Pac-Man 256 made a serious splash in the mobile arena when it launched two weeks ago, but it has a glitch that threatens the progress of its most-devoted players.
One of Pac-Man 256’s power-ups, the Pac-Men ability, can crash the game. Hipster Whale has already submitted a patch for this for iOS and Android, and the developer hopes it goes live this week.
Thankfully, it takes specific circumstances for this bug to surface. I encountered it only after I had fully upgraded the Pac-Men power-up. Once it had reached its maximum level, I could no longer select it, and when I tried to do so, the game would crash to the home screen. It’s unclear if the same problem occurs when power-ups other than Pac-Men are maxed out. If you have yet to experience this glitch, upgrade carefully until the patch goes live.
On its own, this is a frustrating problem, but it’s not one that ruins the game. There are, after all, 15 other power-ups to use, so missing out on one isn’t a big deal. However, another element in Pac-Man 256 exacerbates the issue. It has small objectives that, once completed, increase your coin count. Finishing objectives is the quickest way to upgrade your power-ups without spending real money. These missions cycle through a number of goals such as eating fruit and chomping ghosts, and only one objective is active at a time. It’s when I had the goal to use five Pac-Men power-ups that I realized the extent of the problem. Because I couldn’t use that power-up anymore, I was stuck on the same mission indefinitely, which slowed down my chance to collect coins.
If you’ve encountered this problem, the only thing to do until the patch hits is to strive to beat your own high score.
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