“Comparability is the thief of pleasure,” stated former US President Teddy Roosevelt. The gist is that generally a comparability can negatively skew our perceptions or diminish our appreciation of particular person qualities. Roosevelt didn’t have multiplayer Pac-Man in thoughts when he got here up along with his oft-quoted consolatory aphorism, however he’s not improper.
Sadly for the spherical arcade icon, his second foray into the battle royale style on the Swap with the cumbersomely-titled, online-only Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs was invariably going be in comparison with PAC-MAN 99, the favorably reviewed, now-dead on-line multiplayer title that had been a Nintendo Swap On-line unique.
Developed by Amber Studio and initially launched as an unique for the doomed Google Stadia in 2020 as Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle, Chomp Champs retains all of the anticipated dot-consuming, ghost-eating gameplay however provides power-ups, and most apparently, means that you can invade others gamers’ mazes and swallow them, introducing a singular aggressive wrinkle.
Positive, there may be some delicate enjoyable available with Chomp Champs and its neat twists to the basic Pac-Man method. However once we recall the snappy and addictive free-to-play Pac-Man 99, it makes it all of the harder to look previous Chomp Champs’ janky efficiency, cell sport visuals, and outsized value level. That is an personal objective by writer Bandai Namco.
The delisting of Pac-Mac 99 two-and-a-half years after its April 2021 launch was by no means formally defined, however we bear in mind it suffered from sparsely populated lobbies in its ultimate months. It didn’t assist that Bandai Namco locked its customized themes behind a paywall, in contrast to its extra profitable cousin, Tetris 99, which nonetheless affords unlockable themes that incentivise play.
Whether or not it is true or not, the notion is that Pac-Man 99 was culled to promote Chomp Champs. If its situation was a waning pool of gamers, slapping a $19.99 price ticket on a clunkier iteration of the method just isn’t the reply. Chomp Champs additionally repeats the error of creating cosmetics and maze themes unlockable solely via paying, not enjoying.
In-game foreign money might be received and spent on a modest assortment of foolish outfits, from satan wings and 3D glasses to a panda swimsuit, and some completely different maze themes. However round half of the sport’s unlockables – cosmetics and mazes primarily based on basic Namco IPs and lunar zodiac animals – are paid DLC priced at $4.99 and $6.99 respectively.
The sport pits a complete of 64 gamers in a alternative of elimination and ranked modes – however they play identically. We performed post-launch and it by no means felt like there have been dozens of different gamers. Actually, most mazes we invaded have been empty and a few opponents gave the impression to be CPUs utilizing equally structured generic usernames (BoredStudent, ShadyBush, CyanMommy).
There are body price dips and jank aplenty, in addition to latency points (which rendered the sport unplayable on servers outdoors our area). We noticed glitchy ghosts whose visibility flashed on and off, and our Pac-Man usually auto-accelerated to the left once we respawned. We generally appeared in a random a part of a maze once we invaded it, which bungled our run.
Matches additionally have a tendency to finish abruptly, opposite to the standard pacing and sense of climax anticipated in a battle royale. We have been declared the winner when all different opponents bit the mud offscreen, which left our victory usually feeling fairly random and unearned. Regardless of being a contemporary port of a virtually four-year-old sport, Chomp Champs lacks polish.
In contrast with newer makes an attempt to modernize Pac-Man in titles just like the frantically quick Pac-Man Championship Version 2 Plus, Chomp Champs unfolds at a a lot slower albeit extra conventional tempo. It regularly builds pace however by no means feels as full of life or dynamic as Pac-Man 99 did, which we bear in mind working flawlessly and being far more difficult to win.
Warts apart, its gameplay is predicated on one of many medium’s tentpole titles. So long as you’ve got an honest web connection and are in a area with out there servers, there may be some enjoyment available. However $19.99 can be significantly better spent on PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ or Championship Version 2 Plus, which we gave an 8/10 and 9/10 respectively.
Conclusion
We might solely ever advocate Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs to Pac-Man diehards at its launch value level. Actually, given the destiny of its Pac-Man 99 forebear, we might be hesitant to open our wallets for it in any respect, as a result of we doubt it can have a lot longevity if it isn’t ultimately made free-to-play. Although it introduces a cool concept or two, multiplayer Pac-Man was carried out higher by its predecessors and, because it stands, its price ticket is hard to justify.
