Once again, you are a round yellow creature consisting
of a mouth and nothing else, maneuvering around a relatively simple maze. But
this time, you have a Pal! A little round green Pal who is here just to help
you. (Pal appears to be wearing a little bow, so there's no indication of
whether or not Ms. Pac-Man knows about
Pac-Man's pal...) Those four pesky monsters are
back. This time, the handful of treats in each maze is locked away behind doors
vaguely reminiscent of Super Pac-Man.
These doors can be unlocked by munching one of the cards lying around the maze.
Fruit will score points for you, but if you eat one of the two
Galaxians in each maze, Pac-Man is briefly imbued
with a super shout which stuns the monsters for a little while. The only
problem? Pac's Pal will grab the fruit or the Galaxians and...very slowly...get
around to bringing it to him. Sometimes this helps - Pal is impervious to the
monsters, and there are no power pellets to help Pac-Man this time - but
sometimes Pal dimwittedly marches your much-needed Galaxian right into the
middle of the monsters, making it inaccessible.
(Bally/Midway, 1983)
Possibly the most bizarre entry in the Pac-Man series, this game is a
little bit confusing...and is, perhaps, the final indication that Bally/Midway
and Namco had gone to the Pac-Man well one too many times. By this time,
the only resemblance the latest Pac-game bore to the original were the elements
of Pac-Man, the monsters, and the maze. And don't even ask where Pal
came from. I haven't a clue.
One of the most obscure Pac-games, right up there with the pseudo-educational
Professor Pac-Man and the vaguely 3-D Pac-Mania, Pac 'n' Pal was
not translated for home video gamers. To show you how obscure it was, I was a
Pac-maniac between the ages of nine and twelve...and I had never heard of
Pac 'n' Pal prior to downloading its ROMs for MAME. Pretty obscure!
Rating:
Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and
addictive game.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and
addictive game.
