Blade Force (3DO)

[Retro STrife]

Blade Force is one of those games I've been meaning to play for the past 10+ years, and I finally did this week. I bought my 3DO sometime in the late 2000's, and Blade Force was one of the games I bought with it. It was on my "must have" list for the system after seeing some high praise for it in a couple online reviews. (VGC hasn't reviewed this one, so I had to resort to outside sources..) But as life would have it, my 3DO rarely gets hooked up and so Blade Force sat idle for over 10 years.

Flash forward to this summer, when I bought a set of Game Players magazines from the mid-90s. One day I'm flipping through the December '95 issue, when I see Blade Force and a big fat 95% rating. The magazine is pretty fair with their scores, so that 95% stopped me in my tracks. I start reading and see this huge accolade: "I never felt the [3DO] lived up to its potential. Well, now I can quit worrying. Bladeforce is simply one of the best games I've ever played. Period." Needless to say, I immediately made Blade Force a priority to try out.

Unfortunately, after an hour or two of play, I'm not sure what to make of it. The game has our hero flying around in a helipak in a fully 3D world, blowing crap up. All good on paper. The controls and camera are excellent by early 3D standards, the graphics are amazing for the 3DO, and the sound effects and music are all good. But I just have absolutely no clue what I'm doing. After the tutorial level, I play the first real level and I'm just flying around aimlessly blowing things up, but not sure where to go or what my purpose is. There might be a ton of fun here, but I'm too lost to find it. Then I watch the few Youtube videos that exist for it, and those gamers seem equally clueless. Anyway.. I guess I don't know what to make of this one.. anyone else ever tried it?

P.S. Here's the Game Players review and the issue cover:

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[Retro STrife]

Screenshot:

[ActRaiser]

Did you see that little blurb about new areas being hard to find in the ad? I zoomed in to read it. I'm sure that's like saying water is wet and it's no help but that was my first thought after reading the review.

[JustLikeHeaven]

I remember owning an a 3DO in the 90s and this came out right near the end of the system. It was one of the last "big" releases for the system before it croaked. I remember thinking it looked so cool and I couldn't wait to play it.

I think I got about 8 minutes into the tutorial before the motion sickness kicked in and couldn't physically play it any longer! At least I sort of figured out that the game was trash in those 8 minutes. Every time I tried to go back and play the game I'd get sick and then remember the game kinda sucked. From what my teenage brain remembers...the CG intro was sorta cool in a dumb overly edgy 90s kinda way!

[Retro STrife]

I remember owning an a 3DO in the 90s and this came out right near the end of the system. It was one of the last "big" releases for the system before it croaked. I remember thinking it looked so cool and I couldn't wait to play it.

I think I got about 8 minutes into the tutorial before the motion sickness kicked in and couldn't physically play it any longer! At least I sort of figured out that the game was trash in those 8 minutes. Every time I tried to go back and play the game I'd get sick and then remember the game kinda sucked. From what my teenage brain remembers...the CG intro was sorta cool in a dumb overly edgy 90s kinda way!

Interesting - I get motion sickness pretty easily (VR games for example), but didn't have that problem with Blade Force. And you're right about the intro. Even that Game Players review I posted above called it "one of the coolest intro sequences I've ever seen--not to mention one of the most twisted". Seemed pretty standard fare to me (some shadowy organization is taking over the world, or whatever), but I don't know, maybe it was crazy by 1995 standards.

[goldenband]

About 90% of the people who try Blade Force seem to have the same response -- and I'm talking about people who like the 3DO and its era, not just random gamers. Here's a thread about it from a 3DO message board:

http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopi ... 88&p=40809

That said, it seems like about 10% of the people who play it really "click" with it, so I guess the Game Players reviewer and the guy who posted that thread are in that 10%.

Personally I haven't tried it yet though I've owned a copy for about a decade. No doubt I've been put off by reading about the game being inscrutable and obtuse. Reports of motion sickness also concern me, though I've never gotten bad motion sickness (really simulation sickness) from a 3DO game -- it's mainly the Nintendo 64 that seems to do that to me most often.

(I guess Escape from Monster Manor made me feel a touch queasy now and then but nothing too bad. I'm a little afraid to try PO'ed, though...)

EDIT: Here's another thread about Blade Force, with a bit of discussion about how to get through the first area:

http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3207

[Retro STrife]

About 90% of the people who try Blade Force seem to have the same response -- and I'm talking about people who like the 3DO and its era, not just random gamers. Here's a thread about it from a 3DO message board:

EDIT: Here's another thread about Blade Force, with a bit of discussion about how to get through the first area:

Thanks for that post and the links, goldenband. Glad to hear that my feelings seem to be pretty universal. Seems like everyone thinks the fundamentals of the game all square up nicely, and then no one has any clue what to do! But that second link you provided looks very helpful, with ideas of how to make progress. Maybe it'll even inspire me to give it another look.

The game isn't terrible, and since it's a 3DO exclusive, I think it's genuinely worth considering for 3DO owners. But it would be a much better game if the levels were less convoluted and the objectives were more straightforward.