Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Midway Arcade Origins
Game: Midway Arcade Origins
Platform: PS3, X-Box 360
Publisher/Developer: Midway/Warner Bros Games
Genre: Various (Full game list at end of article)
Describe This Game in Three Words: Total Carnage Rocks!
Plot Synopsis: 31 games from the classic Midway arcade library are all gathered together for one outing on your seventh generation system. You know how weird it is to watch Super Off Road on a widescreen plasma TV? Still fun though.
Up Up: Back when I was a lad, the difference between arcade and home versions was pretty well defined. Sure, the NES version of Rampage and Spy Hunter were fine, but they didn't hold up to the dedicated arcade cabinets. Now, we get a picture perfect translation of all the classic games in one convenient package. 
And you know what? Games like Gauntlet and Smash TV and especially Total Carnage are still fun as balls. Why did the multi-directional top-down shooter have to die? It's custom built for the dual joystick world and the only game I've played in two years to really try and capture that magic was Voltron. Even that wasn't as cool as attacking the giant robotic head of Hitler in Total Carnage again. It was like Rambo meets Zelda, and every moment of it is a cackling good time.
Not to mention the fact that games like Spy Hunter and Toobin' still hold up perfectly well, even though they are probably geared more toward the handheld and phone crowd. On the other hand, we saw what the handhelds did with Spy Hunter already, and I'll take the 8-bit original over the mediocre follow up any day.
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