These games definitely win the Summer of Jason most surprising award as when these games first came out my over all opinion on them was an overwhelming “Meh”. However after giving them a shot I now have seen the light and wish to tell you how wrong I was.
Starting with Laura Croft and the Guardian of Light. I personally have not liked a LC game since the PS1, however this game hit me just right. Instead of your typical 3rd person shooter this game takes the isometric arcade style, this may be unsettling for some, especially if you only like Laura as a 3rd person shooter, however I find it refreshing. With Laura Croft and the Guardian of Light exploring is a huge part of the game as there are tons of hidden items and secrets for you to find. The story is a little weak but that is half expected for a DL game but the addition of multiplayer is more than welcome. Long story short if you enjoy arcade style games and are a completionist like myself you will find this game to be a welcome distraction. Shoot there is even talk of bringing this game to Chrome as well, yeah the browser, so there is almost no reason for you not to give it a shot.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, besides being the longest Pac-Man title, is a straight up high octane arcade puzzler. Notice that I said puzzler, When I first heard of this game a few years ago my exact reaction was “shit I can play Pac-Man for free any time why bother with this”. Well, past self, you are fucking retarded as this isn’t your Dads tired ole Pac-Man this is “HOLY SHIT IVE GOT TO EAT ALL THE GHOSTS NOW” Pac-Man. The main point of Pac-Man DX is to get as many ghosts to follow you as possible so when you eat a power pill the score goes through the roof. Look at the video below and notice how the game goes from slow easy speeds to speeds that make it hard to blink, shoot watching the video I even had a hard time blinking. You can also see what I was talking about Pac-Man DX being a puzzler, as the game doesn’t start out with all dots everywhere, you need to follow a puzzle pattern in order to get the high score. With a multitude of tables and styles, plus a kicking soundtrack, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is one of my faves so far.