Happy 30th Birthday Pac-Man!

The late 70's to early 80's was arguable one of, if not the, most iconic periods in arcade gaming, especially if you were in the Japanese development scene - wherein some of the most iconic games ever created were, well, created in this period. We're talking games that are still as iconic today as they were then, such as Taito's Space Invaders, Nintendo's Donkey Kong and celebrating its 30th birthday today, Namco's Puck-Man, or as it's better known, Pac-Man.

You may think that Namco would have something special planned for it right? Y'know, since it's practically synomous with the company and they adore putting out Pac-Man anything, since it's still bloody popular. Nope. Nothing. Not even a port to yet another platform - because it's one of the few games that's available on just about anything...

Instead, a couple of Google engineers decided to do something even more awesome - create a port that'll run in the Google logo on the main Google page. Pretty bloody awesome, especially when you realize that you can actually play with two players, the second controlling Ms. Pac-Man. Good going Google, taking advantage of a massive missed opportunity that Namco could've totally taken advantage of. You've got less than 48hrs to play it before it's taken down, but still, it's rad.

So...yeah. Don't know what else I can say. Because let's face it - it's FREAKING PAC-MAN. It's one of those games that everyone knows about, anyone can play, and it's still completely awesome. I really don't know what else I can say about it that hasn't already been covered to death. If you just stick with the main stuff, and avoid most of the spin-offs, you'll be groovy.

Though if I were to recommend one Pac title for this special occasion, get the Xbox Live title Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is a fantastic remake of the original game. The iPhone version also works, but it's best played with a controller. Should you not have access at all to play the game, Ms. Pac-Man or even the original Pac-Man is also pretty awesome.

Happy 30th Birthday Pac-Man!

12 Games For Christmas - Game #9

9. Tekken 6 (PS3/360)

2009 was a hell of a year for fighting games. Not including Tekken, we received the home version of Street Fighter IV, UFC 2009: Undisputed, Blazblue, and while there were some duds (King of Fighters XII), there was little doubt that across the board, if you wanted a good game where you punched someones head in, there were fewer bad games to do it in. Yet why go with Tekken?

Yes, Tekken problems compared to some of these games. Initially, the online mode was janky as all hell and the scenario campaign mode (the big, new story mode) is not a particularly fun mode, and it’s the only way to get endings for characters. And much like Street Fighter IV, characters endings aren’t quite as good as they should be. Yet the one thing that Tekken has over most of these other fighting games is not only a diverse and large character roster, but also a large and diverse range of modes of play.

Where most fighters are cutting down on modes, Tekken has the traditional Arcade, Time Attack, Survival, and the always fun Team Battle mode, in addition to the surprisingly long Scenario Campaign mode and online modes. And the 40+ characters are all well defined and well balanced, and everyone can stand a chance against one another. And then you get to the final boss, whom will make you scream and shout in rage. It’s almost on the same level of frustration that Seth would frequently provide in Street Fighter IV.

And the game itself? It’s still the same Tekken fun. Sure, characters have been tweaked, but that’s all a part of the balancing. The new rage system, wherein once you’re at a critical level of health, your attacks become much stronger, is a great idea and helps to balance out fights and make them much more competitive, especially knowing that one hit can pretty much knock you out.

That being said, Tekken 6 still does have its problems. Scenario Campaign being perhaps the biggest one of them – it’s badly designed, not particularly fun and often frustrating. Azazel, the game’s final boss, is particularly frustrating when it really shouldn’t be, and anyone expecting a full renovation of Tekken is bound to not see anything of worth here – since it’s really just a tweaked version of the already excellent Tekken 5. Otherwise, absolutely worth picking up.