Reviewed: August 31, 2006
Reviewed by: Blake Kenny
Publisher
Digital Eclipse
Developer
Midway Games
Released: November 22, 2005
Genre: Arcade
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
7
7
7
8
7.1
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
When I was 19ish, I worked in my hometown’s only decent and reasonably successful videogame arcade entitled “T.J’s Arcade”. It was a great place to work and since I obviously had a great love of videogames, I spent most of my time there, even when I wasn’t on shift.
The town’s local middle and senior highschools where right down the street and during lunch hour, after school and at night, the place was simply packed. I handed out quarters, watched TV, played pool for free and generally knew everyone who frequented the place.
The nice thing about working there was that the owner lived in the city (Vancouver) and pretty much was only in the place maybe once every week or so, mainly to empty the machines and hand me a paycheck. I had a lot of perks there, as good of perks as a teenager who loved games could hope for anyway, I had the keys, so could hang out there after hours and because arcades were thriving at the time, I often witnessed the arrival of new games. Smash TV was such a game.
It was immediately popular, maybe it was because it was a fast paced twitch game, maybe it was because it supported two players simultaneously, or maybe it was the gratuitous violence. Needless to say, the game made a fortune, mainly because it would eat up a player’s men quicker than most games or maybe because it was un-cool to leave your partner stranded in a place where death was almost certain. To save your friend, you plugged in one more quarter.
To say I was a huge fan of the game would be a lie, I enjoyed it for sure, but man, did it swallow up my quarters in a hurry. Working your way through to the game’s completion could be rather expensive, and while I did have a job, I wasn’t interested in blowing my entire paycheck playing it. So with the opportunity to play this game again for the first time in years, I have to admit I was looking forward to it. Here are my impressions of the game after nearly 15 years.
I suppose at the time, it was hard not to play this game and think of the Schwarzenegger movie – “The Running Man”. Without getting too deep into the plot, the movie was basically about a guy on a gameshow where he fought for his survival and freedom. Sure, Smash TV isn’t exactly the same, but the similarities are certainly there.
Supporting one or two players working together, the contestants on Smash TV blast their way through wave after wave of enemy men, robots and other hazards. Blowing them apart to win fabulous prizes like luxurious vacations, sleek 1999 roadsters, VCR’s and of course money. “Big money, big prizes. I love it!” Considering we’ve passed 1999, Smash TV’s then, future – the prizes now seem rather hilarious. Ooooh, a VCR, tell me I’m dreaming!
The gameplay was awesome back in the day and was very easy to operate. Players used one stick to control their movements, the other to control their direction of fire. Needless to say, this control scheme translates perfectly to the dual analog sticks on your 360 controller. Control is quick, precise and easy to get a handle on for just about anyone.
You need these great controls to deal with all the enemies set against you. As a gameshow contestant fighting for your life, big prizes and glory, you have many weapons at your disposal. You have a machinegun within limitless ammunition, but can also pick up spreadshot machineguns, rocket launchers and grenade launchers. You can even get a good old fashion smart bomb to destroy all enemies on screen and a shield like devise that spins around your body and eviscerates all who come in contact with it.
200 Gamerscore awaits players as well, but admittedly, they are pretty hard won. Finish the game by yourself and by the time you’re done, you’re looking at 30 points total. Finish the game online with someone and you’re looking at 60 points for a total of 90/200. For me, it pretty much ends there, as all the remaining achievements require players to beat each of the games 3 levels without continuing and on default settings. So while getting 90 points isn’t too tough, getting all 200 is a downright brutal and an impressive accomplishment for those who can manage to do it. “Good luck, you’re going to need it!”
As for the online play, for me it was 100% lag free and played without a hitch. Unsurprisingly, the biggest problem with playing online is finding someone to team up with. Like most classic arcade games that feature online multiplayer, it’s easy to find a game for a while after a few weeks of its release, but I’m sure the novelty of the game wears off rather quickly and eventually results in a drought of other players.
Graphically the game looks pretty darn good, in all honesty it looks exactly how I remember it, which usually isn’t the case when I play an old game for the first time in years. I would imagine that at the time Smash TV achieved some rather technical feats in the field of graphics. These days we all marvel at games like Dead Rising which host hundreds of zombies on screen simultaneously. I imagine back in the day, it was no small accomplishment for Smash TV to be rendering over 50 enemies at once.
For what it is, this is an impressive game, bloody as all hell too. Enemies blow apart in gory chunks – and bosses spew blood everywhere as you shoot them up. Get blown apart yourself, and it’s not uncommon to see your arms, head and sometimes even your eyeballs being hurdled up into the air. Graphically, it’s a pretty nice looking game, even after 15 years. Not Bad.
Like the graphics, the sound was a cut above at the time. The howling of boss monsters, the splattering of enemies and of course the fact that the game contains speech are all pretty cool. Overall it’s a great sounding game. Very well done.
If you love to see some classic blood, guts and gratuitous carnage, look no further than Smash TV, and for a mere 400 Marketplace points it can be yours forever. Not a bad price considering what you get. 2-players co-op, online multiplayer and non-stop action bloody death.
If you’re a classics junkie and love a good ole fashioned fragfest, you could do a lot worse than this pick this game up. While it’s not incredibly long, the shear skill required to get some of the game’s achievement might keep some hardcore players coming back for as many as 3-4 days.
I have always liked this game, ever since the first time I played it; but one thing is for certain, in an arcade it would suck you dry of quarters in a heartbeat, which is what makes the affordable download such a great thing. You can play this game for as long as you want with an endless amount of continues; it’s like having a deep pocket of digital quarters.
While the game isn’t exactly deep, it’s a fun diversion for a chunk of time, especially if you have a friend to play with, in person or on Xbox Live. As far as the old classic games go, this is better than most offerings. Not to shabby. Now, if I can only find an online buddy willing to play through the game’s entirety with me for 40 more achievement points, I’ll be a happy man.