Namco Museum

"12 arcade machines for only 120 quarters!"

Whether you personally remember them or not, everyone's got a soft spot for old arcade games where the only purpose for your existence was to get a high score. Knowing this, almost every company with well known arcade games of this nature has released some kind of compilation. Namco has quite possibly released the most. The Namco Museum series started with 5 installments for Playstation 1, plus an on core never released in the U.S. Each installment contained 5-7 old (and sometimes classic) Namco arcade games. After the initial PS1 releases, the best of the Namco Museum games were released in single installments on Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and even Game Boy Advance. Finally, they released the Namco Museum I'm reviewing for PS2. It contains the most games of any Namco Museum, and contains three games you've probably never played before.

Game selection: 9/10
As I said, this version has the most games of any Namco Museum, weighing in at a whopping 12 games. The games are; Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position 1 and 2, Pac-Mania, Pac-Attack, and special Arrangement versions of Pac-Man, Galaga, and Dig Dug. The Arrangement versions are what make this Museum stand out from the others. These are mid-80s updates of three of Namco's classics. They add more options and more complex play, as well as improved graphics. I found the selection very good, the only thing keeping it from a ten is the inclusion of both Pole Positions, easily the worst aging games on the disc.

Game Recreation: 10/10
It would be silly to rate games this old on graphics and sound, so instead I will rate them on how accurately they are recreated. Sadly, I have not had the pleasure of playing all these games in the arcade, but you can just feel that the games have been emulated well. I did not notice any blaring flaws while the games, and most importantly, you can save high scores (had you not been able to, my rating for this game would have been a 4 or 5, I'm not kidding), which is extremely important in games like this.

Gameplay: 8/10
No one can deny that games like Pac-Man and Galaga are still as fun as there debuts decades ago. However, the same does not go for the Pac-Man spinoffs, Pac-Mania and Pac-Attack. Pac-Mania is a boring isometric version of Pac-Man, with a hard to control jump feature the only new addition. Pac-Attack is an uninspired Tetris ripoff. What gives this version of Museum an edge over all the others is the Arrangements. Pac-Man Arrangement adds all kinds of new features to the boards, Galaga Arrangement adds features from later shooters to improve Galage, and Dig Dug Arrangement adds new features to Dig Dug similar to those in Pac-Man Arrangement. These Arrangements are are very good, and while you'll probably still play the originals more, they add variety to the collection. Galaxian is also a timeless classic, and Ms. Pac-Man is just a slightly improved Pac-Man. As I mentioned earlier, both Pole Positions have aged horribly and are the worst games in the collection. I was able to control all the games fine with a standard PS2 controller, although some people prefer joysticks for these types of games. You'll probably only play about half the games consistently, but those games will keep you entertained for quite a while.

Value: 9/10
At only 30$ MSRP, this game is a great value. However, if you already own a Namco Museum, you might have to think about if the Arrangements are enough to get this version. If you don't own these games already and can enjoy simple, old-fashioned arcade games, than I would reccommend this collection.

Game selection: 9/10
Game recreation: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Overall (not an average) 8/10

Conclusion
Namco Museum may not be among the best of the 2001 PS2 holiday releases, but if you expect the right things from it, it will deliver.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/24/02, Updated 04/24/02