By Nathan Grayson on February 28th, 2013 at 11:00 am.
I’m sure FPS-Man isn’t the first game to attempt Namco’s venerable pellet-munching classic in first-person, but I’m still willing to wager that it’s still the first of its kind. In a ghost-dodging twist, this is Pac-Man re-imagined as some kind of bowel-clenchingly atmospheric horror game. And you know what? It kinda works. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot to it (yet), but what’s here is oppressively claustrophobic in all the best ways. An endless hallway of ghastly howls and neon whispers. I do, however, have some borderline sacrilegious news for you: no wakkas.
On its most basic level, FPS-Man is still Pac-Man. Navigate a maze, flee from ghosts, consume EVERYTHING in some kind of hedonistic blood festival/metaphor for rampant drug usage/videogame. Honestly, first-person for first-person’s sake wouldn’t really change much of that simple formula – aside from horrifically limiting your field of view and making it easier for ghosts to corner you.
But FPS-Man is about striking fear into even the steeliest of hearts with barely mobile googly eyed ghosts, and on that front, it manages to at least shock – if not turn undergarments into urine-stained ruins. Basically, the bizarre juxtaposition of visuals and impressively spooky sounds make it well worth the cost of entry (erm, nothing).
Its creator’s been actively updating since day-one, too, so this appears to be only the beginning. Which is good, because ghost AI – among other things – is still basically non-existent. Honestly, though, I’m not expecting some genre-transcending opus here. FPS-Man’s an unexpected yet extremely fitting take on two of gaming’s oldest ideas. And let’s be real: the basic concept behind Pac-Man? Kind of terrifying on its own. Before, we were just playing as the insatiable sentient hockey puck. Now, though, we actually know how he feels.
28/02/2013 at 11:02 Michael Hoss says:
The first one was prbly this Unreal Engine project… Bomberman Zero? Ah! Bomberman: Act Zero. That one. Horrible game :D
However: FACE HULK!
28/02/2013 at 12:55 PearlChoco says:
Never played 3-Demon (MSDOS, 1983) I guess? Awesome game.
First 3D game I’ve ever played, on an IBM XT.
28/02/2013 at 13:20 apa says:
Now I have to do a “me too” post! :) 3-Demon was good fun, back in the day. There wasn’t too much choice in games with first-person view.
28/02/2013 at 13:36 Gnoupi says:
Bomberman Act Zero was not just a “project”, it was a full game for Xbox360, made by Hudson (surprisingly) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomberman:_Act_Zero
28/02/2013 at 11:06 fuggles says:
Or Wolfenstein 3D, in a dim and distant past where ceilings were but a dream
28/02/2013 at 18:28 cronach says:
Yep, Wolf was the first thing that came to my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXLve_Dn9AY
28/02/2013 at 11:09 Caiman says:
So, 3D Monster Maze reimagined as Pac-Man. Sounds pretty scary to me.
28/02/2013 at 11:11 Gap Gen says:
It’s a first-person game. *You’re* supposed to shout WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA as you play.
28/02/2013 at 12:38 LionsPhil says:
Ah, the old “silent protagonist as a blank slate for the player to project onto” approach.
So you’re telling me the ghosts aren’t going to be romanceable?
28/02/2013 at 12:42 Gap Gen says:
Well, if they’re following the Half-Life route, the sequel will have Ms. Pacman follow you around and gently flirt with you as you stare wordlessly at her, or else ignore her completely and jump on tables.
01/03/2013 at 04:32 sinister agent says:
This demands a LAN party video. A whole room of WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA with the occasional EEEOOOWEEOOWEEOO death noise.
28/02/2013 at 11:15 yhalothar says:
It’s certainly not the first – I remember sinking a lot of time into Cyberman on the Amiga. Its atmosphere was certainly unique as well ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cpbFvL_10w
28/02/2013 at 23:10 thecat17 says:
28/02/2013 at 11:15 Fetthesten says:
The first horror-based first-person reimagining of Pac-Man? Nuh-uh. I distinctly remember playing something fitting that description almost perfectly (the only difference is that I seem to recall it being turn-based) as a kid, aaaand it turns out I was thinking of 3-Demon, a DOS game from 1983.
