Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac - Switch 2 Review

Oh boy, I had to do some homework for this review. I reviewed the first Pac-Man World Re-Pac for Switchaboo because I grew up with the original game as a child. Unfortunately, I never owned the sequel, which Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is a remake of, so I had to do some research prior to see what was changed and improved. So what happened after Pac-Man defeated Toc-Man and rescued his family and friends? Well, it seems the pesky ghosts have stolen Pac-Land’s precious golden fruit and unknowingly unleashed an ancient evil they were sealing away. Going from one video game trope to another, I suppose.

The Good

While Pac-Man World Re-Pac was more of a 2D side scroller with a little bit of 3D exploration in it, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is a full-on 3D platformer. He still has all his old moves from the previous game, including the ability to throw power pellets, which is a new addition according to my research, and it all translates very well in this updated environment. From running, jumping, bouncing, and rev running, it all feels very smooth and a joy to handle.

Pac-Man games tend to feature various fruits. In Pac-Man World Re-Pac the fruit were used more as keys to open doors; in Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac the fruit have become proper collectables needed to 100% a given stage. Many fruits are hidden throughout levels and getting all of a specific fruit will open a chest with collectable figurines you can use to decorate the hub, which is new to this remake. I had a bit of a revelation when I found a chest and it was missing a single fruit: Pac-Man World 2 Rep-Pac is just a Crash Bandicoot game in disguise. On top of this, the game also adds missions to each level which give Pac-Man a new outfit when completed, giving the player more reason to go for 100% completion this time around, as the original game’s incentive was the ability to play Ms. Pac-Man from 1982.

The biggest thing players of the original Pac-Man World 2 will find is that most of the bosses have been completely redesigned. Other than the first and last bosses of the game, all the other bosses were the same enemy with a different colour palette. This time around in Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac, these bosses have been redesigned from the ground up to better reflect their environments and it really helps bring a bit more life to the game.

TL;DR

• Smooth and satisfying controls
• More incentive to grab collectables
• Repetitive boss fights from the original game have been redesigned

The Bad

A major complaint about the original Pac-Man World 2 was that if you didn’t care for 100% completion, then the game was very short. While I was praising the new collectables, I could see people who had this gripe on the original could see that as doubling down on the initial problem. I saw this complaint pop up so much in my research that I decided to beeline the game as much as I could to see how bad it was and I was able to beat the game in a single roughly 2-hour sitting. Usually in a game like this they have roadblocks preventing players from doing this, telling them they need to collect a certain amount of collectables to proceed but Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac doesn’t. Personally I don’t play collectathon-style platformers in this way but I know a lot who do so I felt like this would be important to bring up.

For those who do go for 100% completion, some levels still have camera issues when needing to backtrack through a level. It's not as bad as what I’ve seen in the original but it did get in the way of my enjoyment, especially in some of the volcano levels.

TL;DR

• The game is too short
• Some slight camera issues

Final Score: 7/10

I’m not going to lie, being able to just rush to the end did irk me a bit but Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac plays so well that I kept playing just for the fun of it. I can really see why this is considered a fan favourite. If you’ve never played the original, I suggest giving this a shot, especially if you’re a fan of collectathons because, boy, does this game put all of its eggs in one basket.

Thank you for checking out our Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac Switch review, thank you to Bandai Namco for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

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