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Virtuoso (video game)

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1994 third-person shooter video game 1994 video game
Virtuoso
North American DOS cover art
Developer(s)MotiveTime
Publisher(s)DOS 3DO
Programmer(s)Andrew G. Williams
Mat Draper
Peter Wake
Artist(s)Andrew Taylor
Russell Phillips
Wayne Edwards
Composer(s)Thai Dyed Suicide
Platform(s)DOS, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer
ReleaseDOS 3DO
Genre(s)Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Virtuoso is a third-person shooter video game developed by MotiveTime and originally published by Nova Spring and Elite Systems in North America and Europe, respectively, for DOS in 1994 and then 3DO in 1995.

Gameplay

DOS version screenshot.

Virtuoso is a game set in the year 2055 where the player is a rock musician who fights in Virtual Reality.

Development and release

Virtuoso was produced by British studio MotiveTime, a branch of Elite Systems. The game was conceived as a "true multimedia product" that marries the gaming and music industries, which the company believed were on "rapidly converging paths," according to an Elite spokesperson. Versions were created for PC and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer while the project was led by Andrew "Andy" Williams. Development began with the game as a 3D action game with "platform overtones" rather than as a third-person shooter. An early interactive camera system was devised that followed behind the player character. Williams claimed that the team had a particular rockstar in mind when considering who to digitize for the main protagonist, but did reveal who it was. The same anti-aliasing digitization tool had been used in Twisted: The Game Show.

Virtuoso was released for PC in late 1994 in Europe by Elite and in North America by Nova Spring, an arm of Vic Tokai. The 3DO version was published in 1995 again in Europe by Elite and in North America by Data East. A Japanese release of the 3DO edition was handled by Imagineer on September 1, 1995. A port for the Atari Jaguar CD was in development by Williams Brothers Developments and planned to be published by Telegames. It was originally slated for a spring/summer 1995 release and later planned for a Q2 1995 release. However, Telegames UK president Pete Mortimer stated in an e-mail exchange with website CyberRoach that work on the port and other upcoming titles from the company for the Atari Jaguar platform were suspended after sales of previous titles published by them were not profitable. When asked if he thought Telegames held onto the license for years due to a royalties dispute with Elite, the latter company's Steve Wilcox responded, "I’m sure any terms that may have been discussed would have been 'commercially reasonably'."

Reception and legacy

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
Computer and Video Games70% (PC/3DO)
Electronic Gaming Monthly4/10 (3DO)
Hyper15/100 (PC)
Joystick120/200 (PC)
Next Generation (PC)
PC Zone25/100 (PC)
3DO Magazine (3DO)
Electronic Entertainment (3DO)
Génération 420% (PC)
MAN!AC35% (3DO)
PC Joker68% (PC)
PC Player52/100 (PC)
Pelit68/100 (PC)
Play Time15% (PC)
Power Play35% (PC)
Ultimate Future Games55% (3DO)
Video Games (DE)38% (3DO)

Virtuoso received largely negative reviews. Next Generation gave two stars out of five to the PC version of the game; the magazine was critical to its gameplay and called it a Doom clone without the first person perspective or fun.

Electronic Gaming Monthly's Seanbaby placed it as number 5 in his "20 worst games of all time" feature. The Sydney Morning Herald ranked it number 25 among its "100 worst games ever." Hyper listed it as the fourth worst game ever among 25 titles. PC Gamer called it the 11th worst PC game of all time and listed both the UK and North American covers among the worst box art.

Notes

  1. Also known as Virtuoso: Rock & Roll Shooting (Japanese: バーチャル・ソー: ロック そして ロール 射撃, Hepburn: Bācharu sō: Rokkunrōru Satsuei) in Japan on the 3DO.

