While the rest of the world’s arcades slowly vanish and languish, Japan’s continue to bring in the crowds. And that’s why Namco Bandai are releasing a new arcade machine game called Mach Storm. It’s pretty much Ace Combat… but gone big in arcades.
With a huge screen and a seat for you to lock yourself in and fly like you mean it. Yeah, you actually get to sit in a plush chair and lock away the rest of the world while flying as if you were seated in a real jet pilot’s cockpit.
Mach Storm will take players on missions from places all over the world including Washington, Tokyo and Dubai. There are two controllers which you’ll be using to control your jet while shooting down bogeys, and it’s possible to rack up combo streaks if you’re a pro. The game itself doesn’t look like it intends to be too hard, though, with an easy lock-on system where getting foes within the huge circle of your front guns will help lock on to them.
There’s also another reason for locking you in—Mach Storm will not only have rumble features on its two joysticks to mimic real combat, but its seat will also vibrate accordingly when you get hit. Ok, fine. The real reason is that the game also blows air blasts at players to let them feel as if they’re going at the same speed as their on-screen characters. Not sure if that would be cool or not having air constantly blown into my face, but clearly, someone said yes to this nonetheless awesome idea.
Namco Bandai are known for making such over-the-top machines, having previously also released Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield which is as impressive as it looks, being also a fully immersive arcade game where you lock yourself into a freakin’ Gundam pod. That game even had headjacks for you to plug in your own headsets!
Mach Storm is available in Japanese arcades across the country now.
