Review - Total Eclipse

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Review - Total Eclipse

Post by Trev » Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:36 pm

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It seems appropriate that this is the first 3DO game reviewed on this forum since it was one of the first releases for the system. While not as good as Crystal Dynamics other launch title (the pack-in Crash n' Burn) Total Eclipse offered much excitement, as well as a great deal of hope for 3DO's early adopters in late 1993.

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Like most sci-fi shooters the plot is pretty cliched, but atleast the developers tried to add a little spice to it. Instead of aliens taking over our planet, they'd rather destroy it by blowing up the sun, thus causing a permanent or 'total' eclipse. Whether or not you think the title is clever, you probably will agree that the game delivered in the graphics & sound department. Let's take a look at both.

Graphically, the game starts off on the right foot with a slightly grainy but very cool introduction. It was quite clear that this was leaps & bounds beyond what other cd consoles (Duo, Cd-i, Sega cd, Cd32) were doing. The game itself is very attractive with smoothly scrolling terrain and a solid variety of enemy targets. While many space games are dark and drab, Total Eclipse is bright and colorful. Green grass, blue lakes, orange lava, white snow, and background planets of various colors help one to overlook the rather similar landscapes in each level (the exception being level 3 which seems to be just an ugly tan color throughout) Between missions you are treated to brief animated cut scenes that are just as nice as the introduction scene.

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On the downside, the weapons you fire are rather ugly. While the bombs have a nice graphical effect (shame they are so limited) the main weapons are too big and look out of place. In some parts they crowd the screen so much that it is difficult to see what is going on around you. Also, the enemy explosions seem more like something you would see on the Jaguar cd's Virtual Light Machine. 8) Atleast your own ship's explosions look real (and you will be seeing alot of them ... more on that in a bit).

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Sound wise, this game rocks ... literally! While this may not appeal to some, the music is loud & clear and certainly takes advantage of the cd format. Some may argue that this type of music is a bit out of place for a space shooter game but it certainly is not out of place on 3DO. Many of its games (including other shooters like Burning Soldier) feature similar music. I personally like the music, especially the level 2 track. My only complaint is that it is sometimes overpowered by the sound effects.

Speaking of sfx, they don't fare as well as the music in my opinion. The sound of your weapons firing and your ship crashing sound like something off of a cartridge. Atleast they don't detract from the experience.

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Of course the main area of importance is gameplay. Sadly, this is the weakest part of Total Eclipse. For one, your ship is constantly being drained of energy. I can understand what the programers might have been trying to accomplish with this but it is implemented too poorly. In order to gain energy back you need to destroy enemy targets. Fine, except there are many sections where enemies are sparse or non existent! Ironically, this usually happens when you need energy the most (at the end of tunnels, before a boss battle, etc.) While this may allow you to catch a much needed breather, if your energy is low it means certain death! It is a frustrating experience to watch your ship slowly lose energy, to know that you are going to die, and being unable to do anything about it. It is worth noting that you can also catch a breather during the long load times that follow your ships explosion (10-15 seconds). These can quickly add up during difficult levels.

And there are plenty of difficult levels. 3DO Games Secrets called it 'over-the-top-difficulty' and I agree with them. What makes this game so hard? For one, it it too easy to hit the terrain, especially in some of the tunnel sequences. They are narrow, and full of a variety of enemies, as well as obstacels such as closing doors and shifting walls.

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Also, sometimes your weapons appear to fly right through enemies, even when you are at point blank range. Finally, there is no save option, and with few lives & limited continues you are sure to be slapping your head in frustration over and over again (I thought I'd rip my hair out at the end of Magma Prime!) :twisted:

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That being said, I did enjoy Total Eclipse and still do. Despite the shortcomings in gameplay (chalk it up to new developers & new hardware) the game offers an attractive audio/visual package that was amazing in '93 and still holds up decently today. The game is fun in short bursts and thankfully there are some nice codes which make the game much more playable. Most importantly, this game gave us a glimpse of all the good things to come from Crystal Dynamics, one of the premier 3DO 3rd party developers (second only to Electronic Arts). Fire up Total Eclipse for a challenging, nostalgic glimpse at the early days of next-geneartion gaming! :)

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-Trev

(Crystal did a sequel, 'Solar Eclipe', which sadly appeared on the Sega Saturn, not the 3DO. Worth checking out, especialy if you are a fan of the great tv show Babylon 5 :wink: )
Last edited by Trev on Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:01 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Post by Lemmi » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:18 am

nice review

i would do a review but mine would be just bullet points and be about 7 paragraphs smaller then yours :D

plus im a horrible writer
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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:29 am

I agree. It's flawed but stands up remarkably well today. The end of level bosses are dissapointing. The second one, I think it was the second one, is a volcano which actually works well. and was very impressive. So well in fact that you look forward to the next one - only to descover its a very easily forgettable. (See I forgot!) And it doesn't get any better.

