Mad Dog McCree (Philips CD-i review)

Developer: CapDisc

Publisher: Philips Interactive Media

Released: 1994

 

Mad Dog McCree is a Full Motion Video (FMV) game that was originally released in the Arcades in 1990.

 

Your mission is to kill the evil Mad Dog and rescue the mayor and his daughter. To do this, you'll first need to work your way through four stages (Corral, Saloon, Sheriff's Office and Bank), before locating the enemy hideout. The game supports the Peacekeeper Light Gun, but a standard controller can also be used. Although a few scenes are missing from the Arcade original, the video quality is a major upgrade from the Mega CD port (1993). Where things falter is in the gameplay department though, as the hit-box is incredibly small and many times you'll be shot despite pulling the trigger when your cursor is clearly overlapping an enemy. The controls don't fare much better, especially when using the Light Gun, as despite this being an ideal accessory it's laggy and the on-screen cursor doesn't respond to movements quickly enough. Using a standard controller improves things slightly but even then it's not speedy enough to react to enemies before they shoot you. Reloading is activated by clicking an icon in the bottom-left, but the slow controller response times make you wish that an off-screen trigger or button option was available instead. Each level relies on trial-and-error and the only way to beat them is to memorise the exact locations that bad guys will spawn; this takes away from the enjoyment, as you're not solely relying on skill and reactions. As a result of these issues, the action is challenging, but only from a purely artificial point-of-view. You do have the option to save your progress at any point, but the trade-off is having to sit through tedious cut-scenes and repetitive quick draw battles.

 

Mad Dog McCree has aged terribly and you know there's a problem when your main challenges come from locating the miniscule hit-box and then making the controls do what you actually want them to do. It also has a severe lack of content and once you've played through the game there's little reason to return.

 

 

 

Random trivia: A sequel called Mad Dog II: The Lost Gold was also released on the Philips CD-i in 1994.

Dragon's Lair (Philips CD-i review)

Developer: Superclub
Publisher: Philips Media
Released: 1994

Dragon's Lair is a Full Motion Video (FMV) game that was first released in the Arcades in 1983.

You play the role of Dirk the Daring and your mission is to rescue Princess Daphne who's being held captive by a fire-breathing dragon. Your adventure takes you through 30 different scenes and each one consists of quick-time events. As you watch the video footage it's up to you to escape unharmed by using the d-pad to move Dirk in four directions or pressing the 1 button to swing your sword. Occasionally a flash of light will show you the correct route but other times you're left to your own devices. The game requires some serious trial and error so it's definitely not for those with little patience! It isn't always clear what you're supposed to do in each scene and you'll die many times before being able to figure it out. The main problem with this version of Dragon's Lair is that you only have three lives (no continues) and the scenes play out in a different order each time. Although some might enjoy this (as it allows them to see the majority of the game) I found it frustrating as I couldn't memorise the order of events. If there was an option to play the scenes randomly or in a standard order this would have pleased everybody. At least you're not punished for pressing a button early unlike some other ports. The most annoying part of the game is that every time you lose a life or complete a scene you're taken to a screen that displays your score and remaining lives; this breaks up the action unnecessarily and for some reason each letter and number is irritatingly chiselled out one-by-one! The best part is the video quality as it features smooth animation and full screen gameplay.

Dragon's Lair on the CD-i is an unforgiving game and one that's almost impossible to beat unless you put many hours into learning each scene. It's a shame as I really wanted to like it but the random scene order and lack of continues really ruined it for me.

Random trivia: A sequel called Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp was also released on the Philips CD-i in 1994.

Hotel Mario (Philips CD-i review)

Developer: Philips Fantasy Factory
Publisher: Philips Media
Released: 1994

Hotel Mario stars Nintendo's famous plumber and it's a puzzle game that's exclusive to the Philips CD-i console.

There's seven worlds with 10-15 levels each and your job is to shut all the doors to progress. Pressing the 1 button allows you to jump on enemies and 2 lets you open / close doors. It's worth opening doors that start off closed as they can house useful power-ups such as fire power and temporarily invincible. World 1 features Goombas and Koopa Troopas, as well as Wigglers that need to be stomped on several times. In the tenth level of every world you'll face a boss that sprints around trying to stop you from closing all the doors. They're decent but not too dissimilar to the usual gameplay mechanics. World 2 introduces Parabombs that explode and can kill you from a distance. World 3 has icy surfaces which makes controlling Mario difficult and you can only see one floor at a time. World 4 has Bullet Bills that fly diagonally across the screen at serious speed. World 5 has Boos that are friendly when see-through but dangerous at all other times. Bizarrely, World 6 has Goombas dressed as Elvis! You'll need to complete two different screens before completing a level here and it's incredibly challenging. Finally, World 7 takes place in Bowser's Hotel and you're bombarded by every single enemy in the game. Despite it's cartoony look it's a very hard game. Most of the difficulty comes from re-spawning enemies that open doors you've already closed; it happens so often that it eventually leads to frustration. The gameplay is fun at times though and reminds me of another Mario spin-off called Wrecking Crew (NES, 1985). You can save your progress at any time and the animated cut-scenes are great.

