When we last left off, I had finished discussing the legacy of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. But history and console features can only tell you so much about a console. What games are on it? Well, that's what we're going to take a look at today. Before I get started, there are a couple things I thought were worth pointing out.
First, you may have noticed that pictures of the console in the previous entry showed only one controller port. What is this blasphemy? I thought that the 3DO had multiplayer games! Well, it does. So where do the other controllers plug in?
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| To the back of the console? One of the other outlets on your TV? Or do they expect you to *gulp* SHARE CONTROLLERS?! |
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| Oh, nope. Controller port is on the controller. Where else would it be? |
In order to play this with another friend, they had to plug their controller into your controller. Keep in mind: Some games on this console could support as many as eight players at a time. Which means that somewhere out there, there was a conga line in the early 90s that was playing Twisted on the 3DO, and you missed it.
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| And I just KNOW that's a painful regret that you'll never get rid of. |
The other interesting thing that I wanted to point out is that this was one of the very first consoles to use only compact discs instead of cartridges. So the packaging for these babies was totally smaller that its competitors, righ-HOLY SHIT.
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| Super Mario Kart for reference |
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| It is the size of three, I repeat, THREE SNES games. |
This is for a cd-based game, right? Why on Earth did they use such huge boxes? To my knowledge, the only games to have larger cases were the Neo Geo cartridge games, and at least those made sense!
But enough about the design of the console and products. You came here to see the games, right? Well, let's dive right in. No, I already told you. I'm not reviewing the porn discs. First up is Gex. And why shouldn't it be? Gex was the anticipated mascot of the console, and is considered by many 3DO players (all 100 of us) to be one of the best games it has to offer.
GEX
Gex is a game with a theme of satire surrounding the Hollywood world, with multiple levels having a different theme, such as: horror, kung fu, adventure, and cartoon animation. The platforming is pretty standard stuff that you'd see in a Mario or Sonic game. You have a jump, attack and run button, and platform across the level. However, Gex does have features that make it stand out from the crowd. First, Gex is a Gecko. So they gave him the ability to cling to most walls and ceilings, as well as certain areas with a background wall.
The more important distinction is that the goal of this game is not to get to the end of the level. If you just platform your way to the exit and leave, you will not progress in the overworld map, and will need to start over. And while this game sold very highly on the 3DO (and produced two sequels that sold even more on other consoles), this is where my interest in the game dwindles. I probably have 2-3 hours logged into this game, AND I HAVE NOT BEATEN A SINGLE LEVEL. You see, the goal isn't to reach the end of the level. In every level, there is a hidden tv remote, which you must find before reaching the end. Only then will the level be completed, and a new one opened up.
The problem with this is that even the starting levels are huge, with branching paths to reach the end, like a Sonic the Hedgehog level. This forces you to either play the same level over and over, hoping that you find the hidden area with the remote, or backtracking from the exit to find it. Hopefully if/once you do, you don't fall into one of the many pitfalls. While there IS a health counter in the top right corner, this game is not afraid to place many insta-death pits around for you.
Sure, the levels are fun to platform through, but personally, the fun factor disappears when I'm forced to go back through the same level again and again for what should be considered a collectible just so that I can progress to the next level, and do it again. In short, it's an okay game that'll entertain you for 30 minutes to an hour. I highly recommend the 3D sequels, which are far improved.
THEME PARK
Allow to first start off by saying HOLY BALLS, THIS GAME HAS BEEN ON EVERY GAMING PLATFORM KNOWN TO MAN. To be quite honest, I have never actually played this game before. The closest that I played was this game's sequel, Sim Theme Park World, on pc. The premise of this game is that a Willy Wonka-esque character breaks into your home, and basically warps you all to a theme park against your will. I know it's supposed to be setting up a nice intro for you to build a park, but when the Wonka-clone says "even your pets can come", and the dog begins begging him to not be taken away, you have to wonder why put the intro in at all.
Look. Look into his eyeless face, and know the true abyss.
As for the gameplay, the only thing that I could think about as I played it was "Roller Coaster Tycoon", a game which I've poured far more hours into. This game honestly feels like a prototype to Roller Coaster Tycoon. As you would expect, you place pre-built rides and shops into the park grounds, and carve walking paths for your guests to navigate the park. You can also hire entertainers, janitors, and mechanics to maintain everything.
Basically everything that you can build in the first level all in one screen.
My first major complaint is how to control the game. Yes, I know that this is a simulation game without a keyboard, and understand that there's going to be limitations due to that. However, if you give me the option upon creating a park to say it's my first time playing this game, then a tutorial for the controls would be greatly appreciated. The most tutorial-esque thing I could tell was that the Wonka director stays at the bottom of your screen, and lets you know when to raise or drop prices, but gives no help in regards to how to do anything.
