Proof that games have gotten better. Review

Proof that games have gotten better.

Although the prospect of playing games of your youth (those classics by Namco)

may have sounded exciting when they first announced the product, it has quickly

gone down hill since. The first collection had several great games almost everyone

remembers – like Pac-Man and Galga. If they had ended the series with just that

collection it would have been adequate.

Instead,

Namco continued to release version after version of their virtual “museum.”

This got ugly quick – obscure and bizarre games that sometimes weren’t even

released in the United States started appearing in the collections.

That brings us to Namco Museum #4 – containing only one game that is

worth playing (and albeit, that one gets boring too) and a bunch of other games

that you should steer clear of.

It’s hard to review a pack of ‘classic’ games. You can’t comment on the graphics

or sound – since they are exactly the same as they were in the arcade. So instead,

I’m going to do a bunch of mini-reviews for each game. I may seem overly harsh

to your halcyon memories of these games, but most of these games truly do suck.

Pac-land — One of the stupidest games of all

time. All you do is walk to the right and jump over things. Sounds a little

like the original Mario Brothers, but it’s different in that it’s boring

and has absolutely no fun factor. Stay away from this stinker. F

Ordyne

— An obscure, but surprisingly fun shooter. Will actually entertain you, unlike

other games in this collection. This is the latter half of the two games that

you might actually want to play in this collection. B-

The Return of Ishtar — A boring dungeon crawler

that has you controlling two different characters at the same time. Confusing

and difficult, Return of Ishtar proves only one thing: games that sucked in

the 80’s still suck now. D+

The Genji and Heike Clans — A blatant rip-off

of Ninja Gaiden, The Genji and Heike Clans is a Japanese game that most likely

never saw US shores. And that was a good thing too, the game tries to meld three

different playing styles together – what does it end up with? Mediocrity. C-

Assault — By far the best game in the collection.

You drive a tank around and blow up things – a plot that is still intriguing

by today’s standards. However, unlike some repetitive blow-em ‘ups that exist

now, this one is actually fun. B+

Namco Museum 4 could have been saved by a slick interface, and although the

3D first-person walkthrough is interesting, it’s more annoying than anything

else. This collection truly has no classics – you’re better off getting one

of the earlier editions instead. And I mean, come on, who in their right mind

would ever want to be reminded of (shudder) Pac-Land?