Collection Review: Namco Museum Battle Collection

Game: Namco Museum Battle Collection
Console: Sony Playstation Portable
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 9th December 2005

As yet I haven't reviewed any Namco arcade games in my arcade reviews, despite them being a major force in the arcades. To remedy this, here's a collection of 16 Namco arcade greats, with a few updated versions included. I'll be going through the games one by one and giving them a rating and grade before reflecting on the collection as a whole.

Pac-man

Game: Pac-man
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1980

Pac-man is one of the, if not the most recognisible video game characters ever created. At the time it was released, Pac-man was one of the most inventive and interesting arcade games on the market, and since its release there have been many clones, inferior versions and imitators. It's not a game I've ever been particularly keen to finish (there are 255 levels after all) and after a while it can get a little repetitive, but there's no denying its effect on the video game market as a whole.

The version included on this collection controls very nicely, and everything seems to be very much like the original arcade game. A nice additional touch is the option to continue from the last level you got to, and settings to increase the number of lives given at the start of the game. Overall if you're looking to play Pac-man this isn't a bad way to do it, but it's never anything more than a yellow dude being chased around a maze.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C

Galaxian

Game: Galaxian
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1979

There were many games derived from the concept of Space Invaders, after its release but few of them were of the quality of Galaxian. Adding a twist where ships broke from the main formation to attack the player directly brought far more movement and strategy to the game, and without any bases to hide behind players were forced to dodge attacks and enemy ships whilst reducing the number of enemies onscreen.

Other than that though, the two games are pretty much the same; once all the enemies have been shot off the screen, the main formation is refreshed and play starts again. Just like Pac-man though there's not enough variation between levels to keep players interested for very long. It's a good idea but overall a very average space themed shooter game.

Rating: 66/100
Grade: C

King And Balloon

Game: King and Balloon
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1981

After success with Galaxian, I assume Namco were asking themselves how they could make another game that was as good. It would appear that they chose to make the same game, essentially, replacing the enemy ships with balloons, and adding a king that needs to be protected from abduction by the aforementioned balloons. Players aren't penalised for being hit with enemy fire by a balloon, but will lose a life if the King ends up drifting to the top of screen attached to a balloon.

King and Balloon plays very similarly to Galaxian and while there are slight differences between the two games, they're not enough to distinguish it as a separate entity in my mind. If anything King and Balloon is slightly more frustrating to play thanks to the game mechanics involved with protecting something other than your own ship.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Galaga

Game: Galaga
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1981

Another Space Invaders-esque game, Galaga takes Galaxian to its obvious conclusion; groups of enemies swarm in on-screen and add themselves to the group of invaders once they've shot at players a little. This is by far the most exciting and active version of this type of game, and provides more challenge than both the original Space Invaders and Galaxian.

With its bright colours and a nice explosion effect when players are hit by enemy fire or ships, Galaga is visually impressive for its time. Soundwise things are still rather basic, but that's to be expected for an arcade game released in 1981. One of the best changes is the addition of a challenging level which tasks players with shooting all 40 enemy ships in a bonus round for extra points.

Rating: 79/100
Grade: B

Rally-X

Game: Rally-X
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1980

Much like a motorised version of Pac-man, Rally-X sees players driving their car around a maze in order to collect items (flags in this case). Unlike Pac-man though, players must navigate through the maze themselves, with the aid of a map, and there are no power pills to help them overcome the cars chasing them. The controls are fairly difficult to master and getting your car to go where you want and pick up all the flags is a challenge in itself without considering the pursuing cars. Players are able to leave a smoke screen behind to confuse the enemy cars, but it's hardly ever an effective tactic.

Graphically the game is fairly bland with a Beige and Green colour scheme for its maze and simple blue/red cars for the player and enemies. Soundwise there's a little jingle for completing a level, but other than that it's pretty unimpressive. Interestingly Rally-X features as the load screen game for one of Namco's later games, so I'd played it before a little.

