Crash 'n Burn (1993 video game)

Crash 'n Burn is a futuristic racing/shooter video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and released for the 3DO in 1993.[1] The game was the launch title for the system and was included as a pack-in game with Panasonic's original 3DO console.[2]

Crash 'n Burn
North American cover art
Developer(s)Crystal Dynamics
Publisher(s)Crystal Dynamics
Director(s)David Burke
Producer(s)Mark Wallace
Designer(s)Mark Cerny
Programmer(s)Bill Mitchell
Bill Willis
Artist(s)Cyrus Lum
Steve Kongsle
Writer(s)E. Daniel Arey
Composer(s)Burke Trieschmann
Platform(s)3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Release
  • NA: October 4 1993
  • JP: March 26 1994
Genre(s)Racing, vehicular combat
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot.

In Crash 'n Burn, players assume the role of any one of six cyberpunks, each equipped with a unique car and a deadly supply of weapons. Full-motion videos of the racers are accessible in between races, in which each character flaunt their skills and insult their opponents with death threats. The game has rally and tournament modes with a total of 30 tracks designed for one player.[3]

Synopsis

The game is set in the year 2044 AD.[3]

Development and release
Crash 'n Burn was developed as a launch title for the 3DO.

Crystal Dynamics was formed on 8 July 1992 by Sega veterans Judy Lang, Madeline Canepa, and Dave Morse. Crystal was the first licensed developer for 3DO, a gaming hardware platform simultaneously funded by Kleiner Perkins. Mark Cerny joined the company, but he left to work for Universal Interactive Studios. In 1993, Strauss Zelnick, president of 20th Century Fox's film studio, was hired to run Crystal Dynamics. This made national news and helped to touch off the frenzy of multimedia investments of the mid-1990s.[4] A 1993 editorial in Electronic Gaming Monthly declared that "the hottest new video game company on the upscale scene is definitely Crystal Dynamics."[5]

Crash 'n Burn was conceived and produced by Mark Wallace and developed by Crystal Dynamics, with Bill Mitchell and Bill Willis as lead programmers and Mark Cerny as designer.[3][6] Its development team required a small number of artists, including Steve Kongsle.[7] The project was directed by David Burke and E. Daniel Arey was responsible for writing the script used for the product. Burke Trieschmann acted as a composer for the game's score.[3][6]

The launch of the 3DO in October 1993 received a great deal of attention in the press as part of the "multimedia wave" in the computer world at the time. Return Fire, Road Rash, FIFA International Soccer and Jurassic Park Interactive had been slated for launch releases but were pushed to mid-1994 due to the developers' struggles with the sophisticated hardware.[8] The 3DO Company also made continued updates to the console hardware almost up to the system's release, which resulted in a number of third-party titles missing the launch date and in some cases by less than a month, because the developers were not left enough time to fully test them on the finalized hardware.[9] Its only software available at launch was Crash 'n Burn.[8][10] Panasonic also failed to manufacture an ample supply of the console in time for launch day, and as a result most retail stores only received one or two units.[11]. By mid-November, it had sold 30,000 units.[12]

In an interview shortly after The 3DO Company dropped support for the system, Trip Hawkins pointed out that it was essentially a lack of coordination between the company, Panasonic and the console's software developers which had led to it launching with only one game ready.[13]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[14]
Edge8 / 10[15]
EGM7 / 10[16]
GamePro16.5 / 20[17]
Consoles +95%[18]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[2]
Game Zero Magazine79.0 / 100[19]
Génération 496%[20]
Tilt89%[21]
Video Games75%[22]
Award
PublicationAward
GameFan (1993)Best Driving Game (3DO)[23]

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 7 out of 10. They described it as "a complex and exciting game once you get into [it]", but felt that it was not a strong enough game to sell a system as expensive as the 3DO.[16]

GamePro praised the game as having the best racing game graphics ever seen in a home system, and also complimented the striking cast of characters, the variety of tracks, and the shopping feature. However, they criticized the lack of multiplayer and the relative shallowness of the racing gameplay (in particular that cars cannot get into crashes), and concluded it to be "a good, not a great, ride."[17]

Crash 'n Burn received the Best Driving Game award from GameFan's 1993 Megawards.[23]

