The Daedalus Encounter (3DO) Playthrough
141A playthrough of Virgin Interactive's 1995 FMV adventure game for the 3DO, The Daedalus Encounter.
Played on the medium difficulty level. You can see the bad ending at 1:51:54.
The Daedalus Encounter, an FMV sci-fi adventure and port of the PC game of the same name, is a four-disc multimedia extravaganza starring Tia Carrere (of Wayne's World fame) and Christian Bocher (of that one episode of Melrose Place). It was created by Mechadeus, the studio responsible for 1994's Critical Path ( • Critical Path (PC) Playthrough - Nint... ), and it follows closely in that game's footsteps.
You play as Casey, a guy who was serving aboard a ship that sustained considerable damage in an alien attack. You survived thanks to the efforts of your crew mates, Ari and Zack, but your body didn't. You've been reduced to a non-verbal brain-in-a-box that interacts with the world through a digital interface.
Ari and Zack have now decided to plunder a seemingly derelict ship, and they've brought you along for the ride. Rather predictably, things don't go to plan, and you find yourselves trapped and fighting for your lives, kicking off an adventure that plays out like a space-themed version of The 7th Guest.
To piece together the events that led to the ship's current predicament - and hopefully, to escape - you wander the corridors, taking in the sights and hacking security systems to gain access to other areas. In terms of gameplay, this amounts to watching FMV clips of Ari and Zack talking, clicking on environmental hotspots, watching FMV clips of moving through long corridors, and solving obtuse logic puzzles.
The story is fun, schlocky, B-movie stuff. By 1995 PC game standards, the video segments are reasonably well acted and produced, and the quality of the FMV clips - especially in the 3DO version - is excellent.
But whether or not you find the game fun will depend on how you feel about the logic puzzles. They are all contextually appropriate and are well integrated in the story, but they'll probably be a deal-breaker for anyone who goes into The Daedalus Encounter hoping for a couple hours of mindless entertainment.
Personally, I hated the approach. On their own, IQ test questions can make for a fun challenge, but I don't think they paired well with the cheesy FMV. The narrative justifies their inclusion, but combining them left me with a bad aftertaste - like a kid concocting a dish of their favorite foods. I mean, chocolate syrup is great, and so is pizza, but when put together, neither is particularly appetizing.
The Daedalus Encounter is a good FMV game, and it's a good puzzle game, but as a complete package, it didn't really do it for me. Then again, I felt the same way about The 7th Guest, and that game became a best-selling PC classic, so what do I know?
(Please note that the theme that plays during the end credits was muted to avoid copyright issues.)
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