海角大神

Growing up as a young kid, you may fondly remember a bunch of games you grew up playing. One of them might have been Namco鈥檚 "Pac-Man," a game featuring a yellow dot-gobbler, scampering through a maze and avoiding ghosts until he ate the 鈥減ower pellet鈥�, which allowed him to turn the tables and hunt them down while they were vulnerable.

Thirty years later, the game鈥檚 popularity lives on, both through inclusions in large game compilations (the Namco Museum series) and on its own through digital download. Now it鈥檚 available for the , and while it鈥檚 still an undeniable arcade favorite, a few problems prevent us from giving it a full recommendation.

The basic gameplay rules still apply here. You鈥檙e still guiding Pac-Man through each maze, gobbling all the dots and fruit you can while avoiding the wrath of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Scattered across each maze are four helpful 鈥減ower pellets鈥�, located near the corners of the screen.

What has changed about the iPad version are the control types. You can either play with a traditional joystick set-up to move Pac-Man around, or use 鈥渟wipe鈥� controls to guide him around the maze. No matter which method you use, however, it鈥檚 somewhat scattershot. There are times Pac-Man doesn鈥檛 respond properly to certain movements, resulting in hitting a dead end or, worse yet, a ghost. If we had to choose one, though, we鈥檇 go with the virtual joystick.

As for the presentation, it鈥檚 a perfect recreation of the original . It鈥檚 easy to keep an eye on the entire maze at once, so you can see what dots haven鈥檛 yet been eaten. You can also keep an eye on the ghosts 鈥� Pacman's enemies 鈥� who move around quickly and unpredictably. The sound effects are the best part of the package, with the classic 鈥渨akka-wakka鈥� dot eating noise and the increasing siren noises as you get closer to completing the stage. The looks great on both landscape and portrait modes, and you can pause it at any time should you need to check on another application 鈥� a very helpful addition.

However, we can鈥檛 recommend it mainly because of the price. A game such as this could鈥檝e easily sold for one to two dollars. "Pac-Man" goes for five. It鈥檚 not a bank-breaking game by any means, but considering that it鈥檚 been a small part of 10-to-20 dollar packages, there鈥檚 no excuse for Namco jacking up the price. Once it drops down to three, we can definitely take more interest in it.

With its control problems and jacked-up price, we can only recommend "Pac-Man" to hardcore gaming enthusiasts. And even then, we can think of three other games we鈥檇 recommend to pass the time with. Check out our picks below鈥�

Vector Runner HD (Littlegrey Media, $2.99, released May 4)

Upon playing "Vector Runner," we were immediately reminded of classic Atari 鈥渧ector鈥� games from the 80鈥檚, including Battlezone and Star Wars. It鈥檚 a simple-to-play game where you guide a square through a fast-moving running grid, avoiding objects while racking up a high score. For three dollars, this is one of the better purchases you can make on the iPad. It鈥檒l definitely satisfy your retro peace of mind.

Pinball HD (OOO Gameprom, $2.99, released May 4)

While this may not be the same thing as playing an actual pinball machine in someone鈥檚 basement or arcade, it鈥檚 certainly a fine recreation of it. You choose from various tables, each with their own unique theme, and flip around for high points, scoring bonus rounds and multiball sessions. You can also play with viewing options for each table, though we prefer the 3-D format. For flipper fans everywhere, we can鈥檛 recommend "Pinball HD" enough.

Geometry Wars Touch (Activision, $9.99, released April 1)

If you鈥檝e got a few extra bucks to burn and want a quality retro shooter for your iPad, look no further than "Geometry Wars Touch." This game puts you in control of a small ship, flying through enclosed areas and shooting everything from vicious squares to deadly diamonds to space worms. Each stage gets progressively harder, and with multiple modes to choose from (including the exclusive Titans mode), the fun never ends.