Unfortunately, the gigantic, vibrating mounted machine guns are not included.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/24038
You might not remember Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns individually, but you probably do remember the ridiculous arcade cabinets that contained them. The screen was inset, and one or two players could hold on (for dear life) to a big plastic machinegun. This mounted unit, secured by a ball-and-socket joint, could be aimed anywhere onscreen, and its trigger was held down to spray affected villains with millions upon millions of virtual bullets. Well, had you ever wished those sturdy cabinets were sitting in your living room? Sega has answered that plea, shrinking both down to fit on a single Wii disk, and exchanging the heavy plastic armaments with lightweight Wii Remotes.
The games are ridiculous, empty-headed fun, and best experienced by two players. The game is fundamentally similar to House of the Dead, in that you run around shooting things while trying to get a high score and avoid being shot too often. Here, however, your character is in a helicopter that flies incredibly close to the ground at times (ninjas tried to kick me at one point) and wheels around to attack off-screen opponents. The goal of both games is to find a group of enemies and kill them all before moving on. Unlike House of the Dead, the enemies are dynamic and often jump off-camera. After a good deal of shooting and camera-rotating, you kill them all and move on.
Subtle differences between the games do exist. LA Machineguns looks better, and asks you not to shoot innocent civilians. In Gunblade NY, the streets are clear except for the pesky cyborgs. Gunblade NY only has two missions, which are each broken into a few stages. LA Machineguns has four missions, though each mission is relatively shorter than one mission in Gunblade NY.
Strategy presents itself in the way you are graded at the end of each mission. Your shot accuracy and completion time are the biggest factors in getting good marks. Earn a good grade, and you may be rewarded with exclusive-to-this-Wii-game weapons for subsequent playthroughs. While none of these weapons are balanced as well as the normal gun, they are fun to experiment with and situationally useful.
The games certainly show their age: they came from a time when developers were just experimenting with geometry and textures were a thing of the future. As a result, you'll see a lot of elongated cubes and sphere-like explosions. Honestly, NY Gunblade looks like a PS1 game while LA Machineguns more resembles an early Dreamcast game, probably on par with Crazy Taxi. The music is instantly forgettable, but certainly helps you along with its rock 'n' roll influence. Interestingly, your commanding officer communicates with you through the Wii Remote's speaker, so turn that baby up. Since you're supposed to be in a helicopter, listening from a headset, this gives the tinny quality of the vocals an air of authenticity. If you want to spoil the fun, you can turn that Wii Remote sound off in the Options.
Unfortunately, with two people, this Arcade Hits Pack will last less than an hour. It's a fun multiplayer romp that's probably best served at parties, where you and your friends can pass the Wii Remotes around and compete for high scores. These scores, by the way, are actually uploaded to an online server, which is kind of cool for this sort of game. It has motivated me to play through several missions more than few times in an effort to improve my grade and score. If you have the Wii Zapper, you'll be happy to know that Arcade Hits Pack supports it. This also means you don't have to use it.
Despite the fun you might have with this game, it's not worth more than a rental, as you can beat it in no time at all (especially with a friend). Fun but criminally short, Gunblade NY: Special Air Assault Force & LA Machineguns: Rage of the Machines Arcade Hits Pack is probably not for most of us.
Topic: Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack Review (Read 1717 times)
