The lights are on
What new ideas the game brings to the table and how well old ideas are presented.
How good a game looks, taking into account any flaws such as bad collision or pop-up.
Does the game’s music and sound effects get you involved or do they make you resolve to always play with the volume down?
Basically, the controller to human interface. The less you think about the hunk of plastic in your hands, the better the playability.
Flat out, just how fun the game is to play. The most important factor in rating a game.
In Data East Arcade Classics, Majesco and G1M2 have compiled several classic coin-op titles from the 80s and 90s originally created by now defunct Data East Corporation for quick hits of nostalgia. This arcade collection offers just over a dozen titles spanning a variety of genres from puzzle to action, and though fun at first, the excitement of playing these dated arcade games quickly wears thin.
While there are a handful of games worth playing, the collection is weak at best. Some of the more notable games involve addicting burger assembly in BurgerTime, saving the president from ninjas in Bad Dudes, and no-holds-barred basketball in Street Hoop. Some of the other games, particularly action titles such as Heavy Barrel and Crude Buster expose the quarter guzzling nature of coin-op machines by throwing an unfair amount of enemies on screen at once. In this case you can ask a friend to join in on the action and fight through the hordes of baddies to get through the end. Data East’s action titles take about 15 minutes on a quick run to complete. Even though they can be fun the first time around, there’s no real desire to go back for seconds, not even to unlock mediocre music soundtracks and other worthless gallery items. As far as the classic puzzle titles in the collection, with the exception of BurgerTime, the selection is pretty bland.
Data East Arcade Classics runs for about $20, which is within range of other arcade collections. The only issue here is because of the genre mixing and limited selection, there may only be one or two games that you truly love that may not be enough to warrant a purchase of the whole disk. Unless you’re a hardcore fan of BurgerTime, Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory or Bad Dudes, you’re better off saving your quarters.