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Game Bytes Issue 11
The Seventh Guest from Virgin Games/Trilobyte
Reviewed by Roland Yap
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386/20 320x200x256 ~570k,2Mb ~5Mb
Max/Rec. 486sx/20 640x480x256 ~570k,4Mb
Control: Requires mouse (not optional)
Sound: Requires (not optional) soundcard with pcm sound and
fm/midi music: Soundblaster, General Midi device,
Roland Lap/c or MT-32, Proaudio Spectrum, Adlib,
Adlib Gold, Proaudio Spectrum 16,
Soundblaster Pro 1 and 2, Tandy Sensation
CD-ROM: Requires CD-ROM drive, minimum 140k/s transfer rate and
recommended 300k/s
Notes: Supports simultaneous soundcard and midi music, MSCDEX
CD-ROM driver version 2.20 or higher required
Reviewed on: 386/20, 5Mb ram, SB pro soundcard,
Panasonic cd drive
Reviewer recommends: 486/33, SB pro soundcard, Roland Sound
Canvas, SVGA card, 300k/s cd drive
You have probably heard raves about the hottest CD-ROM game around.
THE SEVENTH GUEST (abbreviated to T7G below) produced by Trilobyte and
Virgin Games is new CD-ROM only game which really showcases what can be
achieved with CD-ROM.
The setting of T7G is an old spooky mansion. The preamble to the story
starts with a strange and mysterious toymaker, Stauf, who becomes very
successful and rich in the town of Harley. Then one day the children
in the town start dying and soon after Stauf closes his business and
secludes himself in an enormous and strange mansion he has built. The
game begins with the telling of the above synopsis using full motion
video, speech and music combined with computer graphics and animation.
After that you learn that Stauf has invited 6 guests to the house...and
that is where you start the actual gameplay, in the foyer of the
house.
Without having seen a demo, it is difficult to do justice to T7G using
screen shots or a review. Perhaps the most similar game which uses
video and sound is SHERLOCK HOLMES by Icom but the graphics and sound
here are far superior. Think of it as a combination of ALONE IN THE
DARK with full graphical modelling, speech and video instead of chunky
polygons. The result is very much like a movie production: video,
soundtrack, sound effects, computer animation and graphics all combined
into an interactive movie-like multimedia presentation.
The rooms inside Stauf's mansion have all been modelled realistically
with computer graphics utilizing raytracing and realistic texturing.
(Autodesk 3d Studio was used for this.) There are shadows, reflections,
textured objects (like wood, carpet), etc., all of which give the
graphics a sense of realism and submerges you into a more believable
virtual reality. The screen shots should give an idea of the graphical
level of detail. Some computer animation sequences of the modelled
objects also occur occasionally; for example, in the dining room the
plates, glasses and utensils rise up from the table and do a ghostly
dance. Incorporated into the computer graphics are animation sequences
using real actors which are intended to have a ghostly effect (the ghosts
are translucent). This works very well and is used to tell much of the
story and plot. On the audio side, it has a good musical soundtrack
(done by the Fatman). There is no text in the game at all; all
information is communicated using speech. Sound effects are used
extensively to heighten the realism; for example, echoes give a sense of
the dimension of the rooms and corridors. T7G brings all these elements
together and integrates it dynamically into a single virtual reality.
The graphics are always from a first-person perspective, out of your
own eyes. You can move and turn around in the house and the graphics are
animated to change to accommodate your changing view. In fact, it is
only when you move around that you can see the detailed modelling which
has gone into creating the rooms. Occasionally you can zoom into
objects smaller than yourself, for example entering a doll's house. In
this case, you zero in on the house with the door becoming bigger and
bigger and suddenly you are past the door into the tiny house!
So T7G gives us beautiful graphics, animation, video and sound. What's
the gameplay like? Basically you get to explore the house and within
various rooms you find various puzzles. These are not problems in the
typical adventure sense but puzzles such as logic puzzles, chess
puzzles, card puzzles, etc. For example, one of these is the classic 8
queens puzzle. Solving a puzzle will unlock some other part of the
game and also present you with a video/animation sequence. The game is
entirely mouse controlled and you can either move around or select an
object which may reveal an animation, a video sequence or a puzzle.
