Putting some Namco all-stars in a party game is a good idea. Putting them in a game that isn't good is a bad idea. Pac-Man Fever is party game gone to hell thanks to its poor execution. Bad board game ideas and non-creative mini-games barrage the classic Namco characters in a unfortunate mess.

There are three game boards to choose from, each with different themes. Each round starts off with a mini game to determine how many spaces each player will move. Each game square on the board has a different function. You can wind up getting tokens, getting your tokens stolen, springing forward a few squares, bouncing back a few squares, or challenging another player to a mini-game. Players can use their tokens to purchase advancement or to send someone back as much as eight squares. The problem is there are too many times when players are sent forward or back. It really doesn't matter how far ahead you get because another player can send you back, or even the game board itself can send you back more spaces. It makes the game quite slow and tedious to wait through.

The mini-games weren't created to be fun. Smashing fruit for points, using a cursor to shoot missiles, rolling into designated circles, shooting at asteroids, etc. just aren't fun games. None of the games require any skill, nor do they spark a competitive spirit among players.

The visuals aren't that good. The blurry textures and dreary color palette just don't take advantage of any next-gen hardware. Of course visuals wouldn't matter if the game was fun, but it's not. The highlight of the game is that you get to use SD-style Namco characters. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man look about the same, but watching a mini Reiko from Ridge Racer, Astaroth from Soul Calibur, or Heihachi from Tekken battle it out is a sight to see.

Pac-Man Fever could have been a great party game. But little to no effort was used to try to make the game fun.