Review - Trip'd

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Trev
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Review - Trip'd

Post by Trev » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:24 pm

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Panasonic didn't just manufacture 3DO hardware ... they published quite a number of titles for the system as well. Lets take a look at one such example, the puzzle game Trip'd.

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Puzzle games can be quite important for a platform. While sports, fighting, and shooting games primarily attract a male audience, a good puzzle title can reach a much larger share of the market. The fairer sex seem to enjoy these types of games a great deal, so there is much potential profit to be made from a solid puzzle release. Bring the whole family in and, well you get the picture. More players = more profit! Trip'd is designed as a "game for the whole family", and while it might miss the mark in this respect (I'll explain in a bit) it does manage to provide some decent fun it short bursts.

Trip'd is very much in the mold of the classic game Tetris, which still serves as the model that many puzzle games follow down to this day. The unique angle that sets Trip'd apart from its predecesor is the potential to form alien creatures from the falling objects, in this case eggs rather than blocks. This can provide an opportunity for a good amount of strategy, particularly when playing the computer or going head to head with a friend, but in one player mode it doesn't seem to form the integral part of the game that the developers were hoping for. Not bad mind you, just not enough. in my opinion.

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This really is unfortunate, because without this added element to set it apart, Trip'd is a pretty average game all around. Graphically it looks as solid as a puzzle title can with bright and colorful sprites, but there is little variety. The alien creature to the right of the play field is constantly pointing and frowning in dissaproval ... no matter where I laid my pieces! The background graphics stay the same throughout also ... no change as the levels increase. :(

The music is pretty good. 'Earth' 'Wind' and 'Fire' tracks are offered, and there is some good variety between the three. The music had potential to be excellent with the 'Trip'd dance' mode, but it missed the mark. In this mode you manipulate various random and sometimes bizzare objects by pushing the buttons on the control pad. Each button pressed produces it's own sound effect, but it is in no way music. The only music present in this mode is at the title screen. It stops once you begin play. With or without music, it's very dull and I grew bored with very quickly.

Trip'd is a puzzle game for newbies. Veteran players will surely find it much too easy. Puzzle games usually aren't my first genre of choice, and even I thought it was too simple. The problem is that whenever the game speeds up, or whenever your pieces start piling up, you move on to the next level. Not only does this slow the pace back down, but it wipes out a sizable portion of the screen! This happened each and every level without fail. Although I admit that a few times I was on the edge of my seat, I was always confident that the game would bail me out. After making it to level 30 I quit out of boredom.

You can compete with the cpu, which certainly seemd more challenging to me, though I admit my time spent with it was limited. Frankly, the game didn't really motivate me to continue playing. I think the solo experience in Trip'd had been enough for me. Two player mode, I'm sure is more fun, but I've yet to actually try it. (edit - Since first posting this review I have played Trip'ds 2-player mode w/my wife. We both enjoyed it)

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Remember the "game for the whole family" quote earlier. This is prominently written on the game box ... right next to the warning for 12 & under! :? While I didn't find any "strong language" I thought some of the imagery was disturbing, mainly when you lose. Men with axes in their heads puking purple goo, skulls with their eyes hanging out barfing up blood :shock: ... what else would you expect form the developers at Warp (D, Enemy Zero, D2) Thankfully, this game is so easy you probably won't see much of this.

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Do I recommend Trip'd? Maybe... Take my short quiz to see if this game is for you

1) Do you really enjoy puzzle games?
2) Are you a new or inexperienced player?
3) Do you think Warp is the epitome of the cult classic developer?
4) Do you love 3DO and its founder Trip Hawkins? (wonder where the game got it's name? :wink: )

Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer

4 points - I'm sure you already own this game. Agree with my review?
3 points - Your a fanboy ... that is a good enough excuse to own Trip'd.
2 points - Bust a move (Puzzle Bobble) is probably the game for you.
1 point - You were probably hoping I would have spent more time
talking about D2 for M2 (seek help quickly!)
0 points - This is NOT the cd-i forum! (I kid my fellow cd-i fans. :P )

Trip'd really isn't a bad game ... just a very limited one. Fun in small doses. (edit - or in 2-player mode)


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-Trev
Last edited by Trev on Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by 3DOKid » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:33 am

Warp, Trip'ds developer, were weird. Ask me if I love Warp and I'd say I do. Ask me which of their games I thought was actually, genuinely, really really any good and I'd struggle... maybe D?