While T7G is very impressive and well done, the gameplay is weak. The
plot, virtual reality modelling with visual and audio effects is great
but the actual mechanics of the gameplay for advancement lies mainly in
the puzzles. These puzzles, while ostensibly the creations of the
warped genius of Stauf in terms of the game plot, really have little to
do with the scenario. Some of them are quite interesting and
difficult. They can be quite frustrating to solve because part of the
puzzle is to figure out what the object of it is. Unless you have
solved some of the puzzles you cannot not reach certain areas in the
house. Thus it is really a transparent implementation device which
Trilobyte have used for structuring the game. There is little control
over what happens in the game and the story line is quite linear. I
suspect that most people will be stumped over some of the puzzles which
can be rather annoying. Fortunately you can use the library to get
hints to the puzzles and if all else fails the library can be used to
bypass the puzzle. The downside is that you miss out on the animation
and video sequence.
Overall I found T7G to be quite enjoyable and only lamented that it could
have been better in terms of game mechanics. The puzzles are fun and some
of them quite clever. I manage to finish all the puzzles except for one
(the microscope/virus game) but I did resort to a little "cheating"
with the help of some computer programs. (This is one of the rare games
where some CS and AI skills come in handy!) The ending appears to
promise a sequel since it finishes with "volume 1". Replayabilility is
low unless you particularly like doing some of the puzzles or didn't
finish some. Hopefully T7G will set the standard for graphics and sound
for other CD-ROM titles to come.
Notes:
As mentioned above, a soundcard, mouse and CD-ROM drive are REQUIRED.
The game comes on 2 CD-ROMs with the 2nd one containing the install and
end game sequence. The 2nd one also has separate audio tracks which are
playable on a normal cd player for the soundtrack. A video describing
the making of T7G is included (be warned for non US vcrs that my game
was packaged with an NTSC video). Unless you have one of the double
speed cd drives, T7G can push your cd performance to the limit. This
results in jerky video and sound breakup and may force you to run in
MCGA instead of SVGA mode. A cache may also help (Lightning CD has been
reported to help). There have been numerous problems with T7G crashing
with different hardware configurations. At least for me, these
problems all seem to be fixed with a patch available on the Virgin BBS
(US, 714 562 5030) and anon ftpable also from wuarchive.wustl.edu in
/pub/msdos_uploads/upgrades/games/ and ftp.CD-ROM.com in /CD-ROM/. The
new patch also seems to clean up the sound and speed up the video
somewhat. A useful trick to know if you have a persistent crash during
the opening demo sequence is to rename the file "save.z" to "save.0"
and bypass the opening sequence and reload from game 0.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Roland Yap for Game Bytes.
All rights reserved.
AV-8B HARRIER ASSAULT by Domark
Reviewed by Vince Alonso
AV-8B Harrier Assault by Domark is aimed to please both flight simulator
enthusiasts and wargamers by allowing them to assume the role of a Marine
Amphibious Task Force Commander and an AV-8B Harrier pilot. Simis, the
British programming team that did Domark's earlier Mig-29 simulation, has
developed a fine product. Last year Mig-29 was hailed as an excellent
flight simulator but a terrible game. Domark has remedied that problem
with AV-8B's innovative operational campaign mode while improving the
flight simulator code of its original release.
The AV-8B flight simulator is impressive, rivalling Falcon 3.0's complex
flight model and even surpassing it in some respects. Rudder
implementation is much more realistic, similar to that in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 4. Roll and pitch rate is responsive and fluid, giving one the
impression of flight, unlike some other unnamed simulators that "ride on
rails". Simis has experience programming flight simulators for the RAF,
so this is not surprising. Frame rate was excellent on a 486/50DX2 and
should be good on much slower machines. Gray out occurs at over 8 Gs, and
complete black out is possible at sustained high Gs. The U.S. version of
the simulation supports the Thrustmaster HOTAS setup entirely, including
rudder pedals and the coolie hat. These features are undocumented and
Domark customer support had to assist with the setup. Sound board support
is good and the Roland sound effects are excellent. The VTOL capabilities
of the Harrier are fully modelled and are quite interesting. It's a
challenge to land vertically on the tiny flight deck of the LHA! Luckily
the autopilot is very effective if needed.
