PackWar

Pac-Man seems to be an immortal game not just because it’s a great little arcade game in the first place, but also because it’s constantly being reinvented. PackWar is an example of this, and a successful one at that. In it, you get to challenge the yellow pellet eater to a munching contest.

Pac-Man has been eating the tasty pellets since 1980, so he’s not going to take a chill pill when you start to muscle in on his territory. If in the classic he was the one getting chased down by the ghosts, in this one, he’s out to get you and he’s scary.

As you can imagine, the pellet eater will be of a considerable size and one bite is all it takes to lose one of your lives. PackWar keeps the arcade spirit alive and intact because it’s basically 3D Pac-Man played in a first-person perspective where you are the protagonist, Pac-Men replace the ghosts, and also, there are guns!

At a first glance, PackWar might not seem like a big challenge but wait until you start it up. Not only are there several Pac-Men with huge chompers out to get you, but the corridors are also almost pitch dark. They’re the kind of dark you get in horror games and to some extent, PackWar is just that because the way the enemies emerge from the dark comes close to the idea of jumpscares.

There is a way of dealing with the yellow giants, but that implies that you reach one of the four blue pellets. If you do, you get a shotgun, two pistols or even two SMGs that you can use to blast the Pacs. Also, the guns disappear after a while and the evil Pac-Men you defeat respawn and start chasing you again.

PackWar is one of those tiny indie games that has a good idea at heart, and the execution isn’t bad at all. You’ll surely identify the song that plays in the background, the chasing part is fun and the shooting is more so. Every second is casually fun.