Great 3D Action Games of All Time

Reiki · Post by **Reiki** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:47 am

Trap Gunner on PS1, it is just so much fun. It's probably the best multiplayer PS1 game, even better than Bomberman. It has more character and gets even more violently competitive than Bomberman. So far I've had three cricket balls, a folding chair, a table and even a bin thrown at me because of Trap Gunner. The most Bomberman ever did was a few shoes and a controlelr or two. If a game can incite that much passionate fury in players it just has to be good. I'd kill for a sequel with online support.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:59 am

So how's Sky Target? Looks pretty fun from that bit I've seen of it in that huge Saturn shooting video. Also looks like a pretty acurate conversion of the arcade rev.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:31 am

Sky Target is pretty cheezy. In some ways its cool, but it IS cheezy.
I love Heavy Metal music, and this game features it, but its so cheezy its actually funny!
Play control etc, is like AfterBurner/Panzer Dragoon...although the game isn't as good as either of those.

If the game would have been done right, it really could have been a good one. As it stands, its VERY mediocre at best.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:31 am

Can't say much for SA1, but I know Mario 64 is a gajillion times better than SA2.

They took out Big the Cat, but instead made Knuckles a treasure hunter? WTF Sega..

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:16 am

Sonic Adventure had some really solid parts, but the Big the Cat and Knuckles the Thing's levels really killed the game. Super Sonic's level was pretty disappointing as well. It's a shame that the Gamecube port of Sonic Adventure blew so hard (looks awesome in screenshots, terrible in motion), especially when Sonic Adventure 2 received such a spot on excellent port (though that game was riddled with twice as many bad Knuckles levels...).

It's really hard to compare it to Mario 64 unless you just compare the parts that actually relate to Mario 64, which are the Knuckles and Amy levels. Other than that they're pretty much totally different games. May as well compare it to Zelda 64 because of the Big the Cat levels or compare it to Expendable because of the e-102 levels.

too long; didn't read version: Comparing Sonic to Mario today is as pointless as it was to compare them back in the 16 bit era. See previous argument that comparing Syphon Filter to Metal Gear to Splinter Cell just doesn't work because even though the themes are similar, the games are totally different.

Edit - I've only said Silent Bomber once in this thread. The game needs a second mention damnit, and if that second mention has to come from me, by god it'll come from me. Silent Bomber rules. (the voice acting, on the other hand.....)

Reiki · Post by **Reiki** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:03 am

I would have said something about Silent Bomber, but I haven't spent enough time with it to appreciate it fully.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:22 am

Ha, roushi I was going to mention Silent Bomber but the Sonic Adventure discussion made me forget.

It's so cool; I got it a few weeks ago for $15 mint and was ecstatic to see it at GameStop. It's what the PS1 Contras should have been (well, add in Contra weapons and that's what they should have been). Have yet to beat it, though.

The voice acting's solid, man! On par with some RPG's, I might add. Buncha anime voice actors in there, too, can't remember any names right now.

Bandai finally did a great localisation for America, surprise surprise.

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:30 am

roushimsx wrote:See previous argument that comparing Syphon Filter to Metal Gear to Splinter Cell just doesn't work

What about Headhunter?! When comparing Metal Gear to other games, one should never fail to mention Headhunter!

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:00 am

Stormwatch wrote:What about Headhunter?! When comparing Metal Gear to other games, one should never fail to mention Headhunter!

Never played Headhunter and don't know anything about it so I can't really comment

the screenshots from the review you posted look pretty hot. Did it get a US release or am I stuck getting it from the seedy underbelly of the internet?

dementia · Post by **dementia** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:08 am

HH was released in America on the PS2. It's less than stellar sequel also made it to PS2 and Xbox.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:12 am

dementia wrote:HH was released in America on the PS2. It's less than stellar sequel also made it to PS2 and Xbox.

Sweet, thanks for the heads up. I'll check the local used games stores for them this week. I may get lucky and find the first one for $5 or so (picked up the non-GH version of Crazy Taxi for $5 in excellent condition not too long ago).

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:23 am

The Ratchet & Clank series.

