It's a pretty decent port of the original Pac-Man. What more do you expect?
For the original Gameboy, if you wanted a good port of Pac-Man--this really wasn't all too bad. I mean, it almost feels like the real Pac-Man, despite the slightly slower speed. Thinking more about some other reviews--the graphics aren't too bad either. When people mock the graphics of an original Gameboy game; it's like asking a gerbil to do algebra. It's stupid. They're expecting too much from old hardware that the designers hadn't really discovered the full potential to. What more do they want from the game? There's not going to be any Ms. Pac-Man action on the side for God sakes! I mean like stop criticizing an old decent game to newer standards. I'm sure twenty years down the road people are going to look back at Halo 3 and say, "Dude, that's a classic old-school game. It's sucks though, the graphics are obviously CGI and I can't smell my surroundings, it's broken and unplayable! It didn't even give me the option to turn on an orgasm mode. I rate it a 4." It's Pac-Man! What more do you want!? Pac-man to jump out of your screen and say, "Congratulations! You've reached the tenth level! Here's a strawberry..."... ADD bastards... Look it's a birdie!!
Though, the only graphical thing I'm really going to complain about with this game is the screen scrolling. The game doesn't show the entire maze and scrolls with PacMan. I know why they did this (so the game wouldn't be scrunched like it already is), but it's a little bit annoying not seeing the entire board and not knowing where all the ghosts are at one time. Which takes out some of the strategy that can be applied to the game.
Gameplay? It's pretty much the original Pac-Man. The game plays on the same maze and gets faster, harder, with better fruit/etc. rewards the farther you go in the game. Similar to Jr. Pac-Man, I'm still always surprised that those Pac-bastards never choke when they eat the bells and balloons. Whatever...
For the neo-gamer, this game is dated. It's the classic Pac-man that their daddy's and older siblings grew up with. It's fun to pick up and play for the wait at the bus stop or a quick gaming splooge during class. That's what the Gameboy was for and that's what this game does well.
I say buy it if you find it in the bargain bin; it's worth trying and having in a collection. For the old-school junkie, this is a definite buy since it's a surprisingly well done Pac-Man port for it's time.
Overall; I like this game. I like it a lot; even though I think Ms. Pac-Man (personally) was more entertaining than the original. I'd give it a 7.5, but it's not Ms. Pac-Man. Sorry Paccy. Your wife wears the pants this time.