paleface [sys=PS1; cat=Action_Variety; reg=JPN] |
| | Let me just say right off the bat that I bought this solely for Rolling Thunder, but as a bonus quite enjoy some of the other games in this compilation that adds the "®" to the "NAMCO" spelled out letter by letter on the covers of the first five Namco Museum packs. The original beauty and subtle design of Rolling Thunder come straight through here in a flawless arcade port. Will any other side-scrolling platform shooter ever surpass it in sheer style? Seems doubtful. Whatever you do, do not try to play "Wonder Momo," a hideous "game" in which you play a girl in a skirt attacked by clumsy mis-shapen aliens (?). Fortunately she can defend herself, if you wiggle the joystick around furiously, by transforming into a girl in a space suit with a laser hula-hoop, or something. The laughable control makes just navigating the flat plane of the play field torturous, and just when you might think you've got the hang of it, the so-called hit "detection" laughs in your face. I also detest "Sky Kid" but I think here I'm just being perverse; the game has a horrifically cute, bright color scheme that for some reason pisses me off, and the stupid control ("let's do a loop-de-loop again! Oh, strafe that truck--oops, couldn't steer downward sharply enough. Uh, let's do a loop-de-loop!") and gratingly sharp sound effects make me want to flee. "Motos" is a unique tate arena battle game where you try to bounce enemies off the floating platform in the sky--simple yet elegant control, strong graphic design and even sound, and a good difficulty curve make this fun to play even though it's quite challenging. "Rompers," a tate maze puzzler, I really like; you play this little British-looking kid who skips around a garden maze, pushing walls over to squish monsters and collect all the keys. Watch out though, pretty soon those monsters start to push back! Very cool. And finally "Dragon Saber," anticipated due to its vertical-shooterishness but somewhat underwhelming like its predecessor Dragon Spirit. The graphics are a lot easier on the eyes but it still plays pretty much the same way. Vertical or "tate" mode in these games, as in all the Namco Museum releases, run on a screen rotated 90 degrees clockwise rather than the industry-standard 90 degrees anticlockwise. Kind of sucks if you have a screen set up just for vertical play, as you'll have to flip it 180 degrees if you want to enjoy vertical mode on these compilations. |
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| | Well goll durn me, I forgot that Rolling Thunder runs slow on a PS2. Crapdoodle. |
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| | Might be worth noting that Rolling Thunder runs at normal speed on a PS3--well, on my original 60 GB Japanese PS3, anyway. Pretty cool. Also, finally noticed that Motos has an interesting powerup system: you can pick up jump wings or power boosters in some levels, but these don't kick in right away. Between stages, you get a chance to activate your wings, and as many power boosters as you like. These will last ONLY for the next stage, so it introduces a strategy in hoarding resources that's fairly unusual in an action game like this. |
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