3DO ZONE Forums

Our latest Let's Play is up:

Let's Play - Phoenix 3 (3DO, 1995)

I was particularly interested in seeing this one again because the space combat sim was so nice. Unfortunately, you have to fight through a rather dodgy platformer to get to it.

We hope you enjoy it.

This should be especially interesting, since it was the reverse for me. I thought the platforming sections had potential, but found the space combat to be very weak and boring. It'll be interesting to hear your take on it.

I despised the platformer section.

The game reminds me of those 80's movies like Robo Jox, The Salute of the Jugger and Cyborg.

Which I don't actually mind watching now since they're 80 to 90 minutes long. Better, and no better than Batman, Transformers 3, which is technically 3 hours, but after the first 2 hours they go Zen. Never ending, never starting.

Trev wrote:This should be especially interesting, since it was the reverse for me. I thought the platforming sections had potential, but found the space combat to be very weak and boring. It'll be interesting to hear your take on it.

Well they both had potential from what I seen. The platformer seemed less developed than the space flight game was from what I've seen. The platformer seemed really undeveloped but the space combat was very intriguing. Have not seen all of it yet but the HUD seemed very well developed along with the targeting/firing system. There was even directional arrows on where to go like Colony Wars has on the PSX. Does Battlesphere have these directional arrows so you can tell which way to go to find the enemy? It even has the 'lead the target' tracking help. It LOOKS really interesting. If anything it would of been a good foundation to go on.

I had a few problems with the space combat, but mainly its just dull as dirt. Every single mission felt practically indentical, with little if any change in objectives. The enmey AI is ridiculously weak, making the game feel more like a carnival shooting gallery. The same enemies will repeatedly circle you w/o firing even a single shot! It might be just as well (in a sense) since your own weapons are awful. Your standard weapon is about as effective as a pellet gun. Topped off with weak, repetitive visuals, terrible looping music, and slowdown ... I wanted to like these parts, I really did. But they feel unfinished, which makes their repetitive nature that much more annoying

The platformer sections aren't great mind you, and they have a slew of problems all their own. But I definitely prefer them, just becuase there is a great deal more variety.

I haven't watched the vid yet, I should listen to it this afternoon.

I found it pretty entertaining, though I'm speaking as someone who hasn't played the game itself. It gave me a better feel for what Phoenix 3 is like than I think I'd have gotten from watching just a straight gameplay vid. Plus there's the usual illuminating developer talk.

I didn't even know this game had space combat sections. Goes to show how far I've gotten in the game. The 2D sections are awful.