Developed and published by Crystal Dynamics for the 3DO in 1994, Total Eclipse is a third-person space shooter with impressive graphics (for the time), but two major flaws…

The first is: the controls are way over-sensitive, to the point where it makes the game almost unplayable. And secondly: it has an absolutely terrible, inappropriate soundtrack that doesn’t suit the game at all (but more on that later).

You can set the controls to either “arcade” style, or “simulation” style, which basically means that the game swaps up and down on the d-pad for climb and dive, depending on your preference. The problem, however, is that the ship moves far too much with just the slightest push of the controls, making it very easy to crash into the ground or the surrounding landscape, and also difficult to line up to get shots on target, so you end up missing most targets. You can also roll left and right, which looks very impressive visually, but since the game is essentially ‘on rails’ (you can’t fly around freely, but must follow the path determined by the game’s designers), it’s basically useless, other than as a visual frill.

There are tunnel and trench scenes – as well as exteriors – which again, look impressive, but aren’t much fun to play through. The fundamental design of Total Eclipse is flawed. If you’d been able to fly more freely (like in Star Fox, Cybermorph or Star Fighter 3000), then this might have been worth playing. But, as it stands, it’s just a frustrating experience with okay graphics (for the time).

There are other faults too, like the dated and clichéd cut scenes and mission briefs; the lack of interesting enemies or mission structures, and the less-than-impressive weapon power-ups.

The worst thing about Total Eclipse, though, is the music. I don’t know what some people have with that sub-genre of “music” that is non-stop “heavy metal guitar soloing”, but Total Eclipse‘s soundtrack takes that to the extreme and provides an ear-splitting, ridiculous, tuneless experience that neither fits the game nor provides any sort of entertainment for the ears. The person responsible for the music (I just looked up his name, but won’t name him), made a serious error of judgement in creating such a horrible, wanky soundtrack, and it shows both a serious lack of awareness, and taste. Nobody’s ears should be subjected to such awful, self-indulgent, nonmusical guitar noodling – outside of the composer’s own bedroom. It’s like listening to a friend practise guitar soloing, but who won’t stop when you ask him to (I once had a friend who did just that, and it’s the kind of thing that can really dent your love of music).

I also noticed that Mark Cerny is credited with “Additional Design” in this game. Cerny, for those who don’t know, was the designer behind the iconic Marble Madness (among many other games), and was generally considered to be something of a ‘prodigy’ in the games industry at the time of this game’s release. So his involvement in Total Eclipse comes as a bit of a surprise. I can only guess that his contribution was cursory…

Overall, Total Eclipse is a great example of a failed game design, with poor controls, that was never fixed for release. While it might look good in screenshots, it’s certainly not much fun to play. Especially with that horrible soundtrack… Playing Total Eclipse now is really the preserve of those who want the equivalent of a video game “freak show”.

More: Total Eclipse on Wikipedia