Pac-Men Fever is Mass Media & Namco's party game, featuring Namco's own characters - Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Reiko (from Ridge Racer), Astaroth (from Soul Calibur), Tiger and Heihachi (from Tekken). It's "bargain" priced, so that means it sucks, right? Well, no, sir - it's actually quite fun!

There are two main gameplay modes: Fever, the main game, and Mini-Games, for playing individual or collections of mini-games.

After selecting Fever and choosing your character, you are given a choice of Medieval, Space, or Tropical boards. There are two main goals for Fever; be the first to reach the finish, and collect as many Redemption Tickets as possible. Redemption Tickets are required to unlock mini-games for the Mini-Games mode.

In Fever mode, a minigame is played at the beginning of each turn, and each player moves forward based on their ranking in the game. The player then plays the space they land on. For example, you could lose or gain tokens, play a raffle, play a minigame to try to earn some tokens, spring backwards or forwards, or challenge another player for tokens. Additionally, there is a 'store' space where players can cash in their tokens for raffle tickets, moving forward extra spaces, or sending other players back.

There are three ways to gain Redemption Tickets; when a player lands on a raffle space, he wins a Redemption ticket. A player can improve his or her own odds of winning by buying additional Raffle tickets along the way. Redemption Tickets are also given based on placing at the end of the game, and a Redemption Ticket is also given for every 50 tokens a player has at the end of the game.

Each board has its own exclusive set of mini-games played in addition to the general pool of minigames. Among all of the modes, there are 31 mini-games.

In Mini-Games mode, you can choose and play single mini-games, or a nonstop series of five. You can play a decathalon collection after you unlock all of the mini-games through the Fever mode, at the cost of one redemption ticket. A cute FMV of the trophy ceremony is the only real prize here.

The mini-games are actually very good. There are lots of timing and reaction games, and cursor-based target shooting games. There are also some weird and wacky games - for example, catching knights with a giant magnet and throwing them in a well. How could that not be fun? Also there are a few "combat" games, such as a Tron-like disc throwing game and a floatation tube game, where the objective is to torpedo the other players. The games are not prone to having random upsets - better players will consistently win. Also, none of the games require ridiculously stupid stick twirling or button smashing - only one requires rapid tapping of the A button.

One more note - the computer AI is terrible and not adjustable. Playing with computer opponents isn't very much fun. They're too weak to compete.

Now, for the obligatory graphical details: the graphics are just dandy. The game board doesn't look anywhere near 60 fps though - fortunately all of the mini-games do. The detail is all right, and the game is colorful but still easy on the eyes. There are plenty of cute things like the FMVs and all of the characters getting their groove on in the main menu.

Pac-Man Fever has some pretty jammin' tunes. Each of the three main boards has its own music, plus other music for the zone-specific minigames. The sound effects are adequate.

The play control is terrific. You can use either the stick or pad - different control may feel better for different events. The controls for each game are explained prior. No games use more than the A and B buttons along with directional controls.

There really are only 31 mini-games and no real secrets or unlockables - after the initial appeal wears off, all there is to do is compete with friends. That's still quite fun, and records are kept for each mini-game for those with the lust for competition.

Overall, Pac-Men Fever is an okay investment for the low price, provided three or four people get together to play - especially if they're highly competitive players.