Namco Museum
Score: 83% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Namco Developer: Namco Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous/ Action/ Arcade
Graphics & Sound: Heh. The graphics in Namco Museum are true to form, which is either the arcade in the case of everything but Pac-Attack, and the 16-bit consoles in that game's case. Since all of the games other than the 'Arrangement' series are arcade games from the mid-eighties, you can't expect much graphical glitz here. Indeed, the games match their arcade counterparts pretty much perfectly, although you'll have to get used to the weird aspect ratio that you find on a TV--most of the games used monitors standing on their sides, to provide a longer but less-wide playfield. Namco Museum compensates by putting colourful borders on the sides. The 'Arrangement' games look very nice for 2D outings, especially Pac-Man Arrangement, which is only available otherwise on the GBA Pac-Man Collection. Sound is in the same boat as the graphics--the effects are from arcade games that are over a decade (or two) old, and as such they don't sound particularly crisp. The voice acting in Pole Position and its sequel are perhaps the strongest evidence of that. Of course, some of us like the wocka-wocka of a Pac-person munching pellets, and that incessant warble in the original Pac-Man is considerably more rage-inducing than most game's musical selections, but the sound is definitely not exciting. True, but not exciting.
Gameplay: This is a difficult collection to judge. On the one hand, it has a good selection of classic arcade games to play on your PS2, bigger than any of the Namco Museums released to date on any console. But I know that Namco has gotten a number of other games working--witness the five original Namco Museum volumes for the PSX, only two of which are sold now--and, perhaps more importantly, they seem to have forgotten that museums hold more than the items in the collection; a good museum has a lot of stuff about the things inside of it, and that's really where Namco Museum doesn't hold up. It's a nice collection of ten (well, twelve, once you unlock two) games, but it could have been presented with much more information. The ten games that you'll find in the Namco Museum collection are as follows: Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaga Arrangement, Dig-Dug, Dig-Dug Arrangement, Pole Position, Pole Position II, and Galaxian. If you manage to score enough points in Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, you can also unlock Pac-Attack and Pac-Mania, which are nice semi-hidden bonuses for the completists out there. Everyone has their favourites out of this bunch of games, so I'm going to simply go over the high points and the low points of the games quickly. Pac-Man needs no introduction, so I won't comment on it. The same goes for Ms. Pac-Man, a superior game in just about every respect. Dig-Dug was one of my favourites back in the arcades, and it's still as much fun to play now as it used to be. Galaga is my favourite arcade game, and I still can't resist throwing quarters into a stand-up or cocktail every time I see it. It translates well to the PS2, despite the lack of the little 'flick-switch' that was so prevalent on those consoles. Galaxian is the precursor to Galaga, harder and nowhere near as refined; chances are good that you won't spend much time with it. Pole Position and its sequel are mildly entertaining, but they're really meant to be played with the steering wheel, metal pedal and big ol' shift handle, and playing it on the console just doesn't feel the same. Interestingly enough, those two games support the analog face buttons, which allows you to give an analog amount of acceleration or brake. Nice. Some special time must be spent with the Arrangement games. They are basically remakes of their three namesakes, with more complex and involving gameplay. Pac-Man Arrangement is possibly the best of the bunch, with powerups and dastardly mazes and even a new ghost to chomp. Galaga Arrangement is entertaining, but it's also a lot easier than the original, and purists may find it a little too close to standard scrolling shooters for their own comfort. Dig-Dug Arrangement adds new enemies and even bosses to the mix; it's quite a bit of fun, but there was something about the simplicity of the original that keeps me coming back to it instead of the Arrangement mode. Needless to say, there's enough game here for everyone, and there's also the two aforementioned hidden games to open up if you want to entertain yourself with those. I just wish that there were more content. The rest of the Pac games couldn't have been too hard to add (I'm referring to Super Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man here), and actual museum-style content would have been really nice, so you could read about the history of the games and stuff like that. Ah, well.
Difficulty: Arcade games are intentionaly difficult, because you want to have people putting quarters in them as much as possible. As such, these games tend towards the challenging, unless you've played them a lot already or have Pac-Man's patterns memorized. Some of the Arrangement games are easier than their counterparts; others are more challenging. There's enough games here to keep anyone motivated for a while, though, even if they get frustrated with one, and you can even configure a number of them to give you extra lives, make the game easier, and so on.
Game Mechanics: Most of the games make use of just the arrow keys and the face buttons. The starting Pac games don't use anything other than the directions; Galaga, Galaxian and Dig-Dug use a 'fire' button, and the Pole Position's use more, since you have to be able to brake and shift gears. None of the control mechanisms are difficult to learn, although the racing games definitely feel considerably less entertaining with a PS2 controller. Along with the easy controls, it's simple enough to play with the game settings, adjusting lives and the like. The menus are easy to navigate, if spartan, and the load times are nonexistent or very short, depending on the game. There's a lot of old-school fun to be found in Namco Museum. It's probably the best single arcade retro disc that you can buy; with ten games to start and two more to unlock, there's more than enough gameplay here for everyone. I just wish that it stood up more to its namesake. As it is, those of us who still like to play these sorts of games will be overjoyed with Namco Museum, as will the younger set, those who aren't spoiled yet on 3D graphics and sound. It could (and should) have been better, but as it stands Namco Museum can provide many long hours of entertainment.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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