For puzzle perfection on the 3DO the Japanese import Crayon shin chans mystery is about the best. If you can stand the little git.

Later versions of Trip D that never surfaced outside of the Land of the rising Sun featured two player modes - which were pretty good.

...did I ever mention I had 'Short Warp' a limited edition Warp developed disk. I'm very proud of it :)

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Post by jesus 666 » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:00 pm

Trip'd is a really excellent game on two player, in fact the worst part of it is the single player mode, all other modes are excellent. You should spend more time playing two player before you criticise it.
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Post by Trev » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:12 am

I appreciate your comments, but I only directed my criticism of Trip'd towards its single player mode. I can't criticise the multiplayer because, as I stated, I had not tried it at the time I posted my review. I blame this on the main game dampening my spirits to continue playing. However, to be fair, I will get the ol' wife to give a go at multiplayer w/me. If it changes my opinion strongly enough, perhaps I will adjust my review slightly. Nevertheless, Trip'd simply makes too many mistakes to be an "excellent" game in my opinion. I do have occasional fun with it, but the bulk of my time is spent w/Bust a Move.

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Post by jesus 666 » Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:29 pm

Trev wrote:I appreciate your comments, but I only directed my criticism of Trip'd towards its single player mode. I can't criticise the multiplayer because, as I stated, I had not tried it at the time I posted my review. I blame this on the main game dampening my spirits to continue playing. However, to be fair, I will get the ol' wife to give a go at multiplayer w/me. If it changes my opinion strongly enough, perhaps I will adjust my review slightly. Nevertheless, Trip'd simply makes too many mistakes to be an "excellent" game in my opinion. I do have occasional fun with it, but the bulk of my time is spent w/Bust a Move.
Upon re-reading my post I think that I may have come off sounding harsher than I wanted, what I meant to say was that you should've played all the modes more before writing a review of the game, whether or not you write more underneath saying that other modes are better may not matter as many people will just read the first post of the thread and then make a decision based on that. If you do decide to play the multiplayer give it some time as when you both start to get used to combo-ing the alien things thats when the game take on a new level.
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Post by Trev » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:23 pm

many people will just read the first post of the thread and then make a decision based on that
If only my reviews carried that much weight ... :roll:


Seriously though, I tend to agree that a game needs to be played thorugh to completion before a review is posted. Case in point, I recently found an old review I wrote of Immercenary where I ripped it to shreds. Made me laugh since, as you may have noticed, the review I posted here on the forum was full of praise. The problem ... I did not spend enough time w/the game. So it is always a good rule of thumb to play a game in full.

I will play 2 player Trip'd.

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Post by Trev » Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:50 pm

When adding pics to this one, I had to make a couple of edits/additions when talking about the 2 player mode. Hadn't tried it yet when I posted this review way back when, but since have. It's good as I noted. I'll go ahead and add this ...

Support for 2 players is a sizeable improvement (my wife really likes it especially) It does help (to some extent) make up for the 1 player mode. Trip'd reminds me of other 3DO games in that sense like Return Fire (1 player mode is good, but 2 player is so much better) or Zhadnost (where there is no 1 player mode at all, but the 2 player is very good) 3DO has a lot of great multiplayer games, and I guess Trip'd is one of them.
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Post by Austin » Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:26 pm

I agree Trev, Trip'd in 2-player mode is great. Last week my brother was over and we were playing Bust-A-Move on the SNES. It was awesome. Super smooth through and through. I was like, ":idea:!!", "Hey, I just received the 3DO version of this--want to try it in versus mode?", and so we did. Holy hell there is a huge difference in the fluidity of the SNES Bust-A-Move and the 3DO one. So bad we had to stop playing. Rather than reverting back to the SNES, I tossed in Trip'd instead, since I've never played it in two player mode. Best decision of the night! :D

I'd like to note, I highly recommend the original Flopon/Furupon the Space Mutant from Japan. The one-player mode is much, much more difficult than the single-player in Trip'd (technically the sequel). It's also worth having because the graphics are older, slightly different (you can tell they were improved in the follow-up), and it has some of the mini games you find on the Short Warp compilation.

