Namco
Museum on the Switch is the most recent incarnation of a series that
has been running since the Playstation era. For $30 at the time of
this review, you get 10 classic Namco arcade games (ranging from
1980-1991) and the highly regarded 4 player Pac Man Versus (released
in 2003) in one game. While not as jam-packed as some of the previous
versions of Namco Museum, this is still a great collection for some
great authentic arcade action on the go, for those who are fans of
the majority of titles featured, or for anyone that is in the mood
for some classic leaderboard/high score chasing.
Selecting
from your list of games is simply done by moving left or right to
cycle through the available titles. Once you're on one, you can view
the global leaderboards or filter it for each title and see where you
stack up with the rest of the world. Each game also features its own
profile specific leaderboard, so if you want to track your own
progress, that's always there and hard saved to the system. You also
have the ability to rotate the console to support a more authentic
resolution, which you can make manual adjustments to via the start
menu for each game if you wish to try to override the aspect ratio.
Be aware that by rotating the game, your controls do not flip, so you
are going to have to detach your joycons or rotate your television to
make the most of this feature.
Each
game also has its own game-specific options, which can allow you to
adjust all sorts of aspects of gameplay, but some will warn you that
you will be excluded from online leaderboards by changing. On the
topic of options available for each title, if just having these games
on the go in their normal form isnt enough for you, there is a
challenge mode for each title with its own separate leaderboard. Some
of these can range from simply getting a high score on the last level
of a game, to trying to rescue as many ships as you can in Galaga
with a 3 minute time limit. While these challenge modes aren't going
to be a main draw for anyone, they are a neat addition.
One
of the features I really enjoy about the game but wish was a bit more
fully featured is that each game includes its own manual. For most
games, you can probably figure out how to play them on your own, but
they also throw in some tips for each title on how to get a higher
score, and The Tower of Druaga goes so far as to include a full hint
system to explain how to find all of the treasures hidden on each
floor to finish the game, provided you can make it that far. My
complaint is that I wish for the price, the game included some
interviews, scans of arcade flyers, or even history of the games. I
am assuming most people aren't going to care and just want to play
the game, but bonuses like that are what make certain collections a
bit more appealing than others to me.
I've
always felt a bit worried about how retro games would control with
the joycons considering there is no traditional dpad, but everything
feels fantastic. You can use the analog stick for movement, but
because of the smaller range of movement, it's not going to be quit e
the same as using an actual arcade stick. Another one of the big
surprises is just how good the HD Rumble feels in these games.
Everything from the feeling of picking up a power pellet in Pac Man,
the different feel of each gun in Rolling Thunder 2, to the
satisfaction of hitting an enemy with a weapon in Splatterhouse,
Namco Museum is somehow one of the better showcases for HD Rumble.
Overall,
I think this game is definitely worth at least checking out, because
I feel like there's something here for pretty much everyone. If you
aren't a fan of classic games like Pac Man or Galaga, or don't get
the appeal of Tower of Druaga, you still have Rolling Thunder 1 and
2, Splatterhouse, and you can probably find another title on here to
please you. Unfortunately I don't know anyone else that has a switch,
so I haven't had the chance to try out Pac Man Vs, but I hear nothing
but great things about it. There are some notable exceptions from the
games list, with Ms Pac Man and Pole Position being the ones fans are
most vocal about, but this is still a great package that has
fantastic emulation with plenty of features.
Overall - 8 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment