That was then, this is now, so how has our little yellow friend fared since and just what is he up to now? Well first a quick reflection. Over the years Pac-Man went through all the trials and tribulations of growing up in public. Whilst the first game was an absolute smash with it's brilliantly simple and addictive 2D puzzle maze gameplay the games that followed had their ups and downs. However, games such as Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Pac-Mania (1988) and Pac-Attack (1993) remain arcade classics and as a tribute to those times and as one of the standout features of this game Namco have very thoughtfully packaged these classics up with Pac-Man World 2. That promise alone had us itching to fire up our copy just for the chance to relive the old days and get back in touch with our roots!

The basic gameplay experience in Pac-Man World 2 is somewhat different to the old days but is quite familiar in other ways, that is in relation to other very similar modern games. Being "2" it's actually the sequel to Pac-Man World (20th Anniversary) which Namco released on PSOne a year or two ago in an obvious bid to revive interest in the Pac-Man franchise. That game appeared as a semi-3D side-scrolling platformer and was actually a fairly OK effort allowing players to enjoy a slightly more 3D experience in the Pac-Man universe. The cutesy, likeable approach in the original World game has carried over to World 2 but this time around its grown into a fully-fledged 3D platformer incorporating features from just about every other current game in the genre. Whilst that means it's quite derivitive it's nonetheless a very solid little title allround and we really enjoyed putting it through it's paces.

The story in Pac-Man World 2 goes like this - while all the residents of Pac Village are sleeping one night the ghosts sneak in and pick all the golden fruit off the ancient tree in the centre of town. Unfortunately disturbing the tree breaks a spell and releases an evil super-ghost known as Spooky who then begins to spread chaos throughout Pac-Land. Your mission then, should you decide to accept it, is to track down all the hidden golden fruit so they can be replaced, defeat Spooky and restore peace to the land once more.

The game starts in Pac-Village and progresses through 18 vast levels plus 6 boss stages. These are all tied together with a very well-presented world map that opens up more as you progress. Now anyone that's ever played more than one or two platformers recently will know exactly what to expect here as the levels include locations, features and ideas that we've all seen elsewhere before. These include a forest level, an icy snow world, a lava region and underwater levels among others with all the usual obstacles, puzzles, moving platforms and enemies we've well and truly come to expect of our platform games these days. However they are all put together quite nicely and each is a solid piece of design with no major faults. Each stage also has it's own unique animated loading screen which provides a nice entertaining little touch ("little" because loading times are quite minimal).