Dropped this game at the last level before the final boss, Ghost Bayou, because I have a rule; if a game has not impressed or satisfied me up until right before the final boss, I'm not finishing it, a single boss won't change my opinion on a game. I think that's a fair mindset to have right? Regardless, I think I should articulate why I wasn't impressed.
To begin with, this game feels cheap. I'm not saying that because this game is old now, I actually mostly play older games, it just felt like it had a very low budget. The visuals, while varied, feel underwhelming considering other titles on the Gamecube. Mario Sunshine, Pikmin 2, Sonic Adventure 2, both of the Zelda games on the console, all of these look and feel far better than this game. It's not something that really affected the game too much but it persisted throughout the entire game with later levels having straight up copy-and-pasted elements.
This directly links into one of my bigger criticisms with the game, that being the perspective. Jumps almost always felt like a gamble in Pac-Man World 2 because it was hard to distinguish how far away other parts of the levels were; this becomes really frustrating in the Ice and Water worlds since that's where the "platforming" is at its most challenging; rarely did a hit or a death feel entirely deserved, since I was always fighting with my own brain on whether I could jump far enough or not.
It really pains me to say this game is mediocre because it started out alright. The first world was nothing to write home about but it did everything it needed to, allows you to get comfortable with the controls, introduces new mechanics as the levels go on and ends with a boss fight that tests your skills up to that point. This was followed by a forest themed world which had an emphasis on bounce-pads; this is fine, so far, nothing revolutionary but it does its job. Levels are filled with various collectables that aren't very challenging to find, however, it felt like the Forest world was much more interesting when it comes to this compared to the rest of the game as it was far more vertical, it felt like you were actually exploring the stage instead of simply being railroaded to the finish line. This is on top of them actually using the roll move for some important platforming which becomes rare in the later parts of the game.
I believe the game peaked at the Ice world, however -- there were some sections I thought were far too unforgiving but, overall -- it does a decent amount of stuff with the ice theme. You have goats, since this is a snowy mountain, ice-cold water that instantly kills you, stalactites fall down upon you, it’s arguably the best looking part of the game. The third level is a bit interesting since it forgoes the ability to dash in favour of an ice-skating section which is probably the most fun level in the game, so much so that it appears to have made it onto the game's box art. It felt so refreshing going from the okay-paced levels into this fast-paced, high-stakes roller-coaster ride, and I was fine with the game changing it up since this was an exception to the platforming and not a change in design.
Or so I thought because then, the game got worse. It really began with the 2nd level of the following world, the fire themed one, where there was a lot of questionable design, such as switches seemingly doing nothing, the vault manoeuvre simply not working with moving platforms and heavily relying on needless backtracking and the only power-up that does anything in the game. This all culminates into what I consider to be the point of no return for this game's quality, the boss against the red ghost, Clyde I believe. The boss is bad, it's literally just the last 2 bosses, which were both copies of each other, except needlessly punishing. It's so emblematic of my feelings towards this game, it does try to mix it up but it completely fumbles due to a lack of originality and, frankly, a lack of effort.
The water world, however, is easily the worst one because it's not even a platformer. The first 2 levels are mediocre as Pac-Man is effectively a missile, or in this case a torpedo, constantly going in one direction with a slow turning speed, combined with the constant assault of projectiles and hazards, turns this once fun platformer into a boring, on-the-rails dodging minigame. But then, for some stupid reason, the game just becomes a shitty Star Fox rip-off after that? Who the hell thought this was a good idea in a platformer of all things? The 3rd level is easily the lowest point of the game because goodness gracious, everything bad about the game comes together. Poor perspective and visual issues? Check. Repetition of areas and level elements? Check. Lack of variety? Check. Removing the dash move for no fucking reason? Check and then some. But the level is also SO FUCKING LONG, I must've been there for about 8-10 minutes- whilst most other levels were shorter than that AND had actual platforming.
By this point, the game had no intention of spicing up its levels or being interesting at all. The final world is still mediocre, with the first two levels doing nothing to impress me and even frustrating me at times, such as in the first one where they introduce collapsing platforms but don’t give you enough time to simply move onto the next one, forcing you to constantly jump; that may sound small but it makes the flow of the level so much more chaotic, it doesn’t feel good to play. Ghost Bayou is just... so boring. You're mostly going along a linear path doing EXACTLY what the game wants you to or else face instant death or an invisible wall, despite other sections of the level being so close to you, whilst also sprinkling in a little bit of pointless backtracking and making the level itself needlessly dark.
A final boss was never going to change my opinion of the game, they never will with any game. My experience with Pac-Man World 2 was that of a dull, dry journey that had me going "oh, this is kinda fun" at its highest moments and had me being angry at its lowest. I can't say that the good outweighs the bad because the good barely even reaches the status of "yeah, it's pretty competent". I hate using this argument because I feel like it's generally bad faith, but I do genuinely believe most of the praise this game gets is rooted in nostalgia, because I simply cannot see how anyone can enjoy a game this cheap and uninspired.
