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Commonplace assumptions of quality place the original product of anything in higher status than the proceeding products; the remake or sequel is a derivative ploy, and therefore lacks to spark of originality that created the classic it derives. Attempts to market a recreation of a product are often met with mixed results, but most will agree that no matter the quality of the remake, it cannot surpass its inspiration.
Google Pac-Man changes all of that, and revolutionizes not one but two industries in the blink of eye. By creating a version of Pac-Man that's playable in your browser through Google, Namco Bandai and Google have no doubt ignited what's likely to be called "The Browser Revolution of the year Two-thousand and Ten."
The impact of this product simply cannot be overstated. It revolutionizes the way people find access to games; there is no doubt in my humbled mind that by 2012 people will be playing Mass Effect 3 through Ask Jeeves, and competing in that year's Call of Duty iteration through Yahoo, without the need for graphics cards.
It revolutionizes the way we use search engines and websites. Websites will become navigable exclusively through a video game perspective, and early visualizations of the future of the Internet as a metaphysical world will become reality. Increasingly realistic versions of the Internet will become the priority for companies around the world. Second Life was off by such a small margin…
Even as you read this, Google Pac-Man is fixing Global Warming.
Most importantly, it revolutionizes the way we revolutionize. The way we change things in our culture will be affected by the sheer power of such a change. Not since the Internet itself has something dramatically changed the way we traffic information. It's also important to note that it's the only commercial product which notorious imageboard 4chan has met with universal praise, a claim I don't have to back up.
But all of this change would be rendered moot if the gameplay and graphics weren't up to current standards. From the two-and-a-half levels I played of the review build, I can report that both of those things hold up. The sprites look as clean and crisp on my 1920×1080 monitor as they did when I played the original in the arcade. It's ironic that a remake of a classic game has usurped Uncharted 2's graphics throne.
Simply put, rearranging the traditional Pac-Man board in the shape of the Google logo can be called nothing short of a masterstroke. It retains the gameplay formula while changing the strategy completely. Dodging Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde becomes something else entirely when planning your route into the G's crevice. The gameplay creates something that is undoubtedly art, and turns all of gaming into art by association. Ebert cannot refute this evidence, and will not even try.
Not once in my two years of reviewing games have I ever called something "The Greatest Thing My Eyes Have Beheld," but Google Pac-Man deserves nothing else. Fans of the genre will enjoy its divine simplicity, and outsiders can only stand in awe of its impact on our planet.
Score: 3/5
