Review - 3DO GAMES: DECATHLON (beta)

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Gir Draxa
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Review - 3DO GAMES: DECATHLON (beta)

Post by Gir Draxa » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:14 pm

3DO GAMES: DECATHLON shows so much promise, and realisticly shows why the 3DO still had a fighting chance in the console market. For it's time, the graphics were top notch, and even today, they're still pretty good. Incorporating a broadcast TV like presentation not done (well, not done really good) again until Dreamcast's 2K sports series, it gives a real feeling of watching classic olympics.

A large variety of sports that required skill, and less that required just simple fast fingers, make this one more than the average level of fun. However, the afforementioned issues keep this one from being really enjoyable.

Starting off on the control front, that is the only really major problem that kept this one from seeing release. While sharp and dead on in most of the games, a few like inthe various foot races, the control just seems to lag to the extreme. Falling to either being non-responsive, or so far behind in the response that you're liable to wonder if the computer is just doing whatever it wants.

Control on the Pole Vault, Discus, Javeline and all are pretty dead on. So really it just required a bit of refinement in the other events to fix that lag issue and I'm sure it would have been all around perfect. Javelin had one extra disadvantage though as occasionally a FAULT would freeze the game. This only happened about 1 in every 5 faults... but still its annoying.

I must applaud Studio 3DO in one reguard, this one really does take advantage of the 3DO's multiplayer feature, offering up to 8 players the chance at olympic gold. Too cool!

Visually, all that can be said was WOW! Very good looking athlete models, realistic looking event locations, and some really snazzy visual presentation effects make this one look really good. Graphic overlays, and smoothly shifting camera angles really give this one a nudge in the right direction. This is where another issue does creep up though. Certain effects were not properly implemented to work on the 3DO, so they caused errors and they'd disappear.

When it came to sound, this one was ok. Effects ranged from clomping feet to the strain of throwing the javelin are all pretty decent. No in game music, but at the character select screen and awards stand... each country's national anthem is well done.

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Post by Dengar13 » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:40 pm

Thank you for this review!

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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:28 am

I'm also looking forward to this! Oh Man!

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Post by Gir Draxa » Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:32 am

Anyone up for reviews of the other games from OG?

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Post by Gir Draxa » Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:36 am

Also, requests are taken for whats coming up when the Collective re-launches.

(and no, I won't spoil OG's surprize title :D )

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Post by Dengar13 » Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:08 am

Gir Draxa wrote:Also, requests are taken for whats coming up when the Collective re-launches.

(and no, I won't spoil OG's surprize title :D )

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Feel free to spoil away!

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:39 pm

Gir Draxa wrote:Anyone up for reviews of the other games from OG?

Drax
Me?

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Post by Gir Draxa » Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:33 am

Going to one up this review and add a video this weekend if all goes well.

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:27 pm

Looking forward to the Vids!

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Post by Gir Draxa » Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:42 pm

well, here's the demo video of 3DO Games : Decathlon.

3DO Games Decathlon

I cut out the tour of the OPTIONS and had to do several edits for time. The long distance run would have been a video unto itself otherwise. :D

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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:43 pm

It's interesting. 3DO studio were really pushing the unit by the end of it's life. This is a head and shoulders better graphically than the US Gold Olympics game. In fact they seem to have been giving goold ol' EA a run for their money in terms of presentation too. The menu system and the way graphics appear on screen during the menus looks to be very slick!

It looks, depite youtube, to be pretty smooth.

You would have thought that Studio 3DO would know what a 3DO controller looked like though! The adverts around the track are pretty telling

How long did you have to practice before coming first for the video Gir? LOL.

Anyway - it looks amazing mate, thanks for that. I'm looking forward to this being released!

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Post by Gir Draxa » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:54 pm

Heh, actually it plays a lot like the classic TRACK & FIELD of the 80s, which I was a huge fan of. So, most of the game is pretty easy for me. Javelin is tough to get the hang of, but pretty fun.

Plus, the game has a bit of an RPG element to it that I did not show. If you look on the startup screen you'll see 3 meters showing my stats, and a pair of dice. When you first start playing, you can click the dice to roll up your starting stats. (my guy is all speed to start with). Training improves these stats depending on which events you choose, how long you train and if you do well in the events.

Also, remember, 3DO was getting ready to upgrade to M2, so they probably wanted to project a non-descript conctroller as not to give away too much of the coming M2, and (in my opinion) to distance themselves from the much maligned original controller. There are pads out there that do look somewhat like that though.

If you guys want, when my site comes back, I'll post my game guru codes for this, Grand Chef and a few others. ;-)

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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:04 pm

...your posts often make me weep for joy. Cheats for Grand Chef. :D

Where on Earth did you find those?

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Post by Gir Draxa » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:45 pm

Find? No reason to go looking. I've made a lot of guru codes in the past for 3DO TODAY, and had a few new ones for THE TOWER and AUTOBAHN TOKIO posted on the Collective.

I renew my offer too, anyone who wants guru codes written for a game (it MUST have a save file), I will give it a shot time permitting.

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Post by Trev » Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:44 pm

Control on the Pole Vault, Discus, Javeline and all are pretty dead on.
Actually, I could use some help w/the Pole Vault (keep smacking the bar even when it is set low) and discus (fault!) What is the correct control method? Ironically, I found the Javelin to be the easiest event, and I have set world records even on "stud" difficulty.
Javelin had one extra disadvantage though as occasionally a FAULT would freeze the game. This only happened about 1 in every 5 faults... but still its annoying.
I thought my copy was the same, but it is actually just really slow here. Try leaving it for a few extra seconds and it should continue. I haven't froze here yet (the menu screen is a different story though ... :wink: )

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Post by Gir Draxa » Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:47 pm

Actually, mine did freeze on the Javelin, especially on the TRAINING mode, or if I hit the button to bypass the results page. The running events are the easiest to do, just timing the hurdles is such a quick point that I often miss, and I really do have to practice again each time before I play again so I can get the timing right.

Discus and Shot Put are almost impossible on a D-pad, try a joystick controller (not the flight stick, arcade stick) for better chances. it seems you MUST hit diagonals to make the thing go, otherwise, it assumes automatically that you want to throw. :-( Even with the 3DO stick or my generic, it's still hit & miss at best. Going to try a great Genesis stick I got when I get my 3DO set back up this weekend.

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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:24 pm

every time I try and enter my name instead of PLayer 1 it gives up. Other than that it seems pretty good.

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Post by Trev » Fri Sep 07, 2007 8:36 pm

every time I try and enter my name instead of PLayer 1 it gives up. Other than that it seems pretty good.
My copy did that the first time too. I think it has something to do w/the players country actually (was it mentioned in a post here on the forum?) I switched from the USA and have had no problems since, so you may want to try cycling through the different countries.

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