Midway Arcade Treasures 2

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 offers 20 games for as many dollars.

Raiding the arcade vault for a second time, Midway has compiled an eclectic mix of 20 games that span almost every genre. But the choices are hit and miss as some of the titles remain strong today, while others haven't aged...well, at all.

"Rage!"

The highlight of the collection is the two Mortal Kombats--II and 3--which benefit from perfect arcade translations, right down to the A.I. cheapness that was necessary for arcade games to thrive. For quarter-crunching (or continue-crunching) mayhem, Total Carnage is as mindless as one can get: shoot enemies, save babes, and grab cash--all done against a Gulf War-esque backdrop.

For sports, you can see the influence that Arch Rivals would later have on NBA Jam and its successors, and APB remains fun despite its very un-p.c. suspect-beating sessions. Rounding out the strong titles is Gauntlet II--one of the best four-player time wasters ever created. Each game has a host of supplementary materials--press sheets, designer biographies, release dates, and more--that should undoubtedly appeal to any one interested in video-game history.

"Wizard Is About to Die..."

Not all of the games have aged particularly well. Pit Fighter, Kozmik Kroozr', and Primal Rage are almost unplayable, and the obnoxious taunts of Wizard of Wor will send you scrambling for the mute button.

Of the three versions, the Xbox one has a slight edge with the cleanest graphics, but the PlayStation 2 one benefits from slightly tighter controls than in the other two. The button scheme on the GameCube controller doesn't work well with the Mortal Kombat titles. The compilation is absolutely worth the green for fighting-game fans and video-game historians...and the $20 price is hard to beat.

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