Variety - so they tell me at the Pick 'n Mix counter at Woolworths, is the spice of life.

And that maybe so, but back in the day, when 3DO was checking under the bed each night expecting to see a big scary PSX under there, all the variety it seemed everyone wanted was bloody first person shooters and Mortal Kombat.

This naturally provided a downward spiral, which thanks to its licensing model, 3DO slid with ease.

3DO had more than it's fair share of utterly rubbish first person shooters including the mighty Doom and although Mortal Kombat remained illusive, enough MK clones to upset each individual Daily Mail reader were made available.

Certain 3DO gems however remained in the wardrobe. Many like todays game were made and written by 3DO themselves. In the wardrobe when some might say they may have done better under the bed giving that nasty PSX a good hiding. I could of cause be talking about Power Kingdoms, Lucienne's Quest, Snow Job...

... but of cause I'm talking about today's game: Zhadnost - The peoples party.

Although, perhaps in retrospect, the general public in the mid-nineties weren't ready for wholesome family entertainment, and even if some of them were, they couldn't be heard over the baying hoards calling for "3D!" "3D!" "3D!". Press and public were united on this.

So in the hubbub of Virtua Fighter in the home, Daytona, Ridge Racer, Wipeout and whatever else was claiming to have a Z-Axis, Zhadnost - The peoples party scampered onto the shelves in 1995, developed by what now appears to be a before-their-time 3DO studio.

Only in the past couple of years with their air-guitars, eye-toys, buzzers and microphones has even Sony realised that playing with people in the same room is fun and can even stretch beyond trying to out drive or out kill other people.

Zhadnost - The peoples party is a fairly simplistic affair.

Essentially it's a virtualised TV show that spoofs soviet style TV. With a, oh-look-the-Berlin-wall's-down twist.

You play some simple match-the-pair games, sliding squares puzzle games, and so on, to win seconds. Seconds are then spent on the wheel of cash. The person with the most cash wins.

It reeks of mid-nighties. The actors, the cliches, the overall style and in one round the questions but none the less it can be fun for 2 to 4 players and certainly worth grabbing a copy.

The only problem you will face is that you will need at least one friend and two 3DO joypads. Good luck.

Reasonably rare too.

3DO Kid
"For all your 3DO fun!"

z7z1z2z3z5z6