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Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade
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Graphics & Sound:
This collection contains both the old and new, so expect to see plenty of variety. Games like Xevious or Pole Position were revolutionary for their time, and Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade also shows us the "evolutionary" process that spawned subsequent titles like Pole Position II, along with several renditions of Galaga. The most current version, Galaga Legions, is one of several Xbox Live Arcade titles included with this collection. It's neat to see and play the entire spectrum of games like Pac-Man, from the 1980 original, to several derivative versions, before reaching Pac-Man Championship Edition. The only real difference in the various incarnations of Pac-Man is usually his appearance, or his gender in the case of Ms. Pac-Man. You'll also enjoy seeing the 3D versions that were introduced later, as game makers sought to modernize the brand. Pac-Man Arrangement and Pac-Mania are neat versions, but there's probably a reason that the Championship Edition returned to Pac-Man's roots. Iconic visuals are paired with equally memorable soundtracks and sound effects. Aside from "Hungry Like The Wolf," there's no sound that can place me quite as squarely in my childhood as the rousing music that introduces each new stage in Galaga...
Many other classics are included here that didn't catch fire in the same way as Pac-Man or Galaga, possibly because their presentation was more simple or unconventional. Games like Dragon Buster, King & Balloon, Motos, and The Tower of Druaga are every bit as compelling from a gameplay standpoint, but just don't have the same iconic visual style. In many cases, you will be discovering games that didn't earn your quarters back in the old days but were definitely worthy. Where we probably were guilty of judging some games harshly due to less sophisticated graphics, we now have the chance to get as deep as we want in this huge collection. The size of Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade works against it somewhat from a design perspective, as you can get a bit lost or confused until you figure out where to find the "new classics." A short list of games that includes Galaga Legions and Mr. Driller Online is only accessible from the Live Arcade menu. Firing up the game for the first time, you might wonder where to find these titles... Once you track them down by navigating through the dashboard it becomes clear, but the first impression is that some games are locked or unavailable. |
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Gameplay:
Happily, the games are not locked. From the moment you fire up Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade, you'll have over 30 titles to play, including nine featured on Live Arcade. Considering what it would cost to purchase these games through Live Arcade, Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade comes across as a real bargain. The balance of the game plays from the list of "Museum Classics," and you are free to switch between these as much as you'd like without exiting to the dashboard. The immediate benefit of playing through Live Arcade is earning achievements and posting scores to leaderboards. You won't have the same satisfaction playing the oldie-but-goodie titles, but there is a lot more meat on the bone in the Museum Classics section. Games are displayed in a big list by default, but can be organized by genres like Action, Shoot 'em up, Arrangement, and Racing. Arrangement titles included modified or enhanced versions of classics like Pac-Man, Galaga, and Dig-Dug; these are basically the precursors to versions like Galaga Legions. Unlike some compilations we've seen over the years, there isn't a huge focus on unlockables like cabinet art and hacks that change the gameplay. Instead, you'll find the focus here is on quantity and quality of gameplay, pure and simple.
