, pitfalls, teleporters, or other traps, they only detract from what is fundamentally a fun, old-school game.
PacShooter, however, at least corrects the last fault. Rather than just making it harder for our yellow hero, the people at Terminal Studio decided to give him the edge - by letting him shoot the enemies! Of course, it completely changes the game - there are more enemies, the mazes are loaded with dead ends, and everything in general is faster-paced - and I love it! The developers were smart enough to keep Pac-Man(come on, you know that that's his name) small enough to give a wide view of his surroundings(unlike Packs World, which by now has absolutely no redeeming qualities) without the aid of a map. This game plays like a dream.
The graphics, though, are a nightmare, looking like a first-generation PlayStation game, or even(God forbid) something on the Saturn. Everything is extremely blocky, and the textures look blurry at any resolution but the lowest. The title and loading screens are similarly abysmal, using a combination of blurry bitmaps of low-poly 3D models and Photoshop paintings to create a hideous effect of overal subpar quality. Oh, well - at least the sparkles that appear when enemies spawn look decent.
While its graphics leave more than a lot to be desired, PacShooter has great sound. The songs are in a catchy, jazzy style that, while not quite fitting with the graphics, is pleasant to hear, and the sound effects are clear and suit their functions. No problems here.
I really don't like the theme, though. Pac-Man is stuck in abstract-looking mazes(OK, we've seen this before), and has to shoot decapitated Barney heads to survive long enough to escape(WHAT?!). Look, Terminal, if you give me Pac-Man, I want Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde to go with him. I don't want disembodied dinosaur heads. To be frank, if I was designing this game, I'd have made Pac-Man a spaceship, the pellets ore, and the Barney heads rebelling mine machinery - but Pac-Man is a requisite for this genre, I guess.
If the theme and graphics are bad, the presentation is even worse. When I first loaded the game up, I was greeted with a blank window at the top left corner of my screen for several seconds. I almost thought that it wouldn't work on my computer, but it then switched to a configuration menu in the middle(as in Star Warrior), emblazoned with the first of many blurry images of a blue-eyed, low-poly Pac-Man model. Needless to say, I was not impressed, especially when I reached the loading screen and then the main menu. If I hadn't been writing a review, I wouldn't have bothered to even play it - but I did, and I'm glad.
Overall, I give PacShooter a score of 6.2 out of ten(eight for gameplay, four for graphics, eight for sound, three for theme, and two for presentation and finish). It's really fun, but it has the quality of an alpha release. Still, it's worth a go, especially if you don't think that you'll be caught playing it.
