Take a trip back to the arcade, this time in the comfort of your own home.
[starreview]
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: August 24th, 2010
ESRB Rating: T
Mountains of quarters, running back and forth between the arcade to be able to play many rounds of House of the Dead with your friends. Everyone knows the feeling, but sadly today there aren’t many arcades around to keep us entertained, and why go to the arcade when you can have your own gaming hub in your household? Modern technology has been bringing gaming to our homes since the 80’s, and there’s no way it will stop anytime soon. To help sad retro-gamers cope with the loss, SEGA has been releasing arcade classics adapted for the Wii, and the Arcade Hits pack is no exception.
What was achieved on an arcade machine is certainly brought back to life in a single disc, but there are always the restrictions that come along with this sort of thing. Packed into this bundle are two obscure arcade games that I can’t say I’ve heard of before: Gunblade NY: Special Air Assault Force, and L.A. Machine Guns: Rage of the Machines. Both games come with 2 difficulty modes (easy and hard, respectfully), and each have 4 levels. No, there isn’t much of a storyline to go along with the games other than “XXX has been captured by XXX, go after them and save them!” which doesn’t trail away from typical arcade-style games at all.
A screenshot from Gunblade NY: Special Air Assault Force.
The controls are straightforward, only requiring players to press A or B whenever they need to shoot. There’s no real length to the game either, as that is decided by the gamer. The 4 levels per game take about 25 minutes each, which brings you down to an extremely short game. However, what holds the game together is the options after you beat the game to continue and race through for new scores on different difficulties. Wi-Fi leaderboards only add to the competition, serving as a replacement for local arcade scores. There’s also multiplayer, which features a drop in/drop out system, which makes it a lot more enjoyable to let a partner play. The graphics are traditional polygon-oriented visuals, which are not there to impress, but rather to charm. During the gameplay, they certainly do, and give off the feel of an authentic arcade shooter.
There were some problems with the graphics, where it triggered a motion-sickness that I was unaware I had (besides playing RARE games). Yes, you have your quick, fast-paced arcade shooter, but is there a point where the camera seems too out there? The whole camera-changing experience managed to mess with my eyes, and ultimately didn’t leave me with such a good thought about playing the game for an extensive period of time. However, the music is just as engaging as any other SNES/arcade game would be. It matches the fast-paced gameplay, and doesn’t get lost in the moment.
Arcade Hits isn’t the game for everyone, but it really depends on what you’re looking for. It gets the job done, but doesn’t do it in the most efficient way possible, which inevitably hinders it. What one must take into account before playing this game is one thing: it’s not going to be completely like a real arcade. SEGA does try and get it the closest possible to playing in a real arcade, but in the end you’re better off spending your own quarters down at an arcade (if there’s one near you). For me, there happens to be one rather close, so this isn’t be much of a challenge (and more worth it, I presume). It doesn’t seem like the 30$ asked justifies the gameplay, which is what makes the purchase skeptical (although, I obtained a review-copy).
The review copy used for this review was furnished by SEGA.