I'll take you to task over the music. The music was very naff. Sorry to disagree. I wish they could have taken the music from Novastorm and used it on Total Eclipse.

Even though I watched the intro about a thousand times the name 'Total Eclipse' never sunk in - thanks for clearing that up. "Sun Dagger" Oh a geddit now. 14 years later...

It's 3D space invaders. And your right it was reasonably impressive. It's just a shame that the PSX and Sega rumour mill had pinched all of 3DO's thunder!

One final thing - I don't think it was that hard. I see a pattern forming. :) I did beat it at the time and I beat it again recently without too much effort. It could be because on a PAL unit Total Eclipse runs 10% slower... just a thought mind but I've seen this before.

I played the Japanese import of Tekken 3 on Japanese 60hz system and I was essentially unbeatable against people who had only ever played on the PAL 50hz system. Not because I was good - but because I was used to the faster version. Perhaps it's the same thing here. Just in reverse. Because it's slower here in the UK - it was easier...? Kind of makes sense!

Nice work by the way.

And thanks!

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Post by Trev » Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:18 am

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try & post some of the other reviews that I have written within the next few days.

Might I ask what pattern it is that you see forming? :wink: In my defense I present this quote (about Space Hulk mind you, not Total Eclipse)

"The only flaw is that it's a demonically hard game - only the buffest of the buff will beat it without resorting to the cheat mode.." 3DO Game Secrets - Book Two

So, maybe it's not my gaming skills that are suspect ... maybe 3DOKid is just a 3DOGod :o How is that for a backhanded compliment?

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:09 am

Trev wrote:Thanks for the feedback. I'll try & post some of the other reviews that I have written within the next few days.

Might I ask what pattern it is that you see forming? :wink: In my defense I present this quote (about Space Hulk mind you, not Total Eclipse)

"The only flaw is that it's a demonically hard game - only the buffest of the buff will beat it without resorting to the cheat mode.." 3DO Game Secrets - Book Two

So, maybe it's not my gaming skills that are suspect ... maybe 3DOKid is just a 3DOGod :o How is that for a backhanded compliment?
Maybe it is just the British stiff upper lip I have heard so much about...? (OK... maybe not!)

Lots of 3DO games were tough to beat as I recall. So maybe it is this. Maybe some are very (very!) rubbish and therefore after you have been thrashed a couple of times, people give up and say the game is too hard.

If on the other hand the games is actually good, people kept trying. It was hard - yes - but worth the effort. I don't recall breezing through Space Hulk and Total Eclipse - but I do recall enjoying playing them.

What I might do is move your review to the main forum - make it 'Game of the Moment' and convince others to play it. Most people have a copy right?

See what the others say!

3DO Kid.

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Post by Lemmi » Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:39 pm

my copy of total eclipse is still sealed :)

here is a box scan of the game, use them as you wish, take them resize it or whatever you want, maybe even edit your first post and put the box scans in

i scanned both sides

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/ ... 9front.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/ ... 60back.jpg
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Post by maclic » Fri May 04, 2007 4:22 am

Good review. I agree with most of it. I like the music too and grafics look great to me. I disagree in one point. At the end of the tunels, when the game is loading, the energy dry stops as far as I remmember. Hope see more reviews from you.
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Post by Mobius » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:58 pm

I'm going through my entire collection and playing and reviewing every game. Here's my first 3DO review:
Like with my first Saturn review, I spent some time debating what I wanted to cover first for the 3DO. There are some great games for the system, but most of them are overshadowed by the overwhelming amount of crap that is available, too. I wanted to pick something that I felt properly represented the spirit of the 3DO, and I think Total Eclipse does that. It’s not because Total Eclipse is a particularly good game (or a particularly bad game). I think it’s just a good representation of the games that are available for the 3DO — it’s prototypical for the system.

Total Eclipse is a fantastic technical feat for its time. The terrain and enemies are all rendered in crisp, clear 3D with a slick, smooth frame-rate. It features CD audio, pre-rendered cut-scenes, and does a great job of making loading times virtually transparent. Unfortunately, it’s just not a very exciting game. The first couple of worlds drag on without much of interest to report. You’ll face straightforward terrain, easy enemies, and a soundtrack that alternates between dull, tired sounding guitar riffs and cheesy soap-opera-style saxophone.

