Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 29th October 2004
It has to be said that Midway are not my favourite games developer/publisher, since heavy reliance on Mortal Kombat and other arcade titles which weren't so good, or weren't even theirs (check how many games are by Atari on here) seemed to be their main business strategy. With this collection of arcade "treasures" though, Midway can attempt to win me over, and show that they had some decent games to offer. There's 20 on this collection so as usual it'll be split into 2 parts, with an overall score at the end.
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari Games
Release Date: 1987
APB is a driving arcade game where the aim is to drive a police car around a small set of roads, arresting various types criminals in order to meet quota, and taking down members of the most wanted list on the way. Players control the direction of their police car with the d-pad or analog sticks, the siren with R1, the gas pedal with the X button, and shooting with L1 once the gun has been unlocked. The game begins with a short tutorial level, driving around the police training centre but quickly moves out onto the streets where players are shown how to arrest criminals such as litterbugs, honkers (taxi drivers overusing their horn) and hitch-hikers.
Before arresting a criminal players must witness a crime taking place; once this has happened they can turn on the siren and pull the driver over to the side of the road. There's a quota of each type of criminal that needs to be arrested each day. In addition to this there are the most wanted criminals, whom players are briefed about, before going out to find their location and bring them back to the station. Time bonuses in the form of donut shops are dotted around the map, as well as gas stations to refuel at, and a weapons shop. Players are constrained by the time limit on the map (if quota has not been met, they will be demerited and made to try the level again), and the number of demerits they receive for bad driving/not meeting quota.
A.P.B. can prove to be a difficult game for a number of reasons; firstly it's difficult to avoid getting demerits if you're trying to meet quota and arrest criminals within the time limit, secondly the most wanted criminals require chasing and can seriously run down your gas/time limit meaning that you're forced to try again, and lastly the demerits carry over from try to try, so if you just ran out of time with 9 demerits to your name on the last turn, expect your next turn to be cut short as soon as you get a demerit.
Graphically the game is impressive for 1987 with a good amount of definition between cars/objects and nice colours and effects. There's not a lot in the way of music, although there are humourous radio and voice clips which add to the game's charm. Overall I'm not sure that A.P.B. knows what it wants its players to do; you can play fast and recklessly (which ends up failing you through demerits) or slow and carefully (which helps you reach the time limit) there's not really an inbetween, which can make the game frustrating.
Rating: 41/100
Grade: E
Game: Arch Rivals
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 1989
You may not think that basketball would make a particularly good arcade game; after all there's lots of rules and stoppages for fouls which get in the way of the game's flow. But what if that was taken away, what if you could punch an opposing player and steal the ball? Or maybe leap towards them and drag them to the ground? Arch Rivals makes this sort of play possible. With 6 different teams and fast paced, no fouls gameplay, it's a race to score the most points.
The player chooses to control one of two on court players, but also controls the passing/shooting of their team mate. The d-pad/left analog stick is used to move about the court, and the Square button controls shooting/jumping while the X button controls passing/punching. This simple control scheme aids the fast paced gameplay as players only ever have to decide between 2 options, although there are more complex moves such as faking and leaping which require both buttons.
Graphically the game looks good with bright colours, well defined court objects and players, and also runs very smoothly. Small cutscenes of fans and cheerleaders play between each basket but not for long enough to break the flow of gameplay. The background music isn't too overpowering or uninteresting, and carries the game when play is quiet. Overall Arch Rivals is a fun fast paced single player arcade basketball experience which is even more fun with two players (which is possible on this collection).
Rating: 80/100
Grade: B
Game: Championship Sprint
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1986
Championship Sprint is a strange inclusion on the collection as not only is it technically an Atari game (which Midway acquired the license to in 1996, 10 years after its release) but it's essentially a track pack for Super Sprint, another Atari game. The goal of the game is to win races against 4 computer opponents on various tracks and receive the most points to set a high score.
The perspective is such that the entire racetrack is in view at all times, which can make judging the direction of the car difficult. The player is in control of both the gas pedal and steering, and so can slow down by letting go of the X button. Hitting the sides of the track or any obstacles will bounce the car back slightly but not change its direction, which means that it's quite easy to get stuck (especially in sections of the track where players are unsighted such as under a bridge). There are some interesting features such as gates and tornadoes on track, but other than that it's a pretty standard overhead racer.