Rating: 46/100
Grade: D

New Rally-X

Game: New Rally-X
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1981

New Rally-X is much like Rally-X; there are some new features but essentially it's the same game. The colours change a little from level to level, and there's some challenging stages as in Galaga, inbetween the main levels. The controls are just as fiddly as before, and really there's no difference in the horrible handling of the game.

Rating: 47/100
Grade: D

Bosconian

Game: Bosconian
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1981

Bosconian is an interesting space shooter where players fly freely around space, attempting to destroy the green bases shown across the map by either shooting all 6 of their circular protrusions or their weak point in the center. In addition to these enemies, there are regular enemies and co-ordinated attacks from ships which are sent to interrupt player progress. Once all of the green bases are destroyed, the game moves onto the next round.

Interestingly there are synthesised voice samples which warn players of attacks and imminent time limit expiration, but they're very low quality, owing to the age of the game and aren't of much help to players. As ships shoot both in front and behind the direction they are facing, it's difficult to get used to shooting enemy bases in Bosconian, and on the whole it's pretty underwhelming, though a good original idea for a space shooter.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Dig Dug

Game: Dig Dug
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1982

Dig Dug is an interesting arcade game based on digging to drop stones onto or inflate enemies before they can move through the earth and catch you, or escape without allowing you to score any points from them. The game is fairly fun but a little easy if you're not looking to score the maximum amount of points possible, since dropping stones on enemies scores more points than inflating them, or letting them escape. Whichever way you choose to finish enemies off, the round ends when there are none left onscreen.

The characters and visuals are cute and contribute to the feel of the game, with colourful backgrounds which change every couple of levels. As Dig Dug moves across the screen, some music plays which is impressive for 1982, even if it does stop and start suddenly with the character's movements. On the whole it's an interestingly different take on arcade games for the time as space shooters were the norm.

Rating: 65/100
Grade: C

Dig Dug II

Game: Dig Dug II
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1985

Dig Dug II takes place above ground, in more of a ToeJam and Earl looking environment. where players effectively play the same game as in Dig Dug, but without any digging or rocks falling on enemies. This simplification of the game actually improves the experience, as there's no messing around with trying to score the maximum amount of points by digging the entire cave out before dropping a rock on every enemy. Perhaps though, the game could have used some new powerups of some sort to spice things up.

The sound and graphics aren't as appealing as the original game, and this makes the overall experience less memorable. Of the two games, it's a toss up between nostalgia, characters and visuals and gameplay and level progression. Personally I preferred playing Dig Dug II as it took far longer for me to get bored. I think perhaps if there had been a Dig Dug III marrying all of the best elements of both games, then that'd be the perfect version of this type of game.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Xevious

Game: Xevious
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1982

A fairly straight forward shoot 'em up, Xevious plays very well for the era it was released, and indeed even today. Players have bullets for shooting enemy ships and bombs to shoot enemy bases, but there are some obstacles in the game which neither are effective against and so must be dodged. The continue feature on the collection is handy as there are some difficult moments where players must defend themselves from air and ground attacks whilst dodging obstacles.

Graphically the game is well detailed, though its use of grey can be somewhat excessive when all obstacles, enemies and the player's ship are onscreen and all coloured grey. There's some nice music both on the title screen and behind gameplay, though it's not particularly complex. Overall this is a shoot 'em up ahead of its time, which could easily have been (and was) expanded upon to make a true classic.

Rating: 78/100
Grade: B

Mappy

Game: Mappy
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1983

Players control Mappy, a micro policeman mouse who is retrieving presumably stolen goods from the house of a criminal cat. The lines of defence for the cat are 5 small pink mice and the big red cat himself. Players use trampolines to boost themselves up onto higher levels and collect items. There are also doors which can be opened to stun the chasing mice, allowing Mappy to put some distance between them and himself.