Frankly, the whole time I was playing Total Eclipse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was just playing a polished but generic version of Star Fox. They’re very similar games — both are futuristic rail-shooters where you take on the role of a fighter pilot heading off to save the solar system. But while Total Eclipse excels in many of the technical areas of game design, it just doesn’t match Star Fox in terms of fun.

If you do manage to persevere through the easy, bland opening worlds, you’re rewarded with more enemies and more challenging terrain to navigate. But by a cruel twist of fate, the game becomes even less fun. I have several gripes with the way the game feels and I think many of them extend from the fact that, for some reason, the designers decided to make the player's ship a simple sprite while the rest of the game is all polygonal. As a result, the ship never felt like it was really part of the world I was flying through. Rather, it seemed as though it was a simple overlay that I was sliding around the screen. So, when the terrain actually became more interesting and varied, it also became unnecessarily difficult to traverse. It was too hard for me to tell where my ship was in relation to the ground, hills, walls, and ceilings, so I found myself constantly ramming into them and taking damage.

Another factor that contributes to this problem is that the camera angle is perfectly fixed. It never tilts or pans, even if you’re turning or traveling at an angle. So when I was required to dodge enemies or traverse a particularly tricky stretch of terrain, I found myself blindly ramming into hills and enemy fire because I simply couldn’t see what was directly to my left or right. This was constantly a problem for me in later stages and sucked the enjoyment out of what could have otherwise been a fun game.

It’s unfortunate that Total Eclipse has these problems, as it’s an otherwise promising game. I like that each new world introduces additional, more challenging enemies. I like that there are alternate paths through every outdoor level. I like how the enemies explode in a Tempest 2000-style rain of pixels. I like how there’s even a certain strategy to powering up your ship. But technical prowess combined with dull or frustrating gameplay is something of a common theme for the 3DO. It was a time when developers were just starting to get their feet wet with the concept of 3D games and control and camera problems were common. Total Eclipse suffers from the same growing pains.

Final Thoughts: Total Eclipse is a technical showcase for the 3DO. It features a generally impressive 3D engine with a solid framerate. But it seems that, while the developers were able to squeeze a lot out of the hardware, they weren’t able to squeeze out any fun. As long as I was playing Total Eclipse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should just be playing Star Fox instead.
As an interesting side note... When getting ready to post this, I found that there are almost no screenshots of this game on the web, there are no YouTube videos, no Wikipedia page, and no two sources could even agree on whether it was released in 1993 or 1994. I think Total Eclipse is quickly being forgotten to time...

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Post by mosul210 » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:55 pm

Total Eclipse was one of my favorite titles on my initial 3DO. Graphically it was beyond anything I had ever seen on rival systems - Nintendo, Genesis, Jaguar. I totally agree with the OP the full motion video on this game was fantastic.

Game play was a little on the difficult side, but not impossible. The explosions from what I remember totally rocked!

This is a must have title for any 3DO enthusiast.

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Post by jesus 666 » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:36 pm

At the very best this game is mediocre, un-inspired repetitive level designs and crappy weapons upgrades, all it ever had going for it was the graphics and they were surpassed pretty fast by later consoles games.

It well and truly belongs in the 60% style score (for the time)
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Post by jesus 666 » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:41 pm

3DOKid wrote:
Trev wrote:Thanks for the feedback. I'll try & post some of the other reviews that I have written within the next few days.

Might I ask what pattern it is that you see forming? :wink: In my defense I present this quote (about Space Hulk mind you, not Total Eclipse)

"The only flaw is that it's a demonically hard game - only the buffest of the buff will beat it without resorting to the cheat mode.." 3DO Game Secrets - Book Two

So, maybe it's not my gaming skills that are suspect ... maybe 3DOKid is just a 3DOGod :o How is that for a backhanded compliment?
Maybe it is just the British stiff upper lip I have heard so much about...? (OK... maybe not!)

Lots of 3DO games were tough to beat as I recall. So maybe it is this. Maybe some are very (very!) rubbish and therefore after you have been thrashed a couple of times, people give up and say the game is too hard.

If on the other hand the games is actually good, people kept trying. It was hard - yes - but worth the effort. I don't recall breezing through Space Hulk and Total Eclipse - but I do recall enjoying playing them.

What I might do is move your review to the main forum - make it 'Game of the Moment' and convince others to play it. Most people have a copy right?

See what the others say!

3DO Kid.
LOL, I was thinking about this the other day, nobody whines about games being difficult more than Americans :P in the UK we grew up with games which really were difficult, not some pansy arse NES Contra, I'd like to see someone try to complete a ZX Spectrum game after playing Contra and we'll see which is more difficult :lol:
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Post by Trev » Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:35 am

LOL, I was thinking about this the other day, nobody whines about games being difficult more than Americans
This is a trend that seems to be changing ... consensus seems to be that today's games are a bit easier. Casual craze perhaps?

