Simon 3D - (or why on earth should I play this game?!?)

Allright - I know that this game has gotten some rough press. Randy, that's right I am talking about you, the original lyrical gangster. Now I'll be the first to admit - there is much truth to it. But before you think I am agreeing with such reviewers - I need to make it clear from the start that I also think that Simon 3D has it's good points. I should also like to acknowledge that although Randy stands by his review, he thought that perhaps there was another point of view on this game. So in keeping with fair play and other democratic qualities - he asked if I would be willing to have my Simon 3D review published by JA as an alternative to his. I of course agreed - prompted somewhat by the wailing and moaning of many Adventure Soft workers who's feelings and pride were demolished by Randy's well phrased "F" review of their game. So I'll lay it out now. Keeping in mind some serious reservations - Simon 3D is a great game to play. You didn't hear it wrong, I had as much fun as frustration with this game. A little background music, as we look very briefly at what brought us Simon 3D. By the way - gnashing teeth is not back ground music Randy……. Heh-heh-heh.

The cautionary saga of how Simon became 3D….

The history of this game is a bit of a sad tale in gaming history and one that makes one wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever develop adventure games for a living.

Simon 1 and 2 from Adventure Soft are well regarded and have a highly devoted following among any number of fans of our beloved genre. I personally rate Simon 2 as one of the pure delights of classic games. Rendered in old style 2D graphics, starring a 12 year old who's share of sassy attitude and SA quips runs rampant.

To say that Simon 3 was eagerly anticipated is an understatement. When the announcement was made - many a gamers heart was in a flutter of delight. The first screens and story board sketches that were bandied about were spectacular 2D rendered beauties. Yep, that's right, initially this game was planned in full color, high end 2D. Now mind you we are talking quite a while back.

An old interview with Quandary in 2000 shows the transition and conflict clearly: Andrew Brazier, who was the assistant Designer on Simon 3D, spoke in the interview about the development history of Simon the Sorcerer 3D,

"I was pretty gutted, especially as Simon Woodroffe (the lead designer) and I had finished the entire design for the 2D version, and had begun writing the script. When I think of the hours we toiled thinking up puzzles, it seems a real shame to see it go metaphorically in the bin. In retrospect though, it was probably the best thing for us, as we have now made the transition to 3D which means we have more chance of getting future games released. Unfortunately, 2D is pretty much dead now. The only way we could make a 2D adventure nowadays is to fund it ourselves, which is unlikely, especially as adventures are probably the most demanding (resources-wise) games you can make." (source: Quandary)

So there you go - the birth of Simon Three 3D.

2 years later, several publishers, and ( according to web gossip) after a great deal of strife between the developing team and the final publisher...we have the game at issue.

Gee this sounds terrible you might say - why on earth would I want to even think about playing this game? Because it's fun, because of Simon and well it's fun.

Saying that - I will also add that this game will not appeal to everyone. Not by a long shot. But lets get to that in a minute.

The Basic Plot:

In Simon 2 - we last saw our hero's body stolen by Sordid and his soul and body severed. In Simon 3D we find a band of wizards and weird priests endeavoring to reunite Simon with his spirit. Sordid had returned and quickly ditched Simon's mortal remains in favor of a robotic blue demonic model more favored by evil Lord's of Darkness intent on seizing power over the known universe.

In this game - Simon will be faced with new challenges, meet old allies (most of whom he'd rather forget) and try to defeat Sordid or if not that at least save the universe and perhaps find his way back home at last.

Game Crew:

The characters in the Simon games, as with the Monkey Island series, are a large part of their attractiveness to me as a gamer. No one was left out in this latest Simon game and some very cool new ones were added. The erstwhile vacuum salesman bereft of love and drowning his sorrows in the hotel bar, the female member of the harem within a fanatic cult of wig worshippers are but a few of the new endearing characters introduced. All the old familiar faces are here as well; the demons, Calypso and others. The ever present wood worms were manic and hysterical. Their segments in the game were some of the funniest bits I have experienced. I haven't loved such insanity as much since my last encounter with Murray the talking skull. Woodworms of the world -unite!!

I will say that the strong devotion to character development was not slighted in this game one bit. Another compelling reason to try this game.

Now the rub

Here is where many will and probably should just say forget it. The game has action arcade bits, it has timed puzzles that make you want to burn your keyboard, it has blocky polygon figured characters and keyboard controls. Yep you heard the dreaded word here - keyboard controls.

Now you must be saying - OK now I really don't want to play this game. And I have to say - if even the thought of keyboard controls makes your mouth twitch - you shouldn't. If the idea of a timed puzzle makes you scream and shout - nope - don't go near this game.

HOWEVER, if you can handle the interface, it really isn't that hard. If you can accept that there are 3 or 4 puzzles that you just might have to throw in the towel and grab a 12 year old to do them (I did ) or holler for a saved game for that small part (they exist) and if you love SA dialogue, snotty comebacks, hysterical gags and pithy rants - then this is a game for you.

If you want to enjoy some truly innovative puzzles and gaming situations - then you have to give this game a whirl. If you think you have seen every ending possible and want to learn that you are wrong - then play this game. It has hands down the most clever - think so far outside the box you'll be stunned, ending puzzles I have ever encountered. I was truly charmed and thrilled with it. In fact I had to go through it several times and have all my kids try it - just to catch the WOW look on their faces.

Graphics, sound and other such stuff

Well what can I say. Simon three 2D would have been wondrous. But it's 3D. One you get to roam anywhere and everywhere, two it's good that the phone booths are present for instant teleportation cause you can run around a whole lot without them. There is also later in the game a rainbird that you can ride around on during the day that is a lot of fun. The figures as to be expected with older 3D imaging are polygon looking and blocky. The facial expressions though are quite good and Simon has a wide range of expressions that work well with the various dialogues.

This brings me to another of the games true strong points. The voice talent. They were all quite good. Since one of the key charms of this game was the dialogue and rants - it was a real pleasure to listen to the characters. Be it Swampling, Simon, Calypso or the woodworms. Great voice work.

The music was not overbearing or badly done. Just a pleasant back drop for the game play. Ambient sounds and such were also nicely done.

The nitty gritty

The game loaded well enough on my system which is a now outdated PIII500, WN8SE, SB128, nvidea 3D card with 32MB of video memory.

I did encounter loading errors when I stopped and started the game frequently (which was quite a bit) All I had to do when those cropped up was to exit and reload my save. Worked fine after that. There are also some glitches that crop up in a couple of places when you go there way too early in the game. Notably the church tower. Being practical I would just restart and not go to a place where I had a problem and it worked fine later in the game. Actually the clock tower was the only place this happened to me. Other than those problems the game ran relatively well. There is now a patch out that allegedly addresses game issues (developerese for coding nightmares and glitchy game play) I'll take Randy's word for it that games saved prior to installing the patch do not load or play well. So I would suggest that if you have started without it - finish without it. Otherwise get the patch and install it along with the game.

Bottom line

There are a lot of reasons for gamers to skip this game or put it on a back burner for leaner times. However if the keyboard controls, actiony bits and such doesn't scare you - I think overall you will be glad you didn't miss this game. There's a lot of wonder in it and genuine fun for those intrepid gamers who dare the challenge of Simon 3D.

Played it on:

P. III 500
256 RAM
32 Mb Video, Nvidea Riva TNT card
SB PCI 128 sound card
Toshiba DVD/CD Rom
W98SE