Eventually, I began to understand the method to the madness, and built four rides, and three stores. No more were available, so I basically sat waiting for the director to give me advice, or for a ride to break down so I could make sure that a mechanic fixed it.In all honesty, the game basically plays itself after about fifteen minutes, it's so easy. With only those three rides, the director kept insisting that I raise my park's admission. Before I knew it, every guest was being charged $100 just to gain admission, and all the while the director informed me that I was "a shrewd businessman."
And then he takes the money, and runs while I deal with the angry mobs. Insidious bastard.
Aside from that, you try to earn a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time. These goals, though, are extremely easy (The first level allowed up to 48 years to accomplish your goal). In all, I felt no challenge, and felt like moving on to another title after about half an hour. If you can, pick up Theme Park World on the pc, as it's a great game the likes of Roller Coaster Tycoon.
THE LAST BOUNTY HUNTER
This game was released as a sequel to the Mad Dog McCree series, which should be causing red alarms to go off for anyone who knows about the series. And this game is just like the McCree series. Heck, I might even argue that it's worse. The video quality is so fuzzy, it's hard to see any of the faces of the people talking to you. The whole series also had an issue with the audio de-syncing from the video, meaning that you wouldn't hear dialogue until the character in the video was already halfway through the next sentence. It was almost like watching an old western parody of Godzilla dubs.
But maybe this game's gameplay improved upon its predecessors. In fact, the box even says that this game is compatible with the 3DO light gun! Maybe I can pick one up online, and try it out! Oh. Maybe not. Okay, so the controller it is. I'm not sure if the gun even would make it easier, but holy balls is this game difficult. I had the game set to easy, and was never able to beat any of the four outlaws.
In order to beat a level, you have to do it all in one go. You die in one shot, and it's back to the beginning of the level. Your gun treks sloooooowly across the screen, and to make it better, the enemy positions are randomized each time, so there is little more than a one second gap to aim at them before they shoot and hit you first try.
In truth, the game actually is a little fun, it's just a shame that you won't get anywhere given the difficulty with a controller. To make it better, you get three lives. After every death, a resident of the town will mock you for your failures. They oddly laugh at you every time, more like you were inconvenienced or lost a game of cards than, oh I don't know, GOT SHOT AND KILLED TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR HIDES.
If you don't have the gun accessory for whatever console you find this for, I say give it a pass. If you do have the gun however, it's worth a few laughs with a friend and some light drinks.
Or heavy drinks. I'm not your mom.
NEED FOR SPEED
Huh, I'll be darned. A 3DO game that I solidly enjoyed. For those who didn't know: Yes, the Need for Speed series, a franchise which still runs strongly today, made its debut on the 3DO. And for 1994, this game looks beautiful. The 3D graphics are actually very well polished, even by Playstation 1 standards a few years later. The cutscenes play smoothly, look decent, and hell, even the narrator doesn't do a bad job making sure that you're geared to go. I'm not even going to apologize for that pun.
As someone who is not a big fan of the Gran Turismo or Need for Speed series, I still had some fun with this game. Perhaps the only/main complaint that I have is how easy it is. Having never played it, I picked the controller right up, and immediately beat my opponent by a landslide. Three races in a row. So I'm sure that I'd have much more fun playing this with a second player.
Hey, man. You wanna pla-oh, right. Shit.
Editor's note: Upon further investigation, it seems that the 3DO version did not have multiplayer. The future ports of this game to other consoles had that feature.
Not surprisingly, Need for Speed was very positively received. In fact, the lowest score that I can find for it was an 8/10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Good or not, most people did not think that any of the games, even this, were worth the price tag of the 3DO (remember, $599 when this game came out). So....Electronic Arts took their big hit, and brought it over to the newer consoles that were sure to bring them better success.
Spoiler alert: It did. Okay, I'm seriously done with the car puns, now.
And as for the 3DO, its flames quietly died out in North America, and it was quickly forgotten by many while Sony and Nintendo took the spotlight. But for those of us who remember the 3DO, we can treasure the legacy that it left. Whether it be with its good games, or its bad.
Very, very bad.
Well, that's all for the 3DO segment of this series. Did you guys learn anything about the console? Did I forget to mention your favorite game? Let me know in the comments. What console shall we look at next time? Stay tuned!