Graphically the game is colourful and well defined although sometimes it can be difficult to tell which end of your car is which after a spin due to the small size of the sprites. No music accompanies gameplay, but the engine roar is fairly standard for this genre. Overall Championship Sprint isn't bad, but there's nothing to hold your attention for more than about 10 minutes.
Rating: 23/100
Grade: F
Game: Cyberball 2072
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1989
Cyberball is a futuristic sports game which resembles american football in a lot of ways. You're given control of a robotic team of players who are trying to score more points than the other team via touchdowns and conversions, and attempting to stop the other team from scoring. From the kick off, the offensive team is given the ball and must make their way to the end zone of the other team by passing the ball and running forward in each play. Each time an offensive player is intercepted during a play, the ball gets hotter and once it's critical the team with the ball must score or go past the 50 yard line to reset the heat, otherwise the offensive robot explodes before the offensive and defensive teams switch.
With each offensive play the ball is passed first to a running robot which has legs and is slower than the robots with wheels. Players must either gain ground with the running robot or pass to a free robot with wheels to cover the length faster. There's a choice of formations and set plays that can be chosen before each play begins. For defensive play, players need to choose a formation and then intercept the opposing team's robot that is in possession. Doing this enough times without letting the other team pass the reset point of the ball means they won't be able to score.
Graphically the game resembles an early American Football game with brightly coloured team outfits and a fairly basic green field of play. Soundwise the crowd and general effects leave a little to be desired, there's no music either which is a shame for such a fast paced arcade game. Overall you don't have to know too much about American Football to enjoy Cyberball; it's a fun and futuristic take on the sport which is well presented and programmed.
Rating: 77/100
Grade: B
Game: Gauntlet II
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1986
Gauntlet II is a top-down dungeon crawler where players must work their way through levels in search of an exit whilst collecting food and powerups, to combat the fact that their health drains slowly as time progresses. There are also many monsters which will mob players and bring their health down very quickly; these are spawned by monster generators which can be destroyed to end the stream of monsters coming from them. As everything moves fairly fast within the game, things can quickly become chaotic and require strategy or large amounts of skill.
Players control the movement of their character of choice, as well as the ability to attack with weapons and magic. Most enemies are damaged by weapon attacks, but there are some which require the use of magic to defeat. As the levels progress, finding the exit becomes harder with maze style levels and some puzzling elements such as keys and moving walls. Up to 4 players can play simultaneously, but there's no more power-ups than in single player mode, and things can actually be more difficult with multiple players.
Overall Gauntlet II can be fun, if a little overwhelming in the amount of enemies allowed to charge toward you at once. There's plenty of levels and replayability in the game (helped by the fact that levels turn 90 degrees each time you restart them, meaning you can't get too comfortable), and while the difficulty can be a bit all over the place, it's definitely worth a try.
Rating: 58/100
Grade: D
Game: Hard Drivin'
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1989
Hard Drivin' was the first racing game to use 3D polygon graphics. The goal of the game is to achieve the fastest lap and do as many laps of the track as possible. While there are other cars on track, they're more like traffic than opponents since there are no positions. The track itself is split into two sections; players can choose the stunt track which features a large jump, a loop the loop and a banked curve before coming back to the finish line, or the speed track which is longer, but mostly straight with a few wide turns.
If the player crashes or comes down from a jump too hard, their car will explode and a short bird's eye view cutscene will be shown of the crash. While this is fairly impressive for the time, there is a noticeable delay between the impact and explosion as well as fairly basic collision physics. Driving with automatic gearing, players control the gas pedal, brakes and steering, with the addition of the clutch and gears for players who choose manual gearing.
The handling of the car in the game is pretty shocking; it will easily slide and spin off track at the slightest touch, and turns like its wheels are stuck facing forwards at times. Because of this it's very difficult to even finish a lap on the medium (or even easiest) setting. Since there's only one track in the game and the only real goal is to go around it as much as possible, this makes player turns very short and gives the game almost no replayability.
The sound effects begin to grate after a while; the engine and skidding noises particularly. In fact the only sound effect which I enjoyed was that of a road sign getting knocked over. Overall Hard Drivin' has impressive graphics and not much else. I'd much rather play Outrun for the fun arcade handling and more balanced difficulty.
Rating: 14/100
Grade: F
Game: Kozmik Krooz'r
Console: Arcade
Developer: Bally Midway
Release Date: 1982
Never afraid to use a K where the letter C would have been perfectly acceptable, Midway's second game of the compilation (note that they've tried to claim the 5 Atari games as theirs so far) is possibly the worst arcade game I've ever played. Players control a spaceship trying to get to the beam of its mothership, which encounters enemy spaceships in the space between themselves and the mothership. The aim is to shoot any enemies in the way whilst making your way up to the mothership. Once players have made their way to the beam 3 times, they're transported to a different level with new enemies.
