There are some games that simply shouldn't be messed with.  Time proves that classics are best left as they were – movie remakes are rarely good, let alone better than the original, and the same goes for cover songs, and yes, videogames.

Boy, does JustFreeGames.com have a deal for you.  They're offering Pac-Manic Worlds as freeware.  That's right, freeware.  Just hop onto their site, hit the download button, and all of its 1.9 megabyte glory is yours for the taking.

I really wish the game was good, or at least tried to be good.  It is Pac-Man, plain and simply, with essentially nothing new at all.  It's basically received a facelift, for better or worse, as the gameplay is identical to the marvelous arcade game that came out so long ago.  And yet, despite our new technology, our fancy programming and pretty graphics, this version of the game doesn't hold a candle to the original, let alone the excellent Ms. Pac-Man.

Instead of colored lines on a black background making up the bulk of the “mazes”, Pac-Manic Worlds sports 3D graphics.  There's a level where you play on a bunch of blue computerchip-looking blocks floating around in space, a level with grassy green blocks over an ocean, and a level for purple and turquoise dirt paths in a sea of purple gas.  The levels don't really offer anything unique as you play; each level in the blue block/space world, for example, looks nearly identical to the previous one.  The only difference is the actual layout of the map.  There are no poignant, or even interesting, features to be found.

The game also manages to control far worse than the original ever did.  The use of a keyboard doesn't compare to a joystick, of course, but that's not really the problem.  The control is stiff and sometimes unresponsive.  Pac-Man doesn't always turn when you want him to – your timing has to be pretty good.  By far the worst part, though, is the hit detection.  Power pellets strangely don't have to be touched – you can simply be close to them, and you've got them.  This is not a good thing, as wasted power pellets are often the source of a failure.  Ghosts also manage to kill you when they are quite close, whether or not they actually touch you.  All in all, the gameplay not only lacks polish, it barely works.

Graphics are nothing impressive.  The levels are by far the best looking area of the game, looking fairly crisp.  But they're still blocky, and very, very repetitive.  The same few basic textures basically make up every ten or so levels.  Animation is quite poor.  Not only does it look choppy, it jerks around when controlling Pac-Man.  He doesn't turn smoothly – there is no turning animation, not even a quick one.  It's just a sudden jerk in another direction.  The same goes for all of the ghosts.

It can't get any worse, right?  Well, the sound only seals the deal.  Pac-Man's audio may not be stunning in this day and age, but at least it is more memorable than the generic soundtrack and utterly inane sound effects found in this game.  Pac-Man's warbling death noise, topped off with a cute little “boink-boink”, now sounds like the equivalent of electronic flatulence.  And for some reason, Pac-Man yodels in a mousy voice whenever you beat a level.  I cannot come up with a single explanation for this.  Not only is it not needed, it is extremely corny.

All in all, Pac-Manic Worlds is really quite a bad game, unfortunately.  It is a 1.9 MB download that won't cost you a penny, though.  If you're even interested in the slightest, you might as well download it and give it a look.  If you weren't interested in the first place, you really won't be missing out on anything.  Heck, it might almost be worth seeing just so one can appreciate the original Pac-Man that much more.

Gameplay: 4.0

Basic Pac-Man, but with stiff controls and poor hit detection.  The game offers nothing new as far as gameplay goes.

Graphics: 5.0

Merely decent, the graphics look fine but will soon prove repetitive as you visit your seventh space level.  The same textures and objects are used over and over, and animation isn't great.

Sound: 4.0

The soundtrack is generic and the sound effects are ridiculously ludicrous, but still there, at least.  It pales in comparison to the original game, however.

Concept: 4.0

Pac-Man did not need to be remade, especially when it turned out as poor as it did.  Even as far as ideas go, though, Pac-Manic Worlds offers absolutely no innovative qualities.

Overall: 4.0

It is a free, small game, but barely justifies the tiny amount of space it will acquire on your hard drive.  It may best be used as a tool to appreciate the majesty that was Namco's original Pac-Man.