First Impressions
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:31 am
Now that I've had my 3DO for a few days and have been fooling with some of the games that came with it, I thought I'd share my first impressions.
I love the look and feel of the console itself; very professional. Only problem is, where's the reset button?
The controller's decent. It has the same elegant button layout as the Saturn's, so I was a little disappointed that it doesn't also have the same tight, comfortable grip. It's certainly something I can get used to, though. The buttons work well and it has that nice compact size.
The first game I tried is Guardian War. I was especially drawn to this one because it's by the team behind the excellent Mystaria/Blazing Heroes, and in fact looks to be a spiritual predecessor to that game. It looks like I'm getting just what I hoped for in that regard: the style is immediately evocative of Mystaria, yet there are abundant differences, so I'm not just getting more of the same. I am a bit disappointed by the apparently limited storyline, mainly because from what I understand, Slayer, Deathkeep, and Star Control II don't have much story either. Is Lucienne's Quest the only story-driven RPG on the 3DO? ...Anyway, I'm not ready to fully dive into this one yet, particularly as, much like Mystaria, it's clearly not just a "pick up and play" type of game.
Icebreaker is certainly a pleasant surprise, and the game I've been spending the most time with thus far. I do like action puzzlers, but I don't get hooked on them as easily as most gamers, and I expected the graphics and sound to be along the lines of Zoop: simple and functional, not fancy. On the contrary, I'd venture to say that the game's addictiveness is more due to the satisfying sight and sound of pyramids being destroyed than to the actual gameplay. The gameplay mechanics aren't perfectly elegant, but they do keep me engaged. The one problem is that the levels seem too big. Honestly, 200 pyramids per level? I spend most of my time idly eliminating pyramids and wondering where in the vast offscreen expanse the seekers are lurking. Not that I don't have fun doing so, mind you, but it really slows the pace down. Overall though, really having a blast with this one.
Return Fire looks basically like Mass Destruction with some humor and very low variety of mission objectives, though of course I have to give Return Fire props for being first. I do like the variety of vehicle types, all of which play effectively in their own way, and I'll certainly be giving this one more attention at some point. To be blunt, however, I got tired of Mass Destruction after a few sittings and I doubt this one will fare much better.
Finally, Slayer. Wow. Just wow. I'm blown away by the music; I watched the whole intro three times and it still sent chills down my spine every time. The graphics are stunning, too. The appearance of that monster in the intro almost made me soil my trousers. I certainly had my doubts about Slayer: 1st person dungeon crawlers are my favorite genre, but I like them to be grid-based, and have had bad experiences with ones that aren't. But this, from the looks of it, is right up my alley. I haven't dug into it yet because I want to read the manual first(and sadly the one posted in these forums still can't be downloaded), but I'm looking forward to doing so.
I love the look and feel of the console itself; very professional. Only problem is, where's the reset button?
The controller's decent. It has the same elegant button layout as the Saturn's, so I was a little disappointed that it doesn't also have the same tight, comfortable grip. It's certainly something I can get used to, though. The buttons work well and it has that nice compact size.
The first game I tried is Guardian War. I was especially drawn to this one because it's by the team behind the excellent Mystaria/Blazing Heroes, and in fact looks to be a spiritual predecessor to that game. It looks like I'm getting just what I hoped for in that regard: the style is immediately evocative of Mystaria, yet there are abundant differences, so I'm not just getting more of the same. I am a bit disappointed by the apparently limited storyline, mainly because from what I understand, Slayer, Deathkeep, and Star Control II don't have much story either. Is Lucienne's Quest the only story-driven RPG on the 3DO? ...Anyway, I'm not ready to fully dive into this one yet, particularly as, much like Mystaria, it's clearly not just a "pick up and play" type of game.
Icebreaker is certainly a pleasant surprise, and the game I've been spending the most time with thus far. I do like action puzzlers, but I don't get hooked on them as easily as most gamers, and I expected the graphics and sound to be along the lines of Zoop: simple and functional, not fancy. On the contrary, I'd venture to say that the game's addictiveness is more due to the satisfying sight and sound of pyramids being destroyed than to the actual gameplay. The gameplay mechanics aren't perfectly elegant, but they do keep me engaged. The one problem is that the levels seem too big. Honestly, 200 pyramids per level? I spend most of my time idly eliminating pyramids and wondering where in the vast offscreen expanse the seekers are lurking. Not that I don't have fun doing so, mind you, but it really slows the pace down. Overall though, really having a blast with this one.
Return Fire looks basically like Mass Destruction with some humor and very low variety of mission objectives, though of course I have to give Return Fire props for being first. I do like the variety of vehicle types, all of which play effectively in their own way, and I'll certainly be giving this one more attention at some point. To be blunt, however, I got tired of Mass Destruction after a few sittings and I doubt this one will fare much better.
Finally, Slayer. Wow. Just wow. I'm blown away by the music; I watched the whole intro three times and it still sent chills down my spine every time. The graphics are stunning, too. The appearance of that monster in the intro almost made me soil my trousers. I certainly had my doubts about Slayer: 1st person dungeon crawlers are my favorite genre, but I like them to be grid-based, and have had bad experiences with ones that aren't. But this, from the looks of it, is right up my alley. I haven't dug into it yet because I want to read the manual first(and sadly the one posted in these forums still can't be downloaded), but I'm looking forward to doing so.