That said, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is definitely one of the better candidates for this kind of porting. The game's simple control scheme and focus on gameplay over glitz means that, as with most puzzle titles, the graphics are quickly forgotten in the face of addictive gameplay. And there are some differences between the Dreamcast version of Maze Madness and its PSOne counterpart. The graphics are appropriately cleaned up, and the backgrounds lack any seams or texture blurring. Besides that it's the same game, though.

Like Chu-Chu Rocket or Wetrix +, however, this is one of those games that transcends its own graphics. The spiritual successor to last year's Pac-Man World for the PSOne, Maze Madness keeps the power pellet collecting and ghost chasing while eliminating the platform jumping, effectively turning the title into a puzzle game with arcade themes rather than an action one with occasional puzzles. That's not to say it's a puzzler in the traditional sense, but instead a conglomeration of the puzzle aspects of action games spiced with the flashing enemies and fruit that identify it as a Pac-Man game.

The control scheme for Maze Madness is as simple as it gets. No buttons, no fireball motions, nothing but the analog stick. Running over something, pushing it or running into it can do anything that needs to be accomplished in the game. Most of the game's 180+ mazes consist of moving levers, pushing blocks and hitting jump pads. There are four different worlds, and each has its own challenges, items, etc. There are melting blocks of ice in the frozen tundra, killer centipedes in the desert levels and similar themes for the obstacles through the entire game.

All of this very basic gameplay never gets boring, however, and that's the game's appeal. There's never a time when you can't figure out what you're trying to accomplish -- but figuring out how to accomplish it is a different matter. Rarely are there time constraints to what you're doing, so most of the game is taken up with brainteasers. You've got a block, a switch, three ghosts, a peach and two bounce pads. What will you do?

Thrown in to make the package that much sweeter are both the original Ms Pac-Man arcade game -- beautifully emulated -- and some fun multiplayer modes for up to four people. The multiplayer games are in the form of battle modes, with players trying to eat the most Pac dots, playing an explosive game of hot potato or getting involved in a heated game of Ghost Tag, a fun little game wherein one person plays as Ms Pac-Man and everyone else plays ghosts. Only Ms Pac-Man can actually eat the dots, so the ghosts want to catch that player and thus turn into Ms Pac-Man.

The Bottom Line: A nice little port, Maze Madness has great puzzle action plus a ton of extras.