Total Eclipse (1994 video game)

Last updated

Total Eclipse
Total Eclipse 1994 cover.png
Developer(s) Crystal Dynamics
Publisher(s) Crystal Dynamics
Producer(s) Jon Horsley
Composer(s) Burke Trieschmann
Platform(s) 3DO, PlayStation
Release3DO
  • NA: January 8, 1994 [1]
  • EU: September 1, 1994 [2]
PlayStation
  • NA: August 30, 1995 [3]
  • EU: November 12, 1995 [4]
Genre(s) Space flight simulation
Mode(s) Single-player

Total Eclipse is a space flight simulation video game developed and published by Crystal Dynamics for 3DO. It was later ported to the PlayStation under the title Total Eclipse Turbo. The game was copyrighted in 1993 and released 1994. [5] [6] [7] Total Eclipse Turbo was a launch title for the PlayStation in the U.S., with the game's released date predating the North American console launch by 11 days. A sequel, Solar Eclipse , was released for Sega Saturn and PlayStation.

Contents

Gameplay

3DOIM Total Eclipse (Omega Nebula - Aqueous Major).png
3DOIM Total Eclipse (Drak-Sai Tunnel).png
Top: Planetary surface segment.
Bottom: Tunnel segment.
(3DO version shown)

The game is played in a third-person perspective as the player's ship flies across each stage. The player is free to accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver around to dodge obstacles and attack enemies, but the course for each stage is fixed.

Rather than space, the player's ship flies over planetary surfaces and through tunnels. On the surface, the player flies over 3D heightmapped terrain, avoiding mountains and obstacles. In tunnels, the player avoids mechanical traps such as large moving doors and twisting passageways. The exit of the tunnel appears later on the surface of the same stage, so the player may miss a power-up (or a challenge) on the surface by taking a tunnel and vice versa. Some tunnels are optional and may contain bonus power-ups, while other tunnels are entered at dead ends on the surface. If the player fails to properly guide his ship into the tunnel at that point, his ship collides with the dead end terrain and explodes, costing a life.

Colliding with enemies or terrain, being shot by enemies, and the passage of time all drain the ship's shields. When the shields reach zero, the ship explodes, a life is deducted from the player's stock, and play resumes at a checkpoint. Since there are very few shield refills in the game, the only way to avert this is by destroying enemies and ground installations; upon doing so the player's ship automatically absorbs their power to replenish its shields. Extra lives may be earned by collecting 1-ups and scoring large numbers of points. In addition, the player has a limited supply of continues, which place them back at the beginning of the current stage. When all lives and continues are exhausted, the game is over.

Each game world is divided into four stages, for a total of 20 stages. Each stage contains multiple surface and tunnel areas. The fourth stage of each world ends with a fight against a boss, with the exception of the final world, in which the boss appears midway through the stage.

By collecting power-ups, the player can change their weapon between five different types. Collecting a power-up of the type they already have upgrades their weapon level, with a maximum level of three. At higher levels the weapon fires more shots at a time. The player can also use bombs which send a wave of energy across the stage. This wave is strong enough to destroy most enemies and installations, and stops when it reaches the game's draw distance. The player starts each life with one bomb, and can collect more within the stages, maintaining a stock of up to three.

The player can score additional points by performing aileron rolls, collecting point bonus items, and flying at faster speeds.

Plot

Earth is attacked by an aggressive alien race known as the Drak-Sai. The aliens use their powerful weapon, the Sun Dagger, to initiate a supernova in the sun. The player must pilot their ship across four planets and ultimately destroy the Sun Dagger to prevent further destruction.

Reception

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the 3DO version a 6.5 out of 10. They highly praised the graphics but criticized that the controls are too sensitive, the music is inappropriate for the theme of some stages, and that the hit detection is overly punishing. [9] GamePro were held in similar awe of the graphics in the 3DO version and found little to complain about with the gameplay, concluding, "Total Eclipse blasts off into familiar fighting space ways, but the graphic look of this cool shooter is truly out of this world." [13]

Reviews for the PlayStation version were less positive, as critics commented that despite the "Turbo" in the title, the PlayStation version made almost no changes to the by-then over a year old game. [10] [12] [14] Bob Mackey of USgamer listed Total Eclipse Turbo as one of the worst launch games for the PlayStation. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3DO Interactive Multiplayer</span> Home video game console

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company itself, but a set of specifications, originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of New Technologies Group, that could be licensed by third parties. Panasonic produced the first models in 1993, and further renditions of the hardware were released afterwards by GoldStar, Sanyo, Creative Labs, and Samsung Electronics in 1997.

