Pac-Man Championship Edition 2

(PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One)

WHEN it comes to classic gaming icons, Pac-Man was always a bit iffy.

Super Mario was the family favourite, Sonic the Hedgehog was the cool one and then you had this little yellow blob who popped pills to a repetitive electronic soundtrack.

Perhaps it was Pac-Man who subliminally inspired a generation of clubbers and, if so, this remix of the classic game is like a full-on rave.

Expect eye-popping visuals and a psychedelic colour palette that put you in a bit of a memorised state.

The core gameplay is pretty much the same as in the 1980 classic – Pac-Man is placed in a grid and you collect little pellets while being chased by colourful 'ghosts'.

You then turn the tables and chase down and eat 'Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde' when you are powered-up.

Harking back to arcade-style play, it also gets faster and more difficult to control as you go along, enhanced by a pounding soundtrack that makes things more frantic when more is at stake.

The biggest difference with this Championship Edition sequel is that you can now form 'ghost trains' – you activate minions that follow around the ghosts for big score bonuses when you chase them down.

There is also a bit more strategy – you can nudge enemies out the way and use bombs and jump pads to plan your way around the maze.

Boss fights have been added too but do little to really change up the gameplay.

There is the fear that if much more is added to Pac-Man it could lose its winning formula but how the developers have reinvented this simple score attack game is astonishing.

DAVID MORGAN