Keeping in the tradition of compilation titles, Namco Museum DS offers a little something for everyone.
This time around, gamers are treated to eight individual games: Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug II, Xevious, The Tower of Druaga, Mappy, Galaxian, and Pac-Man Vs. As soon as the game loaded, I was immediately taken back to the days of playing on my grandmother's Intellivision during summer vacation. Instinctively, I went straight to Pac-Man first, and was greeted with a few new settings to change things up, the best of these settings being the "number of lives" option. While I may love Pac-Man, I'm absolutely terrible at it, so being able to change my number of lives from three to five was a true blessing. Other settings include changing the point level at which you receive an extra life, and more technical aspects like changing the screen position and layout from horizontal to vertical.
Aside from these superficial changes, the gameplay has not been touched, a fact that is in itself both a negative and a positive. On the positive side of things, Pac-Man and Galaga are still as fun as I remember them being so many years ago, with fast action and addictive gameplay, but on the negative side, Dig Dug II still comes up short in terms of fun.
That being said, the graphics can't be expected to impress. Apart from the menus, which are placed on the touch screen, the graphics are as you would have seen in previous versions of the games. The menus, however, are very streamlined and easy to navigate, which helps give the game a real "pick up and play" aspect that makes it great for quick bouts between classes or whenever you might have a few minutes to kill.
Likewise, the music and sound effects are exactly what you expect them to be – basic. And while you can play with the sound down easy enough, I actually found myself playing at 100%, especially on Pac-Man, enjoying the sounds that can take me back.
One of the main aspects of the game that sets it apart from past installments is the multiplayer feature. Up to four people can play wirelessly in Pac-Man Vs, which is great for those who have wanted a multiplayer game without spending the average $34.99 price tag for a DS game. Even better is the fact that you have a choice between multi-card play and demo-ing the game off of a single card.
In terms of other extras, the cartridge tracks your high score on each game, and there is also a fun music box feature that allows you to listen to the music and sound effects from each of the games. While this may be considered filler material by most, it is a nice touch.
In the end, compilations will continue to be one of the hardest things to review, and this game changes nothing about that fact. With eight games, there is bound to be something here that everyone can enjoy, but in that same respect, if someone only likes one of the eight, the game's price might seem too steep, even if it is only twenty bucks. However, if you're a newbie to the video game world and want to see how most games began, this is definitely a good place to start.
Review part of GrrlGamer.com. Full review and screenshots at: http://grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=namcomuseumds