Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 producer extraordinaire Kunito Kimori has a great sense of humor and clearly enjoys his work. As he showed off a few levels of the upcoming game at a recent Bandai Namco event, he pointed out fun additions to the gameplay that weren’t in the original, checking with a glance between playing to see if I was grinning as much as he was. He needn’t have worried, as between the on-rails sky surfing shooting section and the intentionally silly boss battle between a skyscraper-sized Pac and an equally large missile shooting metal meanie, I was more than happy to see everyone’s favorite dot-munching pal back in action…

Developer Monkey Bar Games working with Kimori and his team is making what’s on the surface, initially the same game as last year’s sleeper based on the popular Disney XD show. However, there’s a more amusing tone to things this time out as well as a slew of fun gameplay elements that pay homage all over the map to a few things that should make gamers in on the gags get a grin going right from the start…

Other changes include a bunch of mini-games based on Pac’s new abilities that include a metallic, magnetic form and some very tricky platforming sections that involve plenty of skill and perfect timing. The core game is definitely family friendly and breezy fun, as are these challenge modes. But those of you with slower than the average reflexes and short tempers may well want to pass that controller over to the kids or someone in the home who doesn’t “panic press” their way off a platform or otherwise well-timed move into a bottomless pit or other hazard. The game looks great and is larger in scope than the original, yet levels are compact and breezy. As with the first game, this one’s PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS bound (the poor Vita misses out again!), this time with an October 14, 2014 release date.