Namco Museum (PlayStation 2) review "Namco Museum is pretty much just one big set of mini-games. Coming with a quite large list of games from the age of gaming where sound, plot and graphics weren't important. It was all about High Scores and Gameplay, woo! "

Namco Museum is pretty much just one big set of mini-games. Coming with a quite large list of games from the age of gaming where sound, plot and graphics weren't important. It was all about High Scores and Gameplay, woo!

The following is a list of games availible in Namco Museum:

Pac-Man
Pac-Man Arangement
Galaga
Galaga Arrangement
DigDug
DigDug Arrangement
Pole Posistion
Pole Posistion 2
Ms.Pac-Man
Galaxian

Quite a list of great classics, don't you think? I do! While all of those may seem like the normal game, plus a clone, that's not the situation at all! The arrangement versions of the game are almost -totally- different from the non-arranged version. Including much better graphics, fluid motion, much different gameplay and more modes of play!

Now, since this game is all about the games included, i'll give a mini-review for each of them.(you know, in case you've lived under a rock for your life and never played Pac-Man or Galaga)

Galaga:
Galaga is one of the best-known games, beaten by only a few games, the most recognizable is ''Pac-Man''. Released in 1987 Galaga was quickly sucking up peoples quarters, not only in America, but all over the world.
In Galaga, you play as a small ship which can only release 2 bullets at one time, once one leaves the screen or hits an enemy, you may fire another. Galaga's gameplay was simple and addictive. Knowing when to power-up is key. Basically, it's fighting off waves of very similar monsters, although their tactics change from level to level.

Galaga Arrangement:
FAR different from the original Galaga, Galaga Arrangement is a very enjoyable game, offering different kinds of power-ups than the original Galaga, better and flashyer graphics, varied level design and hundreds more enemies on the screen at one time.
Although the gameplay is relatively the same, Galaga and Galaga arrangements are both different games that should appeal to many people.

Pac-Man:
Released in 1977 in Japan, PacMan(PuckMan in japan..it's name was changed because people could associate Puck with..well..you know) 1980 in America, PacMan drained millions of quarters every week very soon after it's release. The best-grossing game of all time and arguably containing the best known character of all time.

In PacMan, you control a circle with a portion missing, gobbling up all the dots on the maze and getting Power Pills which allows you to gobble up the ghosts scoring extra points and letting you temporarily gobble up the dots without ghostly interferance...That's pretty much all there is to say about that.

Dig Dug:
Before Namco Museum, I only vaguely remember hearing of this game, and it was a sad day when I finally played it and realized what I had been missing.

Upon putting in the disc, I sat and played DigDug for hours on end. 5 or so my first sitting.

In DigDug, the game is simple. You move around, digging through dirt to use your air-pump to pump the enemies full of air, causing them to explode. It's that simple, and it's for that reason that it's so addictive. DigDug should appeal to many gamers, keeping them entertained for hours.

DigDug Arrangement:
Varying only slightly from the original, DigDug Arrangement offers little more than DigDug. With the exception of a storymode and powerups, it's eccentially a copy of the original.However, that's not a bad thing. If you find something good, you stick with it. Right?

Galaxian:
Galaxian is almost a carbon-copy of Galaga, aside from different kinds of monsters, a much lamer ship and far more boring levels that is.
Unfortunantly, theres very little more to say about it, and you probably won't clock many hours on this game. You're much better off hitting up Galaga.

Ms.PacMan
Much like Galaxian, Ms.PacMan is essentially the exact same game as the game the one it's mimicing. It offers very little more than the orignal PacMan, aside from being able to play a female, and have moving fruit.

Pole Posistion:
In Pole Posistion, you play as a car. You race against other cars. Sounds pretty normal, right? Not quite. Pole Posistion has -miserable- controls, making it very, very difficult to play. There are a few tracks in the game, although not many. Bumping into another car almost always spells death, as does going off-road, costing you valuable time. Unfortunantly, it's lack of control prevented me from spending much time on this game. It's not likely a game you'll be spending much time on.

Pole Posistion 2:
See ''Pole Posistion'', except your car is blue instead of red.

Overall, Namco Museum is a welcome edition to all gaming librarys. Combining addictive gameplay, a variety of games and the need to out-do your friends high score assure that you'll be playing your Namco Museum for hours on end. Pick it up next time you see it!

Community review by vincent_valentine (March 24, 2003) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.