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Techtite's PSP Game Reviews!
(Of course, this page will be larger as these PSP pages catch on, but here's the latest game review:) Namco Museum Battle Collection (A Techtite Review) I can see the apprehension in some people, to play 1980's arcade games on their PSP. Why use all that power to play a game over 20 years old? Still; there is a lot to love about Namco Museum Battle Collection, in that every asset of the PSP is at the games' disposal. True, this is more or less the same collection Namco released in Japan some time back, with slight additions. In short, this is a collection of 20 games that are either directly related or "in the spirit of the classics." The former is in the form of a wide roster of classic games, from Dig Dug to Rally X to Pac-Man, and even their most rarely heard of sequels, including Dig-Dug 2. Each of the most renowned classics has an "arrangement" title, My favorite of which would have to be Dig-Dug Arrangement, with its own "boss" characters after every fourth or fifth level. Still, if a diehard arcade classics fan were to tell me that the real sales point are the real classics, I'd have to agree with him. The interesting part of these classics is how they can take advantage of the widescreen features of the PSP, in dual ways. One of the easiest ways to take advantage of the widescreen is to choose a "full screen" option on most games, which isn't that bad of an option, especially when the graphics do not distort very much when doing so. As a rule, "zooming in" on most games means that the pixels are enlarged to blocky squares, but here the full screen option seems much more authentic, though that may be because of the smaller screen size demanding less of a "zoom." Either way, the ability to play with multiple screen options is cool. The best option for diehard arcade fans, however, is the ability to "rotate" the screen, giving the screen the authentic look of an arcade console. All classic games worked on video screens that were basically, so to speak, "sideways" television monitors. Since it is relatively easy to play the PSP "Sideways," this option is given, and with most of the controls on one or the other side of the PSP, it actually works very well. You can configure the controls, for example, so that the thumb pad is your "joystick" and the arrow buttons are your action buttons. If there's a downside to this collection, it's how it isn't really a "Museum." In fact, "Namco Arcade Battle Collection" is perhaps a more accurate title. No photos or videos are included here, of the classic games or their designers. This is a lot different from, say, Midway's arcade classic collections, which often offer a video or two of a classic commercial or two, or even an anecdote. True we're talking about UMD here, so perhaps this request is being too greedy. They needed room on the mini disc for 20 classic arcade games, after all. Perhaps the disc was too full. Yet overall this is a great addition to your PSP game collection, especially if you're a fan of the classic 1980's arcades of lore. With all the best Namco has to offer, and even some new games in the spirit of old, this is a winner. <<<back to Techtite's PSP Page (Home) |