The campaign game allows a player to fully control all aspects of a Marine
Amphibious Brigade Task Force assault on a small island occupied by
Indonesian forces. This "wargame within a flight sim" is a unique
approach. In an unprecedented span of campaign control, the player
manages all naval, land, and air assets. One develops a battle plan
before starting the campaign by assigning waypoints for all Harrier,
helicopter, Special Forces, and Marine assets and determining their
actions at each for the duration of the operation. The game scale allows
control down to individual Marine platoons (three vehicles) and Special
Forces teams that provide laser designation for CAS. Once the campaign
begins, the plan can be modified as desired. The simulated forces execute
the plan in the 3D world in real time as ordered. As one flies, it is
quite entertaining to observe and support the friendly tanks and tracks as
they advance on and attack an objective.
The player assigns activity for the limited Harrier assets (16 total) as
he does for all other forces. He can, however, enter the cockpit of a AV-
8B at any time during its mission execution or prior to take off (to
assign weapons as desired). The game ends when the Marines have
operational control of the island or one loses all his Harrier aircraft,
whichever comes first.
3D graphics are nicely rendered throughout, comparable to FS4 graphics.
The island is generally flat with a few polygon mountains. Contour
shading a la F3.0 is lacking. The enemy bases and facilities are detailed
enough for accurate bombing or strafing, but not to the standards of
F15III. The Harrier cockpit is well detailed and includes simple
avionics, but does not approach the level of realism of F15III or even F3.
0. Most interesting is an announcement in the box that Domark will
release a S3 video driver to support accelerated SVGA graphics. Look for
this in the next couple months -- this may revolutionize the look of
combat flight simulations.
The enemy AI seems to provide a challenging gaming environment. This is
mostly due to their effective SAM and AAA employment. Going back for a
second pass at a target is deadly as the sky fills with tracers and
missile trails! The opposing aircraft mostly seem like weak opponents,
however. Sidewinders are extremely effective and, given a good lock tone,
the enemy A-4s and helicopters invariably go down before them. The base
of F-16s on the west end of the island offers much more of a challenge --
one must use the Harrier's vectored thrust capabilities to turn with these
Indonesian Falcons which are evidently flown by experienced pilots.
Inclusion of a padlock or tracking view would have been welcome as one
endeavors to maneuver into the elbow for a satisfying gun kill.
Although other friendly aircraft may occupy the airspace at the same time
one is flying, there is no provision for a controlled wingman. A player
could set up a CAP mission to follow a computer controlled Harrier and act
as a wingman, but solo missions seem to be the order of the day. Another
concern is the distinct lack of a rear view or at least a rear view
mirror, which would be nice for target damage assessment after a bomb run.
The exterior views work nicely but no die hard simulator pilot would want
to use them.
All in all, AV-8B is an exciting product. Even with its shortfalls, AV-8B
Harrier Assault is a must have for flight simulation enthusiasts for its
flight model alone, and it is a good game as well. Yet until Domark
includes contour shaded terrain graphics, digitized voices and wingmen,
authentic avionics, replays, and modem play, simulators such as Falcon 3.
01.1 will remain the standard that others are judged by.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Vince Alonso for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
CONQUEST OF JAPAN by Impressions
Reviewed by David Pipes
Reviewed On - '486DX, Logitech Trackman, Original
Soundblaster, Oak Chipset SVGA board, QEMM
Requires - '386 or better,
VGA Sound - AdLib, SoundBlaster, PC speaker
Incompatibilities - None
Found Bugs - None Found
First Impressions
Impressions has brought us several interesting games in the last year,
notably Air Bucks and Caesar. Conquest of Japan is not in the "build and
watch it grow" vein, but is a traditional military game.
CoJ is set in the 16th Century, on the island of Honshu - the main island
of Japan. Japan at that time was in the throes of a major political and
social change as the period of the Warring Daimyos came to a close with
the unifying efforts of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. >From a country
torn by constant warfare between regional leaders and their families,
Japan became a relatively peaceful land, with the entire island of Honshu
and several of the outlying islands unified under the rule of the Shogun.
