Review: 'Pac-Man' takes a bite out out of the App Store

• Classic game lets you play as a yellow dot that chases small white dots
• App adds eight new mazes%2C bonus rounds
• Available from iOS App Store for %241.99

Thanks to its simple controls, cute characters and easy-to-pick-up-but-hard-to-put-down gameplay, Angry Birds might be considered the Pac-Man of this generation.

But lo and behold, the Pac is back — in the form of a $1.99 download for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Can this once-iconic character take a bite out of today's mobile giants, like Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, Cut the Rope and Temple Run?

While you won't get all of the new content in this game without some in-app purchases, Namco Bandai Games' new Pac-Man at the App Store is ideal for those who fondly remember the ghost-chasing action of the '80s — and it might just charm a new generation of players, too.

If you recall, you play as a round yellow hero who moves around a 2-D maze and eats small white dots. As Pac-Man, the object of the game is to eat all the dots in the level while avoiding the four ghosts that hunt you down. If you chomp one of the larger Power Pellets, it reverses the chase; the ghosts turn blue and you can temporarily eat them for bonus points.

All 256 levels in the original game are included here, with two ways to control the action: swiping in one of four directions anywhere on the screen or pushing a virtual joystick up, down, left or right. Pac-Man will also work with a number of hardware controllers, such as the MOGA Ace Power Controller and SteelSeries Stratus Wireless Gaming Controller ($99.99 apiece).

As with the 30-year-old original, you can gobble up fruit, such as a cherry or banana, and earn an extra life when you reach 10,000 points. Unlike the coin-operated original, however, you can pause the action if you need to take a break, and resume whenever you like. What's more, there are three levels of difficulty to choose from.

Along with the Classic maze, Namco Bandai has squeezed in eight new mazes to play, each with 20 stages, including bonus rounds. You'll be able to play the first stage from each of these new maze layouts — such as "Windmill," "Anaconda," "Minty" and "Roundabout" — but will have to cough up 99 cents to unlock the entire maze. You'll also have the option to buy all the additional mazes at a discount ($2.99). Continuing your adventure past the "Game Over" screen costs tokens, which you can earn by playing or buying inside the app (50 for 99 cents).

Overall, Namco Bandai's new iOS version of Pac-Man is a blast from the past, plus the newly designed mazes make for added fun — you just need to pay for them. Also, expect many pop-up advertisements in this game, which is a pain, but once you start chomping you'll no doubt forget about these small annoyances.

The Pac is back, and you can take the action anywhere.

PAC-MAN

Platform: Apple iOS

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Namco Bandai Games

Publisher: Namco Bandai Games

Website: pacman.com

Price: $1.99 (in-app purchases)

Rating: "Everyone"

Score: 3.0 stars (out of 4)

Contact Saltzman at techcomments@usatoday.com