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Post by jesus 666 » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:07 pm

Trev wrote:
LOL, I was thinking about this the other day, nobody whines about games being difficult more than Americans
This is a trend that seems to be changing ... consensus seems to be that today's games are a bit easier. Casual craze perhaps?
Yeah agreed, I was meaning more in the retro scene, mainstream recent games have become ridiculously easy for the most part over the last few years which everyone seems to agree on.
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Post by Superhero360 » Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:27 am

I loved "Total Eclipse". It was my second game right after the bundled "Crash and burn". Amazing graphics and I love the music.
It is a very hard game indeed though. I got so mad when I got it and played it as a teenager lol. I just played it recently and made it to the second level of the sun dagger but that's it. Too hard. I got to try it with a code to finally see the ending after 16 years lol.
Still a must have for every 3DO owner.

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Post by oldskool » Sat Apr 03, 2010 4:08 am

Yes, a great game. Top 5!
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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Apr 04, 2010 12:37 am

Interesting that Crash N Burn was the original pack in game in Germany (You guys are PAL region too right?)

In the UK it was Total Eclipse. (And i think this game is aces!)

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Re: Review - Total Eclipse

Post by knightintosh » Sun May 29, 2011 12:52 pm

Trev wrote:And there are plenty of difficult levels. 3DO Games Secrets called it 'over-the-top-difficulty', and I agree with them. What makes this game so hard? For one, it it too easy to hit the terrain, especially in some of the tunnel sequences. They are narrow, and full of a variety of enemies, as well as obstacels such as closing doors and shifting walls.

...

(Crystal did a sequel, 'Solar Eclipe' whcih sadly appeared on the Sega Saturn, not the 3DO. Worth checking out, especialy if you are a fan of the great tv show Babylon 5 :wink: )
I remember Edge's review (they liked it, 7/10) stated that the tunnel sections could've been made so much better with one simple addition - a shadow. How right they were! I'm playing the game now for the first time ever (apart from quick goes in demo booths at the time of release) and the tunnels are brilliant fun but difficult to judge how close you are to the ground/walls. I find I hit them and then over-compensate and it turns into a pinball game in there!

I'd never heard of 'Solar Eclipse' before and, being a huge B5 fan, I'm intrigued... what's it got to do with B5? (Can't go hunting for info at the mo, I'm sneaking on here at work as it is today!)

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Post by Trev » Sun May 29, 2011 5:48 pm

Yeah, the tunnels are certainly my least favorite part of the game.

As for the sequel, Solar Eclipse, the B5 connection is that Claudia Christian, who played Lt. Commander Suusan Ivanova, is the lead star in the games FMV.
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Post by knightintosh » Sun May 29, 2011 6:14 pm

Trev wrote:Yeah, the tunnels are certainly my least favorite part of the game.

As for the sequel, Solar Eclipse, the B5 connection is that Claudia Christian, who played Lt. Commander Suusan Ivanova, is the lead star in the games FMV.
Ah-ha I see! You know that's the only other thing I've heard of her actually being in apart from the movie Strays.

Tracy Scoggins was also in.... "Snowjob", was it? On 3DO I mean.

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Post by Trev » Sun May 29, 2011 6:17 pm

Yeah, Tracy was the lead in SnowJob (a pretty good, if occassionally frustrating game) I guess thats another B5 connection on 3DO.
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Post by Rust » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:41 pm

I'm not always quick-thinking, but this may represent a new record for me: I've only just now realized that the enemy craft from this game are totally ripped off from the Recognizers in Tron.

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Post by Trev » Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:06 pm

Nothing like giving an old review (first one posted on the forum) a new coat of paint with some screenshots. As soon as I finish updating these old ones, I'll start posting some new reviews. In the meantime, enjoy.
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Post by goldenband » Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:47 am

Some nice reviews in this thread. I've had the PlayStation version of this for some time, but only played it for a bit before getting frustrated -- I seem to recall I was having a hard time getting into the tunnels for some reason.

I bought the 3DO version a couple months ago (unfortunately missing the manual, as I found out after I got it), and started working on it today. Initially, at least, it seems a lot more playable than the PS version.

That said, I found the gameplay to be very, very repetitive. I'm not sure how long a complete playthrough would take, but the lack of a password/save feature is a serious drag in such a repetitive game. So many tunnels!

It didn't actually seem all that hard -- I got most of the way through the second planet on my first gameplay session. But it also felt like my ship's survival was somewhat random: sometimes I'd pass through a tunnel or a wall of enemy fire unscathed, while other times I'd get hammered. And a lot of that is simply that I couldn't really see what was coming.

