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Good/nice 3D Platformers

Ermm

Erudite
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
2,893
Location
Delta Quadrant
So, recently I've been addicted to 3D Platormers (not that I'm ignoring the 2d one).

Yeah, I've always enjoyed 3D platformers, despite the criticism they receive around here. Crash, Spyro, Gex, Ratchet and Clank, Rayman, Jersey Devil, Bugs Bunny (the ps1 Bugs games were p. fun), Croc.......

So, any good ones I'm missing? Post em here, for everyone to see. Even the ones which have not been received as well as the others (well, I used to love those Disney tie-ins when I was a kid, soooo....)
 

7h30n

Augur
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
311
Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee, the classic version, not the New 'n' Crappy edition. Although the game is 3D, it plays more like a 2D platformer akin to Prince of Persia and Another World.
 

index.php

Arcane
Joined
Jul 5, 2013
Messages
875
Ape Escape series
Ice Age 2
Grow Home
Super Mario 64/Sunshine/Galaxy
Wario World
Sheep, Dog & Wolf
Gex 2, 3
Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Jumping Flash
Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
 

:Flash:

Arcane
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
6,453
Evil Twin and Tonic Trouble
Both from UbiSoft done with the Rayman 2 engine.

Indiana Jack
This was shovelware and not a good game at all, but for some reason I got addicted and played it from start to finish.
 
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CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns
Whiplash
Sly (I've only played the 3rd one)
 

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I'm only good with PS2 era stuff when it comes to this.

Played through every Sly game, they're all fantastic 3D platformers with a bit of minigames and stealth to keep things fresh. Story keeps a Saturday Morning Carton feel. Same goes for Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet & Clank are more like action platformers than a 3D platformer, sorta like a 3D version of Contra if you can buy that. Only the first Jak & Daxter as well as the PSP spinoff Daxter could be called 3D platformers in that series. Jak 2 & Jak 3 are open world type games with a lot popular things in that era. Vehicles, shooting, beating up, prince of persia flipping obstacles, skateboards, melodrama etc. Luckily Daxter is pretty standalone as well as the original Jak & Daxter.

3D Land & 3D World from Nintendo also deserve a mention, for bringing their 2D formula to a sort of 3D format. It's a bit safe but it makes good use of the 3D design I feel.
 
Joined
Jul 26, 2015
Messages
1,350
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Shantae series (2D)
Ori and the blind forest (2.5D I believe)
Metroid series (2D)
Castlevania series (2D some w/rpg elements)
Dust: An Elysian Tail (2D w/rpg elements)
Guild Wars 2 has a 3D 'retro' platformer game every spring.
Prince of Persia series (2D to 3D)
 

:Flash:

Arcane
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
6,453
Oh, I thought about another one: Montezuma's Return
This was one of the first 3D platformers ever, and it is kind of unique in several aspects. It's a first-person platformer, and it was the first first-person game to show the limbs of the character. It also pulls some nice graphical effects. Everything is incredibly low-poly, but then there are some "organic" things that are incredibly round, it looks like they aren't made of polygons at all. I have no idea how they did that.
It is also kind of neat that it is the sequel to Montezuma's Revenge, programmed by the same guy. Montezuma's Revenge was released in 1984, then the guy vanished for 13 years, then he suddenly releases the sequel as a first person 3d platformer.
It's still highly playable, but incredibly difficult. The levels are huge and if you die you have to start over. Be sure to play the glide version.
 
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
4,338
Location
Bureaukratistan
Hm, this is a genre with few classics. The last one I tried was Metroid Prime, a fine game but it gets tiring with the backtracking.

To be honest, I can't remember anything beating Super Mario 64, even though that game is basically a prototype of the genre. Most are just mediocre or worse.
 

Siobhan

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
472
Location
1X 1Y 2Z
To be honest, I can't remember anything beating Super Mario 64, even though that game is basically a prototype of the genre. Most are just mediocre or worse.
I'm genuinely curious: what is so remarkable about Mario 64 and its direct offspring such as Mario Galaxy 1 and 2? These games are praised by many people with very different tastes, so they must have solid core gameplay, but I am incapable of seeing the appeal no matter how often I give them a try.

From what I've seen, 3D Mario drops the fast-paced precision platforming of 2D games and instead gives you mini-sandboxes that you're supposed to explore. Except that in contrast to other exploration-heavy games such as Tomb Raider, or, to pick a completely different genre, LoG2 there is neither mystery nor any tangible reward to the exploration. It's just something you have to do to progress to the next level, which turns the whole thing into a huge grind. A more positive descriptor would be collectathon, I guess. I'd pick Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, even Drakan or the 3D Indiana Jones games over that any time of the day.
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2013
Messages
2,430
Nights: Into Dream (not a platform geam per se but... 10/10 a fucking must)
Super Mario Sunshine (IMHO better than 64)

Sheep, Dog & Wolf

Wow, thx for reminding me the existence of this shit, it was avesum.
 
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