Midway Arcade Treasures (PS2)

Of these games Williams' are the oldest and most revered, with titles such as Defender, Robotron 2084 and Joust coming from the golden age of arcade games and guided by the hand of coin-op genius Eugene Jarvis. These games, along with lesser titles and follow-ups such as Defender II, Joust 2, Smash TV, Blaster, Sinistar and Splat!, mark Williams as the most gifted of American coin-op developers and all of the games are presented here exactly as they used to be--with 20-year-old graphics but timeless gameplay.

Bally's Spy Hunter, Rampage and Root Beer Tapper came a few years later and are still entertaining today, although Satan's Hollow is pretty much the only stinker in the whole package. Then there's the "newest" titles from Atari such as multi-player classic Gauntlet plus Paperboy, Marble Madness, Roadblasters, Rampart, 720º, Super Sprint, Toobin', Klax and Vindicators.

The only disappointment of this collection is that although some of these games have video clip interviews and the odd scanned in promotional image the actual presentation and menu systems are very cheaply done. This doesn't take away from the classic beauty of the games themselves though. This compilation a must for collectors and anyone else interested in a time when gameplay really was more important than graphics. --David Jenkins