Movement of the spaceship is very slow which can be frustrating when coupled with the fact that there's a slight delay between pressing the button and shooting. Due to this sometimes enemies can creep between your last shot and the one you just fired and cause the loss of a life when they should have been shot. The music for the game is dischordant and unimpressive, and the name entry screen only allows players to input 2 characters, maximum.
Overall Kozmik Krooz'r is a badly titled, badly programmed, repetitive and unenjoyable experience which looks decent, but sounds horrible. I'm not sure whether the original arcade version was like this, or if it's just this collection but I'd avoid this version at all costs.
Rating: 2/100
Grade: F
Game: Mortal Kombat II
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 25th June 1993
Undoubtedly one of the two main draws of this collection (the other being MK3), Mortal Kombat II was an very popular arcade fighting game. There's a choice of 12 fighters, and all the exaggerated blood and gore you could ask for. Special moves and fatalities return from the first game, with the addition of new stages and characters. The controls remain basically the same with blocks, and high and low punches and kicks.
Personally I think the game is most fun in two player mode due to problems with the AI in single player mode; challenging a friend of lesser or equal skill is about as good as this game gets. In single player mode, fighting properly against the computer usually results in a loss even on lower skill levels due to incredibly cheap techniques and advantages that the AI has. In most Mortal Kombat games, I find that I do best when only using the uppercut move.
Graphically the game is pretty good; the motion captured movements look pretty smooth and aside from being dated, the game is well styled. The music is enjoyable and possibly one of the best parts of the game. Overall Mortal Kombat fans will like the arcade and Midway Classics Collection versions of the game, but for me there's no improvement in the AI from the original SNES game, and it ruins what could be a fun fighter.
Rating: 38/100
Grade: E
Game: Mortal Kombat 3
Console: Arcade
Developer: Midway
Release Date: 15th April 1995
Imagine if you will, a version of Mortal Kombat II with a run feature, slightly better graphics, very slightly improved AI, an updated character roster, and the ability to choose an easier or more difficult arcade mode path. What you should now have is Mortal Kombat 3. In fact its similarity to both the first and second instalments in the series is pretty much undeniable. With no extra modes and little in the way of features, it's more of an update than anything else and doesn't have a whole lot more to offer than MKII.
Overall the graphics and music of Mortal Kombat 3 are pretty good, but once again it suffers from the problems of the other two games in the series and is only truly fun in multiplayer mode. For fans of the series, it's probably an excellent game, but personally I can't see why anyone would choose this over games such as Tekken.
Rating: 46/100
Grade: D
Game: NARC
Console: Arcade
Developer: Williams Electronics
Release Date: 1988
NARC is a an arcade run and gun game where players take on the role of Max Force or Hit Man, police narcotics officers on a mission to keep drugs off the street. At the beginning of each level you've given a drug baron to capture or kill and then sent through hordes of junkies and dealers to find them. Players have the choice of a gun or rocket launcher as weapons and can crouch or jump whilst shooting to take enemies down. Once enemies have surrendered they can either be shot or arrested (the second of which yields more points).
As the player progresses it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies onscreen, although this is less of a factor with two players. Although there are some interesting features which appear in some levels, after a while the game gets repetitive and unless you're a huge run and gun game fan, it's possible you'll be tempted to quit once this happens.
Graphically the game is well stylised and looks good with interesting backdrops, sprites, weapons and effects. With such a lot going on at once on the game screen, it's good to note that there's no slowdown or flickering. Musically the game has a driving funk rock soundtrack which fits well with the gameplay and style. Overall NARC is a fun run and gun which improves with 2 players, and while it can get repetitive and difficult at times, it's definitely worth a play.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
That's all for today's half of the collection review; it's been a mixed selection of games ranging from the genuinely enjoyable Arch Rivals and Cyberball 2072 to the utterly shocking Kozmik Krooz'r. With only 4 of the games actually having been developed by Midway, it's hard to see how the company can call this their collection of arcade games (although they do now own all the licenses to them). Next time I'll be checking out Primal Rage, Pit Fighter and Wizard of War amongst others. Hopefully there'll be a true Midway game that'll impress me.
No comments:
Post a Comment