Namco Museum Megamix

*sigh*

Posted 2 years ago By - Jay Acevedo

You know what I hate about writing a review for a compilation title? Trying to find something positive to say when there’s clearly nothing great to mention. Like the Wii didn’t have enough compilation titles to offer as it is, Namco decided to take their entire 2007 Museum Mix pack (9 original games and five remixes), add an extra remixed game (Grobda) alongside the original versions of four of the the six “remixed” titles, dump five old games, slap the “Mega” prefix and call it good.

Okay, its not like the disc is filled with disappointments. There’s Pac-Mania, Dig-Dug II, the original Pac-Man and even obscure titles like King & Balloon and Bosconian, but as a whole, the simple thought of shedding money for games that we’ve seen countless times - either on the Wii or elsewhere - would make any gamer go blind. I don’t want to turn this review into an editorialized piece but when we have something called “Digital Download”, or in this case “Wii Shop”, why not save yourself printing costs and offer the games that no one has as downloadables? I mean, if someone already has Namco Museum Mix, they would basically pay $20 for five games. That’s $2.50 a game. Not too shabby at first sight but seriously, I have a hard time believing that this marketing contraption would actually lure in some victims...although I’ve been deceived more than once before.

I’ll give this to Namco: Releasing “Megamix” three years after “Remix” might sound like a service to the gamer who may have missed out on the first compilation and couldn’t find it anywhere else. But seriously, the whole package feels rushed and reeks of uninspired work. At least give me some background historic facts about the games or maybe some online leaderboards. Even interviews with the creators would be great. It does have the name “Museum” in the title, right? A little love wouldn’t have hurt. Oh, it’s not like I love them fondly to begin with, but the Mii feature from “Remix” was kind of cute. But here, they removed it completely. Not enough space on the disk?

Conclusion

Ultimately, neither the five remixes (mind you, there’s truly just one remix that we haven’t seen before) or the classic games managed to get me interested enough to warrant a recommendation. Still, I would be surprised if a Wii gamer out there would still find the will to spend money on it. I mean, how many versions of Dig Dug can someone can have? I pray the gods not to see Namco Museum UltraMix next year.