I've completed the first two 100% and am plowing through the third at a rather fast pace. On the whole, I still feel that part 2 had the best balance between action and exploration. Part 1 was more exploration based and part 3 is definitely combat-based (they just put most of the "hidden" items out in plain view).

All three parts are very well designed, though.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:48 am

Sub Rebellion needs love now that the boards are back . IIRC Kiken was splurging about it a long time ago so I went out and picked it up. Awesome little gem from the most unlikely of developers (come on, they've done Bomberman 64, R Types (PS), and Trap Gunner but they're also responsible for Heaven's Gate and Bomberman Kart).

Killer awesome rad fun title. Underwater action / exploration at its best.

WarpZone · Post by **WarpZone** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:16 am

Super Mario Sunshine-
Incredibly natural, flexible play control that actively promotes creative and imaginative play through emergent and coherent level design.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:37 pm

WarpZone wrote:Super Mario Sunshine-
Incredibly natural, flexible play control that actively promotes creative and imaginative play through emergent and coherent level design.

That was another excellent game, and personally i think it's the second greatest 3d platformer ever. Too bad it got some bad press.
I'm not a big fan of the GTA games but i've heard good things about "Mercenaries", has anyone tried it yet?

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:43 pm

Super Mario Sunshine sucked. Even Miyamoto admitted that it was "not as good as it could have been." One of the things that was hated most about Mario 64 was collecting crap. Sunshine expanded on that. Also the water pack was a cheap gimmick. About the only thing cool about Sunshine is that it is leading to Super Mario 128 which is supposed to be far better.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:52 pm

The n00b wrote:Super Mario Sunshine sucked. Even Miyamoto admitted that it was "not as good as it could have been." One of the things that was hated most about Mario 64 was collecting crap. Sunshine expanded on that. Also the water pack was a cheap gimmick. About the only thing cool about Sunshine is that it is leading to Super Mario 128 which is supposed to be far better.

Like i said - "personally i think it's the second greatest 3d platformer ever made."

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:49 pm

The n00b wrote:Super Mario Sunshine sucked. Even Miyamoto admitted that it was "not as good as it could have been." One of the things that was hated most about Mario 64 was collecting crap. Sunshine expanded on that. Also the water pack was a cheap gimmick. About the only thing cool about Sunshine is that it is leading to Super Mario 128 which is supposed to be far better.

I liked the game quite a bit, while I agree with what Miyamoto said too. It's a well designed and fun platform game IMO, but it does have flaws. It's a bit unbalanced, Yoshi is poorly implemented, Yoshi can get stuck way too easily, and game feels somewhat rushed. However, I actually like the water pack. There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking Super Mario Sunshine.

As for my favorite third person 3D action games, I really like Super Mario 64, MDK2, the 3D Zeldas, Ape Escape, and Nightshade.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:43 pm

Yeah, I too find the water pack to be way to gimmicky for my tastes. It seems like Nintendo can't make a game with Mario or Luigi without attaching some stupid gaget to them for the whole game.

At any rate, I forgot to mention Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. I don't care that IGN , Gamespot, and others rip on this game, I think it's awesome fun.

How's MDK2? I was thinking about getting that for my DC. I've also read pretty good reviews of DC Headhunter.

DantesInferno · Post by **DantesInferno** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:21 pm

Twitch has it right about Sky Target. Not great, but not bad, and VERY cheezy.

As for 3-D Action Games..

Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio Future.

Devil May Cry

Nightmare Before Christmas (PS2)

Super Mario Sunshine

..and I think I am the only person who enjoyed these next two

Crimson Tears

Spawn Armageddon

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:31 pm

Well it's just that before Super Mario Sunshine, the Mario series was flawless. You could have said many things about Nintendo and its franchises then but Mario always had an almost mystical aura around it. It had great playability and appealed to the hardcore as well as casual gamers.

So yeah Sunshine was an alright platformer when judged against other games in its genre but as a Mario game it is just nasty and horrible.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:32 pm

@DantesInferno - Crimson Tears is the sequel to Crimson Sea right?

WarpZone · Post by **WarpZone** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:33 pm

The n00b wrote:Even Miyamoto admitted that it was "not as good as it could have been."

