Whenever a classic coin-op arcade came gets released on Xbox Live Arcade, I get that nostalgic flashback that takes me to my youth and how many quarters and hours were spent on the game. If there was any one game that I gravitated toward in the arcade, it was always Track & Field. You could count on there being competition lined up and someone always had a unique style to make their little sprite Olympian move faster than lightning. Even then, back in the early 80's, the roots of the Xbox Live Arcade version of Track & Field were planted....
The premise of Track & Field is simple, move through the six events (100m Dash, Long Jump, Javelin toss, 110m Hurdles, Hammer Throw and High Jump) by making the minimum qualifying score while beating the competition. Its sounds easier than it is. The CPU has a leveling feature built in it for the 100m dash and hurdles that will come back and beat you if you don't continue or improve your early pace. Not to mention, the Hammer Throw and High Jump are all about timing and can trick you up. The gameplay is simple, it is just what technique you use in the running events an how quick a reaction you have in the others
The game was pretty hardcore on the button mashing back in the day (unless you were lucky enough to find a trackball machine), but that doesn't translate well to todays controllers. With the Microsoft Xbox 360 controller, you can either button-mash or use the left analog stick to make your guy go. After playing the game for several days, I can feel a difference in the feedback on my left analog stick, and it isn't for the better. I also gave the MadCatz ArcadeSTICK a crack at it, and it did fairly decent. You can use its joystick, buttons or the 360 spinner control with varying degrees of success. However, none matched the intense side-to-side beat down you can give the left-analog stick on the 360 controller to get optimal speed.
The majority of the achievements I easily picked up on my first couple run throughs, but the "Human Spring" and "Perfection" achievements need to be earned with a little effort. I really liked the "Bird Catcher" because that held the game true to the original, with the spearing of the bird with the Javelin on the third toss.
Adding Global leaderboards is a nice touch, but also exposes the amount of cheaters that are already on the prowl. One player completed the 110m hurdles in .2 seconds. Yeah, right. Despite that, the game has almost evolved into a retro-party game. At a recent party at my house, I fired up Track & Field and we took turns playing four-player and head-to-head for several hours. The online play would be good if not for the lag. It is difficult to hit your marks on the hurdles, hammer toss and high-jump when you are lagging behind every time. Still, the local multiplayer is the way to go.
One complaint I hear about Track & Field (and a lot of old-school coin-ops) is that the game is way too short. In my opinion that is only the case if you suck at it. If you are good and make it through the high-jump, then it starts over with the 100m dash, but with harder qualifying scores needed to move on. The replay value is in local multiplayer and trying to set personal bests, much like 20+ years ago in those grungy arcades
The bottom line is that Track & Field is a perfect port of the original coin-operated arcade game with some nice additions to give it that updated feel. The visual enhancements, addition of leaderboards and nostalgic play keep this game on the top end of the review scale. However, the true value for Track & Field lies in its morphing from an arcade classic into a party game. You could spend your $5 in a lot worse ways than buying Track & Field..
Final score: 8.2 out of 10
(When I was in Chicago earlier this year attending the Gamerscoreblog event, I was able to get a hands on of a pre-release version of Track & Field. The game stole the show, with everyone in attendance getting in on the four-person multiplayer action.)
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The premise of Track & Field is simple, move through the six events (100m Dash, Long Jump, Javelin toss, 110m Hurdles, Hammer Throw and High Jump) by making the minimum qualifying score while beating the competition. Its sounds easier than it is. The CPU has a leveling feature built in it for the 100m dash and hurdles that will come back and beat you if you don't continue or improve your early pace. Not to mention, the Hammer Throw and High Jump are all about timing and can trick you up. The gameplay is simple, it is just what technique you use in the running events an how quick a reaction you have in the others
The game was pretty hardcore on the button mashing back in the day (unless you were lucky enough to find a trackball machine), but that doesn't translate well to todays controllers. With the Microsoft Xbox 360 controller, you can either button-mash or use the left analog stick to make your guy go. After playing the game for several days, I can feel a difference in the feedback on my left analog stick, and it isn't for the better. I also gave the MadCatz ArcadeSTICK a crack at it, and it did fairly decent. You can use its joystick, buttons or the 360 spinner control with varying degrees of success. However, none matched the intense side-to-side beat down you can give the left-analog stick on the 360 controller to get optimal speed.
The majority of the achievements I easily picked up on my first couple run throughs, but the "Human Spring" and "Perfection" achievements need to be earned with a little effort. I really liked the "Bird Catcher" because that held the game true to the original, with the spearing of the bird with the Javelin on the third toss.
Adding Global leaderboards is a nice touch, but also exposes the amount of cheaters that are already on the prowl. One player completed the 110m hurdles in .2 seconds. Yeah, right. Despite that, the game has almost evolved into a retro-party game. At a recent party at my house, I fired up Track & Field and we took turns playing four-player and head-to-head for several hours. The online play would be good if not for the lag. It is difficult to hit your marks on the hurdles, hammer toss and high-jump when you are lagging behind every time. Still, the local multiplayer is the way to go.
One complaint I hear about Track & Field (and a lot of old-school coin-ops) is that the game is way too short. In my opinion that is only the case if you suck at it. If you are good and make it through the high-jump, then it starts over with the 100m dash, but with harder qualifying scores needed to move on. The replay value is in local multiplayer and trying to set personal bests, much like 20+ years ago in those grungy arcades
The bottom line is that Track & Field is a perfect port of the original coin-operated arcade game with some nice additions to give it that updated feel. The visual enhancements, addition of leaderboards and nostalgic play keep this game on the top end of the review scale. However, the true value for Track & Field lies in its morphing from an arcade classic into a party game. You could spend your $5 in a lot worse ways than buying Track & Field..
Final score: 8.2 out of 10
(When I was in Chicago earlier this year attending the Gamerscoreblog event, I was able to get a hands on of a pre-release version of Track & Field. The game stole the show, with everyone in attendance getting in on the four-person multiplayer action.)
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