The major theme of the time is the wars of unification. As various
families attempted to control the Shogunate, they would unite their
followers and face those who opposed them, in campaigns that often lasted
for years of political and military maneuvering. Control of major cities
went back and forth with the times; treachery and treason were often the
linchpins of success. The time is an excellent one for computer games;
many readers will be familiar with such classics as Sword of the Samurai,
or Nobunaga's Ambition.
This is roughly what ran through my mind as I loaded and booted the game.
It doesn't take much space - my copy came on 3 5.25 high density
diskettes. It will use a variety of sound cards and video modes - I
tried AdLib and VGA, with SVGA battle scenes. Ultimately, however, no
matter what mode I selected, the game just did not deliver as promised.
It is a shadow of what it could be.
The opening graphics are reasonable, and interesting. Difficulty levels
are selected by varying the amount of money available to the players
(computer or human). The game then opens onto the main screen - a map of
the Central portion of Honshu, with a number of pagodas for cities, some
mountains and a few other terrain types and a menu bar. The menu bar
allows the player to access the game functions quickly and easily,
although I found the icons to be a bit too abstract for my taste - I
constantly had to try one before I was *sure* I remembered what it did.
After selecting which side to play, or both computer controlled, the map
comes up as described above. The player then clicks on each of his
cities, buying troops with the funds available. There are infantry,
archers, arquebusiers, samurai and cavalry. The more powerful a unit, the
more expensive it is. As the army is built, it can be split up leave some
troops in the city for defense, and others out in the countryside as
mobile forces.
Then, the mobile forces can be moved one square in one of 8 directions.
The object is to capture all of the enemy cities - there are ten cities.
Once all of the forces have been assigned the desired movement, the enemy
gets to set up and move. Both sides forces are visible at all times.
This part of the game is pretty cut and dried. The player tries to fend
off the enemy armies with bigger ones of his own, while his cities slowly
produce more money to buy more troops with. Armies can be combined in the
field and drop off troops in the cities. The players take turns moving
until two armies come together.
At this point, the computer generates a tactical map of the area. This
map depends on the terrain the battle is fought in. A battle in the
mountains will have a lot of rough terrain, for example. The player can
choose one of 7 classical formations, the use of which is explained in
great detail in the manual and accompanying strategy guide.
After the formations are chosen, the troops appear. They are arrayed in
various lines, curves and block formations that convey the feel of a
battle-ready army. The different elements can be told to move to certain
locations - leaving them alone will default control to the computer, which
will either wait on defense, or slowly and regularly advance on offense.
As the units approach each other, the missle units open fire, knocking out
a few enemy troops and sometimes routing a unit. But they are pushed
back, or slaughtered by better armed footsoldiers, and the lines collide.
Cavalry can be assigned to rush into dense formations to break them up,
while the spear-armed infantry follows along, supported by the samurai.
Each unit has a signalman, who must remain alive to allow the unit to be
controlled. If one is killed, that unit is no longer controllable.
The tactical combat thus lives up to expectations, with the sweep of units
across the field, amid the zing of arrows and shot, and the thunder of
horses hooves. Sort of. If your expectations don't extend too far.
I was very puzzled by this aspect of the game - the heart of it,
certainly. It has the right look, but it is presented in either large
blocky closeups (regular graphics) which run at a fast pace and require
you to constantly scroll around the map to check on things, or High-Res
graphics, reccommended for local-bus machines. This mode gives a larger
overview, but is slow and jerky on a non-local bus '486, and yet still
evokes only VGA quality in the mind of this reviewer! This aspect is
disappointing; a more equitable middle ground of showing the whole
battlefield has been done in other games, why not here? However, it does
not render the game unplayable.
Next, the units. Your units start out in neat formations, decided upon
by the cpu based on your army size and chosen army formation. So, if you
have cavalry in a defensive formation, they might form a wing unit to the
left and right of the main line, with some in the center. But if you order
them to move as a unit, they move in the same relative positions! Even
after losses create gaps in their lines! Of course, this does not render
the game unplayable, as each one can be selected for individual control,
one after the other, over and over...But it struck me as truly strange
that a unit would hold its' relative formation in combat, even after
breaking and running.
