In celebration of Pac-Man's 40th Anniversary in 2020, Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle was made available to play on Google's Stadia cloud gaming service for the price of $19.99. It was also once part of the Stadia Pro subscription service, and saw multiple demo opportunities for players to try the game for free.
Developed by Heavy Iron Studios of Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom fame, this game expanded upon the tried-and-true Pac-Man gameplay by pitting 64 players (or in most cases, 1 or 2 players and 63 or 62 CPUs) against each other in one giant interconnected maze.
There are two modes of play: Elimination and Challenge
Elimination is where the main game lies; players survive for as long as they can until the last Pac is standing. Challenge is more of a training grounds escapade (though there is also a Training mode) in which players can freely rack up stats for as long they want. Players can also play Challenge or accessorize while waiting for an Elimination match to start.
The gameplay is not unlike Pac-Man Battle Royale in that the premise is to eat other Pac-Men to win. However, the interconnected maze adds an element of exploration, allowing players to visit other portions of the maze and face off against people there. Each portion of the maze has its own set of pellets to eat and ghosts to avoid. Even if you ate a Power Pellet in one part of the maze, the ghosts in another won't be affected unless you ate another Power Pellet there as well.
There is also a variety of items that players could use to their advantage, whether they can be used to avoid ghosts easier or help kill off one of the opponents. Though they instantly activate when moving into them normally, up to two items could be held by a player through the entire duration of a session and used on command.
Throughout the game, players could collect coins that would then be used on in-game accessories and themes for their home maze. That is, with the exception of the Lunar New Year Add-On items. Players would need to spend $4.99 to use those locked options, though they can see them in action during gameplay regardless.
Oddly, as the Stadia servers are closing at the time of this writing, the in-game shop has been glitched. As you could see in the video, it is preventing players from making any changes to Pac-Man, the maze, or their user icon.
On January 18th, Google Stadia will be shutting down, preventing Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle from being playable for the rest of time. No ports have been announced for other platforms throughout the game's time on Google Stadia, including the time of this writing.
7 янв 2023
