A review by Cynical_1

(yours truly...)

Well guys, I walked into EB here in Chicago and picked up _the only_ copy of MC3D they got in their shipment today. I thought, "Hey, cool! I loved the game when it was in the arcades years ago. Plus, the graphics I've seen of the game look really good." Well, all of that is true, but for me, that's where my excitement ended.

Three modes of play:

*Original* - just that. However, (kind of like Super Gameboy) you can have four different backgrounds (TV, Arcade cabinet, Lynx, and, I don't know, it looked like a sun or something). Plus, you can shrink or stretch the screen, etc. Kind of funny.

*3D* - basically the original in a 3D perspective - looking up into the sunlight and out over your cities. Somehow you're supposed to be able to upgrade you weapons over time (with increased production of surviving cities). I wouldn't know about that - after I completed the first wave and it gave me my bonus points for surviving cities, left over ammo.... the game froze! I tried everything! every button, button combination, everything... DOH!!! [NOTE: After returning this game, I found out that this problem occurred because I have an older Jaguar - the "K" series (ones whose serial number begins with a "K"). It appears that there were bugs in *some* of the chipsets of the "K" series Jaguar. So, if you have a "K" series Jag, be careful when you buy this game - you may have a problem. Be aware though, that NOT ALL "K" SERIES JAGUARS HAVE THIS PROBLEM. My only suggestion is, try it and see, or get a newer model Jaguar - the "M" series...]

*Virtual* - still 3D but can switch to three different gun turrets on the fly, have power ups, and special weapons, and lasers, mini- and end-stage bosses. Three different levels - underwater, in the clouds, and in space - with three stages each. Mini-boss at end of first 2 stages, big boss at end of third stage of each level. Three difficulty levels (easy, normal, and hard) - however, on easy you ONLY get to play underwater level, on normal only underwater and in the clouds, and I'm assuming you get to play all levels on hard difficulty. So, a short game, even on hard difficulty - 9 total stages. (Now I could be wrong on this, especially about hard level - however, these are the only three levels described in the manual, and I'm basing my description based on the progression of events on easy and normal levels.)

Graphics: 8

Very nice. Original looks just like its predecessor. 3D and Virtual's graphics are very Iron Soldier-esque (which personally I like, although there could have been more t-mapping). The explosions looked good, almost like a cross between IS's explosions and those in Turbo Sub on the Lynx, if you can imagine it....

Sound: 7

*FX* - good. Seemed well done. Nothing much else to say about them.

*Music* - typical Euro-stuff, which IMHO, is cheesy. (No offense to our friends across the pond, of course... <g> )

*Overall* - VERY static-y, especially in opening screen, although seemed somewhat better in-game...

Control: 5

Please. You gotta be kidding. And we all thought that T2K was hard to implement with a joypad! You ain't seen nothing yet..... Actually, the control is very tight. If it is possible for a game's control to be too tight, then this is it. But for a game like this using a joypad, I don't think it needs to be that tight. If they loosened up the control a little bit actually, and provided for a little drift in the cursor after you stopped moving it, I think it would actually feel a little bit more like a trackball. At least include it as an option, for cryin' out loud. Try targeting your cursor on something moving, when the control is as tight as this game - you get close to the incoming missile, but then it's just tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap on the joypad to accurately target the incomings.... NOT good when you've got 20 missiles raining down on you - takes too much time... (Now keep in mind this applies primarily when using the lasers in Virtual mode - which you'll use most of the time anyway...)

Overall: 7

Nice concept that fell short. The graphics are good. The control and music are bad. The game is too short. Plus, unless I just happened to get a bad copy of the game, the game is a little buggy. With all of these problems/shortcomings apparent, it ain't worth what they're asking for it.

As you may be able to tell, this game went back. Well, maybe I'll buy it again when the price goes down. Is it worth $30? Hell yes. $60? Hell no...