With bright colours, interesting items to retrieve, 15 levels, and multiple house layouts, Mappy is far less likely to get boring than other Namco titles. While the concept is simple it's a pretty fun title, and the fact that Mappy can't be harmed whilst bouncing on a trampoline makes for some interesting strategy descisions in complex house layouts. Overall for 1983 it's a nice little arcade title, and something that I'm glad to own on Famicom.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

The Tower of Druaga

Game: The Tower Of Druaga
Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1984

Another maze style game, The Tower Of Druaga sees players controlling a Knight around a complex network of passageways in order to find a key and the a door, to let themselves down onto a lower level of the dungeon. Armed with a trusty sword, players are able to stab anything that gets in their way, but it's not always effective, so its usually best to mash the buttons a little for more complex enemies, like a bit of a swordfight.

While there's not much else to this game, and the graphics are pretty boring, the music is top notch and saves the experience from being simply average. With a good run of luck, players can make it down quite a few floors before being thwarted by enemies. It can be slightly frustrating to go down a long pathway only to find that it's a dead end, but I suppose such is the nature of mazes.

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Dragon Buster

Game: Dragon Buster

Console: Arcade

Developer: Namco

Release Date: 1984

An early hack n' slash arcade title, Dragon Buster lets players quest through short dungeons with various nasties and mini bosses, accumulating fireballs, spells and other powerups in order to defeat the big dragon at the end of each level. As the rounds continue, there are more and more locations and dungeons to go through, and things get tougher since players only have one life bar and no continues. 

While the hit detection can be a little iffy, generally the controls and features of the game are pretty tight. Graphically the game features more detail than many arcade games of the time, and the progression through the game, and battle system are well ahead of their time. With good music and some intense boss battles, Dragon Buster is reminiscent of Golden Axe and similar games which came later. 

Rating: 76/100

Grade: B

Grobda

Game: Grobda

Console: Arcade

Developer: Namco

Release Date: 1984

Grobda is a fairly difficult tank shooter deathmatch where players compete with a number of other vehicles to be the last man standing. With a laser shot and a shield, competitors must strategize their movements around the play area to best defend themselves and give opportunities for attack. Often rounds are fast paced and there's little time to react as lasers fly everywhere, but with 99 rounds of increasing difficulty it'd be very hard to complete fully. Luckily there's a level select on the menu in this collection version.

Graphically there's not much to look at; there's a different background every 5 rounds or so and a few different enemy vehicles but the gameplay is the main draw of the game. There's some nice musical accompaniment to gameplay but unfortunately very little time to actually enjoy it with the short and frantic battling that tends to occur. Ultimately it might have been a little more fun to have less damage done by each hit, resulting in more strategy an a slower overall game pace, but Grobda is fun nonetheless.

Rating: 71/100

Grade: C

Motos

Game: Motos

Console: Arcade

Developer: Namco

Release Date: 1985

Yet another fairly unique arcade concept from Namco, Motos is best described as "that game where you try to push other people off stuff". Players control a small ship which can be powered up by collecting force or jump powerups, and attempt to force all enemy shapes off the playing grid. Different enemies will react differently; some are active in trying to force players off and others are far more passive; opting instead to circle the player in the hopes that they'll confuse themselves. 

This is certainly one of the more enjoyable games on the collection, and there's good replay value as the levels increase in difficulty and different strategies are applied. While the chequered grid isn't much to look at, there's some nice music which accompanies gameplay, and I was all too busy trying to force my enemies out of bounds to notice any graphical shortcomings.

Rating: 78/100

Grade: B

Rolling Thunder

Game: Rolling Thunder

Console: Arcade
Developer: Namco

Release Date: 1986

Rolling Thunder is a classic Run and Gun game where players attempt to make their way through an enemy base, populated by maskers who are all different colours, representing the way in which they attack, and the amount of hits they can take. Initially players only have a standard issue pistol with which to defend themselves, for which more ammo can be obtained from behind marked doors. With an upper and lower path to choose from and swap between on most bits of each level players can also strategise their movements. 

While playing, more enemies are likely to come out of the doors placed along the route, so it takes a little getting used to not standing right in front of doors initially, as contact with an enemy will drain the life bar by half, and getting shot will drain it fully, leaving very little room for error. In later levels players can aquire different guns, and switching between upper and lower levels becomes more important. 