<i>Descent</i> (video game) 1995 first-person shooter game

Descent is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Productions in 1995 for MS-DOS, and later for Macintosh, PlayStation, and RISC OS. It popularized a subgenre of FPS games employing six degrees of freedom and was the first FPS to feature entirely true-3D graphics. The player is cast as a mercenary hired to eliminate the threat of a mysterious extraterrestrial computer virus infecting off-world mining robots. In a series of mines throughout the Solar System, the protagonist pilots a spaceship and must locate and destroy the mine's power reactor and escape before being caught in the mine's self-destruction, defeating opposing robots along the way. Players can play online and compete in either deathmatches or cooperate to take on the robots.

<i>Super Street Fighter II Turbo</i> 1994 video game

Super Street Fighter II Turbo is a fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in Japan on February 23, 1994, in North America on February 23 and March 26, 1994 (beta) and in Europe in March 1994 (beta). It is the fifth installment in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. Like its predecessor, it ran on the CP System II hardware.

<i>Revolution X</i> 1994 video game

Revolution X is a shooting gallery video game developed by Midway and released in arcades in 1994. The gameplay is similar to Midway's earlier Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but is themed around the band Aerosmith. The oppressive New Order Nation regime and their leader Helga have abducted Aerosmith, and players use a mounted gun to control onscreen crosshairs and shoot enemies. The members of Aerosmith are hidden throughout the game's international locales and must be found in order to receive the game's true ending.

<i>Raptor: Call of the Shadows</i> 1994 video game

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Mercenary 2029". It was released on April 1, 1994 for MS-DOS compatible systems. The first episode of the game, "Bravo Sector", was distributed as shareware. The other two episodes were sold commercially.

<i>Zanac</i> Vertical scrolling shooter video game released in 1986

Zanac (ザナック) is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI. It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Virtual Console. It was reworked for the MSX2 computer as Zanac EX and for the PlayStation as Zanac X Zanac. Players fly a lone starfighter, dubbed the AFX-6502 Zanac, through twelve levels; their goal is to destroy the System—a part-organic, part-mechanical entity bent on destroying mankind.

<i>Star Goose</i> 1988 video game

Star Goose is a vertically scrolling shooter that was published for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS by Logotron in 1988. The player controls Scouser-Gitt, who pilots the eponymous Star Goose, a vessel that has been commissioned to scour the planet Nom and collect 48 crystals. Players must collect all six crystals in each of the game's eight levels to advance, while at the same time avoiding or destroying enemies and maintaining their shield, ammunition, and fuel levels. The game's surfaces are contoured, which affects the way that bullets travel, and contain tunnels that switch modes to a three-dimensional perspective where the player can replenish their resources.

<i>Disruptor</i> (video game) 1996 video game

Disruptor is a 1996 first-person shooter video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Universal Interactive Studios and Interplay Productions for the PlayStation. It was the first game developed by Insomniac Games. The game released on November 30, 1996 in North America and in December of that year in Europe. It received positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure, selling well below the company’s expectations.

<i>Thunder Force IV</i> 1992 shoot em up video game

Thunder Force IV, known in North America as Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar, is a shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Technosoft for the Mega Drive in 1992. It is the fourth installment in Technosoft's Thunder Force series, and the third and final one created for the Mega Drive. It was developed by the team at Technosoft that ported Devil's Crush to the Mega Drive rather than the team that developed the previous Thunder Force games. Like its predecessors, it is a horizontally scrolling shooter, but it also features extensive vertical scrolling with large playing fields.

<i>POed</i> 1995 video game

PO'ed is a video game developed by Any Channel for the 3DO and published by Any Channel in 1995. It follows a cook attempting to escape a hostile, alien world. A PlayStation port was released in May 1996 by Accolade. An MS-DOS version was cancelled.

<i>Demolition Man</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Demolition Man is a pair of action video games based on the film of the same name. Acclaim Entertainment published the 16-bit version, which features run and gun gameplay, for the Super NES, Sega Genesis and Sega CD. Virgin Interactive released a completely different game for the 3DO that combined several distinct gameplay styles. In both games, the player controls John Spartan, the main character from the film, as he attempts to find and defeat his nemesis, Simon Phoenix.

<i>The Need for Speed</i> 1994 video game

The Need for Speed is a street racing game developed by EA Canada, originally known as Pioneer Productions, and published by Electronic Arts for 3DO in 1994. It allows driving eight licensed sports cars in three point-to-point tracks either with or without a computer opponent. Checkpoints, traffic vehicles, and police pursuits appear in the races.

<i>Blazing Lazers</i> 1989 Japanese-American video game

Gunhed, known as Blazing Lazers in North America, is a vertically scrolling shooter game by Hudson Soft and Compile, based on the Japanese film Gunhed. The title was released in 1989, for the PC Engine in Japan and re-skinned for the TurboGrafx-16 in North America, with Gunhed unofficially imported for the PC Engine in Europe. In the game, a fictional galaxy is under attack by an enemy space armada called the Dark Squadron, and this galaxy's only chance for survival is the Gunhed Advanced Star Fighter, who must destroy the Dark Squadron and its Super Weapons. The gameplay features fast vertical scrolling and a wide array of weapons for the player to use.

