JAPAN, ARCADES & GAMING: January 2020

On Thursday I went along to EAG Expo, the annual trade show for the amusement industry, held at the ExCel London Exhibition Centre. Here is a rundown of the latest games which were on display.

Mission: Impossible Arcade - Sega

Making its European debut, Mission: Impossible Arcade is the latest shooter from Sega.

Cabinet Design

The cabinet looks very modern and stylish, and is absolutely massive! I think we will only be seeing these in the larger arcades. The cabinet is designed to look like the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) safehouse and is very well themed, conveying the feel of the high-tech hideout. The cabinet features modern LED lighting and two 55” HD screens.

Gameplay

The cabinet uses mounted duel pistol controllers. Using a single trigger fires a high accuracy shot while holding down both triggers allows for duel wield burst damage. I thought the guns themselves look a bit cheap looking, letting down the cabinet aesthetics slightly.

Players take on the role of an IMF trainee and must complete missions to sabotage enemy plans that aim to weaponize humanoid robots. The game plays similar to Ghost Squad and Operation G.H.O.S.T. There are various quick time events, such as finding key cards, entering pass codes and shooting grappling hooks.

Also two teams can compete in a linked game, the objective being to complete missions before the rival team does. I didn’t get to try this option.

Below is some game footage.

Upside Down

Express Yourself

Graphics and Sound

The humanoid robots and environments are extremely solid and detailed, but perhaps lack the wow factor of The House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn.

The cabinet features four powerful bass shakers embedded in the floor in conjunction with surround sound and subwoofers. The classic Mission: Impossible theme tune has never sounded so good!

Overall

I enjoyed the game and would definitely have a few credits if I came across it in an arcade. It didn’t impress me as much as Scarlet Dawn, but then I’m a massive fan of The House of the Dead series. If you love Mission: Impossible and Sega shooters you will probably love this. I do wonder though if the sheer size of the cabinet will limit its saleability and expect there will be a smaller, scaled down version further down the line.

Centipede Chaos – ICE / Play Mechanix / Sega

I really enjoyed this one! Whereas a lot of modern updates of arcade classics feel a bit gimmicky, this one felt more like a true arcade shooter, complete with some very cool boss battles. The game looks and sounds great. The graphics are well done, being brought up to date whilst keeping a pixelated look, a bit like those 8-bit Funko Pops.

Nitro Trucks – Play Mechanix / Raw Thrills

The game was good fun, but lacked the finesse of Sega’s racers and felt like another very safe option. I was so pleased when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out as it’s a genre the arcades hadn’t seen for a long time. I wish they would be a bit more adventurous and take a few more risks.

Super Bikes 3 – Raw Thrills

Me and my daughter really enjoyed this one thanks to the fantastical settings. These include a prehistoric track with roaming dinosaurs, and Hong Kong with flying cars and a neon drenched cityscape, giving it a slight Blade Runner vibe. Also players are blasted by air as they race, which worked wonders for the mild hangover I had.

Hot Wheels – King of the Road – Adrenaline Amusements

I was pretty excited when I saw this as I had visions of a modern Hot Rod. The game was fun, but seems like it’s designed for a younger audience. The objective is to race along a track and compete with other players to collect the most coins.

Atari PONG - UNIS

This has been featured at previous events, but it was the first time I had seen the four player version. Good fun, even though the trajectory did seem a bit off at times.

Crazy Ride – UNIS

The game takes the traditional arcade racer, mixes it with elements from Crazy Taxi and adds a full motion cabinet. The tracks didn’t feel quite as well designed as Crazy Taxi, and it didn’t work as well. It felt a little bit jarring having to stop as soon as you got going. However I only had a couple of credits, and these are just my initial impressions.

GunArena – Natsume Atari / Taito / Youngbae

We really enjoyed this interactive shooting gallery. The gun had excellent recoil and my wife and I came away saying how realistic it was, not realising it was in fact a real airsoft gun! The game was fantastic fun, and definitely one I’ll be looking out for in the arcades.

The Taito developers were on hand to demonstrate and talk about the game. We ended up chatting about some of the Taito classics, including Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, The Newzealand Story and Darius. We also talked about our honeymoon in Japan, the Taito Station arcades and Hey Amusements in Akihabara.

I filmed my wife having a go. Here is a video of the game.

After the game my wife told me that one of the developers held her hand bag for her so she didn’t have to put it on the floor. Typical Japanese politeness!

SpaceWarp 66 – TouchMagix

Pilot a spaceship through a wormhole and avoid dangerous obstacles using a spinning controller. Good fun!

Space Invaders Counter Attack – Taito / UNIS

Yet another twist on the classic Space Invaders formula! The cabinet features mounted gun turrets. Fire ping-pong balls at the Space Invaders on the screen, and then shoot physical Space Invaders as they advance towards the player.

Electrocoin

There were some nice new Stern pinball releases on display at the Electrocoin booth, including Iron Maiden, Black Knight: Sword of Rage, Jurassic Park and Stranger Things.