I've always been somewhat skeptical of "collections" of games, such as Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade. My reasoning is that collections like these usually adhere to the idea of quantity over quality. I might define a quality game as one that has enough substance to stand on its own two feet; one that doesn't require 20 other games to back it up. Now that's not entirely fair, I understand, because the average game in Namco's collection was released back in the mid-1980s. Most of these games probably did hold their own in an earlier era of gaming, but can they do the same in this era of advanced gameplay, deep storylines, and high-octane graphics?

As I said before, Namco Museum certainly upholds the quantity end of the bargain. There are a total of 34 Namco arcade games, dating as far back as 1979 (that would be Galaxian, for all of you curious-types.) A handful of these games - nine to be precise - are designated as Live Arcade Classics, which means your high scores are saved on the Xbox Live Leaderboards. Out of these nine games, three are different versions of Pac Man. You've got Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, and Pac Man Championship Edition. And there are another four versions of Pac Man out of the other 25 games: Pac & Pal, Pac Man Arrangement, Pac Mania, and Super Pac Man. I won't even begin to describe the differences between the seven different Pac Man games, as that would probably take up the entire review. But I will say that Pac Man Championship Edition, released in 2007, was a refreshing take on traditional Pac Man action.

Namco did a good job of including fan favorites in this collection. Without naming every game in the collection, some favorites are Dig Dug, Galaga, Pole Position, Rally-X, and Rolling Thunder. There are also a few different versions of many of these games, such as Pole Position and Pole Position 2. So while 34 games sounds like a never-ending supply of games, you'll likely only play the version of each game that you like the most. And besides these favorites, there are some real stinkers - games I played once and vowed never to play again. I'm not even really sure why games such as Dragon Buster (particularly terrible) were included, except maybe for nostalgia's sake.

While the games themselves are fun, I found a lack of depth in most that prevented me from getting really involved. Take Galaga, for example. I know this is a classic game, and I almost feel like a heretic for saying I didn't really enjoy my time with it, but that's the truth. There just isn't enough there to keep me interested. You basically move in one of four directions, and shoot at enemies. And you can only shoot one or two bullets/lasers/whatever at a time, which makes it painfully boring. I can see that this game would have been fun a while back, but not these days. The remake, Galaga Legions, isn't much better. While it is less boring and slow-paced, it is ultimately one-dimensional like the original.

One thing that peeved me greatly was that certain games are available only through the Xbox Dashboard Games Library, while others are only available upon loading the game disc. To be precise, it is the 9 Live Arcade Classics that need to be accessed through the actual game disc's main menu. The other inclusions are all accessed through the dashboard. So after playing a few rounds of Pac Man Championship Edition, I wanted to try my hand at Dragon Buster (always a mistake) but had to return to the dashboard to do so. Then, to play Pac Man again, I'd have to load the game disc again. All of the games should be accessible through the game disc! Nobody likes load times, and there's no reason you should have to load a game multiple times in one session.

Unless you're a (very) old-school gamer, and enjoyed these games back in the real arcade days, you might find this collection a bit boring after the first run-through. Sure, it's exciting at first, because you have a myriad of games to play. But if none of those games, save maybe one or two, can hold your attention for longer than 10 minutes, what good is it? This game definitely has a target audience: the old school gamer; the guy who spent all his quarters at arcades in the 1980s. If you're not that guy, don't expect to spend a hefty portion of your time with this game.

Gameplay: 6.8
Varies from game to game. Certain games are good; certain games are awful (Dragon Buster). I literally couldn't figure out how to hit an enemy in Dragon Buster before they had already hit me 3 or 4 times. In general though, the gameplay is very limited, and lacks the depth we see in contemporary games.

Graphics: 5.0
Think Pac Man. Now, how do you feel about those graphics? Nostalgic? Yes. Classic? Yes. Good? No. Some of the updated versions do a little better, but not enough to sway this rating.

Sound: 6.4
Bleeps and boops for the most part. As with the graphics, some of the more recent, updated versions, such as Galaga Legions and Pac Man Championship Edition are a bit more impressive in terms of music and sound.

Difficulty: Hard
Again, this varies from game to game, but overall these games are difficult. Beware, casual gamers! These games come from a time when it was actually a challenge to beat a game.

Concept: 7.5 
I do appreciate the idea of collecting these classic games on one release. I appreciate the idea of keeping the history of gaming alive, and introducing newer generations to games like Pac Man, Galaga, and Pole Position. It's just that these games are the elderly relatives of today's games, and as such, they move more slowly, lack flair, and are just a little boring.

Overall: 6.4
It's nice to have these classic games on hand in case I get the urge to host an impromptu Pac Man tournament. I might pull it off the shelf from time to time, I admit. And for the price, it's not a bad deal. But I like to recommend the type of game that you're not going to want to stop playing, and Namco Museum never gave me that feeling.