<i>Gex</i> (video game) 1995 platform video game

Gex is a platform game developed by Crystal Dynamics. It was originally released for the 3DO in 1995; ports of the game for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn were later developed by Beam Software, and a Windows version was released by Microsoft. It was a pack-in game for Panasonic models of the 3DO later in the console's life. It is the first in the Gex series of video games, and introduces players to the title character, a wisecracking, television-obsessed gecko voiced by comedian Dana Gould, who must venture through the "Media Dimension" and defeat Rez, the overlord of the dimension who wants to make Gex into his new network mascot.

<i>Novastorm</i> 1994 rail shooter video game

Novastorm is a rail shooter video game developed and published by Psygnosis in 1994. A version for the FM-Towns/Marty systems had previously been released under the name Scavenger 4.

<i>Off-World Interceptor</i> 1994 video game

Off-World Interceptor is a third-person vehicular car combat game, released for the 3DO. An alternate version of the game was later released for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation consoles, named Off-World Interceptor Extreme. The two versions of the game have identical core gameplay elements, though the Extreme version is tweaked to feel more like the arcade mode in the original Off-World Interceptor.

<i>Shockwave Assault</i> 1994 video game

Shockwave Assault is a science fiction combat flight simulation video game developed by Advanced Technology Group and published by Electronic Arts for various home video game consoles and PCs. The player takes control of a futuristic fighter plane to defeat extraterrestrial ships and tripods.

<i>Army Men: Air Attack 2</i> 2000 video game

Army Men: Air Attack 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by The 3DO Company for PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.

<i>Eschatos</i> 2011 video game

Eschatos is a scrolling shooter, developed and published by Qute, which was released on April 7, 2011 for the Xbox 360. Despite the original Xbox 360 version only being released in Japan, it was a region-free release. A version for Microsoft Windows, published by Degica, was released in 2015. In 2021, Eschatos was ported to the Nintendo Switch exclusively in Japan, and was released worldwide on the Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2022. Apart from the main game, two previous Wonderswan games by the developer, Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins, came bundled with the Xbox 360 release of Eschatos.

<i>Kileak: The DNA Imperative</i> 1995 video game

Kileak: The DNA Imperative, known as Kileak: The Blood in Japan and Europe, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Genki for the PlayStation. It was published in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment in January 1995, followed by a North American and European release in September 1995 by Sony Computer Entertainment as a launch game for the console. Kimitaka Matsumae, former member of the S.S.T. Band, wrote the game's soundtrack.

References

  1. ↑ "Panasonic Invites You to Experience the Latest Mind-Blowing Software for the 3DO System". The Miami Herald . January 14, 1994. p. 112. Retrieved December 14, 2023. If you're looking for new software for the REAL 3DO system, you've turned to the right page. With the totally awesome Total Eclipse, you'll pilot a state-of-the-art FireWing fighter and become humanity's last hope against an invading alien horde. It's just one of 18 new interactive titles.
  2. ↑ "3DO comes to the High Street - in a juggernaut!". Wokingham Times. September 1, 1994. p. 12. Retrieved December 14, 2023. The latest contender for the next generation of games formats, the Japanese giant Panasonic, is to launch its CD-based Real FZ-1 3DO Interactive Multiplayer today (Thursday)...the machine comes bundled with Crystal Dynamics' Total Eclipse.
  3. ↑ US Launch Line-up Archived 2013-05-19 at the Wayback Machine , Game-rave.com
  4. ↑ "GameZone - 20 Levels of Great Action". Sunday Mercury . November 12, 1995. p. 78. Retrieved December 14, 2023. Total Eclipse//(Sony PlayStation)//The PlayStation version of the 3D shoot-em-up has finally arrived.
  5. ↑ 3DO version NA release data, MobyGames.
  6. ↑ "Total Eclipse". IGN . Ziff Davis . Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Sackenheim, Shawn. "Total Eclipse (3DO) Review". Allgame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Total Eclipse Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 57. Sendai Publishing. April 1994. p. 44.
  9. 1 2 "Review Crew: Total Eclipse: Turbo". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 75. Ziff Davis. October 1995. p. 34.
  10. ↑ Famitsu staff (April 29, 1994). "新作ゲームクロスレビュー" [New Games Cross Review]. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 280. ASCII Corporation. p. 74.
  11. 1 2 "Total Eclipse Turbo". Next Generation . Imagine Media (10): 110. October 1995.
  12. ↑ "ProReview: Total Eclipse". GamePro . No. 56. IDG. March 1994. pp. 114–115.
  13. ↑ "ProReview: Total Eclipse Turbo". GamePro . No. 86. IDG. November 1995. p. 56.
  14. ↑ Mackey, Bob (2015-09-09). "Debut Duds: The Worst PlayStation Launch Games". USgamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.