Showing posts with label Pandemonium! for Saturn and PlayStation Print Ad (1996). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pandemonium! for Saturn and PlayStation Print Ad (1996). Show all posts

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Pandemonium! for Saturn and PlayStation (1996)

Original ad published in the December 1996 issue of Ultra Game Players (no. 91).
Press to enlarge or download in higher resolution.

Just an average 2.5D adventure game

Crystal Dynamics gained critical acclaim around the time Pandemonium! was released in second have of 1996 thanks to the original Tomb Raider. But the former was a rather bland game with 2.5D graphics, instead of the full-fledged 3-D adventure starring Lara Croft. Such was the faith of this game, which, to the amazement of many, scored a sequel just a year later. Before Pandemonium! and Tomb Raider, the company succeeded in establishing Gex as a popular mascot and series.


If readers are interested in 2.5D action adventures, I recommend the excellent Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1, 1998) and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2, 2001). You can get the first one over on the PlayStation Network for cheap. The sequel will be more expensive but it's well worth the asking price. Some have called both these games the best platformers ever. I wouldn't called them than, but certainly the best 2.5D platformers, no doubt.


The average game displayed less than average marketing material when released. Here we have a problem of editorial layout. Contrary to the recent Bomberman 8 print ad I review just a couple of days ago, this ad follows the same route but falls flat on execution. We see the same spiral at the right of the page, but here it is done without proper knowledge of the basic fact that our eyes naturally flow towards the brightest light source. Since the brightest source are actually the jester's teeth, they en un competing with the game screen located just below the characters in movement, where your eyes should fall (this is the most important part of any page with a "Z" editorial layout). The colors, by the way, are garish and corny, as well as the characters. It just screams "average game".


Pandemonium for Saturn and PlayStation Print Ad copy

Just because he's a joker doesn't mean he plays with a full deck

Ante up to Crystal Dynamics' fastest, endorphin-based 3D action game. Your team of fellow speed-mongers includes Nikki, Fargus and Sid--an acrobatic wizard, a slightly twisted jester and his maniacal puppet-on-a-stick. Blur through unbelievably spacious levels of their deranged 3D kingdom while shape-changing into a fire-blasting dragon or raging rhino. Just sit down and get taken for a ride, it's pure rocket fuel.

Pandemonium!  

Check out our new website at http://www.crystald.com [working link]