Pac Man World 3

Plot

In a search for power, a short evil genius called Erwin has found a way to suck raw energy out of the world of the Ghosts (the Spectral Realm). He has created a syphon that can penetrate into the Spectral Realm. This is causing the Spectral Realm to collapse into the real world (Pac-Land), bringing about an environmental catastrophe. Meanwhile, Pac-Man is celebrating his 25th birthday with his family when he is teleported by Orson, a former nemesis of Pac-Man from the Original Pac-Man World. Orson communicates to him and tells him about the Spectral Realm (after Pac-Man complains to Orson about messing up his party and throwing him into a trash pit). Pac-Man is attacked by fiery Spectral monsters of the orange, green, and purple varieties which have been driven mad by Erwin's hypnosis with Inky and Blinky (Clyde) have been kidnapped as part of Erwin's evil scheme, but Pinky and Clyde (Blinky) managed to escape.

Now Pac-Man must join forces with the ghosts, Orson, Pinky, and Clyde (Blinky) to stop Erwin before he destroys both the Real World and the Spectral Realm.

Gameplay

Cutscenes pop up throughout the game, and instead of having just subtitles, the characters speak as well. The subtitles are configurable in the game's settings.

When starting a new save file, you will have 6 extra lives. However, when selecting a level from Level Select, you will only have 3. Pac-Man retains his moves from the previous two Pac-Man World games, like the butt-bounce and the rev-roll, and he gets the ability to punch. Now, butt-bouncing three times in a row will create a shock-wave that will affect enemies circling in on Pac-Man. Also, when Pac-Man rev-rolls, pressing the jump button will no longer make Pac-Man stop rev-rolling. He will jump as he's rolling instead.

Normal attacks don't work on Spectral monsters, but Pac-Man can eat a power pellet, turning the ghosts blue, just like the original.

There is a museum accessible by the main menu, where you can look at Pac-Man game history, and play Pac-Man itself. The game is a port of the original, and, unlike the previous Pac-Man World games, there is no border around the vertical game screen.

Development

The game was originally called "Pac-Man Adventures" and was going to have an unknown darker story line with other characters from the other Namco games like Dig Dug and it had artwork and character designs from the legendary animator Don Bluth (Possibly around the time he worked on I-Ninja). It was scrapped and it's unknown if Don Bluth was still involved with the project or not.

Reprints

In 2008 for North America only, the PlayStation 2 versions of Pac-Man World 3, Pac-Man World 2, and Pac-Man World Rally were released in a 3-pack called Pac-Man Power Pack.

Also for North America only, the DS version of Pac-Man World 3 was re-released as part of a "Dual Pack" bundle with Namco Museum DS on October 30, 2012.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews from critics and has been somewhat controversial among fans. Critics praised the inclusion of elements from the previous two games, while criticism focused on the repetition and lower difficulty. The plot-driven elements, especially a speaking Pac-Man (Voiced by Martin T. Sherman), as well as the ability to punch, has also sparked controversy among fans.

The Nintendo DS release, in particular, was poorly received for glitches.