In the Action category are titles like Baraduke, Dig Dug and its sequel Dig Dug II, Dragon Buster, Mappy, Metro-Cross, Motos, Pac & Pal, Rolling Thunder, Super Pac-Man, and The Tower of Druaga. Baraduke, Metro-Cross, and Rolling Thunder are classic side-scrolling action games where you'll face oncoming enemies with simple attacks and do some basic platforming. Dig Dug is like Pac-Man without walls, as are titles like Motos and The Tower of Druaga - Druaga actually looks a bit like Pac-Man with demons instead of ghosts and a sword-wielding hero instead of a friendly yellow blob. Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Mr. Driller Online fall into the Action category on the Live Arcade side of things. Mr. Driller is a bit like playing a color-matching casual game with blocks, using the mechanics of Dig Dug. Depending on how faithful you are to retro gaming, you may find yourself spending more time on the Live Arcade side, since you get a bit more affirmation through the online leaderboards and even multiplayer in some cases. The so-called Shoot 'em up category is a mix of Space Invader offspring like Galaga and Galaxian, plus side-scrolling shooters like Sky Kid and its sequel Sky Kid Deluxe. The big-deal updated in this category for Live Arcade is Galaga Legions. This game plays like a dream, but with substantially more complex controls than the original. Many purists won't like it, but they have plenty to keep them occupied with the original and two variations (Galaga '88 and Galaga Arrangement) included in the Museum Classics section. The racing games aren't exactly what we've come to know as racing action in the modern world, but both Pole Position games included here are a gas for retro play. The realization most will have is that racing games have actually become much more forgiving over the years... Even Rally-X, with its own nod to a Pac-Man style of maze gameplay, gets two slots in Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade, one in the museum section and another in Live Arcade. |
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Difficulty:
It is possible to adjust difficulty for balancing within each game, to customize according to how strong you are in specific genres. The games that stand out most as being completely unforgiving are the Racing titles. We understand that timing plays a part in the Action and Shoot 'em up categories, but the racing games feel more open-ended, giving the player just enough latitude to make it appear that timing isn't as much an issue. Shaving seconds off a track time actually depends on some very skilled driving in a game like Pole Position. The tracks are short enough to prevent extreme frustration from setting in, but our bet is that if you put an average player in front of Galaga and another in front of Pole Position for an hour, the Galaga player will have made more progress... Galaga Legions and Mr. Driller Online are another matter entirely. These updated games aren't catering to casual players, but to a core audience that wants to feel renewed challenge in an old franchise. Both games test your timing and twitch reflexes as much or more than the originals, and don't suffer from any of the slowdown or quirkiness of those original arcade cabinet titles. Beyond just adjusting the overall difficulty in games, you can dial up or down the number of lives to make games more approachable or more challenging. Since this doesn't have any effect on score, it clearly is only included as a crutch for players that need a bit more propping up.
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Game Mechanics:
For the traditional arcade games available here, explaining controls takes just a couple seconds. "This button does this, and that button does that," is what you'll typically read in the instructions or hear from another gamer. The beauty of retro gaming is its wonderful simplicity. We didn't need 10 buttons "back in the day," and it is amazing how much gameplay is achieved in just one or two actions. Players looking for something different in the controls department can even customize how actions are mapped to the controller, which helps if you have a strong preference for a specific scheme. Typically, you'll find that the left analog stick controls direction in games like Pac-Man, but the D-pad will perform the same function. I would have thought going into it that the D-pad would win out, since it seems more simple and appropriate. Control via the left stick ended up being far superior, with smoother reaction in almost every case. Chalk one up for modern engineering! There are some obvious deficits in control with a game like Pole Position, since the arcade cabinet offered a shifter and now we just get a wimpy (RB) or (LB) control for shifting... It's not as bad as missing the trackball in Centipede, but it's not like a real arcade cabinet fits into my budget anyway!
There's nothing quite so satisfying as plunking down some cash and feeling like you've purchased more than your money's worth in a game. The days of monster 100-hour epics is largely behind us, simply because most people have lives to live, jobs to work, and family mouths to feed. The epiphany you'll have after playing a few rounds of Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade is that this compilation is its own 100-hour epic. All those quarters of my childhood would, if collected, represent days or months of my life spent playing games at the arcade. Those were the days that every restaurant, pizza parlor, and store included a room full of arcade cabinets. Many of them featured these games; in fact, I'm sure that if you went back in time and mapped the locations of just Galaga and Pac-Man games, you'd see a clustering that would put 7-11, Walgreens, and McDonald's to shame. Reliving these classics won't pull you into a land of technological wonder - we have new titles to do that these days - but what's here is a great sampling of retro gaming's greatest accomplishments. Grab a friend or just settle back for solo play with Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade, and you'll kill a few hours before you can blink. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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