Incredibly, it's Pac-Man's 25th birthday this year. Twenty-five years old! Amazing, isn't it, not least because 25 in videogame years is equal to about 256 in human years - and he hasn't aged a bit, either. Not a single grey hair or digital wrinkle to speak off - although he does seem to have somehow evolved legs, eyes and a nice pair of red wellies somewhere along the way since 1981. Then again, when you're a smooth yellow ball-thing with feet poking out from where your dangly bits are supposed to be, it's pretty difficult to spot any degree of aging.

What has aged, however, is just about every idea and concept on show in this, the third platform-hopping game in the painfully so-so Pac-Man World series (the previous two titles being so nondescript that they didn't even make an appearance on Xbox). For a birthday celebration, Pac-Man World 3 is as lame as a three-legged donkey with arthritis in one leg and a bad case of flesh-eating bacteria disease in the other two. And possibly even worse than that.

Here's why: it's Pac-Man's 25th birthday party (did you see what they did there?) and Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man Jr. are all settling down for a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake when - who'd have guessed it! - Pac-Man is kidnapped and whisked away to an alternate dimension to help some friendly ghosts fight off an invasion of super-nasty evil ghosts. And stuff. If it sounds a bit rubbish explained that way, just imagine how bad it must be when explained via entire minutes of fully animated cut-scenes.

From then on, it's platforming business as usual. This is no-nonsense, middle-of-the-road jumping and item-collecting goodness. Which is actually us being a bit sarcastic, because when w say 'goodness' we actually mean 'predictableness'. A shame, because given how starved the Xbox is of really decent platform games, you might be tempted to pick up Pac-Man World 3 just for a bit of old-school hopping-about fun - and you probably could, providing your quality expectatic are exceptionally low.

It's not that there's anything wrong or broke with Pac-Man World 3 particularly, it's just that there's more flair and imagination running through your average cement mixer. Take the opening level for instance - an industrial sewer-set riot of platforming clichés: bottom-bounce the switch to open that door; jump across the poisonous green goo to collect the power-up; smash those boxes to find the health. Will someone please shoot us in the head before we're forced to find yet another cleverly hidden bonus fruit?

Of course, it could be argued that Pac-Man World 3 has been designed with a younger, slightly less demanding audience in mind, and you'd be right, but even little Johnny deserves better than this lesson in mediocrity. Watching a funny yellow round man make a fool of himself in the cut-scenes might make your average six-year-old laugh, but the tired and jaded gameplay certainly won't.

1. Some of the level design is surprisingly clever in places - but such moments are few and far between.
2. It's easy enough for anybody to pick up and play, which makes it an ideal present for third or fourth favourite nieces and nephews.

1. Utterly predictable and uninspiring as platformers go. Every challenge has been done a million times before.
2. Looks a bit sloppy in places, with Pac not quite sitting on the scenery properly, or cameras that suddenly go all jittery on you.
3. 25th birthday parties are supposed to be fun. Not as bad as licking the toilet clean, but certainly worse than ironing.

A predictable platformer that lacks innovation and polish. Harmless enough, but utterly forgettable.