Legacy

Due chiefly to the unexpectedly slow growth of the next generation gaming market, Crystal Dynamics's massive expansion in its early years failed to pay off.[24][25] In 1996 new CEO Ted Ardel announced the company was cutting one third of its workforce and stepping aside as a publisher to focus strictly on games development.[24] For several months the company functioned without a president, with Ardel managing the day-to-day operations until Rob Dyer was promoted to president on April 4, 1997.[26]

After Crash 'n Burn, Crystal Dynamics would later become known for developing the Legacy of Kain and Gex series of video games, as well as later entries in the Tomb Raider franchise, starting with the 2006 title Tomb Raider: Legend.[27][28]

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References
  1. "3DO Soft > 1994" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  2. "Article - Shelley Duvall's It's a Bird's Life". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. January 14, 1994. Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  3. Crash 'n Burn manual (3DO Interactive Multiplayer, US)
  4. Fisher, Lawrence M. (February 13, 1994). "Sound Bytes; The Not-So-Silent Screen". New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  5. "Gaming Gossip". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 51. Sendai Publishing. October 1993. p. 54.
  6. Crystal Dynamics (October 4, 1993). Crash 'n Burn (3DO Interactive Multiplayer). The 3DO Company. Scene: Credits.
  7. Travers, Gregg (April 3, 1997). "GEX – games.greggman.com". Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  8. Matthews, Will (December 2013). "Ahead of its Time: A 3DO Retrospective". Retro Gamer (122). Imagine Publishing. pp. 18–29.
  9. "Problems in 3DO Land!". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 53. Sendai Publishing. December 1993. p. 16.
  10. "The Best -- and Worst -- Console Launches". Yahoo! Games. November 8, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  11. "Which Game System is the Best!?". Next Generation. Imagine Media (12): 36–85. December 1995.
  12. "3DO Sales Called Pleasing". The New York Times. November 20, 1993. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  13. "The World According to Trip". Next Generation. No. 22. Imagine Media. October 1996. pp. 6–12, 159, 161, 163, 165.
  14. Sackenheim, Shawn (1998). "Crash N Burn (3DO) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  15. "Testscreen - Crash 'n Burn (3DO)". Edge. No. 3. Future plc. December 1993. pp. 78–81.
  16. Semrad, Ed; Carpenter, Danyon; Manuel, Al; Williams, Ken; Weigand, Mike (December 1993). "Review Crew - Major Mike's Game Roundup - Crash 'N Burn - Crystal Dynamics / 3DO". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 53. Sendai Publishing. p. 50. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  17. for Brainz, Bits (December 1993). "Special Feature: 3DO - Crash 'n Burn". GamePro. No. 53. IDG. pp. 54–56.
  18. Menier, Marc; Homsy, Richard (November 1993). "3DO Review - Crash 'n Burn". Consoles + (in French). No. 25. M.E.R.7. p. 104-107. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  19. Man, Ferrari; Otto, Dr.; R.I.P.; Salamander (April 1995). "The Final Word game review - Crash N' Burn -- Crystal Dynamics". Game Zero Magazine. Game Zero. Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  20. C., Olivier (December 1993). "Test JPF Import (Distributeur Panasonic 3DO) vous présente le cahier 3DO... - Crash 'n Burn - Mourir en 3 secondes Deux O". Génération 4 (in French). No. 61. Computec Media France. pp. 204–207. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  21. Menier, Marc; D. Grun, Serge; Feroyd, Morgan (November 1993). "L'Evenement >> Crash 'n Burn >> Crystal Dynamics >> 3DO". Tilt (in French). No. 119. Editions Mondiales S.A. pp. 18–20. Archived from the original on 2017-09-18. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  22. Schaedle, Wolfgang (April 1995). "Reviews - Real 3DO - Crash 'n Burn". Video Games. No. 41. Future-Verlag. p. 77.
  23. "GameFan's 2nd Annual Megawards". GameFan. Vol. 2 no. 2. DieHard Gamers Club. January 1994. p. 58.
  24. Svensson, Christian (August 1996). "Crystal Dynamics Faces Financial Reality". Next Generation. No. 20. Imagine Media. p. 22.
  25. "Dynamic Changes at Crystal Dynamics". GamePro. No. 96. IDG. September 1996. pp. 20–21.
  26. "Cleaning Time: Corporations Slim Down". Next Generation. No. 31. Imagine Media. July 1997. p. 23.
  27. "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. March 8, 2009. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  28. "SCi Entertainment Group PLC - Investor Relations - RNS Announcement". Miranda.hemscott.com. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
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