Yet another weird choice - the arrows are shown in flight. Great touch,
except that they follow the grid squares! So the little arrow icons make
lots of right-angle turns on the way to their targets. Not the most
realistic effect, but not unplayable either.
As the battle progresses, the morale of one side or the other will drop
enough that it will flee. This is a good touch. No fighting to the last
man in an even battle, although occasionally a small force will be
eradicated by a large one. In fact, there is a quick resolution option
for just such occurances, bypassing the tactical game.
And next...Well, there is no next. When you beat a garrison, you take the
city and get its' future production. When you take all 10 cities, you win.
This is the game. And this is my major complaint. While the game does an
alright minatures battle, it seems merely sketched out when looked at in
detail. Sure, it is Conquest of Japan - well, actually Conquest of
Central Honshu. It does have a strategic aspect - move your icons one
square per turn towards the enemy. It has individual troop units on the
tactical map, all types differentiated, but moving in a constant lockstep
to place the geographical center of a formation on the selected spot, with
no consideration of enemy locations or terrain. All of this leaves me
with very mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it does work as is. You can fight intersting battles,
take over the map, build armies, all that stuff. But there is no
diplomacy, no real detail to the battles, no random events, no
personalities to play off of one another...It is like a module in a larger
game. I can't help but compare it to Sword of the Samurai, which had a
great tactical battle system in EGA graphics. It did everything the
tactical system here does, except allow individual control, but it showed
you the whole battlefield and was different every time. Units were
together, not spread out all over, and once they were involved, they were
very hard to relocate. This was fun! Unfortunately, CoJ, while it is a
complete game dedicated to the topic, does not cover it nearly as well.
Quite a shame, although I am sure that some hardcore gamers out there who
like tabletop miniatures would find it an interesting diversion. I just
think that much more could have been done, and in fact has been, in
competing designs. This game is way too focussed for my tastes.
As has become usual for Impressions, the documentation is interesting
and high quality. A thick manual contains lots of background info, while
a strategy guide gives useful advice on running battles. A good setup and
keylist booklet rounds out the set.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Pipes for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
THRUSTMASTER FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM by Thrustmaster
Reviewed by David Pipes
Requirements: FCS - joystick port (speed-compensating rec'd)
Reviewed on: '486dx-33 (no speed, memory or interrupt requirements)
Incompatibilities: None
A quick check of the radar reveals the target bogey dead ahead, about 15
miles out and closing. A gentle stick motion nudges the F-16 into a wide
turn while I change from ground weapons to air and select my AIM-9m's. As
the target continues to close, I get tone and fire. Too late, he notices
me and snaps off a missle as he begins to evade. I turn into it, then break
as it approaches. As the missle flies by and goes ballistic, I level the
plane and watch for any new threats on the radar. Time for the next
waypoint.
This was all so much harder when I had to touch the keyboard.
ThrustMaster is the first company to market a military innovation, the
HOTAS system. HOTAS denotes "Hands On Throttle And Stick", a system
designed to allow the pilot to accomplish as many tasks as possible without
removing his hands from the control devices. The savings in time and
effort translate well into computer simulations. This review covers the
stick portion of the ThrustMaster HOTAS system, and a fine stick it is.
The ThrustMaster FCS is a full-size replica of an F-4 joystick handle. It
is molded to fit the hand, with a support for the side of the palm to
steady the stick as the hand relaxes. It houses a trigger, a thumb button
on top, another on the side, and a lower button accessed by the little
finger. On the top of the stick, to the right, is another joystick shaped
like a little Devo hat (remember those?) called a top hat.
The buttons all function, and in Falcon 3 and other games they perform
similar functions. Since Falcon 3 makes extensive use of the ThrustMaster
functions, I will discuss it here.
The trigger fires the selected weapon, while the two thumb buttons control
weapons selection and weapons mode. The lower button controls brakes, and
the top hat (with some add-on software from the Pilot's Edge, or in
conjunction with the upcoming WCS II) controls cockpit views. The shape of
the stick is such that using the buttons does not torque the stick and
shift its position. The buttons themselves are good quality and provide
some feedback when pushed.
