There are a few guys now doing 3DO reviewing, which is a good thing. They aren't as good as me but then... who is? (Who could better the 3DOKid? Who?) Anyway, Traegorn over at Rising Stuff, did a good video review of Escape from Monster Manor at the tail end of last year, and while watching it, I did think to myself, I didn't like Escape from Monster Manor much either. However, that was back 2005 that I didn't like it, and since then, well? I have learnt to be more tolerant. Especially of FPS games - so I thought I would revisit Escape from Monster Manor.

And you know what? I'm so glad I did.

This game does represent one of my earliest memories of the 3DO way back in 1994 and it is singularly the most paradoxical game on the 3DO platform. When it's awesome, it's really awesome. For example: say what you want about Doom, my feelings remain the same, but Monster Manor completely and utterly eclipses it in the enemy graphics department. The stop-motion animated bad guys are fantastic. As they sort of hobble towards you, semi-transparent, they are nothing short of spectacular. There is something very 'next-gen' circa 1993 about them, and full credit to Electronic Arts they did well here. Also, the number of them at any one time is pretty amazing too. One room there has to be something like twenty to thirty bad guys on you at once. Which in its self is one hell of a technical achievement.

The next piece of jaw-drop delivered by Escape is the audio. If you have this game, and have a 3DO hooked up to TV, start it up now. Use headphones. Now, race through the first level and once on to the second level pause and just listen. The amount, and the variety, and whether it's random timing or highly skilled timing the audio made me nervous. It's utterly brilliant. It really sets the tone of the whole game. The only other game that exploited this quite so well was Space Hulk on the 3DO, which was another EA game, but I honestly believe Escape surpasses it. The audio is quite an experience, especially in a world that now considers custom-sound tracks in games the be-all-and-end-all. It's not you Philistines.

Another point, in my last review I criticised, without much thought, (shame on me) the controls. I wasn't wrong; turning through 180-degrees is painfully slow, but the motion engine is quite delicate. There is inertia. Start to turn left and release the pad and for a fraction of second the character continues to move. It makes the motion feel more organic and less jarring as found in other FPS of the era. Design? Possibly. Another hint of quality? Possibly. It's also let down by the pad. This game would benefit from being playable with a Xbox 360 style pad - but hey...

So the graphics and the audio and the motion engine are five-star rated but then something is wrong. The objects littered around the house are wrong. The maps are great, the execution not so. The rooms don't vary much, neither do the objects around the house. The tailors dummy, the hanging man, the trunk, and so. The health packs and the keys and coins are clumsy and laid out in a way that almost insults the other areas of the game.

Likewise, there is no compelling reason to explore. And that's fundamentally whats wrong with Escape with Monster Manor - it's not compelling. There is no story as such, the game engine is rock solid but it lacks variety and there isn't even a selection of weapons.

And, today in 2009, thanks to Treagorn - I know why:

EA rushed this game. It was given six months. On day one of the game, I think the developers were excited at the possibility of working with a machine as powerful as 3DO. They set out, perhaps, to change the world but they ran out of time. Which in hindsight is a travesty. This could have been the greatest game on the 3DO. The basics were there, the staff seemed talented if the 3D engine and the graphics and the audio are anything to go by, they seemed dedicated to the cause of making a quality game, it's just they lacked time.

If this had been given another year, another eighteen months? Who knows? But yet, that's the story of 3DO at the end of the day. One more chance, just a bit longer, just a bit more - maybe, just maybe...

Escape from Monster Manor is not rare, as a tech demo for the 3DO, it's up there with dinosaur heads in my humble opinion and is worth just having a look at, abd a listen too, today some 16 years after it's release.

3DOKid.

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