I recently stumbled across a fun wee game known as Boneraiser Minions which is essentially a retro-style wave defence game where you play as a necromancer and raise minions to fight for you against the endless hordes of do-gooders.
It’s a fun game and really cheap for what it is, something you will spend an afternoon or two playing and having great fun with. However it also reminded me of something that I don’t feel many games capture these days, arcade-style gameplay. Something like Boneraiser Minions I could easily imagine as an arcade cabinet that you fed money to play and have people attempt to beat the high score on. Something like that is the best suited thing for a cheap game as it adds a great amount of replayability to what is essentially a simple wave-defence game.
Games have moved away from their roots as arcade cabinets and while markets such as the mobile gaming scene still have a lot of those elements present they also attempt to push toxic microtransactions and nefarious psychological tactics to try and obtain as much money as possible from their consumers. In the arcade days yes there was a lot of money being spent at these machines but they didn’t try anything to fleece players aside from having a lives system. It was just here’s a game, play it for some money, go as far as you can, see if others can beat your high score. Those were simpler days, and it was nice to be reminded of them for a short while.
Are there any other games you would describe as ‘Arcade-y’? Which are your favourites? Let us know in the comments! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.