Pac-Man World 3

Pac-Man World 3 is a 2005 platform game developed by Blitz Games and published by Namco. It is the third installment in the Pac-Man World trilogy.

Plot
In a search for power, a short evil genius called Erwin has found a way to suck raw energy out of the world of the Ghosts (the Spectral Realm). He has created a syphon that can penetrate into the Spectral Realm. This is causing the Spectral Realm to collapse into the real world (Pac-Land), bringing about an environmental catastrophe. Meanwhile, Pac-Man is celebrating his 25th birthday with his family when he is teleported by Orson, a former arch-nemesis of Pac-Man from the original Pac-Man World. Orson communicates to him and tells him about the Spectral Realm (after Pac-Man complains to Orson about messing up his party and throwing him into a trash pit). Pac-Man is attacked by fiery Spectral monsters of the orange, green, and purple varieties which have been driven mad by Erwin's hypnosis with Inky and Blinky (Clyde) have been kidnapped as part of Erwin's evil scheme, but Pinky and Clyde (Blinky) managed to escape.

Now Pac-Man must join forces with the ghosts, Orson, Pinky, and Clyde (Blinky) to stop Erwin before he destroys both the Real World and the Spectral Realm.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Pac-Man's Butt Bounce move gains a new ability. Every third bounce creates a shockwave that stuns nearby enemies. There are also specialized Power Pellets that change the way his shockwave works.
 * 2) Nice callback to Pac-Man World, where Pac-Man is trying to celebrate his birthday.
 * 3) Since the game takes place in a wasteland full of machinery, the music fits very well for the setting.
 * 4) Decent writing.
 * 5) The game introduces new moves, such as punching, swinging, and climbing.
 * 6) You can play as Pinky and Blinky, which is a first for Pac-Man games.
 * 7) *You can also play as Toc-Man, the final boss of the first Pac-Man World.
 * 8) The puzzles are interesting.
 * 9) The game offers 7 to 8 hours of gameplay, compared to 6 hours from the previous game.
 * 10) Decent amount of replay value.
 * 11) The graphics are good for its time and it holds up pretty well today.
 * 12) The PSP version has multiplayer, which can be accessed via the game's Ad Hoc connection.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The Nintendo DS version is terrible
 * 2) Most of the jokes are either predictable or not funny.
 * 3) Just like the first Pac-Man World game, save points save your current life count.
 * 4) It's way easier than its predecessors. (Except for the Gigatron battle, where Erwin launches K-Trons.)
 * 5) The framerate can drop significantly if there are at least four enemies on the screen at a time.
 * 6) * The Framerate is even worse in the PSP version, well in certain areas that is.
 * 7) Poor camera. The DS version has an even worse camera.
 * 8) The PSP version doesn't have any save points, so if you get a Game Over, you have to restart at the beginning of the level.
 * 1) The framerate can drop significantly if there are at least four enemies on the screen at a time.
 * 2) * The Framerate is even worse in the PSP version, well in certain areas that is.
 * 3) Poor camera. The DS version has an even worse camera.
 * 4) The PSP version doesn't have any save points, so if you get a Game Over, you have to restart at the beginning of the level.

Reception
The game has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. However, the DS version has received generally unfavorable reviews due to glitches.

Metacritic holds a score (in order) of 44% for Nintendo DS, 61% for PlayStation Portable, 63% for PlayStation 2, 65% for Xbox, 66% for GameCube, and 74% for PC.