Review by: Mike Thompson

Growing up as part of the Arcade Generation, I invested a lot of money in rail shooters like Lethal Enforcers, Time Crisis, and Jurassic Park. None of these were ever amazing games, but they were fun to play with friends, and we were happy to sacrifice our allowances in order to blast criminals, monsters and aliens. Sega has clearly realized that some of us miss these types of games on our home consoles and , based on the popular reception of Ghost Squad, has released Gunblade NY: Special Air Assault Force and L.A. Machineguns: Rage of the Machines as a twofer deal in its new Arcade Hits Pack. Even though the games are over a decade old they're still surprisingly enjoyable.

So let's get a couple of things out of the way: the Arcade Hits Pack is clearly designed to appeal to those who are old enough to have grown up playing these games, and there haven't been any upgrades since they left the arcades. The graphics are just as angular and cartoonish as they originally were, and they certainly don't look any better on a high-definition TV. In fact, they're pretty hideous when compared to the current generation of games. It should also be noted that, while there is widescreen support, the far sides of a widescreen TV become dead zones that are devoid of threats (which is good, because you can't shoot into these areas, either).

As was often the case with such titles, these shooters are entirely bloodless, having the enemies disappear from the screen after you take them out. They're also insanely fast-paced, and later parts of both games feature a ton of action that's a lot easier to tackle alongside a friend.

Both of these games are rail shooters where players are effectively controlling mounted guns on futuristic aircraft, and neither is exactly heavy on plot. In L.A. Machineguns, you pilot flying motorcycles and battle an evil army that's trying to take over because… um… you know, that's never really explained all that well. Confusingly, the game doesn't just take place in Los Angeles, as Las Vegas and San Francisco are heavily-featured, as well. Gunblade NY is even more basic: you play a police officer who clearly prefers the Dirty Harry School of Philosophy, and lethal force is employed when going up against cyberpunk criminals/terrorists in the greater Manhattan area.

Gunblade NY definitely is the clunkier of the two games, which makes sense because it's the older title. That said, the gameplay is still solid (and frantic), requiring you to quickly shoot everything on the screen until you've cleared out the area and wind up moving to the next portion of the level.