Page 34 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #6

Thanks to the ongoing popularity of retrogaming, upgraded remakes of classic games continue to flourish on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and
other current consoles. The good folks at Hasbro Interactive (and to a lesser extent, Namco, Activision and other companies) continue transmog-
rifying skill-based “twitch” games from the early 1980s into multi-level adventure quests for the new millennium. While the results have not always
been successful, they rarely fail to be interesting. As a fan of both old school and modern gaming, I thought it would be intriguing to pit 10 of the
best classic games head-to-head against their updated counterparts.
OUND 1
R R ROUND 1
OUND 1
Galaga (Arcade) vs. Galaga: Destination Earth
(PlayStation)

A decidedly egregious example of how not to mod-
ernize an arcade classic, Destination EARTH is pure
dreck. The majority of the game is a poorly executed,
behind-the-ship perspective shooter in which enemies
are hard to distinguish from background objects, and
gameplay is about as intense as an NBA game be-
tween the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Golden State
Warriors. The greatness of Galaga, with its emphasis
on timing and well-placed shots, is almost completely
lost amid the cluttered 3D, mission-based nonsense.
Stick with Galaga ’90 for the Turbografx 16 if you want
an updated rendition of Galaga that stays true to its
roots.

Classic: A+ Modern: D-

R R ROUND 2
OUND 2
OUND 2
Q*Bert
Q*Bert (Arcade) vs. (PlayStation)

Q*bert is a textbook example of how to properly rec-
reate classic arcade magic on a modern console. The
developers managed to keep the fun of the original
game intact while expanding on the simple premise.
Controls, which work surprisingly well on the PSX dual
analog controller, remain the same, as does the con-
cept of hopping on blocks to change their colors. How-
ever, the adventure mode gets Q*bert out of his pyra-
mid confines and sends him hopping on gothic castles,
foreign villas and other exotic locations. Secrets and
strategically placed power-ups enhance the action with-
out bogging down gameplay. And if that isn’t enough to
quench your thirst for retrogaming, the disc includes a
crisply reproduced classic mode and a nifty head-to-
head mode.

Classic: B+ Modern: A

Classic Gamer Magazine Spring 2001 34