Pac-Man Pinball Advance is a pinball video game developed by Hungarian studio Human Soft and published by Namco Hometek for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America on May 2, 2005. It is part of the Pac-Man video game franchise.
| Pac-Man Pinball Advance | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Human Soft |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Series | Pac-Man |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Pinball |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The game switches from normal Pac-Man gameplay to a pinball-style video game. Pac-Man Pinball Advance received mixed to negative reviews from critics, who felt that its gameplay was limited.
Gameplay
editThe game has two Pac-Man styled tables to play on, and both incorporate themes from the Pac-Man universe.[1] The ball is Pac-Man, who rolls up into a ball and continues to collect pellets much like he did in earlier notes.[1] Like the other games in the Pac-Man series, there are four ghosts which wander the pinball tables after Pac-Man eats a power pellet.[1]
The plot of the game focuses on the kidnapping of all the residents of Pac-Land by the four ghosts from the Pac-Man series, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.[2] The plot is secondary to the gameplay of the game though, and mostly exists just as a premise to explain why Pac-Man is playing on a pinball table.[3] The game does not contain a high scores table.[1]
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 52/100[4] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Game Informer | 7/10 |
| GameSpot | 3.4/10[5] |
| GameSpy |    [6] |
| Nintendo Power | 7/10 |
Pac-Man Pinball Advance received mixed reviews from critics, who thought that there was a lack of content and sub-par graphics; it received a 52% and a 50.40% from review aggregate websites Metacritic and GameRankings respectively.[7][8] GameSpot's Frank Provo heavily criticized the game for a lackluster graphics engine and its inappropriate physics engine. He called the lack of a high scores table "inexcusable".[1] GameSpy's David Chapman felt that the game managed to capture the feel of the Pac-Man series, but ultimately was a bland video game.[2] PALGN's David Low felt that the graphics and physics engine were adequate, but felt that the lack of content and the inclusion of only two pinball tables was the game's weak point.[3]
Cancelled sequel
editA sequel titled Super Pac-Man Pinball for the Nintendo DS by Rubik Interactive (now Zen Studios) was scheduled for release in fall 2005.[9] Reasons for cancellation are still not known.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Provo, Frank (26 May 2005). "Pac-Man Pinball Advance Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ a b Chapman, David (8 April 2005). "Pac-Man Pinball Advance". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ a b Low, David (21 September 2005). "Pac-man Pinball Advance Review". PALGN. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ "Pac-Man: Adventures in Time for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Provo, Frank (26 May 2005). "Pac-Man Pinball Advance Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "Pac-Man Pinball Advance". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 10 April 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "Pac-Man Pinball Advance (gba) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ "Pac-Man Pinball Advance for Game Boy Advance Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ Harris, Craig (12 May 2005). "Super Pac-Man Pinball Cancelled". GameSpot. Retrieved 18 November 2012.