While it may seem very simple in concept, with just one button to shoot and another to jump in addition to basic movement, the game is far easier to pick up this way, and the difficulty and challenge level can be raised far faster as there's not much to get one's head around. Graphically the game looks pretty great for the era, and there's some nice music to accompany play.

Overall Rolling Thunder is my favourite inclusion on this collection, and a great arcade game. It can get a little difficult after a while, but with enough practice any level and challenge can be overcome. There was a sequel to Rolling Thunder which was also pretty good, and versions of the two games have been released on the NES and Mega Drive respectively.

Rating: 88/100
Grade: A

In addition to all of the above arcade games, Namco Museum Battle Collection features updated arrange versions of Pac-man, Rally-X, Dig Dug and Galaga. These vary in quality from simple graphical updates for Rally-X and Dig Dug to better, more fleshed out games for Pac-man and Galaga. They're a nice addition to the collection even if they're essentially the same thing as their arcade counterparts. 

As there's no other goodies included on the collection, all that remains is to say that the overall user interface is pretty good, and easy to navigate at the option to continue on most if not all of the games is appreciated, since arcade versions of some of these games tend to be a little harder than their console counterparts.

The range and variety of games included is pretty good, even if a couple felt like they were thrown into the mix to bulk up the number of games included. All in all it's an interesting trek through Namco's Arcade history and a good counterpart to the Capcom, Taito, Midway and SNK collections all released around this time also. 

Collection Rating: 74/100

Collection Grade: B

Amstrad CPC Double Header: Killer Gorilla and Chuckie Egg

Game: Killer Gorilla
Console: Amstrad CPC 464
Developer: Micropower
Release Date: 1984

Looking at the title of Killer Gorilla, I did wonder for a moment whether it might be even slightly similar to Donkey Kong. After all, with its year of release and the shameless copying that went on back in the 80s on home computer style games consoles, I wouldn't be surprised. As soon as the first screen loaded, I knew that I was correct, and that I'd be judging them game solely on how well it played compared to Donkey Kong. After all it's almost a complete port of the game, with extremely similar levels and concepts.

There's good control and on the whole it's very playable compared to some other CPC titles. The main character jumps very similarly to Jumpman in the original game and this helps with precision control whilst navigating through levels. I play my CPC games with a Master System controller if possible, so that may have helped also, but it's way easier than using the keyboard.

Graphically the game is slightly more basic than Donkey Kong on the NES or in arcades, but that's to be expected. It still bears visual similarities to the original and the simplicity of the game as a whole makes it easy to progress, but some of this is due to the fact that they've clearly copied an already successful video game. The music is far less enjoyable than what's featured in the original DK, but the soundchip of the CPC is far inferior to the NES it seems.

Overall for a port/clone game Killer Gorilla is pretty nice; it plays about as well as Donkey Kong and features the same sort of levels, I gave Donkey Kong on the NES a 30.7/100, so it's only fair that this game receive a slightly lower score, but it's almost as good. 

Rating: 30/100

Grade: E

Game: Chuckie Egg

Console: Amstrad CPC 464

Developer: A'n'F

Release Date: 1985

Chuckie Egg is a fairly simple platformer, conceptually. Players control a little man (presumably the title character) who runs, climbs ladders and jumps around collecting eggs from platforms whilst avoiding blue hens of some sort. There's a large yellow duck which is caged in the top left corner of the screen until players reach level 9 which is the same as level 1, only now they're pursued by the duck instead of having to avoid hens. If players can make it through all 8 levels again, they'll be greeted with playing against the hens and the duck, and these increases in difficulty continue up to level 40 which technically is the last unique level in the game. 

Things can become fairly tricky around level 5 or 6, but the game is generally great fun. Although some versions were released without "realistic physics", the Amstrad CPC version was lucky enough to have been programmed with these, meaning that the control is spot on, and gameplay is fun and addictive. This is one of the best 8-bit games I've ever picked up, controlwise and thanks to most 8-bit games being somewhat lacking in the graphics department, good control goes a long way towards making a classic 8-bit title. 

