Coin-Opining 2: Great Wolf Lodge's Northern Lights Arcade

I guess I should be thankful that The Midway didn't have a DDR machine. With the amount of credits I had and the fatigue I felt after Great Wolf Lodge, I would imagine I'd be dead right now.

The Frozen Desert
It's kind of hard to compare to Dave & Buster's sprawling display of lights and sound, even if half of it's redemption games. Still, Northern Lights just felt like a arcade, more so than D & B. Justin and Brent say that the ratio of video-to-redemption games was higher, which I guess I could believe. The comparison is blurred by the mixture of each type throughout the arcade as opposed to The Midway's half-and-half approach.

Slot-Loaded Samurai
One game that I tried for the first time was Mazan, a motion-sensing sword game. It's an interesting experience, but a bit hard to control. Subtle movements seem to be the key, as quick swipes caused my in-game sword to disappear from the screen. Once I got that down though, it was pretty fun. Parrying incoming attacks and countering really made the game. Still, there were times when wiggling the katana from side to side got me through.

It kind of makes me wonder how the swordplay in Red Steel pans out. It would be nice to see a game that plays like Mazan on the Wii. I know Dragon Quest Swords is coming out, but it doesn't look like it will have that parrying ability. Maybe No More Heroes will present some of the same swordplay elements.

Makes me think about trying Blade of Honor out and seeing how it compares.

"The rhythm's hard to ignore…"
Of course I spent most of my time on the dance stage, regardless of the health risks it presented to me. I think that I have an addiction. I just forgot how much fun DDR is with a crowd, and how out of practice I am. It's an interesting situation when you have to stretch before playing a game.

I remember when Dance Dance Revolution used to be the main attraction of every arcade around here. Now, it just doesn't seem to draw the same numbers anymore. It's a shame, since I use to think that if anything was gonna keep arcades going, it would be DDR.

It was another fun outing, but not something to do on a weekly basis.