Pac-Man has finally broken out of the arcade mazes he’s navigated for 40 years, and he’s taking to streets of the real world. Featuring maps based on the real world, Pac-Man Geo is Bandai Namco’s latest installment of the pellet-munching series and launches today on IOS and Android devices.
“Pac-Man Geo is breaking the traditional concept of the Pac-Man maze and allows Pac-Man to be played in real locations around the world for the first time ever,” says Dennis Lee, Director of Brand Marketing at Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc.
This isn’t the first time that Pac-Man has been seen on the streets of Google Maps. For April Fools in 2017, Google and Bandai Namco collaborated to transform various locations into PAC-MAN mazes. This time around Bandai Namco has transformed the custom maps to be 2.5D, and added multiple features to the base game.
Like traditional Pac-Man titles, Pac-Man Geo brings back Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde to stalk the player on their pellet procuring quest. Finding a power pellet will allow the player to turn the tables on the ghosts, temporarily removing them from the game.
With Pac-Man Geo, the Pac-Man franchise becomes the latest series to delve into Augmented Reality experiences on smartphones. Both Pokémon and Minecraft have AR games available on smartphones that offer players different gameplay experiences based on their real-world location. Pac-Man Geo diverges from this by allowing players to access mazes from around the world, regardless of their actual location.
Bandai Namco also released a gameplay trailer for Pac-Man Geo. You can check it out below:
Nicolas Perez is an editorial intern at Paste and opinion co-editor for New University. He’s rambling on Twitter @Nic_Perez__.