The basic ThrustMaster FCS has a plastic base and stem, which is wide
enough to remain stable under most condition. It uses springs which are
heavier than most joystick springs to provide more stability. This goes
well with the very sensitive pots. No centering adjustment is provided; if
recentering is needed, some part of the stick mechanism has failed. More
on this later. Suffice it to say that this is a stable stick with more
sensitivity than most. It is also worth noting that real fighter joysticks
have the same open center - they do not bring the plane back to level
themselves when released.
The FCS also uses very sensitive pots, and therein lies the strength and
weakness of the ThrustMaster joystick. The weakness is that the pots do
wear out. This causes unintended control inputs. This is true of all
joysticks, but because the ThrustMaster pots are so sensitive, it is more
noticeable. In addition, they have used a number of different suppliers in
the past, some of which were more reliable than others. This has created
an impression that they are prone to failure, which is no longer the case,
I am glad to report. My recent experiences with the pots have been
uniformly good.
It is worth bearing in mind that the joysticks used by the military have
fairly short lifetimes - often only 3 to 6 months. ThrustMaster has been
outstanding in their support of their products, consistently interpreting
the warranty in a very liberal fashion. They have a two day turnaround
policy on repairs and very friendly, knowledgeable staff. If you feel
comfortable doing repair work yourself, they will send you full
instructions on replacing pots, as well as the pots themselves. I have
never been charged for this. Further, the directions worked the first
time. This then is ThrustMaster's strength - a true dedication to the
customer.
The FCS then is a good choice for a flight sim joystick, with the extra
keys and potential for top hat view control (standard on some games, like
AV8B Harrier). For almost 2 years, these sticks have had no competition,
although it is now on the horizon in the form of the new CH FlightStick,
which is near release. But it will take quite a stick to even challenge
ThrustMaster's excellent products.
I recommend this stick without a qualm.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Pipes for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
THRUSTMASTER FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM PRO by Thrustmaster
Reviewed by David Pipes
Requirements: FCS PRO- joystick port (speed compensating rec'd)
Reviewed on: '486dx-33 (no speed, memory or interrupt requirements)
Incompatibilities: None
In my previous review on the ThrustMaster Flight Control System, I describe
the usefulness of the stick for serious flight sim players. But everyone
knows someone who is really involved in flight simming, the kind of person
who actually spends hours in Red Flag in Falcon3 perfecting the responses
to a head-on pass, or trying precision flying through the wingman
controls. This sort of person will find themselves wishing for an actual
stick torn from the innards of a Real Fighter Plane and deposited on their
desk. Well, ThrustMaster can't do this with their regular line (although
they do offer such a product for the ThrustMaster Cockpit), but they can
provide the next best thing - the ThrustMaster FCS Pro.
The ThrustMaster FCS Pro is similar to the regular FCS, but is cast from a
heavier plastic and uses more heavy-duty components. The base is aluminum
and the gimbals are very closely machined. The metal base allows the use of
*very* heavy springs, which not only provide stability, but actually
increase the effort required to pull them as the stick moves farther out.
Finally, you can feel the plane resist as it pulls a tight turn - there is
no other stick which provides this feel. Once you get used to it, anything
else feels like a toy.
The stick itself is a replica of the F-4 joystick, and has a trigger, three
buttons and a top hat. The buttons are on the top rear of the stick (I'll
translate to Falcon3 functions, so this one is Select Weapons), the left
middle of the stick (select Air-Ground or Air-Air weapons HUD mode) and on
the lower left (speed brakes). The buttons are right under the appropriate
fingers, and seem to not even require thought to use. The top hat is
unused in Falcon3, but with a TSR can be used to control views. This
function is available as a standard in some later sims, like Domark's AV8B
Harrier.
Why choose the FCS Pro? Simple...It is the best joystick for flight sims
on the market. Living up to its name, it is durable, fairly heavy and
hence vary stable. The use of metal rather than plastic internal
components increases their lifespan beyond the already long-lived regular
FCS. Finally, the overall feel of the joystick is real. You can imagine
this stick in a cockpit with no modifications. For the discriminating
flight sim addict who wants the best, there is no other choice. The
ThrustMaster FCS Pro is the state of the art in flight sim joysticks, and
is likely to retain that title for quite a while.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Pipes for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
SPACEWARD HO! by New World Computing
Reviewed by Bill Foust
SPACEWARD HO! is an old Macintosh game finally ported to the PC as one of
the very few Microsoft WINDOWS games on the market. The theme of Ho! is a
game idea that has been around for ages, but is constantly renovated and
released anew with great success. In Ho! you conquer the universe against
any number of computer or human opponents by mining planets, exploring and
colonizing new ones, or sometimes defeating an opponent for control of the
planet. As easy as that may sound, Ho! is every bit the strategy game that
made it famous with mac users in the first place.
