Pac-Man Kart Rally 3D

Pac-Man may be 30-years-old, but he's still one of the most recognised and celebrated gaming icons around today.

Google's recent playable homepage tribute to the character even managed to cause the world's economy to lose approximately $120 million due to time wasted playing the game.

If that's not a testament to the original arcade game's power and influence in shaping video game history, I don't know what is.

Unlike the original arcade game, though, I doubt anyone will remember Pac-Man Kart Rally in three weeks from now, let alone stage a 30-year celebration.

If you've played Mario Kart, or the roughly four billion clones that have sprung up since it was released, then you should know what to expect from PMKR.

This particular cartoony racer takes place in the Pac-Man universe though, so that means mushroom turbo boosts are now power pills, while banana skins are now, er, mines.

Thankfully the assortment of racers is not just taken from Pac-Man, which would result in a small and fairly samey character list. Instead Namco-Bandai has followed Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing's lead by reaching into other major titles for inspiration.

So along with the usual suspects of the Man and his gaggle of ghosts come The Prince and Ichigo from Katamari, Taizo Mori from Dig Dug, Susumu from Mr. Driller, and - what the hell? A fighter from Ace Combat.

Yes, a jet plane. You could have used Ms Pac-Man, Namco!

As with the clutching-at-straws nature of the character list, the tracks themselves are dull and harder to remember than the more focused and better looking design of All-Stars. To PMKR's credit, though, they do at least feature corners that can throw off an unwary driver, even if the tracks themselves are too wide for the number of competitors on the track.

It's this aspect that's the most disappointing about PMKR, coming as it does with a miserly four karts on track maximum. This basically makes offensive power-ups like the missiles and mines all but pointless during a race, and everything feels a lot lonelier as a result.

It's a shame that racing is so much less involving than other racers, as the number of additional modes like Challenge and Chase, and unlockable karts for each character, means it lasts far longer.

Despite the lack of other competitors, Pac-Man Kart Rally 3D is one tough cookie to beat, and it's not a game you can roll through in 30 minutes.

The easiest difficultly level feels too hard an introduction for new players, with enemy karts tearing away from the get-go, and hard will test even the most experienced of kart veterans.

If you're after a greater challenge and length from your racer then, Pac-Man Kart Rally 3D will satisfy your cartoon karting needs. It just pales in comparison to the more frantic, more memorable Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.