* Doc would love it if you'd join his other gaming bits. He has a twitch page that you can follow here, and announcements for the livestreams take place here.
 |
| Look. Look into his eyeless face, and know the true abyss. |
As for the gameplay, the only thing that I could think about as I played it was "Roller Coaster Tycoon", a game which I've poured far more hours into. This game honestly feels like a prototype to Roller Coaster Tycoon. As you would expect, you place pre-built rides and shops into the park grounds, and carve walking paths for your guests to navigate the park. You can also hire entertainers, janitors, and mechanics to maintain everything.
|
| Basically everything that you can build in the first level all in one screen. |
My first major complaint is how to control the game. Yes, I know that this is a simulation game without a keyboard, and understand that there's going to be limitations due to that. However, if you give me the option upon creating a park to say it's my first time playing this game, then a tutorial for the controls would be greatly appreciated. The most tutorial-esque thing I could tell was that the Wonka director stays at the bottom of your screen, and lets you know when to raise or drop prices, but gives no help in regards to how to do anything.
Eventually, I began to understand the method to the madness, and built four rides, and three stores. No more were available, so I basically sat waiting for the director to give me advice, or for a ride to break down so I could make sure that a mechanic fixed it.In all honesty, the game basically plays itself after about fifteen minutes, it's so easy. With only those three rides, the director kept insisting that I raise my park's admission. Before I knew it, every guest was being charged $100 just to gain admission, and all the while the director informed me that I was "a shrewd businessman."
 |
| And then he takes the money, and runs while I deal with the angry mobs. Insidious bastard. |
Aside from that, you try to earn a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time. These goals, though, are extremely easy (The first level allowed up to 48 years to accomplish your goal). In all, I felt no challenge, and felt like moving on to another title after about half an hour. If you can, pick up Theme Park World on the pc, as it's a great game the likes of Roller Coaster Tycoon.
THE LAST BOUNTY HUNTER
This game was released as a sequel to the Mad Dog McCree series, which should be causing red alarms to go off for anyone who knows about the series. And this game is just like the McCree series. Heck, I might even argue that it's worse. The video quality is so fuzzy, it's hard to see any of the faces of the people talking to you. The whole series also had an issue with the audio de-syncing from the video, meaning that you wouldn't hear dialogue until the character in the video was already halfway through the next sentence. It was almost like watching an old western parody of Godzilla dubs.
But maybe this game's gameplay improved upon its predecessors. In fact, the box even says that this game is compatible with the 3DO light gun! Maybe I can pick one up online, and try it out! Oh. Maybe not. Okay, so the controller it is. I'm not sure if the gun even would make it easier, but holy balls is this game difficult. I had the game set to easy, and was never able to beat any of the four outlaws.
In order to beat a level, you have to do it all in one go. You die in one shot, and it's back to the beginning of the level. Your gun treks sloooooowly across the screen, and to make it better, the enemy positions are randomized each time, so there is little more than a one second gap to aim at them before they shoot and hit you first try.
In truth, the game actually is a little fun, it's just a shame that you won't get anywhere given the difficulty with a controller. To make it better, you get three lives. After every death, a resident of the town will mock you for your failures. They oddly laugh at you every time, more like you were inconvenienced or lost a game of cards than, oh I don't know, GOT SHOT AND KILLED TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR HIDES.
If you don't have the gun accessory for whatever console you find this for, I say give it a pass. If you do have the gun however, it's worth a few laughs with a friend and some light drinks.
Or heavy drinks. I'm not your mom.
NEED FOR SPEED
Huh, I'll be darned. A 3DO game that I solidly enjoyed. For those who didn't know: Yes, the Need for Speed series, a franchise which still runs strongly today, made its debut on the 3DO. And for 1994, this game looks beautiful. The 3D graphics are actually very well polished, even by Playstation 1 standards a few years later. The cutscenes play smoothly, look decent, and hell, even the narrator doesn't do a bad job making sure that you're geared to go. I'm not even going to apologize for that pun.
As someone who is not a big fan of the Gran Turismo or Need for Speed series, I still had some fun with this game. Perhaps the only/main complaint that I have is how easy it is. Having never played it, I picked the controller right up, and immediately beat my opponent by a landslide. Three races in a row. So I'm sure that I'd have much more fun playing this with a second player.
Hey, man. You wanna pla-oh, right. Shit.
Editor's note: Upon further investigation, it seems that the 3DO version did not have multiplayer. The future ports of this game to other consoles had that feature.
Not surprisingly, Need for Speed was very positively received. In fact, the lowest score that I can find for it was an 8/10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Good or not, most people did not think that any of the games, even this, were worth the price tag of the 3DO (remember, $599 when this game came out). So....Electronic Arts took their big hit, and brought it over to the newer consoles that were sure to bring them better success.