References

  1. ^ "3DO Soft > 1995" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Next Generation staff (May 1995). "Finals". Next Generation. No. 5. Imagine Media. p. 94. ISSN 1078-9693.
  3. PC Games staff (January 1995). "News: Virtually Fact-Free". PC Games. No. 6. EMAP. p. 18.
  4. ^ Edge staff (April 1994). "prescreen: Elite Systems". Edge. No. 7. Future plc. p. 38. ISSN 1350-1593.
  5. Bates, Darren (January 16, 1995). "Cuppa with the Dooz". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 4, no. 1. Subspace Publishers. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  6. Hawkin, Kieren (July 2014). "Oceans Apart: A Telegames Retrospective". Retro Gamer. No. 130. Imagine Publishing. p. 73. ISSN 1742-3155.
  7. Kretzinger, Boris (August 2023). Clipped Claws: The Atari Jaguar Story. Archive.org. p. 307.
  8. "Jaguar Roars With Telegames". Ultimate Future Games. No. 2. Future Publishing. January 1995. p. 50. ISSN 1355-7289.
  9. "Actualités Internationales" [International News]. CD Consoles (in French). No. 5. Pressimage. March 1995. p. 20.
  10. "Feature - XT Generation Report - Atari Jaguar". MAN!AC (in German). No. 20. Cybermedia. June 1995. p. 40. ISSN 2191-012X.
  11. Nepožitek, Marek (July 1995). "Konzole - Jaguar+CD - CD a virtuální realita již tento rok?" [Console - Jaguar+CD - CD and virtual reality this year?]. Level (in Czech). No. 6. Naked Dog, s.r.o. p. 44. ISSN 1211-6777.
  12. Reutter, Hans (July 24, 2000). "Unreleased Or Unfinished Jaguar Games - Virtuoso". cyberroach.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  13. Zapiy (September 8, 2016). "RVG Interviews: Steve Wilcox". Retro Video Gamer. Zaps Media. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  14. Bufton, Paul (February 1995). "CVG Review: Virtuoso" (pdf). Computer and Video Games. No. 159. Future plc. pp. 74–5. ISSN 0261-3697.
  15. Semrad, Ed; Carpenter, Danyon; Manuel, Al; Sushi-X (July 1995). "Review Crew: Virtuoso". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 72. Sendai Publishing. p. 38. ISSN 1058-918X.
  16. Schoffel, Julian (April 1995). "bytesize: Virtuoso". Hyper. No. 17. nextmedia. p. 64. ISSN 1320-7458.
  17. Neves, Lawrence (August 1995). "ProReview: Virtuoso". GamePro. No. 73. IDG. p. 75. ISSN 1042-8658.
  18. De Urlevan, Leo (January 1995). "Virtuoso: Virtuose de quoi?" [Virtuoso: Virtuous of what?]. Joystick (in French). No. 56. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. p. 71. ISSN 1145-4806.
  19. Anderson, Chris (March 1995). "Doom Clones Head to Head". PC Zone. No. 24. Future plc. pp. 94–5. ISSN 0967-8220.
  20. Westley, Dave (February 1995). "Review: Virtuoso". 3DO Magazine. No. 2. Paragon Publishing. p. 54. ISSN 1355-9621.
  21. Olafson, Peter (June 1995). "Doom Clones & Battle Zones". Electronic Entertainment. Vol. 2, no. 6. IDG. p. 102. ISSN 1074-1356.
  22. Génération 4 staff (February 1995). "Test Express: Virtuoso". Génération 4 (in French). No. 74. Pressimage. p. 138. ISSN 1624-1088.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. Ehrle, Oliver (February 1995). "Import: Virtuoso". MAN!AC (in German). No. 16. Cybermedia. p. 27. ISSN 2191-012X.
  24. Löwenstein, Richard (January 1995). "Multimedia Joker: Virtuoso". PC Joker (in German). No. 28. Joker-Verlag. p. 6. OCLC 224612609.
  25. Stangl, Florian (February 1995). "Spiele-test: Virtuoso". PC Player (in German). Future Verlag. p. 50. ISSN 0943-6693.
  26. JTurunen (February 1995). "Virtuoso: Virtuaalisoolo". Pelit (in Finnish). Fokus Media Finland. p. 44. ISSN 1235-1199.
  27. Geiger, Lars (February 1995). "PC Review: Virtuoso". Play Time (in German). No. 44. Computec. p. 45. ISSN 0946-6320.
  28. Heukemes, Frank (March 1995). "Test: Virtuoso". Power Play (in German). No. 84. Markt+Technik. p. 97. ISSN 0937-9754.
  29. Ultimate Future Games staff (February 1995). "Ultimate Review Sector: Virtuoso". Ultimate Future Games. No. 3. Future plc. p. 97. ISSN 1355-7289.
  30. Schaedle, Wolfgang (April 1994). "Reviews: Virtuoso". Video Games (in German). No. 32. Future Verlag. p. 79. ISSN 0946-0985.
  31. P. Reiley, Sean. "Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza - #5: Virtuoso (3DO)". seanbaby.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  32. Screen Play (March 17, 2011). "Re-Play: 100 worst games ever". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  33. Hyper staff (October 2000). "Top 25 Worst Games Ever". Hyper. No. 84. nextmedia. p. 83. ISSN 1320-7458.
  34. Cobbett, Richard (September 30, 2010). "The 15 worst PC games of all time". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  35. Cobbett, Richard; Finland, Wes (May 23, 2017). "The worst PC game box art ever". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024.

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