Short Version: There are a lot of menus here but there are also a lot of great games. Frankly, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to play in the Game Room.
With Game Room, Microsoft promises you a virtual arcade of your very own.
Customize the decor, hand pick the games, and invite your friends. Currently home to classic arcade, Atari 2600, and Intellivision games, everyone should be able to find something to play.
Game Room's separation from the rest of Xbox LIVE Arcade is puzzling, and the interface is lousy with menus, but the experience largely delivers as promised.
Please note: although there will be references to specific games, this review is intended to cover Game Room itself, not the games in it. A full list of list of games is available here. Game Rant's list of top Game Room games is available here.
Starting Out
Game Room comes wrapped in layers of interface to navigate. To begin with, players will need to download the Room, and any available Game Packs. Two are currently offered, and a third (containing Super Breakout, Realsports Volleyball, Basketball, Pitfall!, Megamania, Rack 'Em Up, and Night Stalker) is due April 28th. Going forward, there should be new games every Wednesday. All of these downloads are free.
Once everything is downloaded and started up, players will be presented with the Main Menu, which features tabs for Arcade, Collection, Profile, Friends, Store, Challenges, Leaderboards, and News. (This week's news: "Welcome to Game Room.") For their first visit to Game Room, what most players will actually want to do is enter the Showcase Arcade. This is done, not by choosing a tab on the Main Menu, but by pressing the "X" button on the 360 controller. You must be connected to Xbox LIVE to enter the Showcase Arcade.
Once in, every game available is on display, end eligible for play or purchase. Currently, several games are present in multiple Arcade rooms. As more games come out, this may not continue to be the case. Players in the Showcase can also have a look at several of the Decor items and Themes available for their own Arcades. There are even monitors intended to display upcoming Game Room games, though as of this writing, only currently released games are being shown. If searching through the Showcase Arcade seems like too much work, games can also be browsed on the Store tab of the Main Menu.
Prices
Every game can be played once for free. After that, a single play will cost 40 MS points, a 360-only copy of the game can be had for 240 MS points, and a Play Anywhere copy, good for the PC as well as the 360, comes in at 400 MS points. Xbox 360-only purchases are upgradable to Play Anywhere versions for a additional 160 MS points. This is a nice feature, but why is there no equivalent upgrade option for single plays? Playing any game six times costs as much as buying it, and players should be allowed own the game at that point. Granted, this may not be a common problem, but if one upgrade path is present, then both should be.
Pricing for the 360-only games seems entirely fair. If a single song in Rock Band is $2, isn't a copy of Asteroids Deluxe worth $3? As for the Play Anywhere option, well, there is another platform I'd like to play these games on, but it's not the PC. You see, "i" have this "Phone" that plays games, and I would happily pay a little extra to get these games on there. But I digress.
Setting Up An Arcade
Once players purchase a game, it's time to place it in their own arcade. So, back to the Main Menu (keep hitting "B" until it comes up), and into your Arcade. You'll start in Edit Mode (a handy icon in the top left corner of the screen tells you so). Here, you can place your games, add Decor items, and change the Theme of the room. A number of Decor items and Themes are available from the get go, and more can be unlocked by playing games. From the Store tab, you can even purchase Mascots that will run all around your Arcade. Decorating your Arcade adds a pleasantly goofy vibe to the proceedings, though it's not actually required. Once you're done with Edit Mode, it's time to switch to Play Mode (hit that "X" button again).
Click here to continue to page 2 of Game Rant's Game Room review...
Game Menus
Walking up to one of your games and pressing "A" brings up the Game Preview menu. Here you can (finally) choose to play a game, in either Classic or Ranked mode. In Classic mode, the action can be rewound by holding the left trigger of the 360 controller. Ranked Mode will tolerate none of that foolishness, and is the mode to play if you're trying to make it to the Leaderboards. From the Leaderboards, replays of the highest ranked player's games can be watched. The Preview Menu also has options to view a brief History blurb about your game, view and select from the control options, and upgrade a game to Play Anywhere.
Okay, you're in the game now, just about to play. Arcade games require that you "insert coins" with the left bumper before you start. They also allow players to access the original machine's dip switches, which can be used to change everything from the number of lives players start with to the score necessary to earn more. In order to make your selections, Atari games force you to open a window (press Start) and flip the levers and switches that adorned the wood-grained wonder. Intellivision games present you with a virtual incarnation of the horrible, horrible Intellivision controller, complete with number-pad overlay, with which to make your choices.
You made it! You're actually playing now. But there is one more set of menus you may be interested in. Pausing the game with the Back button grants access to an Options tab from which the look of the games can be altered. The Game Display Mode can be set to Arcade (the game with your Arcade in the background), Cabinet (shows the, um... cabinet), or Basic (just the game on a black background). Some games allow you to process the visuals with Post Effects that replicate the look of old televisions or monitors with burn-in. These are fun to play with, and I have to admit, I prefer the old console games with their scanlines intact.
The Games
So, how are the games? By and large, they're great. The developers at Krome Studios have have used the original code for all of these games. Evey game I have a history with plays exactly as I remember it. The biggest problem is that some of the games really suffer from the lack of their original arcade controls. Centipede is not as good without a trackball, but it's still playable. Tempest fares less well without its dial. Asteroids Deluxe actually plays just fine, though still I miss the "button only" control of the original arcade machine. But I'm nitpicking. On balance, everything plays about as well as can be expected, and there are already a number of really fun games in the Room.
For the competitive among us, three Medals are available for each game: Point buster, Survivalist, and Time Spender. So, the higher your score, the longer you survive, and the more time you spend with each game, the better. Of course, these Medals ultimately play into Achievements. And you want more Achievements, right?
Games also give players the option to issue and receive Challenges. These are highly customizable, with options for everything from starting point in the game, to number of tries, to the duration of the game. Gamers can even include a taunt to ridicule their less-practiced friends (I am particularly fond of, "I laugh heartily at your failure").
Shortcomings
Well, it would be nice to include all of my Live Arcade games in my Game Room. Pac Man Championship Edition would feel right at home. Furthermore, some of the Achievements are based strictly on in-game purchases (for instance, buying a Mascot), which feels a little dirty. And then there are the menus. A lot of menus. To be fair, they offer a tremendous amount of control over the experience, and a high level of authenticity for the games. Still, I can't help thinking they could have been streamlined a bit. Finally, though I doubt we'll be running out of Arcade, 2600, and Intellivision games any time soon, it would be nice to see some more consoles included.
Conclusion
Yes, there are a lot of menus, and yes, they slow down the experience. But the fact is, there are some great games here. Having them all readily available, and at reasonable prices, is both welcome and compelling. And not to overstate it, but helping to preserve and explore our games-based past is a valuable service. Frankly, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to go play in the Game Room.
Game Room is available now for the Xbox 360 and PC from the Xbox LIVE Arcade.