lialhfour: If the IAPs only speed your progress in-game then I guess I'll have more pennies to spend on the upcoming Humble Bundle :D
Free Pac Man championship edtion review follows (from sometime in 2014 or early 2015):
No, the IAP aren't for unlockables, unless you consider unlockables playing the game without harassment. the IAP on Pac Man Championship edition are downright terrible. I mean, over the top, in your face, pay up *now*, out and out terrible. For starters: There's a full page ad, on launch, on close, *and* after every single touch on the UI menus. Every one - except when playing. Additionally, there is a 60s timer full page ad while playing, or in the menu, so it was potentially possible to get two full page ads between menu presses. And that was to unlock the 'free' IAP ... which turned out to be $1.99, and the coupon code would give you a Pac Man non-refundable store credit. Non-refundable store credit does not say 'free' to me.
Did I mention that you have a limited number of plays per day? IIRC it was 3 or maybe 5 virtual quarters. After that you need to insert real money for virtual quarters. Really? Especially when I'm dying because you put up a timer ad just as I'm about to turn away from a ghost? No way, man.
The *free* game without the full page ad at every menu touch was $7, and it was unclear if that got rid of the virtual tokens. On the up side, you may use your store credit here.
It was distracting, outlandish, and turned me off to any new 'Free IAP' games forever. There's still a couple old IAP games that I play, but they don't do the full page ad thing - unless the user elects - and if this user does, you can be sure that the phone will be flipped for the next 30 to 60 seconds, anyway.
Did I mention that Pac Man Championship Ed needs to see your contacts (don't care, phone's rooted, you're getting an empty address book) AND your precise GPS location triangulated with WiFi? Do they really need to know if I'm in the mall parking lot, the theater - back row, middle seat, or in my bedroom under my bed when I play this?? Again, all that they got from me was that I was *somewhere* randomly on planet earth.
TL;DR
Anyone else want to see if the requirements to play (or the play itself) are still that onerous? Just like in the first Leisure Suit Larry, I recommend 'protection' before your first encounter. It may leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Or was it a spearmint flavor?
edit: looks like they don't have ads anymore, the ads were inadvertently? left in a paid build. Of course, the only way to turn that off was to delete the app (and all your progress). So, there's that and the crazy permissions.