Spoiler alert: It did. Okay, I'm seriously done with the car puns, now.
And as for the 3DO, its flames quietly died out in North America, and it was quickly forgotten by many while Sony and Nintendo took the spotlight. But for those of us who remember the 3DO, we can treasure the legacy that it left. Whether it be with its good games, or its bad.
Very, very bad.
Well, that's all for the 3DO segment of this series. Did you guys learn anything about the console? Did I forget to mention your favorite game? Let me know in the comments. What console shall we look at next time? Stay tuned!
* Doc would love it if you'd join his other gaming bits. He has a twitch page that you can follow here, and announcements for the livestreams take place here.
But maybe this game's gameplay improved upon its predecessors. In fact, the box even says that this game is compatible with the 3DO light gun! Maybe I can pick one up online, and try it out! Oh. Maybe not. Okay, so the controller it is. I'm not sure if the gun even would make it easier, but holy balls is this game difficult. I had the game set to easy, and was never able to beat any of the four outlaws.
In order to beat a level, you have to do it all in one go. You die in one shot, and it's back to the beginning of the level. Your gun treks sloooooowly across the screen, and to make it better, the enemy positions are randomized each time, so there is little more than a one second gap to aim at them before they shoot and hit you first try.
In truth, the game actually is a little fun, it's just a shame that you won't get anywhere given the difficulty with a controller. To make it better, you get three lives. After every death, a resident of the town will mock you for your failures. They oddly laugh at you every time, more like you were inconvenienced or lost a game of cards than, oh I don't know, GOT SHOT AND KILLED TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR HIDES.
If you don't have the gun accessory for whatever console you find this for, I say give it a pass. If you do have the gun however, it's worth a few laughs with a friend and some light drinks.
 |
| Or heavy drinks. I'm not your mom. |
NEED FOR SPEED
Huh, I'll be darned. A 3DO game that I solidly enjoyed. For those who didn't know: Yes, the Need for Speed series, a franchise which still runs strongly today, made its debut on the 3DO. And for 1994, this game looks beautiful. The 3D graphics are actually very well polished, even by Playstation 1 standards a few years later. The cutscenes play smoothly, look decent, and hell, even the narrator doesn't do a bad job making sure that you're geared to go. I'm not even going to apologize for that pun.
As someone who is not a big fan of the Gran Turismo or Need for Speed series, I still had some fun with this game. Perhaps the only/main complaint that I have is how easy it is. Having never played it, I picked the controller right up, and immediately beat my opponent by a landslide. Three races in a row. So I'm sure that I'd have much more fun playing this with a second player.
Hey, man. You wanna pla-oh, right. Shit.
Editor's note: Upon further investigation, it seems that the 3DO version did not have multiplayer. The future ports of this game to other consoles had that feature.
Not surprisingly, Need for Speed was very positively received. In fact, the lowest score that I can find for it was an 8/10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Good or not, most people did not think that any of the games, even this, were worth the price tag of the 3DO (remember, $599 when this game came out). So....Electronic Arts took their big hit, and brought it over to the newer consoles that were sure to bring them better success.
Spoiler alert: It did. Okay, I'm seriously done with the car puns, now.
And as for the 3DO, its flames quietly died out in North America, and it was quickly forgotten by many while Sony and Nintendo took the spotlight. But for those of us who remember the 3DO, we can treasure the legacy that it left. Whether it be with its good games, or its bad.
Very, very bad.
Well, that's all for the 3DO segment of this series. Did you guys learn anything about the console? Did I forget to mention your favorite game? Let me know in the comments. What console shall we look at next time? Stay tuned!
* Doc would love it if you'd join his other gaming bits. He has a twitch page that you can follow here, and announcements for the livestreams take place here.
As someone who is not a big fan of the Gran Turismo or Need for Speed series, I still had some fun with this game. Perhaps the only/main complaint that I have is how easy it is. Having never played it, I picked the controller right up, and immediately beat my opponent by a landslide. Three races in a row. So I'm sure that I'd have much more fun playing this with a second player.
 |
| Hey, man. You wanna pla-oh, right. Shit. |
Editor's note: Upon further investigation, it seems that the 3DO version did not have multiplayer. The future ports of this game to other consoles had that feature.
 |
| Spoiler alert: It did. Okay, I'm seriously done with the car puns, now. |
 |
| Very, very bad. |
Well, that's all for the 3DO segment of this series. Did you guys learn anything about the console? Did I forget to mention your favorite game? Let me know in the comments. What console shall we look at next time? Stay tuned!
* Doc would love it if you'd join his other gaming bits. He has a twitch page that you can follow here, and announcements for the livestreams take place here.
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