2015/2/14: Philips CD-i: Mega Maze, Xplora 1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World

Postby **VideoGameCritic** » February 14th, 2015, 12:32 pm

It's been a while since I posted new Philips CD-i reviews. Hope you enjoy these.

NintendoPower1 · Postby **NintendoPower1** » February 14th, 2015, 3:26 pm

Easy to see why Phillips CD-i failed with those types of "games" - if you could call them that.

Considered at the time it was out, Mega Maze looks worse than the quality of the old Windows 95 pack in games like Chip's Challenge and I don't even know what the other game can be referred as. It looks worse than those Realplayer clips on computers back in the day.

Hopefully over time CD-i discs turn out to be extremely susceptible to disc rot and there isn't a working game within a year to prevent future generation from being curious about that monstrosity.

goldenband1 · Postby **goldenband1** » February 14th, 2015, 6:59 pm

Awesome! Reviews like those are one of the reasons I visit the site so often -- lots of places talk about the Sonics and Double Dragons and so on, but few will delve into the obscurities of the CD-i.

I have an odd yen to get a CD-i, but the battery problems and high cost put me off. Still, I suspect I'll pick one up sooner or later. Many of the games have an early-1990s Mac feel, which is no surprise considering the era, the delivery medium, and the shared 68K processor.

goldenband · Postby **goldenband** » May 27th, 2015, 1:06 am

goldenband1 wrote:I have an odd yen to get a CD-i, but the battery problems and high cost put me off. Still, I suspect I'll pick one up sooner or later.

Well, I finally got that CD-i! I'm enjoying it, though I really need to get a proper controller as the remote control is clumsy and laggy. I've spent time with Kether, Voyeur, Dark Castle (ugh), and International Tennis Open. I look forward to trying out Mega Maze.

Speaking of International Tennis Open, it'd be great to see that reviewed sometime, as it's a really bizarre fusion of typical 16-bit tennis with awkward digitized sprites. I've only spent 10-15 minutes with it but so far it seems to play fairly well, though for some reason it keeps crashing on my system. The announcer's commentary is surprisingly astute.

I'd also love to see the two Kingdom games get reviewed, as my wife and I really enjoyed those on (respectively) the 3DO and Mac OS Classic. Kingdom II: Shadoan is a console exclusive for the CD-i. Both are point-and-click adventures with gorgeous early 1980s-style animated FMV.