At the beginning of the game, you control and occupy a perfect planet with
a large supply of ore and that is profitable. You must then explore the
planets around you and colonize them in order to mine the ore that makes
new ships for you to fight the opponents. It doesn't take long to
completely mine your home planet clean of all ore, so quick expansion is
necessary for survival. Besides the aspects of expansion and building
your fleet, the real boost in complexity and strategy comes from the
development of technology. You can't make radically new ships, but you
can upgrade and improve the weapons, shields, speed, range and
miniaturization levels of your ships. Advancement of technology is a
critical aspect of the game - it will win or lose your game. As in the
real world, once a technology level is reached, a lot of time and money
must be put into development of the new spacecraft before it can be 'mass
produced'. Suprisingly, this little aspect adds a lot to the game.
One of the major factors of the addiction level is the fact that the skill
levels of the computer players are wide and thorough. The computer
opponents match your selected skill level, so I wouldn't suggest you lie
about it. Once you beat the computer at one skill level you can try again
in a galaxy of a different size or different computer skill level.
The graphics are the same level as your Windows graphics drivers. Ho!
does rely on graphics heavily with a full map of the universe (with scroll
bars if necessary). Each planet has many graphical aspects that relay
some information such as who the owner is, if a fleet is stationed at the
planet, what kind of planet it is, and if it is profitable.
I did have a small problem with the text in buttons or notification
windows not wrapping or extending off of and being clipped from the window
segment. Most of the time I could figure out what was being said, so I
don't really consider this to be a major problem, just an annoyance and a
sign that New World didn't test it as much as they should have. Other
than that, I found no major bugs - something that is increasingly less
common.
In closing, Spaceward Ho! is a great strategy game for Windows, one I
believe is one of the most overlooked products on the market.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 Bill Foust. All rights reserved.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Game ³ INCA ³
³ ³ by Coktel Vision ³
ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍØÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵
³ Machine ³ ù 8088/8086 (XT) û 80286 (AT) û 80386/80486 ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Graphics³ ù CGA ù EGA û VGA ù SVGA ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Sound ³ . PC Speaker û AdLib û Soundblaster ù Soundblaster Pro ³
³ ³ ù Disney Sound Source û Pro Audio Spectrum ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Control ³ . Keyboard û Mouse û Joystick ù Gravis GamePad ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Memory ³ ù EMS û XMS ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Size ³ 17 megabytes ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Other ³ Microsoft-compatible mouse required ³
ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ;
Reviewed by Mark Mackey.
Coktel Vision is a little-known gaming company: the only previous
release from Coktel that I had heard of was Gobliiins, in collaboration
with Sierra On-line, although a brochure of the company's products lists
several other games produced by Coktel such as 'Bargon Attack' and
'Ween'. The company's relative obscurity is perhaps explained by the fact
that it is based in France, and most of its games to date have been
'multilingual', which invariably seems to limit their popularity in
English-speaking markets.
INCA comes in a black box with an outer sleeve, similar to the way Sierra
products are packaged. Installation is relatively simple, and the program
allows you to set the IRQ, port and DMA of the Soundblaster, which is
important if you have a 'non-standard' soundcard setup. The game also
supports joysticks, but not the Thrustmaster, WCS or any other non-
standard stick.
