Daedalus 3D Review

Let’s face it, as much as I love my small, black, and smooth Zodiac, it has made no dent at all in the mainstream gaming market. As much as I’ve tried to persuade some larger sites than mine to jump on the Zodiac bandwagon (i.e. Game Rankings, IGN, etc.), they won’t budge. I’ve tried my hardest to display the Zodiac to the mainstream gaming community as a worthy opponent to the PSP and Nintendo DS.

No one, that doesn’t have a mental defect, believes that Zodiac has a chance in hell against the Game Boy Advance, or for that matter, Sony and Nintendo’s newest ventures. It does however have a chance of success, or at least underground success, which might be enough to keep Tapwave afloat.

I commend the makers of Daedalus 3D for making an attempt at what many thought wasn’t possible. For a PDA to have a quality, 3D FPS was unthinkable. Some of my friends still bawk at me for even covering the Zodiac, saying that it doesn’t have the support of mainstream gamers. The truth is, it doesn’t, and because of that, I love this system dearly.

Now let’s get on to my review. I won’t go into the story, since that has no affect on the gameplay, and would most likely detract from the experience. This game isn’t played for storyline; it’s played for action, which is what you’ll get. Three difficulty settings are available from the load screen. After selecting a difficulty, you then go into battle. The game automatically saves at the beginning of each level, but since I haven’t played it in over a week, being busy with E3 work, I can’t remember if there are check points or not.

Levels have the same idea. Find the exit, going from one level to the next. You’ll have to navigate through the levels, taking paths, killing enemies, and opening doors. There are some deadly hazards, such as what looks like acid, so be careful where you step.

The levels are designed good enough, somewhat plain and short, but if the length were any longer, I wouldn’t want to play it anyway. There are ledges and islands that you can jump onto, while trying to avoid any hazardous material that you might encounter. The one slight complaint I have for the game is the lack of a map, which isn’t a big deal, since the levels aren’t vast and seem straightforward enough.

There are barely any enemy-types. I counted four, with a dark ugly alien, a female in what looks like a Samus outfit, a robot, and a spider that spits acid, if I remember correctly. They all have varying degrees of weapon damage and health, but share the same moderately brainless AI.

I guess I found the amount of weaponry quite refreshing. You receive a handgun from the start, and can acquire a shot gun, among other things. Health is plentiful in levels. They are found in what looks like blue balls of energy.

Is Daedalus 3D perfect? Hardly. It does however have a nice amount of replay value, game length, and a convincing level of excitement. The price tag is too much to suggest a purchase, but if the price does come down, which I’m sure it will, give this game a try.