OnePlus Nord 2 Pac-Man Edition Review – Waka Waka?

The OnePlus is very keen to flaunt its Pac-Man inspired design. But fortunately this isn’t a gimmick to cover up major issues, and is instead simply OnePlus putting a fun twist on an existing piece of hardware.

In this case the OnePlus Nord 2. And this Pac-Man edition doesn’t change many of the key features of that iteration in all truth, but that’s perhaps not such a bad thing.

Insert Coin

So what do you get for that extra coin, besides a pre-installed version of Pac-Man? By and large a few aesthetic additions, most noticeably a new design for the phone’s back cover. There are pellets spread neatly across it in graph paper fashion, with Pac-Man just below the camera. 

He’s not his usual lurid yellow, and is actually quite subtly colored – which works well. There’s an added case (hidden away in a section at the back of the box) that adds him in his usual hue though, alongside the game’s logo and the four ghosts. Just in case you did want something lurid.

In any case the unit is a real fingerprint magnet, the same as the Nord 2 – no surprise as it uses the same glass layer design. 

The packaging (a tall design, probably a nod to Pac-Man’s arcade past) is actually far more eye-catching than the phone itself, with a coloured ghost design on the inside. It’s not done in a way that makes you cringe, and is actually fairly stylish. The same goes for the box itself, which is decorated in subtle shining holographic silvers. 

Tucked away inside the box is the smartphone, a quick start guide, some stickers, the aforementioned case, a 65W Warp charger, and a Blinky hued bright red Type-C to Type-C USB charging cable.

In terms of physical features this is the same as the Nord 2, with an alert slider (in a different colour, admittedly), a type-C USB charging port, a speaker grille, and a lack of headphone jack. There’s also the 6.4 inch HD display, 50-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultrawide angle camera, and a 2-megapixel monochrome camera.

All of these are as unassumingly acceptable as they were on the Nord 2. They do the job well and are arguably better than average considering the asking price. We took some solid pictures inside and out with the camera, and the screen was crisp and clear when both watching videos and playing games.

There have been some subtle tweaks made to the phone’s Oxygen OS too. The UI icons are all Pac-Man inspired for instance, and the munching circular one is even present on the quick access menu when toggling between shortcuts. There are a few other little touches like this that will delight retro gaming fans, and we’re sure we didn’t find them all during our time with the phone either.

Game Over?

In conclusion the OnePlus Nord 2 was – by and large – a success as a premium smartphone when it was released earlier this year, and this edition doesn’t change that fact.

Source: https://www.droidgamers.com/2021/11/17/oneplus-nord-2-pac-man-edition-review-waka-waka/