Arcade Vs. Adventure

Could you define the difference between an arcade game and an adventure game?

A. Rabin

It's getting less and less easy to define the difference between these two computer game styles. Adventure games are including "arcade" features, and some arcade games now have several different "scenes" of action. Traditionally, an arcade game (named after the rooms in shopping malls where the machines offering these games are located) has one scene or "playfield" like the maze on Pac-Man. There's fast action, color, sound, and you succeed in these games because you have good coordination. It's a physical experience – some say a sport – and things happen in realtime (the time between your moves and the opponent's moves is the same as it would be if you were really running through a maze being pursued by ghosts).

An adventure game, on the other hand, is more like reading an adventure story in a book. There is generally no time limit to your "moves," and there are often many characters and many settings. An adventure game can take hours to play while you wander through a mansion with many rooms or search through forests and caves for a hidden treasure. Frequently your victory will depend on your skill at solving a riddle, or effectively using your available resources. In short, an adventure game is generally a mental rather than an athletic effort.

The trend, though, is toward a merging of adventure and arcade game qualities into what will likely be the super games of tomorrow. To find out what the experts are forecasting, see "Future Games" on page 20.