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Post by goldenband » Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:04 am

I'm not sure that I've ever tried the one-player mode in Trip'd -- maybe for a few minutes when I first bought it? The two-player mode is good fun, though it could use more options. My girlfriend and I fired it up the other night, and once we got into the zone it was surprising how much time it ate up! I really like the game's dynamic of forcing you to put yourself at risk (by filling up the playfield with large monster/blocks) in order to better attack your opponent.

Still, I wish there were a few extra wrinkles to give it a bit more depth. And yes, the end-of-round graphics are unexpectedly...well, graphic. It's a pity, since I think younger kids would enjoy it. Maybe it'd be a worthwhile hack to replace the gruesome images with something more benign?

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Post by AfterDark3DO » Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:20 am

It is a quite entertaining game, which delivers what I think is expected from a puzzle game: a strong 2-player game system (which brings the most fun) and a 1-player game system that might wear the player out rather quickly, at least from personal experience with this type of game.

I really liked the graphics and the animations.
And due to the shortage of puzzle games for 3DO, this one remains definitively enjoyable.

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Post by Martin III » Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:00 pm

Coincidentally, I just picked up a copy of the game from Ebay...

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Post by Trev » Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:19 pm

Martin III wrote:Coincidentally, I just picked up a copy of the game from evilbay...
It's not a bad little game. I like Bust a Move better, but Trip'd is fun. It is pretty easy, but that isn't always a bad thing if the game is fun. 2-player mode offers some unique things.

Have to let us know what you think of it.
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Post by Martin III » Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:48 pm

Tried it out. Reading over this thread, I'm a bit surprised at your comments, Trev, because just from playing the one-player mode it seemed obvious to me that the game was designed with two-player in mind. The super-aliens, one of Trip'd's main features, are essentially pointless in one-player mode since its rare that they form by accident, and the certain and immediate benefit of taking out four eggs (by arranging them in something other than a square) is clearly better than the potential future benefit of breaking the super-alien. It's only in the two versus modes that creating super-aliens has any purpose. The fact that the difficulty never increases also strongly suggests the game is geared towards those two modes. Heck, they even used two-player mode for the cover!

Anyway, I had a good little blast with it on one-player mode, but I really hope I can convince someone to play a few rounds of two-player with me. I'm burdened with the curse of being single, so my options for gaming partners are limited at best. :(

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Post by Trev » Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:10 am

Martin III wrote:The super-aliens, one of Trip'd's main features, are essentially pointless in one-player mode
Actually, the manual has a page describing how to use them in both one and two player modes.

There are actually some advantages to building them on purpose, although it initially seems to go against the grain so to speak. It certainly is more fun to use them in two player mode, but they do have a purpose playing solo. Given the games difficulty level though, I never really try to use them much when playing alone.

Glad you are having fun with it. :)
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Post by Martin III » Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:27 pm

Trev wrote:
Martin III wrote:The super-aliens, one of Trip'd's main features, are essentially pointless in one-player mode
Actually, the manual has a page describing how to use them in both one and two player modes.
I know, but as I said, the benefits of doing so aren't nearly as good as the benefit of immediately getting rid of four or more eggs.

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Post by Trev » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:25 pm

Martin III wrote:
Trev wrote:
Martin III wrote:The super-aliens, one of Trip'd's main features, are essentially pointless in one-player mode
Actually, the manual has a page describing how to use them in both one and two player modes.
I know, but as I said, the benefits of doing so aren't nearly as good as the benefit of immediately getting rid of four or more eggs.
Whic is part of the reason why I was a bit critical of Tripd's one player mode. It sounds like we probably agree with one another for the most part, but maybe for slightly different reasons. :wink:
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