Game:

Terra Cresta 3D (1997)

Duration: 14:11

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Oh goody, what do we have here today? It's only a 3D revision of an iconic 80s shooter and one of the worst shooters for the ol' Sega Saturn (and objectively the worst in its own series), which is saying a lot as the Saturn has some fantastic SHMUPs. Released in 1997 by Nichibutsu (Nihon Bussan), it marks the sixth entry in the series following the 1992 release of "Terra Cresta II" for the PC Engine (TurboGrafx). By this time, Nichibutsu was already suffering from some fairly well-documented woes, the most significant of which involved the departure of Shigeki Fujiwara, the creative driving force of the series and the heart of the company. Even so, it's not entirely awful and even seems modestly well-intentioned, but it ultimately comes off as a last-ditch effort to garner revenue by tugging on the heart strings of Terra / Moon Cresta fans and would be the last "Cresta" game to see the light of day until PlatinumGames' "Sol Cresta" title in 2022 (after getting permission from Hamster, the current copyright holders), almost 15 years later.

The game is a no-frills revamp of the original and highly influential 1985 release of Terra Cresta. The game puts the player in control of the "Wing Galibur", a powerful ship that has top-secret tech to combine with other ships and subsequently become a super-ship that utilizes different formations and weapons to combat enemies. It was developed with the sole purpose of stopping an alien menace, Mandler, and its army from destroying all of humanity. Taken at face value, there is nothing wrong with the concept -- though dated by 1997's standards, a TC remake would still make for good fun with a proper facelift and a few added QoL features, but there's a bigger reason this title has garnered its infamy: it lacks a soul.

Let's, for a second, get the game's strengths out of the way. The game has some decent arrangements of familiar TC tracks and passible lighting / shading in spots. That's about the extent of the praise I can offer the game as the game was not released as some budget title and had no notable shortcomings from a production standpoint outside of Fujiwara's absence; the game wasn't on some strict deadline and the game wasn't released on the tail-end of Nichibutsu's financial problems (this would rear its ugly head a few years later). While I can cite the Saturn's architecture as a roadblock for less experienced programmers (especially where 3D is concerned), this wasn't their first venture on the system. At the end of the day, the overall package was not handled with the respect and care a venerable IP like TC deserves and comes off as an unfinished beta of what a 3D TC title should be.

The graphics are mostly elementary: From the lackluster intro to the garish text, bland use of colors, poor usage of faux transparencies, unimaginative level designs and simple polygonal models for most things, Terra Cresta 3D is far from a looker. Even worse still, while the game is advertised as 60FPS, it will drop more often than not from even simple enemy skirmishes (and mind you, the gameplay runs at a lower resolution than the menus and the like) -- while this isn't too offensive in something like an RPG or adventure game, it makes a big difference in something like a precision-based vert shooting game. Even the game's boss battles, which take place every other level, are unimpressive and draw you into a close-up forced perspective that looks as bad as it plays (as you do not have a great feel for how bullets and objects move on the screen).

If you haven't guessed it yet, the gameplay isn't much better. Besides the aforementioned visual hiccups playing directly and indirectly into how the game plays, it lacks even the most basic of features. What do I mean by that? Well, for starters, how about a SCORE? Yes, there is no scoring or ranking system in this game. Also, most enemy waves are incredibly predictable and easy to overcome, so besides the game being one of the easier SHMUPs, there's no exhilaration or incentive for destroying enemies. Want more insult to injury? The game only features three ships instead of the original five and no two player mode. While the later "Sol Cresta" also adopted three ships, it ADDED things to make up for this... it also added a tidbit in its lore about TC3D being a simulation to help aspiring pilots train against Mandler, but that's a nice way of saying "the events herein are not canon".

While TC3D still has the occasional fan out there, the general consensus is that this game has a lot more cons than pros, and while I tend to sometimes be the outlier when viewing polarizing games, this game honestly lives up to its reputation. Combine that with the aftermarket price and its a solid "no" from me. Regardless, this is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.

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