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• Reviewed on: Nintendo Dualscreen
• The Good: Simple, intuitive play. Cute little puzzles to solve.
• The Bad: Not a lot of levels. Very short. Extra modes are uninspiring.
• The Verdict: An okay time, but definitely not worth the price. Wait until it hits the discount bin.
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REVIEW:

As you may be aware, Japanese game designer Namco recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Its most famous creation, which also happens to be video gaming's most famous creation, has celebrated an anniversary too - Pac-Man is 25, and the Pac-games keep on coming.

Pac 'N Roll is the Dualscreen's second Pac-Man game (after Pac-Pix), and it plays like a cross between traditional Pac-Man and Super Monkey Ball. You are presented with a series of worlds filled with dots, ghosts, power-ups and other toys. By moving the stylus up and down on the lower screen of the DS, you cause Pac-Man to roll, and you go around collecting dots, and avoiding the ghosts. Naturally, there are power pills that turn the ghosts blue, allowing Pac-Man to munch them.

The terrain is in 3D, with cliffs and hills and elevators, and sometimes Pac-Man needs a little extra to get by. The lower screen is surrounded by a "Burst Bar," and if you get Pac-Man in a nice smooth roll, you can hit the Burst Bar for a jolt of speed, useful for jumping and smashing open crates.

There are also power-ups that will grant you extra abilities. For example, you can get a suit of armour, which makes Pac-Man into a rolling tank, and you can smash open metal crates. There is also a wing power-up that makes Pac-Man ultra light, and able to glide short distances.

The levels take on familiar platform game trappings and themes. There's a jungle world, a castle, a fire world, a haunted castle. Each world has several levels. The levels are packed with devices like conveyer belts, one-way gates, gates that require a certain amount of dots to pass, and squares that give you a speed boost. The levels often play like puzzles, where you have to figure out the correct path and means to get to the exit gate.

These puzzles can be pretty enjoyable, but Pac 'N Roll isn't the meatiest game you've ever played. The nice light fun is commendable, but you'll probably feel there isn't enough of it. There aren't many worlds to explore, and some of them have very few levels. As a result, a skilled player is going to get through this game very quickly. Gathering gems will unlock extra worlds, and you can also unlock the original Pac-Man game, but even that isn't a lot of extra value.

There are extra modes such as Time Attack, where you need to get to each level checkpoint before your allotted time runs out, like a racing game, and Challenge Mode, which require you to complete extra tasks (for example, eat a certain number of ghosts), before you can exit a level. I didn't find these modes particularly rewarding, however. Time Attack requires you to get all checkpoints, but the game doesn't guide you to them, making searching them somewhat tedious.

Pac 'N Roll is enjoyable, but you'll probably find it a lot more enjoyable if you don't pay full price. If you can get it on the cheap, great. Definitely wait until it makes the discount bins, or the used game shelves.