Graphically the game is simple, like most CPC titles, and the colours are lurid and very much typical of the era. There's not much in the way of music, save for a tune which plays once a life is lost, but the walking and jumping sound effects are classic arcade style and make up for the lack of other sounds nicely. 

With up to 4 player support (turn taking, of course), Chuckie Egg is a game that I'd actually consider showing friends in the modern day, as there's skill, strategy and timing elements and getting further into the game is fun and addictive, to the point where I played it for far longer than most CPC games get when they're reviewed. 

Rating: 71/100

Grade: C

Game Review: Kazook

Game: Kazook
Console: Sony Playstation Portable
Developer: Monte Cristo Multimedia
Release Date: 20th October 2006

I like minigame games. Done right they can be a lot of fun, and provide a great amount of variety and replayability. Kazook cost me £1 from a trade in store, so I wasn't expecting too much from it, especially with visuals like those displayed above. Amazingly the game still managed to disappoint me, even with the lowest of expectations.

Single player mode has three types of gameplay; Practice, Regular and Party Mode, which is locked until all minigames are unlocked. That's right, of the 30 minigames featured in the game, only 5 can be played at the start, the others require 10,000 in game dollars to be earned each. Players earn 100 dollars for beating a minigame, and 1000 for each place they reach on the high score table, from 10th. Unfortunately all of the high scores for every minigame are so high that 8th or 9th is probably the only position achieveable.

Since I was only able to access a few of the game's minigames I can talk in detail about how poorly designed and executed they were. The first game I attempted is pictured above; a pong-esque air hockey game which has hit detection and physics that can be summarised as "the worst I've seen on PSP ever". The ball goes straight through the 'paddle' a lot of the time, it's hard to make things happen in the way that you want them to, and the opponent doesn't really have much of a clue either.

Other games include an alien abduction game which plays very poorly and doesn't allow players enough time to abduct, a boring zombie shooting game which could very well have been a free flash game online at some point, and a game based on hitting baseballs at males who are attending a pool party. It's pretty safe to say that I wasn't missing much by only having unlocked a few of the games available.

Graphically the game looks like an awful mix of assets from other projects and generally themed items. The PSP can do much better than this in terms of graphics, and players deserve better. Soundwise there are very short music loops to accompany each minigame as well as silly supposedly humourous voice bites such as "Son of a B!" and similar almost expletives.

Overall Kazook is just another lazy minigame title, attempting to enter the genre based on their quantity of minigames rather than their quality. Added to the fact the unlocking and progression system doesn't gives players any incentive to continue with the game, and this is a PSP title that you can fully experience in well under half an hour.

Rating: 20/100
Grade: F

Game Review: Zoombinis

Game: Zoombinis
Console: PC
Developer: TERC
Release Date: October 28th 2015

It's not often I review a game that was released less than a month ago, but this is a special case; The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis was released in 1996, and first played by me in 2000 or so. It's an educational video game which challenges players to solve various logic puzzles in order to guide small blue creatures (called Zoombinis) through from Zoombini Isle where they are oppressed, to Zoombiniville, which is a paradise.

There are 12 puzzles in all, 9 of which players will encounter in any given run. From Zoombini Isle, players set off with a party of 16 Zoombinis, and play 3 logic games, any one of which can result in the loss of Zoombinis from their party. After the 3 games, there's a campsite where Zoombinis can be stored. A party of 16 is required to continue from here, either north or south, with 2 different sets of 3 challenges, which lead to another campsite. The final leg of the journey involves 3 more logic puzzles, after which any remaining Zoombinis enter Zoombiniville.

At Zoombini Isle, players either choose the features of, or randomly generate 16 unique Zoombinis. The importance of them being unique within the party is that many of the logic puzzles rely on sorting them by their different features; there are 5 features to set, with 4 options for each feature. When the game begins there are 400 Zoombinis on Zoombini Isle and 0 in Zoombiniville, the goal of the game is to guide the entire population to Zoombiniville. Any Zoombinis who don't make it through a puzzle go back to the last campsite and are stored there for addition to later parties that are short of members.

