Pac-Man Bounce is a free-to-play puzzler for iOS and Android (reviewed on iPad here), and it stars the most famous video game character of all time: Pac-Man! In each single screen level, you must get Pac-Man to eat a key, but you don’t control Pac-Man directly.  You must manipulate arrows and walls so that Pac-Man will follow and bounce off of them.  When you are ready, just tap on Pac-Man and he’ll start moving and hopefully make it to the key so you can progress.

Before tapping on Pac-Man, you can adjust items in the level to make a path for Pac-Man to follow. Certain arrow blocks can be moved around on the touch screen, and other arrows can be changed direction.  You can even make arrows go at an angle.  Pac-Man will bounce off walls, and there are even walls you can move around later on to adjust the angle of reflection regarding Pac-Man’s path.  While the level is completed when you eat the key, there are three stars scattered about each level for you to try and eat as well.  You’ll want to nab as many stars as you can, because after every few levels, you’ll need to have a certain number of stars collected to unlock the next set.  But watch out for obstacles like pits and ghost monsters!  If you fall or get touched by a ghost, you’ll have to start the level over.  Just like the arcade game, be on the lookout for power pellets so you can eat any ghosts in your way.

As a free-to-play game, there are some things you’ll have to deal with. Each time you try a level, whether you are successful or not, it’ll take off one energy notch.  You can wait a while for the energy to refill again, or you can view an ad to get 3 more pieces of energy.  You can also buy cherries with real money that can be used to purchase energy as well.  Only problem is that since you run out of energy even when you complete a level, it goes away pretty quickly and the wait time is just a bit longer than what I prefer.  You can also view hints for each level, but you must watch a video ad first.  While it can be a little annoying, I like the fact that they don’t force you to watch the ads; you must tap a button to consent.  I liked some of the puzzling gameplay and the colorful graphics and levels made up of food, but the stages do get pretty hard later on and it can be difficult to tell what path Pac-Man will take.  Probably not a game I’ll play all the way through.

Kid Factor:

If Pac-Man gets touched by a ghost, he just tips over on his side and disappears, and if Pac-Man eats a ghost, they just turn into eyes and run away. So it’s no more violent than the original arcade game.  I grew up on that and I turned out OK.  Reading skill isn’t needed as all the instructions have picture cues, but parental supervision is strongly recommended with the in-game purchases and ads.  As a puzzle game, it could be considered educational as it reinforces thinking and planning skills, and teaches about the laws of reflection.

Tags: Game Reviews