Hotel Mario is a well-thought out game but it's not perfectly executed and can be a maddening experience. If you're a fan of tough arcade-style titles you might enjoy this but others will likely tire of its repetitive and generally frustrating gameplay.

Random trivia: Philips was originally signed to create a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. This was ultimately cancelled and instead Philips was given the license to use several Nintendo characters in CD-i exclusive games.

International Tennis Open (Philips CD-i review)

Developer: Infogrames
Publisher: Philips Interactive Media
Released: 1992

 

International Tennis Open was one of ten Philips CD-i games developed by Infogrames.

You can choose either a Single Match (on grass, clay or hard surface), Training (practice serving or returning balls from a machine) or a Tournament. In the latter you can play in New York, Paris or London and you automatically start in the Quarter Finals of each. The video footage showing your opponent and the location is cheesy but it's a nice touch and adds to the good overall presentation of the game. On the court the first thing you'll notice is the unusual serving mechanics. After pressing the 1 button a crosshair moves into your opponent's side of the court and you need to move it to your desired location before hitting the same button to serve. It does take some getting used to but it works well and shows minor innovation. Unfortunately the rest of the action doesn't fare so well. The controls are sluggish, especially when moving your player around, and trying to reach for balls hit at a sharp angle is a real struggle. The long game is awful and it's too hard to hit shots past your opponent. Eventually you'll resort to the short game but it's equally as bad as volleys are so slow that the CPU has no problem returning it time and time again. The animation is another weak point; the players have been digitised but they look like a couple of drunkards trying to step over hot coal! Also, if you look closely the ball never actually hits the racket which is very sloppy. Each character sprite is exactly the same so even if you're playing against someone with blonde hair it will turn black during gameplay. The SFX are superb though with realistic grunts and good quality calls from the umpire and commentator.

With International Tennis Open it's blatantly obvious that too much time was spent focussing on the presentation / multimedia rather than the actual gameplay. The window dressing is fantastic but the action on the court is so unpolished that it makes it impossible to recommend.

Random trivia: The game was also released for the PC, Macintosh and MS-DOS.

Tetris (Philips CD-i review)

Developer: Philips POV
Publisher: Philips Interactive Media
Released: 1992

Tetris is a puzzle game that was first released on the Elektronika 60 (1984) but rose to prominence on the Nintendo Game Boy (1989).

You can choose a starting level from 0-9 as well as the height of the blocks you'll inherit. You can also display the upcoming block shape or hide it completely for an extra challenge. The distinguishing feature of this CD-i version is the video backgrounds which include flowing waterfalls, deserts, meadows and woodland areas. They're a bit pixelated but do act as an incentive in terms of encouraging you to progress to see what other locations are available. The gameplay takes place in a vertical tile towards one side of the screen; it's very narrow and causes issues with lining up blocks and seeing exactly where they'll land. The control scheme is pretty much as you'd expect - use the d-pad to move blocks from side-to-side and press the 1 button to rotate them. It works well and is responsive. If you want to speed things up and push a block downwards (instead of waiting for it to fall manually) you have to press the 2 button. This replaces the intuitive action of pressing Down on the d-pad and it's easy to get confused between the two buttons. As a result there'll be moments where your game is sabotaged by accidentally dropping a block in the wrong place. You can also only rotate blocks in one direction which becomes a bigger issue when your stack of blocks near the top of the screen. When you manage to clear enough lines the action pauses and you're shown a graphic detailing the new level you've reached before things restart. It's jarring and breaks the gameplay up in an unnecessarily fashion. The New Age music is pleasant but doesn't fit with the hectic nature of later levels.

Tetris on the Philips CD-i is certainly unique but it has a few design quirks that hold it back. If the play-area was larger and the d-pad could be used to drop blocks this could have been a good variation on the puzzle classic; instead it falls flat and the multimedia novelty wears off quickly.

Random trivia: The game of Tetris has been used to treat people with certain medical conditions; this includes those with Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) as it was said to work better than eye patches!