Pac-Man Party – Nintendo Wii Reviews

My family (me, my husband, and my daughter- age 6) play a few rounds of Wii Party or Mario Party 9 instead of watching TV every night. It’s been great fun, and so I thought I would add to the mix of games by trying out Pac-Man Party.

This game is a weird mix between Monopoly and Mario Party. The currency in “Pac-Man Party” is cookies, and you earn cookies by moving around the game board and claiming bits of land and building castles on that land with your colors. Like Monopoly, each time you make a lap around the game board, you earn more cookies, except in “Oac-Man Party”, your cookie value goes up based on how many castles you own. When you land on someone else’s castle, you battle them for ownership by playing a mini-game. The other players compete as well, but they play for bonus cookies.

I have to admit, it took us a few laps around the board before we figured out what we were doing or what the game was about, but it was still great fun. The mini-games are easy to pick up, and vary enough so that different players will find different games they excel at and everyone gets a chance at winning. (beware: no practice mode on any of the mini-games, so the first time playing is sort of confusing as you figure it out.)

For the price, this is a *GREAT* game. It’s colorful and relatively easy to pick up. It’s perfect for families, parties, or young children. I will say that I can’t imagine two 12-year-olds sitting down with this game and doing serious battle- it’s very lighthearted.

If you love Wii Party and Mario Party and are looking for another Wii “board game” to add to your collection, you’ll love this.

I’ve played a few dogs over the years with Pac-Man attached to it (what was the name of the game with the slingshot?), and I’ve been blown away by others (Championship Edition DX for XBOX is still addictive). This game is a perfect addition, especially for someone like me who is introducing my kid and my nieces and nephews to video gaming.

The game plays similar to Mario Party and like games, but there’s unique ways to “roll the dice” to advance around the board. At first I didn’t get the concept of “building castles” but after a few turns it begins to make sense. While the adventure and board games are fun, the real fun is the ability to battle in the mini-games without having to unlock them. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the original Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pac-Man are all packed into this game. There’s also much controller variety, from aiming and shooting to actually controlling characters with the d-pad.

For an old school gamer with a 4-year-old son, I would definitely recommend this game, not only for the young gamers but for adults as well
(and FYI, I picked this up for for Christmas, which I think made this a win-win).

party mode plays like a monopoly type board game. players take turn on mini games to decide how many moves to make on the map. empty spots on the map will yield a castle when a player lands on it. collect spaces next to a castle and it will merge into a larger structure. every time you land on your own castle you get points. if another player lands on your castle they will challenge your ownership with a mini game and can take some of your cookie points. cookie factory is home base for everyone to collect points every time they pass through. there are 5 maps with boss fights that all players must participate. the maps are very well designed with lots of attention to detail. the mini games have a wide variety resulting in good replay value. everything is modeled in 3d. textures are vibrant and colorful. audio is excellent utilizing familiar pac-man arcade sounds.

the included classic arcade games are a bit difficult to play with the d-pad of the wiimote. a joystick like the one on the nunchuck would have worked better but you cannot customize the control to use them.