I had the exact same thought as an earlier poster about Star Fox. That game may be technically inferior in basically every way, but it's a lot more fun to play (and the music is far better!). Still, I found Total Eclipse entertaining enough to want to try it again. At least it offers a generous number of lives/continues and a humane checkpoint system so you don't have to replay huge swathes of the game.

BTW Total Eclipse is one of the few manual scans (at least of common games) that isn't available at Replacementdocs or Lemmi's post here, but I was able to find a PDF of the manual online at a site called 3DO Today.

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Post by Trev » Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:05 pm

Appreciate the comments, and your own observations on Total Eclipse. I agree w/you about the tunnels, collision detection issues, and (to an extent) the repetive nature of it. Still a good game, but probably would have benefited from a couple extra months of tweaking.

Thanks for the post and welcome to the forum.
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Post by goldenband » Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:01 am

Thanks! I sat down for another session today and made it to about halfway through the fourth world. The tunnels get more aggravating later in the game, but it seems like there's usually some trick to dealing with them, e.g. letting yourself get propelled super-fast so that you can catch the iris-style doors before they close. Still, there are some cheap shots -- the energy beams that criss-cross the tunnel like jail bars are almost impossible to avoid, for one.

The fact that the smart bomb item can be used to recharge your health is a nice touch too; if things get grim and there are enemies nearby, it can be a lifesaver. OTOH, it's suicidal to use it early on against the volcano boss! That's a clever bit of design, in its way.

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Post by Austin » Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:20 am

@GB--it's great to see you here man! I mention this forum over at AtariAge when I can, but we do not get many people trickling over.

As far as your comments, I agree. However, from what I have read of yours in the "Games Beaten" thread at AA, you are a much more dedicated man than I, finishing loads of titles even if they are painful experiences. Personally, I haven't made it past the volcano boss in Total Eclipse. Any tips?

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Post by goldenband » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:25 pm

Austin wrote:@GB--it's great to see you here man! I mention this forum over at AtariAge when I can, but we do not get many people trickling over.
Aw, thanks! I've been registered for a few months, but only in the past week or so have I been playing the 3DO a lot again. (For those who don't know me, I'm mainly a Genesis and Intellivision guy these days, though I grew up with Atari 2600/5200 and NES/SNES. I'd never played a 3DO, even in emulation, until the end of 2010!)
Austin wrote:As far as your comments, I agree. However, from what I have read of yours in the "Games Beaten" thread at AA, you are a much more dedicated man than I, finishing loads of titles even if they are painful experiences. Personally, I haven't made it past the volcano boss in Total Eclipse. Any tips?
Hey, flattery will get you everywhere! :D It feels weird to give tips for a game I haven't yet beaten, but here goes:

The trick to the volcano boss seems to be shooting him in the eyes when he's vulnerable (his eyes turn dark red and he fires additional shots which are a different color IIRC). AFAIK there's no point in even having him onscreen when he's not vulnerable, though you can dodge his main shots pretty easily. When he can be hit, though, you should go after him relentlessly, without worrying about your ship's safety too much -- he doesn't do that much damage, and it's more important to get in as many hits as possible.

The other part of the equation is the sitting-duck enemies off to each side, who in effect are your health powerups. You want to save them for as long as you can, though it's good to take out the one that shoots at you first, since it can do a fair amount of damage.

Basically, the pattern is: shoot him in the eyes, duck to one side and blow up 1-2 enemies to regain health, and repeat. Be sure not to miss out on any of his vulnerable phases, since your health is steadily ticking away, and they happen at the same time whether or not he's onscreen. And above all, don't use your smart bombs (or whatever they're called) until all the enemies off to the side are gone. Otherwise it's like snarfing down all your health powerups at once, and your health bar isn't long enough to survive the battle without being replenished 2-3 times.

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Post by Austin » Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:34 am

goldenband wrote:The trick to the volcano boss seems to be shooting him in the eyes when he's vulnerable (his eyes turn dark red and he fires additional shots which are a different color IIRC). AFAIK there's no point in even having him onscreen when he's not vulnerable, though you can dodge his main shots pretty easily. When he can be hit, though, you should go after him relentlessly, without worrying about your ship's safety too much -- he doesn't do that much damage, and it's more important to get in as many hits as possible.
Hmm, that's what I was doing, but he knocked me out pretty quickly. When I got a Game Over, I was like, "yeah, I've had enough."

Does anyone know if the Japanese version is more difficult or not? That's the one I was playing, and it seemed like that boss was killing me very quickly.

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