IMO, this review isn't too great, but whatever.
http://www.talkxbox.com/review384.htmlIntroduction:
The previous incarnation of Midways awesome arcade compilation disc featured 24 games, mostly from the 80s, and Midway has returned with 20 more games from a later time period, mostly the late 80s and early 90s. This disc is very similar to the previous Midway Arcade Treasures game compilation, as youre offered a copious amount of games for a low price, with most of them being good games and solid ports. The ugly PS1 menu that plagued the previous version is gone, replaced by a sleek, intuitive and easier to navigate menu.
Gameplay:
The games along with short descriptions (in alphabetical order) are as follows (bolded games are personal favorites) :
A.P.B. - Youre a cop, top down action with good humor and lots of tasks.
Arch Rivals - Old school basketball game, precursor to the vastly superior NBA Jam.
Championship Sprint - Overhead lapped racing game, similar to Super Off-Road.
Cyberball 2072 - Old school football game.
Gauntlet 2 - Sequel to the smash hit four player hack n slash game.
Hard Drivin' - One of the first racing sims, very fun to mess around in.
Kozmik Kroozr' - Eight way space shooting action
Mortal Kombat II - Considered the best 2D MK game by many people.
Mortal Kombat 3 - Not as well liked as MK2, but I still love this 2D fighter.
NARC - Shooter game with lots of action in and out of vehicles.
Pit Fighter - Really bad fighting/wrestling game.
Primal Rage - Lame fighter, sort of a Mortal Kombat wannabe.
Rampage: World Tour - Play as giant mutant monsters and destroy cities in this advanced and fun sequel.
SpyHunter 2 - Sequel to the huge smash hit.
Timber - Simple, yet fun game where you cut down trees.
Total Carnage - Unofficial sequel to Smash T.V., more advanced, still tons of dual joystick action.
Wacko - Similar to Kozmik Kroozr but has a matching scheme.
Wizard of Wor - Somewhat similar to Pac-Man, but with shooting
Xenophobe - Difficult side scrolling sci-fi shooter.
Xybots - Neat pseudo-3D sci-fi shooter.
Graphics:
Since you cannot judge these games in a traditional sense, because theyre not supposed to look like Xbox games, you judge them for what they are. The colors are vibrant and it really showcases how games have changed over time, since there is a 10+ year variation from the oldest to the newest game. Even the menu looks a lot better than the previous MAT incarnation. The Mortal Kombat games have retained their crisp and gory details especially well, even surpassing the Genesis/SNES home ports in quality. The graphical translation is very well done, even supporting HDTV480p. A pleasant surprise was that the horribly grainy video of the first MAT have been replaced by higher quality video, although most games lack any sort of video all together.
Audio:
While the controls and graphics have mostly translated well, I cannot say the same for the audio. Having invested much time into the console and arcade versions of both of the included MK games, I can safely say that the audio doesnt sound like it did. Hard Drivin just sounds plain bad, it sounds nothing like my original Genesis cartridge version. From what I understand, emulating sound is difficult, and it shows. Some of the audio just does not sound like it should, while some of it sounds fine, but as a whole it really isnt too much of a problem.
Controls:
The vast majority of the games on this compilation control great. Games like Total Carnage and Kozmik Kroozr take full advantage of the dual joysticks for eight way action. Some of the games are a bit hard to control, but overall, theyre better than the previous one. The simple controls are explained before each game, most only needing a couple buttons each, so that even the most novice of gamers can easily pick them up and play. With so few controls for most games, itd be hard to mess them up, and I can pleasantly say that the results here are satisfactory.
Replay:
This is the same deal as the previous one, you get a whole bunch of games, most of them fun, so the amount of replay you get is pretty subjective, depending on how you like old school games. Most games here are multiplayer, which is good for extending the replay value of this disc, depending on how many people are readily available to you. Most of the games are really quite fun and will have you coming back for more, because they are simple, yet quite fun. There are also a lot of extras, like print ads and videos for you to watch. In keeping with the previous one, Xbox Live scoreboards are also available for the competitive folks.
Summary:
$20 for 20 great games is just plain great. This is a superb compilation of mostly great games that is a successor to the previous Midway Arcade Treasures, mostly taking place in the late 80s and early 90s, as opposed to the earlier games of MAT1. While they couldve easily fit more games, I feel their selections were pretty good, although STUN Runner was taken out for some reason. There is Xbox Live Aware as well as Scoreboards to extend replay, and this compilation includes many extra videos and artwork. There are quite a few great games in this, although there is a fair amount of lackluster games as well. The audio isnt up to par with the graphics, and the controls have been improved as well. I wouldve preferred some more quality games however, which wouldve easily netted this a higher score, but its $20 for 20 games sure to appease your nostalgic side.
Scores:
Gameplay: 8.8
Graphics: 8.0
Audio: 6.7
Controls: 8.5
Replay: 8.6
Overall: 8.3
Author
Topic: Midway Arcade Treasures 2 - Ntsc (Read 112 times)