The logic puzzles themselves are what made the game memorable, and even 15 years after initially playing the game, I was well aware of most, if not all of them before even playing. The ones that stick out the most are Pizza Party where players attempt to appease 3 hungry pizza trolls in a Mastermind-esque game based on toppings and who likes what, Mirror Machine where players must create an exact likeness of each of their party through a mirror with various filters which change features inbetween, and Bubblewonder Abyss which is a mazelike puzzle with traps, requiring players to send their Zoombinis in the correct order to ensure they all get through.

While the game is fun and very interesting for an educational game, there are a few issues with this updated version that can be frustrating. On a few of the games, it can become almost impossible to select your Zoombinis, making it necessary to leave some behind even if there's still attempts left at the logic puzzle, and at times the sounds of the Zoombinis can become overwhelming as they all begin to make noise at once.

Graphically the team have done a great job updating the original game into a high definition and modern version; the colours, backdrops and overall clarity have been greatly improved. Soundwise many of the original tracks and clips from the game have been used. While this is great for the nostalgia factor and reliving memories of the game, it's noticeable that these are old midi and wav files from how they cut off fairly suddenly, and other clues.

Overall Zoombinis was a lot of fun to come back to; not all of the puzzles are as enjoyable as I remember, but there's a general level of quality. I'd definitely recommend picking this up on Steam if you remember playing the original game, there's some great sound effects and narration that'll take you right back to being young. If you've never played Zoombinis though, there's not much point in starting unless you've got kids that you want to train to be logical geniuses. For one of my favourite PC games as a kid, this really hit the nostalgia spot.

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure

Game: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 10th July 2012

Without a good Sonic the Hedgehog game since Sonic Colours and maybe Generations, I find myself wishing for a new Sega IP that allows the company to move on somewhat from its past successes. Rhythm Thief could have been the series which fulfilled this for me, with hints of Professor Layton and rhythm games mixed together against a stylish Parisian backdrop, on the face of things the game sounds pretty enjoyable.

In terms of plot there's a fairly convoluted story about Raphael, the main character who moonlights as his alter ego Phantom R, attempting to trace his father by replacing fake artwork with the genuine copies, stolen by his father who had substituted the fakes years earlier. Raphael ends up getting involved with someone purporting to be Napoleon Bonaparte who is seeking various treasures to complete a crown and take control of Paris. From what I understood it wasn't the worst story ever, but there are some confusing bits and a fair few characters to keep up with.

Gameplay takes place in two phases; the first is a Layton-esque investigation and travelling phase where players go from place to place around Paris in order to find the next story minigame, or side quest minigame. Once a rhythm minigame has been found, players attempt to complete it without depleting their groove meter and are given a grade upon completion of each game. There are quite a few different minigames featured, but many repeat stylistically or are even just a more difficult version of a previously seen game.

I usually attempt to complete all of a game before reviewing it, but due to a single minigame featured around 3 quarters of the way through, I gave up on Rhythm Thief. It involves tilting the system to target enemies, and unlike most of the games featured up until that point it was incredibly unresponsive and difficult to complete. After around 10 attempts I decided that being a game with a young-ish target audience, this was an inappropriate level of difficulty for a regular minigame.

Other than the rhythm minigames, players can attempt to collect coins whilst travelling around the city which can be exchanged in order to make minigames easier (not that it helped for the one described above). There's also a store at which various items can be purchased, and various other item collecting quests in a similar vein to the Professor Layton series with a Master Instrument to construct and a musical score to collect pieces of.

Graphically the game is in a visually pleasing anime style, with a lovely recreation of the French capital city and its features. The characters are well designed and recognisible, and minigames are usually intuitive when first presented to players. The soundtrack is very impressive with jazz overtones and many memorable moments, which is what you might expect from a rhythm game of this calibre.

