Day 15, Game 15 - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Today I really needed to clear my gaming mind. After yesterday's rant, followed up by a lengthy Twitter discussion with a video game journalist about a touchy subject today, I really just had to unwind.

I spend most of my evening getting lost in Far Cry 3, but I did manage to pull myself away from wild animal hunting and treasure looting to play another game for this blog. I wanted to pick a totally mindless, non-thinking but insanely fun game, just because I needed something not-so-serious. So I ended up playing one of my favorite games to come out in the last couple of years, a good old fashioned yet modernized game that so many different types of gamers can relate to and enjoy: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX.

If you're not familiar with it, it's simple really. It's the classic Pac-Man principle, just ramped up on a combination of caffeine and LSD. The idea isn't to finish each map, but to get the highest scores possible. The maps are flashing with tons of colors (different graphical styles to choose from as well), the speed picks up rapidly throughout your timed run, and the ghosts line up ready to be destroyed in order to chain crazy combos together.

If you like Pac-Man, but love racking up serious point totals even more, this game is awesome. And tonight, even though I have already achieved all the trophies and have accomplished everything possible, I sat back and just got lost in the world of fruit bonuses, ghost combos and techno stylization. It was crazy fun, if only because I wasn't worried or stressed about anything else going on in the gaming industry around me.

I wish I had more time to get lost in games like these. I really do. Games like Pac-Man Championship Edition DX are good for the soul, if only because they are perfect pallet cleansers.

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