Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary

Teary-eyed nostalgia galore here...

Without a shadow of a doubt, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is for those gamers bred through the 1980s and early '90s who fondly recall relentlessly shovelling ten pence pieces into willing arcade machines while battling breathlessly to beat a high score amassed by some unseen arch rival. Yet, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is also for those, perhaps younger, gamers who presently bemoan the 'supposed' difficulty level of modern videogames in general-or even lack thereof.

So, what's on offer for both demographic camps? There are 2 iterations of everyone's favourite fruit and ghost-chomping escapades in Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. There are also dual editions of the tyre-shredding racing classic in Pole Position and Pole Position II. Rampant button mashers looking for that arcade fix of invaders from outer space are duly rewarded with the truly retro Galaxian and Galaga; while the scrolling 2D sci-fi crowd get to lay waste to hordes of evil aliens in the excellent Xevious and Bosconian. On top of that, Namco has bundled in the immortal Dig Dug and Rolling Thunder, as well as Dragon Spirit, Mappy, Rally-X, and Sky Kid. All-in-all 14 slices of classic arcade history to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home - and without 10p's. In short, a little something for everyone.

Without reviewing each of the games in turn - because the overall review would read like the entire collection of the Encyclopaedia Britannica - it's safe to say that there's so much content choice, so much instant arcade button-mashing fun, that announcing negative comment against the collection is hard to do. Indeed, the titles that don't appeal to one person may well be the favourites of another - and vice versa. In terms of gameplay, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is predominantly a haven of fixed and auto-scrolling mayhem, where modern convoluted control schemes are gleefully discarded in favour of all-direction movement, single-button weapon activation, and wondrously shallow delivery. Simplistic joy in every sense of the word. The more high-profile titles speak for themselves in terms of player expectation; action favourites like Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, and Xevious were always a constant draw when the travelling fair came to town. Yet, slightly less frantic games like Rolling Thunder, Sky Kid, and Mappy provide a different but no less immediate attraction.

Visually and aurally players receive an unsullied slice of history. There are no added bells, tweaked whistles, or digitally remastered jiggery pokery to attract the more easily mollified consumer. There is no stretched imagery, no glitch or scroll issues, and no enlarged pixels; it's original reduced-screen emulation from start to finish. Game sound is fabulously grating throughout, yet no less appealing in terms of authenticity; though those players eventually suffering with bleeding ears may well wish Namco had invested in fresh orchestrations. They have, however, installed a catchy '80s soundtrack into the game's central arcade section (where individual coin-op machines can be selected for play), which means that the likes of 'Come on Eileen' by Irish one-hit-wonders Dexys Midnight Runners will also drag fond memories from the populace's 'greying' gamers - or not depending on musical tastes.

Aside from the faithful re-creation and reintroduction of gaming yesteryear encapsulated in such magnitude within Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary, the sheer and almost insurmountable difficulty levels held by each of the games is truly astounding. Modern videogames are a veritable breeze when placed beside the likes of Rolling Thunder, Pole Position, and even Pac-Man. Today's frighteningly complex button controls exist to offer many flexible solutions to in-game problems, and essentially make the experience 'easier' to manage. Arcade games of the past offered one or two, perhaps three, rigid button choices, which largely existed for the sake of jumping and attacking; yet, in terms of story interaction, the only pre-requisites for these games were simply 'destroy' and, in most cases, 'survive'. Surviving for more then a few minutes in the original Pac-Man was - and still is - nigh on impossible; and getting to the end of a race in Pole Position without leaving the track and/or crashing spectacularly into an advertising hoarding provides a similar exercise in futility.

Then again, if confronting the challenge of an arcade game in the '80s meant receiving considerable lengths of playing time in return for that measly 10p, well, perhaps Namco, Capcom, Konami, Sega et al wouldn't be around today to enjoy the profits of our frustrated labours. But Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary manages to cleverly transcend its own stringent tilt demands by offering the golden nugget of good fortune to arcade fans everywhere: Continues. Forget sacrificing a ride on The Waltzer, The Cyclone, or The Dodgems for another snatched 2 minutes of Galaxians...play on freely until the game is beaten and the high score conquered. It takes a special brand of restraint to refuse the mocking invitation offered when "Continue? 10...9...8...7..." flashes up immediately after your umpteenth pathetic failure.

Packed to the rafters with 14 magnificent games from the heyday of arcade history, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is an equal parts assault of entertaining variety and challenging frustration. For the most part, today's games gently walk you through carefully considered introduction, layered narrative, and evolving characters. By comparison, Namco's gathered classics throw you roughly in at the gaming deep end while demanding instant integration and superhuman reflex from the off - which is exactly how these games deprived us all of so much cash in the first place. Take heart though, because now is the time for gleeful revenge through continue after continue after continue.

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By Stevie Smith