To begin with, this game feels cheap. I'm not saying that because this game is old now, I actually mostly play older games, it just felt like it had a very low budget. The visuals, while varied, feel underwhelming considering other titles on the Gamecube. Mario Sunshine, Pikmin 2, Sonic Adventure 2, both of the Zelda games on the console, all of these look and feel far better than this game. It's not something that really affected the game too much but it persisted throughout the entire game with later levels having straight up copy-and-pasted elements.
This directly links into one of my bigger criticisms with the game, that being the perspective. Jumps almost always felt like a gamble in Pac-Man World 2 because it was hard to distinguish how far away other parts of the levels were; this becomes really frustrating in the Ice and Water worlds since that's where the "platforming" is at its most challenging; rarely did a hit or a death feel entirely deserved, since I was always fighting with my own brain on whether I could jump far enough or not.
It really pains me to say this game is mediocre because it started out alright. The first world was nothing to write home about but it did everything it needed to, allows you to get comfortable with the controls, introduces new mechanics as the levels go on and ends with a boss fight that tests your skills up to that point. This was followed by a forest themed world which had an emphasis on bounce-pads; this is fine, so far, nothing revolutionary but it does its job. Levels are filled with various collectables that aren't very challenging to find, however, it felt like the Forest world was much more interesting when it comes to this compared to the rest of the game as it was far more vertical, it felt like you were actually exploring the stage instead of simply being railroaded to the finish line. This is on top of them actually using the roll move for some important platforming which becomes rare in the later parts of the game.
I believe the game peaked at the Ice world, however -- there were some sections I thought were far too unforgiving but, overall -- it does a decent amount of stuff with the ice theme. You have goats, since this is a snowy mountain, ice-cold water that instantly kills you, stalactites fall down upon you, it’s arguably the best looking part of the game. The third level is a bit interesting since it forgoes the ability to dash in favour of an ice-skating section which is probably the most fun level in the game, so much so that it appears to have made it onto the game's box art. It felt so refreshing going from the okay-paced levels into this fast-paced, high-stakes roller-coaster ride, and I was fine with the game changing it up since this was an exception to the platforming and not a change in design.
Or so I thought because then, the game got worse. It really began with the 2nd level of the following world, the fire themed one, where there was a lot of questionable design, such as switches seemingly doing nothing, the vault manoeuvre simply not working with moving platforms and heavily relying on needless backtracking and the only power-up that does anything in the game. This all culminates into what I consider to be the point of no return for this game's quality, the boss against the red ghost, Clyde I believe. The boss is bad, it's literally just the last 2 bosses, which were both copies of each other, except needlessly punishing. It's so emblematic of my feelings towards this game, it does try to mix it up but it completely fumbles due to a lack of originality and, frankly, a lack of effort.
The water world, however, is easily the worst one because it's not even a platformer. The first 2 levels are mediocre as Pac-Man is effectively a missile, or in this case a torpedo, constantly going in one direction with a slow turning speed, combined with the constant assault of projectiles and hazards, turns this once fun platformer into a boring, on-the-rails dodging minigame. But then, for some stupid reason, the game just becomes a shitty Star Fox rip-off after that? Who the hell thought this was a good idea in a platformer of all things? The 3rd level is easily the lowest point of the game because goodness gracious, everything bad about the game comes together. Poor perspective and visual issues? Check. Repetition of areas and level elements? Check. Lack of variety? Check. Removing the dash move for no fucking reason? Check and then some. But the level is also SO FUCKING LONG, I must've been there for about 8-10 minutes- whilst most other levels were shorter than that AND had actual platforming.
By this point, the game had no intention of spicing up its levels or being interesting at all. The final world is still mediocre, with the first two levels doing nothing to impress me and even frustrating me at times, such as in the first one where they introduce collapsing platforms but don’t give you enough time to simply move onto the next one, forcing you to constantly jump; that may sound small but it makes the flow of the level so much more chaotic, it doesn’t feel good to play. Ghost Bayou is just... so boring. You're mostly going along a linear path doing EXACTLY what the game wants you to or else face instant death or an invisible wall, despite other sections of the level being so close to you, whilst also sprinkling in a little bit of pointless backtracking and making the level itself needlessly dark.
A final boss was never going to change my opinion of the game, they never will with any game. My experience with Pac-Man World 2 was that of a dull, dry journey that had me going "oh, this is kinda fun" at its highest moments and had me being angry at its lowest. I can't say that the good outweighs the bad because the good barely even reaches the status of "yeah, it's pretty competent". I hate using this argument because I feel like it's generally bad faith, but I do genuinely believe most of the praise this game gets is rooted in nostalgia, because I simply cannot see how anyone can enjoy a game this cheap and uninspired.