Midway Arcade Origins

Midway Arcade Origins Review | November 18, 2012
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Midway Arcade Origins is a collection of arcade titles that originally came in the 1980's. The games vary from single player to mutiplayer and there was a time when Midway owned the arcade world. We love these arcade collections when they are good, but when they are bad they are a giant waste of time and on that note let’s talk about the games offered in this collection. Classic arcade collections need two things to make them fun. First, they need to allow you to have unlimited continues so you to pick up right where you died. Second, they need to allow you to save your progress at any time, any place in the game even right before you fight the final boss. This game manages to screw up both.

There are over 30 games in Midway Arcade Origins but it's not enough to make this collection stand out. First there is not a single Mortal Kombat game in the entire collection. Mortal Kombat is what made Midway a power house for years. Second to many of the games are just not fun. Other classic arcade collections give you the ability to save right in the middle of games. Sega and Konami have put this in many of their classic titles increasing the replay value and making their games easy to pick up and play.

Spy Hunter II
Super Off Road
Super Sprint
Toobin'
Total Carnage
Tournament Cyberball 2072
Vindicators Part II
Wizard of Wor
Xenophobe
Xybots

    720°
    APB
    Arch Rivals
    Bubbles
    Championship Sprint
    Defender
    Defender II
    Gauntlet
    Gauntlet II
    Joust & Joust 2

    Marble Madness
    Pit-Fighter
    Rampage
    Rampart
    Robotron: 2084
    Root Beer Tapper
    Satan's Hollow
    Sinistar
    Smash TV
    Spy Hunter

It’s sad because there are some excellent games here like Spy Hunter, Joust, Defender, Super Off Road and Rampage. But, there is no real fun factor. Many gamers have grown up with these games but as adults now and don't always have hour after hour to keep playing because we can't save our progress. We also still can't get past the Mortal Kombat issue. Replay is low and once again not being able to save or in some cases not being able to continue holds Miday Arcade Origins back. Keep your price under the $15.00 mark. If you played these games as a kid then it is worth it just to remember how many quarters you spent in the first place.

6.0 out of 10
Clearance Bin

6.0 out of 10
Clearance Bin

Rated
T for
Teen

Rated
PEGI 16