izigame.me

So, normally I would wait until I got the 100% of cheevos in a game before reviewing it and also waiting for the Dust to settle, updates-wise (I never really liked games changing while I'm playing them, unless that's part of the game of course), but there's a cheevo that requires you to play a game 1000 times sooooo....I'mma just post a preliminary review because I see a fair amount of negative reviews that refer to stuff that seems to have been fixed in updates.
Date: 6/27/2022
Preface: Got the 3 Pack Bundle because I actually knew I wanted to play enough of a percentage of the games in the bundle to warrant not just buying things individually. Might have been a mistake due to some sort of "Time Limited Bonus" you can get after you buy a game for the stadium, but oh well, I hate IRL Time Limited stuff in games anyway. Players should own their games, not the other way around, ya know?
Intro: Right away, my first impression was "that's a lot of introduction/tutorial popups for a glorified emulator library program" There's got to be a better way to present this info, ya know? Anyway, the menuing isn't the worst, but to those who are more used to basic no-nonsense stuff for old games, this kind of "Wow, look at all this cool stuff we hired a graphic design to model and everything" menu is probably a turn off. I can understand why. "Why are you wasting my CPU power on this?," they're apt to say. (I say it too, honestly. I would have much prefered a simpler interface without such excess.) But I guess this was to try to hype it up, or something? Anyway, my rig can cope so no big deal for me.
Next, I went to get to the game I actually wanted to play first: Bionic Commando. After going through what should have been just a listbox but was instead a bit more, I found the game and started it. Immediately, more Tutorial Pop-Ups. Really, people? There has to be a better way. At least they stop showing up after they're done. Anyway, I get through the mess of pop-ups and find....oh. Oh dear. It's one of those arcade simulators eh? The kind that tries to simulate playing on an actual cab by messing with your view of the game in ways including: wasting CPU/GPU by adding a 3D cabinet as a border for the game screen, distorting your view of the game by making the game screen be viewed from an angle instead of straight on, and having screen distortion at extreme angles instead of actually making the game look good. Now, this gimmick is obviously a nuisance and there are other reviews that call it out as such. HOWEVER, if you go into the display settings, you can change the display to actually look like a game and not a simulation of a game. Change the "Frame" to "2D", change the "Display Size" to "Normal", and change the "Display Filter" to...well, I went with "Type B" but this is the aesthetics setting so it's not like I have a clue what it "should" be. The net result is that this looks like a good emulator instead of a bad simulator. Problem solved. (I will write a guide if there isn't one already.)
Next, a different (and old) review mentioned that there was no way to set the game speed before starting. But in the current version, when I select a game and then go to "Game Settings", there is in fact a setting there to set the game speed there. So it looks like the Devs are actually addressing the issues so far.
Another old review said that, at least in the case of Street Fighter II, the six action buttons weren't even mapped. In the current version though, that seems to have been addressed. I went into the Controller Settings and found that buttons were set up in what seemed like a pretty reasonable configuration and all the stuff that should be mapped actually was mapped. I also found that you can map buttons as you please, even unmapping some functions (like the speed) entirely if you don't like them (there's literally an Erase function to simply remove the mapped button from a function, which is actually something a lot of games lack entirely). There's even an initially unmapped pair of actions for the Light/Medium/Heavy Punches/Kicks at the same time, though I have no idea where that would go on a controller. I should mention, though, that I was using a normal, non-arcade controller when I did this since I haven't committed to investing in an arcade controller. Yet. So, there's a chance the devs haven't set up the game to work nicely with Arcade Controllers. If/when I get one, I'll update this review with my findings.
Buying more games was listed as difficult in a review...and I cannot speak to that because I bought the 3 pack bundle so there's nothing left for me to buy. Honestly, I'd just stick to the steam store for that anyway.
Now, I should repeat, this is just my prelim review. I wasn't planning on writing it, but I did anyway because if I had read the currently displayed reviews for this game I'd probably have never given this collection/glorified emulator a chance. Except the problems in those reviews have apparently been addressed. So yeah, it seems like the Devs are actually trying not to be awful here and have been fixing the mess. Good, as the world does not need more "Awful Ports of Old Games as a Cash Grabbing Exercise" rot. This "game" still needs some work though, especially in the "UX" department. But I'd say it's worth the $2.99 per title it offers so far, especially if you already know you like those titles.
Edit: Update: 7/25/2022
All ya'll saying this game has microtransactions don't know what MTX even is. MTX would be charging you per play, or for play time. Or for wallpapers you don't even want. (BTW, Arcades INVENTED microtransactions, and they still did it better/more fairly than modern games. Getting good meant not paying as much.) But here, for each DLC, you are literally paying for free play of a game forever. An entire game, which was (usually) well liked when it came out, and isn't some trashy mini-game.
And the 'nickel'd and dimed to death' gripe some reviews have? I'm sorry, but what about the people who literally just wanted 1 game out of the whole collection? Or the people who only like shmups/fighters/etc? And all the people who can't afford to get all the games at once? Why should they suffer? And if you want all the games, there's literally a button on the store page to buy them all. Not forcing you to buy all the games is actually quite consumer friendly, and a great use of the concept of DLCs. Even the cheevos are set up nicely for that, since they're not tied to any specific game in the collection.
BUT! Capcom or whoever decided how to sell it all gets big points off in my book for not using Steam's Bundle feature, instead opting for the Package method. Even though Capcom or whoever doesn't offer any Bundle Discounts for the content, it's still better for consumers if you make sure to not offer any purchasing methods that could result in buyers paying for something they already own and won't get a second copy of. So, Silver (not Gold) medal for buyer friendliness so far. But this is still a prelim review.
Edit: 8/2/2022 - Real quick: none of the cab styles I can use so far look like the irl cabs. Kinda defeats the point of the "showing virtual cabs" thing, I think. Not a deal breaker for me though.