Namco'south 'Ms. Pac-Homo' Game Controls

Namco kicked off the App Store launch with the release of two classics: Pac-Human [ App Store] and Ms. Pac-Man [App Shop]. Priced at $nine.99 each, the games are priced twice as much as the earlier iPod ports.

The gameplay of these historic games is pretty well known, and then I won't bore you with the details. But as Pac-Human, yous navigate a maze with while fugitive the ghosts. In social club to be succeed at the game, however, you need relatively precise controls with the ability to brand quick turns to avoid getting captured past the ghosts.

(As a side note, of the two, I've e'er felt Ms. Pac Human being was the perfect form of this game with just the right experience to it. Similar to my insistence that Doom II felt far amend than the original Doom.)

As it turns out, these games turned out to be a good exam of the iPhone'southward unique controls applied to a traditional game. I purchased Ms. Pac-Homo (due to my aforementioned bias) for this purpose and institute it offered three methods for control.

D-Pad

This tries to emulate the virtually familiar gaming controller — the D-Pad. While a swell method for a physical controller, its implementation on a bear on-screen falls pretty short. Of the 3 input methods, this one felt the most finicky. The lack of tactile response makes it incommunicable to exist certain you are pressing in the right spot. Since y'all are paying attention to the game play, you tin hands lose track of the exact spots to printing. And missing i turn is enough to prematurely end your game. I tried both using two thumbs to press the right spots and likewise centering my finger in the middle and sliding towards the correct management. In both cases, it was too easy to miss turns.

While it seems probable you could get better with practice, I'grand not sure it's worth the time every bit there's a better option available.

Accelerometer

All developers are going to experience pressure to use the iPhone's accelerometer every bit an input method. Namco allows you to tilt your iPhone in the appropriate direction to guide Ms. Pac-Homo through the maze. The on-screen joystick reflects your current input (centered, left, right, up, downwards) and the neutral centered position is at about a 45 degree bending. While information technology works better than I had expected, information technology nonetheless falls brusk in the same critical way.

Again, information technology's difficult to call back where heart is. You may have tilted one direction but on subsequent turns, you may not tilt far plenty for it to register. While the joystick'south visual cues are helpful, in practice you tin can't pay attention to it while yous are playing the game.

Swipe

Another gimmick? Surprisingly, no. Simply swiping your finger upward, down, left or right anywhere on the screen provides a precise fashion for you to direct your Pac-Human being. At that place is no "center" that needs to be remembered or visualized. Simply pick a place on the screen and swipe in the appropriate direction. It allows for quick and precise turns and makes the game playable at a higher level.

Input controls are going to be an ongoing consequence for most games, and a claiming to perfect. Information technology may accept some time to detect the balance betwixt gimmicky and useful. If you accept any interest in the Pac-Man franchise, even so, you can be balance assured that the input can keep upwards with the game.

Game Details

Name: Ms. Pac-Human
Developer: Namco Networks America Inc.
App Store Link: Purchase
Price: $ix.99
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod Touch