Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is more puzzle game than the original - a 'maze' concept mixed with obstacle courses that require various amounts of brain-power. The story is weak, but you won't care. All is not well in Pac-Land. An evil force has taken over Enchanted Castle, so someone will have to venture into 4 mystic realms to recover magical gems and set things right. Professor-Pac has been experimenting with a new device to access the realms, and just before he's pac-napped, he throws you the prototype Pactrometer and you're off to save the world. How? By eating Pac-Dots, silly!
Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness takes the old mazes and mixes in a strong dose of Platformer action. Each stage is themed, and has 3 main levels plus a bonus level.
Ms. Pac-Man moves on a track the whole time, and most puzzles outside the standard 'eating dots in a maze, chased by ghosts' variety involve triggering doors and using explosive blocks to blast walls and enemies while avoiding lightning bolts, explosions and nasty monsters. I was struck by how much the non-maze areas felt like Crash Bandicoot 3, but nothing wrong with that...
Beating Quest Mode in Ms. Pac-Man only clears about 50% of the game. Each level can also be run as a Time Trial, and there are several extra levels to be earned after you've opened enough of the game, including bonus rounds. I mentioned Classic Ms. Pac-Man is playable, but there's a neat Multiplayer addition, also. Beyond 2 players, you need a Multi-Tap, but it's possible to play Multiplayer against the computer if you're lacking competition. There are 3 modes in Multiplayer, and 4 maps to choose from the beginning; success in Quest Mode opens additional maps. In Multiplayer, the Dot Mania game pits you against other players trying to collect 80 Pac-Dots. Each map is full of power-ups, and you can choose to play as either Baby-Pac, Professor-Pac, Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man. This game is fun, and my second runner-up game is called Da Bomb. This game has one player holding a ticking bomb they have to pass off to another player. Last one holding the bomb is Pac-Toast. My favorite Multiplayer game is Ghost Tag, which starts everyone off as ghosts. One player turns into a Pac-Person and eats dots until caught by a ghost player, who turns into Pac form and is 'It.' The game's over when you eat 50 Pac-Dots, but the changing roles make this cool for Multiplayer.