IAAPA 2009 videos – Sega Racing Classic, Terminator Salvation, Tank! Tank! Tank!

Youtube just didn’t want to upload my videos this afternoon but after some persistence, I am finally getting them put up there. In total I have 20 videos to put up so I won’t be finishing it tonight but rest assured that as long as Youtube doesn’t suck tomorrow then I should get them all up by then. I apologize for some of the cracking in a few videos, that’s not something I noticed until I had already filmed most of these and some of it was due to the loud ambient noise.

First off, Sega Racing Classic. What I like: The cabinet and the sound. If you still are fine playing the original Daytona in arcades then this shouldn’t disappoint. What I don’t like: I heard that this is just running modified Daytona code under emulation and while the higher resolution is nice, the game still looks very aged. I’m in the boat that a majority of 3D games don’t age well and next to some sleek racer it’s going to show. It also stinks that they couldn’t add more tracks to the game. Anything else: Price. Sega wasn’t revealing what the price is other than to say it would not be priced at the same level as a normal racer. After some thought I can see why they are taking this route as opposed to giving us a brand new Daytona – look at how incredibly well these re-releases do on services like XBLA. Also older games like Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga are sold new by Namco and you could put this into the same category. Still, I think that a new Daytona (or Sega Racing Classic 2 as it will have to be) would do really well, judging by the response that SRC first received. Overall: Unless they are $2000 a cab (I won’t keep my hopes up) I would pass on this for my arcade. But I do not have a Daytona sitting in my location already; there also are a lot of choices for racers and I can’t say that I’m wanting to just get all the racers I could, so take that for what it’s worth.

Terminator Salvation. What I like: There was little to nitpick about this one, I liked everything about it. Graphically it fits right into the post-apocalyptic theme with just enough shine to look nice but not too much to hurt your retinas. There are a lot of robots to shoot and the game keeps the pace moving along steadily. The clip reloading feature is a nice touch that you get the hang of quickly and the force feedback is balanced well. The levels take a little bit of time to get through, which is also good in my book because there a couple of light-gun games I can think of where it seems like the levels blow by too fast. The cabinet has many details to it and the Terminator topper is just plain awesome. It plays just as well in single player as it does with two players although competing for your rank and score at the end of a mission can be fun. What I didn’t like: Not much really, the only thing I can think of is the secondary weapon button which launches your grenades. As your hand is over the clip most of the time, the grenade button can seem far away when you need it fast but where you have a 60 bullet clip, it’s usually not an issue(I suppose you could say that it’s part of the challenge balance).  Anything else: Where this is not the final build of the game they are bound to change a few things. It would be nice if there was another weapon power-up or two to add but honestly this game is on the right track to be a big hit as it’s a ton of fun and you don’t have to care about the movie at all to enjoy this. Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat. I played it multiple times and enjoyed it every time. People will gravitate towards it based on the license alone and beyond that it’s a solid game with replay value.

Tank! Tank! Tank! What I like: I could say that I like this simply because it’s not a racer but there’s much more to it than that. It was designed as a party battle game and it is simply fun, no matter which play mode you choose. A free-for-all or team battle is slightly more fun than the “quest” but I do wonder how it would hold up with just two units as opposed to four. The avatar feature can be hilarious if you play around with it; the force feedback is excellent and quite accurate as well. It’s being billed as having motion (there is even a motion shut off button) but it feels more like in-depth feedback since the motion base doesn’t move side to side (and I’m glad it doesn’t. These motion games where you are a car on a flat street and they tilt you sideways just don’t get it). Everything can be destroyed in the levels and as your enemies fall they will drop a number of power-ups to use. The only one I didn’t like after a while was the squirt gun as it’s more of a stun weapon to be used in team play than a frontal assault cannon. At the end of the day I suppose I’m more into the highly destructive stock than in the more strategic weapons.  What I didn’t like: Other than the squirt gun thing I can only think of something from a small operator perspective and that’s the price. Now I understand that this isn’t going to be a $5000 game or anything (especially since you get two units in one and you have the motion) and it’s actually a little cheaper than some of Namco’s other dual game offerings which in the past have come close to $20,000.  Anything else: I forgot to ask this question but I hope that this one stays arcade exclusive for a long, long time (or forever, like Tokyo Wars).    Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat as well. I also played this several times and I think I hogged my unit once or twice so I could stay on longer. Players will enjoy the sheer destruction that you can wreak throughout the game and with co-op and competitive modes it has covered the important bases.

That is all I am able to get to tonight but as promised, I will start uploading more videos tomorrow as soon as I can.

[Discuss on the Forums]