Overall Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure is an interesting adventure/rhythm game with many similarities to titles in the Professor Layton series of games. In truth it features more adventuring, collecting and mystery solving than actual rhythm gaming which is a shame in my opinion. Added to the fact that many of the rhythm games are samey, and there's not as much of a sense of precision as the Rhythm Heaven games, the game could have been more enjoyable as a whole.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C

Collection Review: Capcom Puzzle World

Game: Capcom Puzzle World

Console: Sony Playstation Portable

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 6th February 2007

Capcom Puzzle World is a collection of 5 puzzle games made by Capcom, released previously for consoles and arcades and collected together for the PSP. 5 games may not seem like many to collect together, especially considering Capcom's PS2 arcade collections but they pair together well to offer some enjoyable gaming experiences which weren't previously available together. I'll take a look at each game separately and then gather my thoughts on the collection as a whole. 

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Probably the best known of the puzzle games on this collection, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo appeared on the Playstation and Sega Saturn originally as well as in arcades. Players battle one on one as one of eight characters through a gem matching puzzle game with Street Fighter twists. There are three types of gameplay featured in the game; X, Y and Z, similar to the -isms in some street fighter games. In type X players place double gem blocks in an attempt to make squares of the same colour which will turn into a super gem, and can be removed with a crash gem. Although any number of blocks can be removed with a crash gem, removal of a super gem sends gems onto your opponent's side and contributes towards their game ending.

In type Y players place double gem block in an attempt to make three of the same colour in a row, column or horizontally. Combos send gems onto your opponent's screen and really this mode is more like a 2 block version of Columns. In type Z players rotate a square of blocks in order to match gems in a similar way to type X. In the mode however, gems are raised up from the floor, a little like Pokemon Puzzle League.

Overall there's some fun to be had with both the puzzling featured in the game and the Street Fighter theme. While it's not strictly necessary, it's at least a point of interest and makes battling different opponents much more fulfilling than simple level progressions in similar games. The controls of the game are simple and work well, and all 3 modes are pretty easy to pick up. Graphically SPFII Turbo is very similar to Columns, save for the Street Fighter characters in the middle of the screen. The game music is a little more forgettable than most of the series tunes, but it's not a big issue.

Rating: 7.5/10

The next game would be Block Block, but I've covered it before in a Capcom Arcade collection, so I'll summarise by saying that it's a breakout clone which isn't particularly impressive or inventive.

Rating: 4.5/10

Buster Bros

Buster Bros is an interesting game, though I wouldn't personally have filed it in the puzzle genre, but rather as an arcade action game. Players roam the bottom of the screen (unless there are ladders) and attempt to pop large bubbles down into smaller bubbles and eventually into non existence. With each new level there are obstacles for the bubbles to bounce off, locations featured in the background and different weapons and upgrades to help players get through.

While the core gameplay is fairly simple and doesn't take much getting used to, there's a pretty wide array of upgrades available to players including the ability to shoot more than one tether at a time, making a solid tether which pops the next bubble to touch it, a gun to shoot bubbles with, dynamite to blow everything to smaller bubbles, a freeze clock, invincibility, more time on the overall clock and presumably more.

Graphically the game looks nice and colourful, especially the locations featured behind the actual gameplay. While there's not much in terms of technical prowess, it's evocative of its release era and good for nostalgic play. Musically the game excels with some great themes behind gameplay, on the continue? screens and elsewhere. The soundtrack enhances the overall experience and gives the game a light hearted feel.

Overall it's probably not the type of game that players will want to complete all the way, since stages will end up getting repetitive after a while, but there's a good amount of power-ups and level layouts to keep things as interesting as possible, and once the controls and general concept has been mastered, it's worth spending some time with Buster Bros.

Rating: 8/10

Super Buster Bros

Having just reviewed Buster Bros, it seems a little redundant to go through the entire game concept again, or even to change my review any for the Super version. It's like a level expansion pack with some clever bits, another world tour mode and perhaps the best feature; Panic Mode which allows players to play on a single screen with more and more bubbles until they are hit by one and lose a life. Other than this it's pretty much the same game as Buster Bros, so if you liked that you'll like this.

