3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

"Who knew that adding some depth to this classic board game would make it so much more interesting?"

This simple cartridge holds a very special version of Tic Tac Toe. The reason it's special is because this Tic Tac Toe playing style is exclusive to the cart. Adding an extra dimension to this game opens up a whole new realm of strategy and makes you think way more than playing a classic game of Tic Tac Toe.

Story: N/A
Um, yeah. The Os are the good guys and the Xs are the bad guys...go down, dammit. :P

Gameplay: 8
Well, in the original game of Tic Tac Toe you had to worry about blocking across, down and diagonally. In this game, you have to worry about all of those types of wins plus many more! There are four boards stacked on top of each other. Not only that, Each board has sixteen squares instead of nine like a normal Tic Tac Toe game board. You can win the traditional way or you can try making a line spanning all four boards. This is where it gets extremely tricky. For instance, you can try making a line by putting an X or O on the bottom left corner of each board or you can make a diagonal 3D Tic Tac Toe by starting at the bottom left corner of the bottom most game board and ending at the upper right corner of the board at the top. While making 3D Tic Tac Toes may seem more appealing to do in this game, remember that single board Tic Tac Toes still count. While you're thinking about 3D strategy, your opponent may just pick one of the boards and steal the win. This is one of the reasons this game has the potential to be much harder than the normal version; the potential for a player to think way too far ahead. The best way to play this game is to block 2D and 3D wins simultaneously. This may sound hard to you, but it isn't that difficult to learn. Just watch the computer player.

Graphics: 4
Nothing special...just the board, the Xs and the Os. Although it is just a board game, they could have at least made it look somewhat cleaner. The final score would have been a 7 if it wasn't for this.

Sound: 1
Nothing at all. I guess there aren't that many ways to spruce up a board game. :)

Control: 7
Well, sometimes it is hard to get the cursor to move up and down to different boards. You have to move the cursor to the top of a board before you can move up and down to the bottom of a board before you can move down. Here we see a need for an extra button or two on the Atari joystick.

Replay Value: 5
Well, this game has limitless possibilities, and you may want to try out different strategies for a while. That is, until your head starts hurting. :) Oh, and you can also agree with a human player to stay on one board and play 2D Tic Tac Toe. Playing on a twelve square 2D board still adds new strategies over a normal nine square board.

Bottom Line?
If you love board games and/or strategy games, try this out. It isn't gorgeous, but it will make you use all of your brain power. It's a great time waster and fun to play with a friend despite the unclean look, which is why I give it a 6.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/01, Updated 02/11/02