Pac-man on Nokia 5800! Can you believe that? Yeah the most popular game to date is now available on our beloved 5800s. Pac-man has been quiet a phenomenon ever since its release almost three decades ago in Japan by its original developers, Namco and marketed subsequently in the US by Midway. Such is the popularity of this game, that as per Davie-Brown Index, Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers, recognized by 94 percent of them. It was only a matter of time before such a popular game landed in one of the most popular phones in market today, Nokia 5800. As you may know that Pac-man is not very graphic intensive, but the gameplay and its popularity make it one of the best games to sport on your 5800s

Installation

Pac-man for s60 5th edition devices can be downloaded for free from here. The installation file is just over 10kb over 200kb and installation as such is a pretty simple process. There are several versions of pac-man and the link we have provided to is the best version available for s60 5th edition devices. There are several java based pac-mans available on the web for free but these need a physical keyboard for game play and the pac-man arena as such is also pretty small in these versions.

Pacman Menu and Game Screenshots

Features

As you may know, there are not many options to play around with a pac-man game, but this version does offer support for multiplayer (upto 4 players) gaming. Multi-player gaming needs bluetooth access and one can either host a game or join a hosted game in "VS.GAME" mode. However my attempts to host or join a game were unsuccessful. I would be glad if any of the readers can figure out a way around this glitch.

The gameplay as such is pretty simple, and for the benefit of those unaware of pac-man game (which is highlt unlikely!), let me just highlight the gameplay here. Users have to maneuver pac-man around the maze, eating pac-man dots and avoiding ghosts in the pursuit. Once all the dots in the maze are "eaten", users can proceed to the next level. Colliding with the ghost will cost one pac-man life. The game ends when all the pac-man lives have been used up. There are several other finer aspects of the game which can be learned as and when you start gaming.

One can manoeuvre using either stylus or fingers but I personally am more comfortable with stylus as finger touch gameplay will hide a part of screen during gameplay. One just has to tap on the screen for pac-man to change direction, otherwise which it will continue to move in the direction its moving in (kinda like Newton's First Law of Motion! )

Pros

1. Fully compatible  for touch screen gaming (better gameplay with stylus though)
2. A very small game, not maxing the video rendering capabilities of your 5800 and hence very light on battery consumption

Cons

1. Graphics could have been much better, considering the hardware capabilities of our 5800s
2. Needs to be optimized for finger touch gameplay
3. Almost 30%  of the screen area is vacant which can be allocated to arcade for better gameplay

Verdict

Although this brings one of the most popular games to our Nokia 5800s, the game falls short of expectations with its average touch screen adaptation and not so impressive graphics. However, hardcore pac-man fans cannot miss this game on their 5800s. Do continue the discussion on Pac-man in our forum here

Download the Pacman via Nokia5800.net

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