Rating: 8.1/10

Buster Buddies

The third game in the series however is well worth talking about as it adds all the features you might expect from a true sequel to Buster Bros. There's more characters to choose from, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, more power-ups than in the first game, and a more coherent plot involving gathering art, which is displayed behind each level. 

While the gameplay is much the same, it's interesting to explore how each level plays with the four characters provided. Especially fun is the 2-way 45 degree shot of the thief character, as it makes dodging multiple bubbles far easier. As for the levels themselves, they're about the same level of inventiveness of both the other games.

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Capcom Puzzle World features some interesting games; Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a competent and well rounded Columns-esque game, with multiple modes and features. Block Block is a fairly poor Breakout clone and the Buster Bros. series is fun if a little repetitive after 3 full instalments. It's a shame that there are only 5 games included, especially as there's very little else of note, save for some artwork that can be accessed in the extras menu. Because of this, the collection's only really worth getting if you truly want to play one or more of the games included.

Rating: 63/100

Grade: C

Game Review: Cruis'n

Game: Cruis'n
Console: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Just Games Interactive
Release Date: 27th November 2007

Over the years of writing my review blog, I've not been particularly kind to Midway. From crappy arcade games to buying Atari and Williams Entertainment's intellectual properties and making awful updated versions of classic games, Midway have never seemed too concerned with the quality of the games they release. Cruis'n is no exception to this; the final instalment in the Cruis'n series which had started off fairly well in 1996 with Cruis'n USA.

Cruis'n for Wii started life as The Fast and The Furious, an arcade game which Midway had no part in creating. The company planned to bring The Fast and The Furious arcade game to consoles, but lost the license to the franchise part way through development and decided to convert it to a Cruis'n title instead of putting any real effort into making a new entry in the series. Considering the original arcade game was released in 2004, and no real effort was made to update the graphics, save for changing any reference to The Fast and The Furious, it's clear that the entire game was typical of Midway's lack of effort and care.

Players race through tracks based on 12 real world locations, all in the USA and presumably featured in The Fast and The Furious movies. None of the tracks are particularly well designed, with breakable obstacles all over the place and many jumps which impact player control negatively. Most of the tracks feel very narrow in width, and can cause difficulty in keeping the car pointing straight forwards.

There are two types of control that can be used in the game; Motion Control where the Wiimote can be tilted in order to steer, and D-pad Control where the d-pad is used to steer. Motion Control is incredibly frustrating and very difficult to use precisely. D-pad control is better, but the game's handling still isn't particularly impressive. Often players will find themselves scraping against walls, buildings or whatever is at the edge of the track, slowing them down.

The AI featured in the game is probably it's worst feature; rubberbanding is taken to a new level as poor performances from players don't necessarily bar them from winning races. On several occasions, I performed far worse in races that I'd completed quickly than ones that I had been 15 seconds slower in. Thanks to this, it's essentially random luck as to whether players win races, and mostly down to whether they crash in the last 20 seconds or so of racing.

With only 2 modes featured in the game, there's very little for players to do, and even less when they realise that they're essentially the same. Both Arcade and Challenge modes see players attempting to finish 3rd or better in order to upgrade their car and continue with the race series. The only difference between the two modes seems to be that Challenge mode allows new tracks to be unlocked whereas arcade mode takes place on tracks already unlocked.

Graphically the game was outdated at the time of its release thanks to firstly being a port of a 2 year old arcade game, and secondly being on the Wii rather than an HD console. The cars, whilst licensed look very little like their real life counterparts, and when coupled with the motion captured visuals of some of the bikini clad girls at the start of races make the whole presentation seem pretty ridiculous. Soundwise there's very little of note, and the audio is just as half hearted as the rest of the game.

Overall Cruis'n is representative of not only what's wrong with many motion controlled racing games on the Wii, but also issues with much of Midway's output and their low effort attempts to revive classic franchises without giving them the proper respect they deserve. Easily forgettable, and with very little replayability it's not a game that anyone would want to play for more than an evening, or even complete.

Rating: 46/100
Grade: D