I believe what he actually said, if you're referring to the Japanese Playboy interview, was that the next Mario game would have some of the "newness" that was missing from Sunshine. This is really more of an acknowledgement that Sunshine was more of an evolutionary step after SM64, rather than something completely different (which is what he would have liked to offer, apparently).

This is one of the things that I actually like so much about Sunshine. Instead of being a simple gimmick, the water pack becomes integrated with nearly all aspects to the play, and expands and refines the control set, encouraging new possibilities in the game world. Really, parallels might be drawn to how Mario 3 and Mario World used power-ups, Yoshi, etc. to expand the scope of game design introduced to us in Super Mario Bros.

Also notable is how Sunshine further breaks out of the collect-em-up mentality. Instead of simply offering large worlds sprinkled with different items to arbitrarily gather, the worlds are structured into story-like episodes that offer an evolving narrative complimented by subtly changing level design. Of course, blue coins can still be collected, but remain entirely optional and promote world exploration rather than being a means to an end themselves.

With all that said, other game design possibilities still could have been explored, though I wouldn't exactly call their absense "flaws". It would have been interesting to see the entire island connected as one cohesive world, even if that might have taken away from the episodic structure. I was actually thinking about this because I've been playing Jak & Daxter recently, which offers a very seamless, connected world. Although I haven't finished it yet, if the current quality continues throughout it might become my second favorite 3D platformer this gaming generation.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:04 am

Damn, just bought RE4 and enjoying every minute of it. For 25 (used like new), it was almost a steal. I just got to *Spoilers below*

"El Gigante" and enjoying every minute of it. The narrative seems solid enough, which would hurt a lot otherwise since I just finished Blood Will Tell with its awesome story. The voice acting could've used a lot of work though. At times, it comes off as if the voice actors were reading their lines.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:25 am

The n00b wrote:Super Mario Sunshine sucked. Even Miyamoto admitted that it was "not as good as it could have been."

Something a lot of people seem to forget is that Miyamoto has been pretty hands off as far as the Mario games have been going for quite some time. Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story, Mario 64, and Sunshine? Sure, Miyamoto gets all of the credit, but Takashi Tezuka is responsible for quite a bit of the actual work on them (similar to how Eiji Aonuma's influence on the Zelda series has become more and more prominent over the years)

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:09 am

I've heard some pretty good things about Headhunter for the Dreamcast. It was only released in Europe, but you can play it with a boot disc.

DantesInferno · Post by **DantesInferno** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:51 am

Ord wrote:@DantesInferno - Crimson Tears is the sequel to Crimson Sea right?

On that, I'm not sure..I don't think it is...both games were made by different companies.

DantesInferno · Post by **DantesInferno** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:53 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:Damn, just bought RE4 and enjoying every minute of it.

I know what you mean! I got it when it came out and decided to play it today and I was blown away. I have not been immersed in a game this much in a VERY long time...and on occasion, have been creeped out. I recommend it to anyone with a 'cube.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:29 am

DantesInferno wrote:I know what you mean! I got it when it came out and decided to play it today and I was blown away. I have not been immersed in a game this much in a VERY long time...and on occasion, have been creeped out. I recommend it to anyone with a 'cube.

I don't like Resident Evil games, I don't like 3D action games, and I don't like having to play Gamecube, but I still think Resident Evil 4 is absolutely fucking amazing.

If that isn't testimonial that should at least make you give it a try, I don't know what is.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:39 am

DantesInferno wrote:
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:Damn, just bought RE4 and enjoying every minute of it.
I know what you mean! I got it when it came out and decided to play it today and I was blown away. I have not been immersed in a game this much in a VERY long time...and on occasion, have been creeped out. I recommend it to anyone with a 'cube.

I've logged 6 hours in one day!!! Just stopped because my eyes were getting teary. I got the rush several times so far--oh ho ahhh oh such a tough game. Zombies and zombies by the ton. errrrr I mean crazy villagers hahhaha. It's very refreshing compared to the other RE games I've played and coming from the cube too. Man, this is the only reason I need to keep it.