I can only hope that we have all played at least one iteration of traditional Pac-Man in our lives. He and his wife are two of the biggest gaming icons in history. Pac-Man Championship Edition came out for XBLA in 2007 and added a new spin onto the classic Pac-Man we all knew and loved. Now we have the deluxe version of that game and I can say without hyperbole that this is one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I've ever had.

For the three and a half people out there who somehow haven't played Pac-Man ever, I'll give you the run-down. You play as Pac-Man in a maze filled with regular pellets, power pellets, and ghosts. Your job is to go around eating the regular pellets which give you points. When you eat a power pellet the ghosts (Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde) turn blue and are then vulnerable to be eaten by Pac-Man. You want to avoid being eaten by the ghosts and aim for the high score.

While the general concept still remains the same, CE Deluxe cranks everything up to insane levels. Pac-Man is no longer satisfied with just surviving over four ghosts. Now the goal of the game is to string as many ghosts as possible behind you to eventually culminate in eating them all in one fell swoop.

When you go by ghosts (who are usually sleeping, not moving, in one area of the maze) they will notice you and begin to follow your every move. As you continue to do this the ghost line behind you will continue to grow and grow, somewhat similar to the game Snake. Eventually non-sleeping ghosts will spawn that act as rogue ghosts who may try to intercept you or force you off your planned path.

You can have up to thirty ghosts following you at a time, at which point it would be optimal to find and eat a power pellet and simply turn around and watch as each and every ghost is devoured by Pac-Man for maximum points. This event is one of the most satisfying things to crop up in a videogame.

There are also some new additions in case you get into a jam.

First of all, if you end up heading towards a ghost and are about to collide with it, the game will go into a slow motion "bullet time" type mode that gives you way more time to react to the situation. Considering that game can get very fast, this addition is incredibly helpful. If you end up in slow motion mode and have no way of escape you can now trigger a bomb to blast away the ghosts on your tail.

With a quick tap of either the triggers, bumpers, or one of the face buttons (depending on your control scheme, more on that later) all of the ghosts in your trail and any other close ones will be swept to the middle of the maze and will soon be right back on your tail after a short rest period.

It isn't the ideal situation, but sometimes a Pac has to do what a Pac has to do.

There is a surprising amount of variety in this Pac-Man game. There are nine courses within the game, each offering a different maze and requires a whole new play style to get a high score. It even includes the maze from the first Championship Edition that doesn't spawn any sleeping ghosts and thus plays completely differently from any other map.

Each map has two score attacks (5 and 10 minutes), 11 time trials (1 long and 10 short), and a ghost train mode (eat as many ghosts as you can at once). All of these are offered with three difficulty levels, Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert that only affect your starting speed. Leader boards are here as well, serving as a driving force to better yourself. There is also a Free mode that allows you to customize your play how you like it. You can set the number of starting ghosts from 0-4, the Beginner speed starts at 1 instead of 10, and you have infinite lives and bombs.

Accessibility Issues/Concerns

There are only two things you need to do in the game: move and place bombs, for which there are two control schemes. The first (and default) control scheme is movement with either the left or right analog stick or the d-pad. Bombs are placed with any shoulder or bumper button, or any face button. The second control scheme adds the face buttons as a way to move Pac-Man, and limits bombs to just the bumper or shoulder buttons.

Since the controls are so simple one of these should allow most everyone to play with relative ease. I was able to play one handed, with either hand, with little problems.

In addition, when Pac-Man is about to collide with a ghost time slows down, Matrix-style, allowing the player a lot more time to react and change course. This is a great addition and has gotten me out of many jams. There are three difficulties which affect your starting speed. The faster the game is, the more reflexes that are required to survive.

Deaf gamers should have no hindrance while playing this revamped Pac-Man game. There is no dialogue in the game and the text is clear and easy to read. The only audio cue throughout the game is when the time counts down to the minute markers, but the time is very prominently displayed at the top of the screen, easily seen with a quick glance.

Going into this game I was worried that with the crazy ecstasy-fueled theme that the colors would be a mess. However I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are tons of options for the graphics of the game.

Each time you pick a course you can not only pick the graphic style of the level, but you can also pick the style's color and change the style of Pac-Man and the ghosts. One or two of the backgrounds make it a little difficult to see Pac-Man and the ghosts clearly for us colorblind gamers, but there are plenty more that make it very easy. Just in case you don't like the particular color of a background you can change that to your specific liking, too. The options here are amazing and if you're color-blind you will be just as happy as I am.

At a Glance

Mobility: Simple controls and two control options offer one-handed gamers easy access to the game. Near-death situations are slowed down to allow motion-impaired gamers more time to react to the usually quick pace of the game.
Recommended score: 9/10

Hearing: No dialogue in the game. All text is clear and easy to read. The only audio cue (time ticking down) has a large visual indication as well.
Recommended score: 10/10

Vision: Color-blind gamers will be pleased with the plethora of options available for the in-game graphics. Background styles and colors are all changeable to mix-and-match to your individual liking.
Recommended score: 10/10

Overall: Pac-Man Championship Edition Deluxe is a very accessible game, living up to the Pac-Man moniker. The controls are simple, the options are abundant, and the enjoyment is through the roof. I can easily recommend this game to any gamer, disabled or not!