28/02/2013 at 12:55 acheron says:
I was going to say, why did no one mention 3-Demon? How young are you people?
The giant teeth eating your screen when a ghost/monster caught you in 3-Demon freaked me right out. I’d call it atmospheric horror.
28/02/2013 at 11:22 JohnP says:
Argh, stupid not-inverted y-axis on mouse. *cannot play*
28/02/2013 at 11:47 Mrs Columbo says:
I’m with you on that. I don’t know whether it was growing up playing simulators or whatever, but a non-inverted ‘y’ axis is an abomination to me. Tons of otherwise splendid-looking games like this are put out of my reach by the lack of an invert option.
28/02/2013 at 12:50 distantlurker says:
hear hear! play goofy or go home, a motto; a mantra; a BATTLECRY!!! LOGFACE!
28/02/2013 at 12:37 LionsPhil says:
But…but…there’s no vertical gameplay!
28/02/2013 at 13:58 Mrs Columbo says:
Now, now Phil. You’re being mischievous, aren’t you? The game has free-look, so unless one fixes their mouse running between metal horizontal rails there is always some vertical movement, particularly when being chased in a panic by scary things.
28/02/2013 at 12:43 Gap Gen says:
Try turning your mouse upside-down. Of course, that would invert the x-axis as well, but you can’t win ‘em all.
28/02/2013 at 11:33 phlebas says:
Those staring eyes!
28/02/2013 at 11:49 Mrs Columbo says:
Indeed! If only RPS had some sort of commonly-used tag to alert people of a sensitive disposition such as myself.
28/02/2013 at 14:45 squareking says:
STAREFACE
28/02/2013 at 12:44 Zarunil says:
Crap, that is scary. Can you imagine being placed in a maze in real-life and chased by these creatures?
28/02/2013 at 12:55 Tei says:
If you think about it, a lot of arcade games don’t really have a end condition, or are designed for the player to get there.
The original Pac-Man breaks if you manage to get to the 256 level.
Its like the movie Cube, if the movie Cube “film” where designed to break in the part the protagonist escape… or in moder terms… like if the film movie file is corrupt beyond that part of the movie (so you can’t never watch the protagonist escaping).
Missile Command. Same theory apply: your civilization will always collapse under a pile of radioactive ruins, theres not way for your stations to save all cities, just how long you will last until the last one of your cities are nuked.
28/02/2013 at 13:03 EvilMachineDad says:
Oculus Rift anyone? you might wanna be sitting on the toilet playing this then… come to think of it.. I might just want to sit on the toilet for ALL my VR’ing! im a genius!
28/02/2013 at 17:07 The Random One says:
never stand up again
28/02/2013 at 13:57 Sardonic says:
So basically this is cp_pacman_wtf from TF2 then.
28/02/2013 at 13:58 Adam Dawes says:
TIP: Walk diagonally for turbo speed. :-) (And in the game.)
28/02/2013 at 15:13 misterfranck says:
I had the same idea one or two months ago, and then found out that I was not the first (it’s impossible to be the first to anything on the Internet anyway… ^^ )
But I still made a mod adapting PacMan to Legend of Grimrock, which fits good for that type of gameplay.
28/02/2013 at 17:12 Bobtree says:
The screenshot made me think of Faceball 2000 on the SNES.
28/02/2013 at 19:33 Casimir's Blake says:
I’m pleased to see something first person that isn’t a dumb, linear man-shooter for a change.
28/02/2013 at 20:58 MrUnimport says:
Unless you’re chained up in some hellish prison somewhere where you’re forced to play first-person games 24/7, and FPS-Man is a brief breath of fresh air before you return to the drudgery of experiencing every product ever in the FPS genre, bearing the sins of the industry upon yourself so as to spare the rest of us your suffering,
…please try and rein in the snark a little bit.
01/03/2013 at 00:13 nemryn says:
You don’t even really need fancy AI, the original ghost-targeting algorithms are pretty good already. Maybe it’s just a matter of implementation?
01/03/2013 at 03:36 luckystriker says:
It’s fun, but it’s way too slow.