Racketboy

I’m always up for a good conversion of Pac-Man, but I have to say this new Pac-Man Championship Edition for the XBox Live Arcade looks mighty exciting. In addition to it’s Geometry Wars-inspired HD graphical style and some brand new mazes, it’s also filled with some useful features, including the following game modes (quoted from the press release):

• The Championship Mode. This is the main game mode designed by NAMCO BANDAI Games and Iwatani specifically for the championship round of the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship. This mode – as well as all others within the “Pac-Man Championship Edition” – features redesigned mazes with wide maze walls and a widescreen configuration to better enable high-speed game play. Timed limit of five minutes.
• Challenge Mode 1 (Patience and Reward Course). This mode is an evolution of the Championship Mode. Patience mazes strategically offer fewer Power Pellets and Reward mazes provide a large number of Power Pellets – providing unique challenges and rewards for the player. Timed limit of 10 minutes.
• Challenge Mode 2 (The Darkness Course). In this mode, only the area directly around Pac-Man and the Ghosts is visible and the maze walls are completely hidden. Timed limit of 10 minutes.
• Extra Mode 1 (The Freeway Course). An extremely high-speed mode for advanced players, this mode features warp-speed Pac-Man and Ghosts and plenty of tunnels. Timed limit of five minutes.
• Extra Mode 2 (The Manhattan Course). A mode inspired by the streets of Manhattan - the home for the first-ever Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship. Timed limit of five minutes.
• Extra Mode 3 (The Overall Course). A mix of all other modes resulting in extreme mazes for the most devout Pac-Man fans. Timed limit of 10 minutes.

Joystiq has already composed a great post on their first impressions of this new release:
“While certainly not a revolutionary announcement some thought it would be, Pac-Man Championship Edition is definitely a solid title. The subtle layers of complexity are still there — each ghost will have a slightly different AI pattern to exploit. The new additions to the title have transformed a title from a simple retro classic to something the modern tastes of Xbox Live Arcade players will certainly appreciate. If we had one major complaint, it had to be the suspicious lack of multiplayer. Certainly, having a Pac-Man Versus styled mode (sans GBA connections) should have been an obvious addition to a game entitled Championship Edition. At 800 Microsoft Points, we admit that this is a pricey purchase. However, don’t pass this game over because “it’s just another Pac-Man.”"
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To get a better feel for what this is all about take a look at the official video trailers (High | Low quality) and this Flickr photoset full of screenshots I put together.

If you have a 360 and $10 to spare, I would say this definately looks like a good deal.