Pac 'n Roll (Nintendo DS) Preview

Pac 'N' Roll originally existed alongside Pac-Pix as a technology demonstration for the fully unveiled DS at E3 2004. Unlike its brethren, however, it has not come out so quickly and has remained in development for a fair while longer. The result looks to be an interesting combination of Marble Madness, Super Monkey Ball and familiar Pac-Man play mechanics; indeed, while there were no instances of pill popping in Pac-Pix, Pac 'N' Roll looks to be adorned with it. So keen do Namco seem to both utilise their retro appeal and keep a little closer to the Pac-Man formula that they have also included the original game (adapted to take advantage of a larger playing field spread over two screens) within, after it is unlocked of course.

The gameplay consists of rolling Pac-Man around levels inhabited by ghosts, gobbling up pills and fruit as you go. As in the original arcade games, you can occasionally find Power Pills, which allow you to banish your enemies to the spirit world where they belong, but this time they do not respawn. The premise is simple, but as the original shows it could prove addictive.

A striking thing about the game is the level of graphical accomplishment. Both screens display 3D, a stark contrast to Pac-Pix's fully 2D nature, with the top screen being used for the main playing field and the bottom screen used to control the action via a trackball-like system. Pac-Man is displayed on the bottom screen in the centre and movement is achieved by moving the stylus over him. Whichever direction you swipe will be the way that Pac-Man moves.

Handily, if for some reason you cannot work out what direction the yellow ball is moving, the trackball Pac-Man indicates what direction he is facing on the top screen. A key move to getting Pac-Man about is the dash, activated with a quick swipe across the touch screen, which gives him a temporary burst of speed and allows him to break through enemies and obstacles alike, wrecking ball style! The D-Pad allows camera control, but this is its only function, the game being another title that relies mainly on the touch screen.

Gameplay does not look set to become much more complicated than what has already been described, with Pac-Man needing to be navigated through a series of different settings such as jungles with underwater sections and castles, which are each bound to have environment specific perils for our protagonist. However, it could be the case of a game that follows the age old 'simple to play, more difficult to master' philosophy, with elements like friction thrown in and a few obligatory character-changing power ups - in this case, there is a suit of armour that increases Pac-Man’s weight and its polar opposite, a feather that makes Pac-Man light and puffy enough to go floating about the level for certain periods of time (although perhaps a bicycle pump would have been a better idea, with the hero inflating into a balloon-like form…).

When you have finished with the story mode, Namco have promised time trial and challenge modes. The former needs no real explanation, with players asked to steer Pac-Man around the stages as fast as possible, while the latter is likely to involve challenges such as gathering items or getting rid of bad guys.