Pac-THIS

Arriving right in between the Space Invaders quarter-shortage-inducing craze and the medium-evolving Donkey Kong was Pac-Man. It's colorful graphics and extremely simple gameplay made it appealing to everyone from overweight children to successful businessmen. I was too young to experience the pop culture phenomenon that ensued firsthand, but its reverberations can still be felt today. To many, the word "videogame" brings to mind a mental image of the little yellow glutton cruising around mazes and avoiding ghosts. It's synonymous relationship with the medium is particularly amazing given the fact the game is almost 30 years old.

A couple of weeks ago, original Pac-Man developer Namco revitalized the series with the release of Pac-Man Championship Edition on Xbox Live Arcade. Arriving just as the Halo 3 Beta was drawing to a close, Pac-Man CE was like a gift from a benevolent God that I'm still not quite sure that I believe in (though the quality of the game sure does make a strong case for the existence of the big guy.)

Pac-Man CE maintains the charm of the original visually, with extremely simple character sprites that would've been right at home on an arcade board in 1979. The mazes were jazzed up a bit with a glowing vector-graphics effect that works extremely well. The entire maze is still contained within one screen, and thanks to the dominance of HD TVs it's a widescreen.

The gameplay has only a few subtle differences that when combined create a fast, frantic experience. For example, in the original, once all of the dots were cleared within a maze the action would stop. The player would be rewarded with a much-needed rest before the screen would black out and a new maze generated. In CE, the maze is divided into left and right sections. When all of the dots on one side are cleared, a piece of fruit appears on the opposite side. Eating the fruit replenishes the dots on the opposite end and in some cases changes the layout of the maze. This is done seemlessly, leaving absolutely no break in the gameplay.

Games can be played in a variety of modes, which vary in five or ten minute intervals. The timer and score chasing make for a perfectly old-school arcade experience. I can't really do the game any justice here, the incredibly addictive gameplay must really be played to be fully understood. But if words are your thing, there's no shortage of enthusiast press on Pac-Man CE. Everyone from 1up.com to Penny-Arcade has covered has covered the game at length.

If you have a 360, buy it. If you don't have a 360, then you should just go ahead and end your life right now.