Namco Museum DS
Score: 90% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Classic/Retro/ Arcade/ Shooter
Graphics & Sound: Nintendo DS is a great host for classic gaming. Nothing in this collection needs more graphics horsepower than the DS to be lookin' good and the sound effects are reproduced faithfully. At this point, we know what to expect from earlier collections but a pleasant surprise is that Namco Museum DS features some nice add-ons within each game's main menu. These range from concept art, foreign packaging, and advertising displays. There is a so-called Library with sound clips and paraphernalia from the games. The visual dip-switch adjustment option is a hoot. Rather than just adjust the options from a menu, which you can do if you like, the purists will want to trip that particular switch and Namco Museum DS includes nice shots of each game's circuit board. Cute stuff. A special version of Pac-Man with a much more cluttered but useful interface is here as Pac-Man Vs. Doing a new twist on the Pac-Man that doesn't involve 3D is interesting and beyond good looks, it happens to play well. Another great new twist that takes full advantage of the two screens is a feature in some games that will display hints, tips, and even maps on the lower screen while you play on the top screen. This is incredibly helpful and allows for one to have a slight edge without major tweaking of options. The final coupe de grace for Namco Museum DS is the wide range of ways to display the game. The side-held for both left and right will be popular with gamers looking for that arcade cabinet look. Easier on the eyes is the scaled or full display that fits the game to the DS top or bottom screen. You can even choose a smoothed or sharp effect!
Gameplay: This is a classic collection and although these games may belong in a museum, they are hella fun to play. I blew many hours on Xevious with a version for the Commodore-64 and I put so many quarters into Galaga I can't imagine what they'd add up to today. I remember a Galaxian game in the local Wal-Mart that I used to stake out while my great-grandmother shopped. She'd give me a handful of quarters and pry me off the game on her way out to the car. The game I like least is Mappy, not because it isn't great but because I wasn't ever a fan. Mappy has this whimsy factor going for it that some may like, but I'm more into risking life and limb to save the world, battling aliens and that good stuff. The bouncing and chasing makes for some frantic and challenging gameplay. Mappy holds up better than something like The Tower of Druaga. Tower is like a hybrid action/puzzle game and it just doesn't float my boat. The premise is cool. You work your way through dungeons with a simple overhead view and try to gather items to unlock treasure and find keys that lead to higher levels. The ticking timer in the game seems so artificial compared to the free-roaming, massive worlds that today's games let us explore. In simpler times, Tower of Druaga was received well, but shows its age today. Galaga, Xevious, and Galaxian have the space-shooter quality going for them. The measured intensity of these games is awesome and battling wave after wave of alien is still fun and challenging. Xevious is one of my favorites with its frantic soundtrack and great enemy patterns. The bosses are cool, too. Galaga and Galaxian might look similar, but have very different play mechanics. The back-story on all these games is interesting and with all the special items, information, and hints available, it is easy to see why they decided to call it Namco Museum DS. Pac-Man and Dig Dug II round out the classic brigade - few titles are more classic than Pac-Man. I remember enjoying Dig Dug but being afraid to throw my quarter at it for fear of being knocked out too soon. My cousin could play level after level after level of Pac-Man and never break a sweat. I still find the game pretty challenging... The Pac-Man VS. game is really a modern skin around the classic formula. What is fun is how you can load up the game wirelessly with another DS and challenge a friend. The style of play is pure Pac-Man but your opponent controls one of the ghosts. The players switch once Pac-Man falls and the first to reach a certain number of points (you set this option ahead of the game) wins. It is definitely a skin with some 2.5D aspects that remind you this is Pac-Man for the new millennium.
Difficulty: Retro gaming is just damned hard. All the tweaks, dip-switch adjustments, and extra men in the world won't change the fact that these games require practice and superior reflexes. The extras really do make a difference. There are also hints that help to make the games more accessible, but it's not like we're talking about 100-hour RPGs or anything... If you like a challenge you came to the right place; if you prefer to explore and spend hours stretched out languidly power-leveling in your RPG of choice, you'll probably find aspects of Namco Museum DS pretty taxing. I learned a few things reading through the copious amount of background on each game through the excellent Library included as an extra. One thing I learned was that Xevious was intended to be accessible and easy to pick up for newer gamers. I did love Xevious, but I don't find it particularly easy. These games are all about timing, so the helper screen included as an option showing the level layouts and locations of secrets help to make even the toughest game in this collection more approachable. Druaga felt the most obscure, but it also is one of the simplest games in this collection thanks to a really simple control scheme.
Game Mechanics: The DS can afford to host pretty simple interface design since there is double the screen real estate. I like having the pause and special options features on the touch screen. When you tap the screen, the game pauses and there are several tabs on the bottom screen that open up to let you tweak things like the dip-switch settings and assigned buttons for controls. This is where you access all the non-game items and finally you just go back to the game and watch the Options menu sink down to the bottom and disappear. It's not like the classic games were adapted to touch control, but that was never the point. The touch feature is just very handy for controlling and changing all the options in the Pause screen. Each game features a slightly different control scheme but (A) generally does what you expect it to and the other buttons are empty. You can reassign any button's actions, but the default layout was good. The default settings for everything were acceptable, but this is the kind of game that die-hard fans buy and keep on the shelf for a long while. If you've been craving some retro action, the DS is now a great platform and this is a great game. Some kids may be frustrated by how difficult these games are, but adults know the real secret. The 80's were easy to forget or abhor in many ways, but they were a fertile time for gaming. Namco Museum DS shows just how far we've come, but also how much enjoyment is to be had with games based on the classic formula. I'll still take the Wii's virtual console over the DS any day in terms of download, but that's just me. Since few of these games are available through the virtual console, it only seems right to celebrate Namco's achievement.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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