A slick platform-adventure worthy of the Pac-Man name.

Pac-Man, the once flat yellow circle with no eyes and an insatiable appetite for pac-dots is back to continue his new 3D adventure in Pac-Man World 2. Despite the kiddy appearance of the title, PMW2 is one of the best action-platformers ever. Not since the 2D Super Mario titles has a title captured technical jumps, tight balances, and split second timing so well.

Pac-Man is out to save Pac-Land after the Ghost Gang picks off magical fruit from an ancient tree to unleash a new evil entity, Spooky. Spooky threatens to end Pac-Land, and Pac-Man sets off to save the world.

Pac-Man is a bouncier and more agile fellow in PMW2. Pac-Man can hang on ledges, butt-bounce, flip kick, and rev roll enemies to their death. In each level there are pac-dots that Pac-Man can eat, tokens to pick up that can be used to play classic Pac-Man titles, and a metallic power-up that turns Pac-Man into metal. When you just let him sit there he stretches or hacky-sacks a Pac-Dot into his mouth.

The title starts out simple so players can learn the basic moves. But pretty soon you'll be ousted into platform jump heaven. PMW2 has the stuff that classic platformers are made of - small jumping areas that collapse and fall towards the next platform, jumps that are barely within reach, time constrained areas where Pac-Man must be metallic to pass through, balance beam walking, and split-second timing at every challenge. To mix up the action there are ice-skating, swimming, and submarine levels. They integrate to the gameplay well and are as challenging as the regular areas. Most levels consist of accessing certain switches to reach the next area. At certain points there will be a trail of suspended Pac-Dots that are marked with a main red dot. If Pac-Man eats it, he'll slow-spiral through the air and automatically follow the trail to the next area.

PWM2 can be tough, but levels are sprinkled with a good amount of health, extra lives, and checkpoints. The area bosses are classic Pac-Man ghosts in big contraptions. They're smarter than they were in previous Pac-Man installments and you'll have to be clever to beat the latter bosses.

If you want some classic Pac-Man action PMW2 houses an arcade in the first level where players can use tokens to play classic Pac-Man arcade titles. Players can collect tokens in each of the Pac-Man worlds, then head back to the arcade to get their arcade action on.

Pac-Man has always been easy on the eyes and his latest installment is the same. The P-Man himself has the biggest smile on his face and changes his expressions in different situations. If you're creeping across a narrow beam his face mouth will turn into an "O", and when he's in danger he'll have a worried expression on his face. The title stays at a solid 60fps and levels are painted with bright colors and clean textures. The classic Pac-Man intro theme is integrated into certain parts of the game and "waka-waka" sound of eating Pac-Dots is the same. Upon destroying certain enemies you can even play the old Pac-Man game in 3D. If you win, you can play that level at the Pac-Man arcade.

The only factor that hinders the title is the shoddy camera. Players use the L-trigger and the camera stick to move the camera, but it can be a pain to twist the camera around in your favor. The camera can get stuck and won't be able to provide a view behind Pac-Man. At times the camera can only produce a behind-the-back view, making it impossible to see what's ahead.

Pac-Man World 2 is a up-to-date platformer starring the most classic character in videogames. The camera is sticky, but the gameplay has the same addictive Pac-Man bite.