Namco Museum

"Digging, Shooting, Driving, and Eating"

Pac-man. Galaxian. Dig Dug. Some other games that I didn't bother to mention. These classics have engaged many players for hours on end, and even helped to define gaming as we know it. Unfortunately, they're all from back in the 80s, so it's hard to find them today, short of going on Ebay and wasting hundreds of dollars on a dusty old arcade cabinet. So what did they do? They went out and collected some of Namco's best arcade games onto Namco Museum. But is it worth buying? I could just tell you now, but that would spoil the review. Speaking of which...

Gameplay: 8/10
For obvious reasons, a game like this has no definitive gameplay. The various individual games collected here are all of different quality, and for the most part, have different gameplay. Three of them (Pac-man, Dig Dug, and Galaga) are available in their original forms as well as updated “Arrangement” editions, with better graphics and new gameplay twists. In all cases, the Arrangements are better than the originals, although I'm sure there are lots of purists who wholeheartedly disagree. In some cases, the gameplay has aged more than others, and none of these games have any of the impact they once had. They're still fun to play, though. The controls are fine in all the games, although the pumping in Dig Dug seems a little slow. As with most old-school games, these are more difficult than much of what is being made today, but not so much that many people should feel frustrated.

Graphics/Sound: 3/10
No one was expecting much here. Most of these game are over 20 years old, but the Gamecube is not, so some updates would have been welcome. People would complain, but other people would surely be happy to play their favorite games in forms that make good use of modern hardware. They included the Arrangement versions of some games, but guess what? The Arrangements are all over 10 years old, so the graphics are probably 32-bit at best. The sound is not terribly noticeable, though familiar sounds are still there, such as the the when Pac-man gets eliminated. To sum it up, both the graphics and sound are nostalgic, but nostalgia isn't everything.

Play Time/ Replayability: 6/10
Two words: short bursts. Most, if not all, of these games were made for arcades, so none of them are well-suited for all-night marathon sessions. That being said, they're all driven by gameplay, rather than story, so one still has every motivation to play another game sometime after having beaten the third fleet or 50th maze. It's also a surprisingly good multiplayer game, and it can often be a good warm-up to play Dig Dug Arrangement on co-op mode while waiting for the last person to arrive before you fire up the latest version of Mario Party.

Final Recommendation: 7/10
If you buy this game, you likely won't regret it. However, it also won't be that one game that you spend all your time trying to beat, then keep on your shelf for some day when you try to beat it again. If you were a fan of any of these games back in the days when they were cutting-edge, it's certainly worth a purchase. If not, you're better off renting it, because it may not seriously hold your interest for more than a week.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/07

Game Release: Namco Museum (US, 10/09/02)