The game opens with a superb introduction which is visually and aurally
stunning. Superb graphics (including morphing and ray-tracing effects,
and the setting sun reflecting off rippling waters...) are accompanied by
haunting pan pipes which sound much better than I would have expected
from the Soundblaster. Those who have seen the demo will have an idea of
just how impressive these graphics are. A voice speaking what I presume
is the language of the Inca runs through the intro, with a translation
appearing below:
"When Kon Tiki Viracocha created our civilisation, he already knew our
sun, Inti, would cease to shine for a long time on 'Tawantinsuyu', the
four corners of the Empire. I felt ominous premonitions like a Tumi in my
heart; catastrophes, earthquakes and finally the arrival of these bearded
savages in our lands. Let them delude themselves with this gold that
blinds them so. Oh, they'll be looking for the Inca treasure for a long
time.
The real treasures of the Incas, -our knowledge-, I have hidden
away in a safe place. Like Viracocha, I know that one day, El Dorado will
come. This mere mortal will once again find the forces and become the new
Inca. So.... A new era will begin for Man. I can now leave this worn-out
bodily shell, to become APU and wait for the prophecy to be fulfilled: 'A
man will come in a iridescent disc, the fires of which will re-light
Inti, our sleeping sun'. I will be there to guide you, Inti's chosen
one."
You are El Dorado, fated to recover the three treasures of the Inca so
that the Empire may be reborn. You are aided in you quest by the spirit
of Huayna Capac, the last grand Inca. Unfortunately, another _you_ has
simultaneously come into existence, and opposes your quest. Aguirre is
powerful, and you will have to defeat him to succeed...
So much for the plot and the intro: what's the game like? Well, firstly,
a Microsoft-compatible mouse is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED for the game,
although this is not stated overly prominently on the box. You can
configure the game to use a joystick, but it will not run unless it
detects a mouse driver. I found playing with the joystick difficult: the
mouse is much easier to control.
The game itself opens with a short speech from Huayna Capac, the dead
Inca whose spirit will guide you in your quest. Then you're off to
recover the first of the three secrets of the Inca. You travel in the
Tumi, a golden spacecraft modelled on the sacred sacrificial knives of
the Inca. Again, the graphics here are superb: full ray-traced cinematic
scenes of the golden Tumi leaving its' stone bay and flying off into
space.
There are three main segments of the game: space flight, land flight and
land exploration. The space flight section is the first you encounter,
and is frankly quite disappointing after the stunning intros. The
viewport is very small and the mouse interface is difficult. The
background in space consists of a few fixed objects, the main one being
the 'planet' you are heading towards, together with lots of 'stars'
flying past your craft (the equivalent of the space debris in Wing
Commander: this gives the illusion of movement). Unfortunately, the
'stars' don't rotate when you turn the Tumi, making it extremely
difficult to know which way the craft is turning or even if it's turning
at all, unless the planet happens to be in the field of view. The Tumi
has a flight computer which is quite cute (it says "Welcome aboard, El
Dorado. I hope you will enjoy this flight." when you first board), and
provides warnings of space hazards such as asteroids and enemies sent by
Aguirre. If it annoys you, you can turn it off.
The asteroids are represented as chunky bitmaps and are difficult to
dodge, although you only encounter them once. The main hazard in space is
meeting enemies sent by Aguirre. The arrival of enemies is accompanied by
another superb cinematic scene of a group of angular humanoids swooping
down on you through the void. Although the enemies look polygonal, they
are shown as bitmaps on screen, with all the attendant problems of
chunkiness at close range and only a small range of viewing angles. The
bitmaps of the enemies are not nearly as good as those in Wing
Commander: for one thing, there appears to be only about three or four
different viewing angles. As well as the humanoid attackers, in later
scenes you may meet Spanish galleons (in space???) which fire cannon at
you (biggest cannonballs I've ever seen...) and are much harder to
defeat.
You have three weapons with which to combat these enemies: guided
guns, guided missiles, and 'bombs'. The last two come in a finite supply
and are definitely needed later in the game: if you use them up in the
first few encounters later ones become very difficult. Your flight
computer targets any enemies in your field of view and displays their
current 'hit points': when you reduce this to zero that enemy is
destroyed. Unfortunately, INCA fails in trying to capture the 'spacey'
feel of such games as Wing Commander and X-Wing: the space combat scenes
become somewhat tedious after a time and are simple slugfests: little
dog-fighting skills are involved.
The second main game segment is land flight. This involves a race along a
canyon with several of Aguirre's followers: you must reach the end of the
canyon first. The graphics are quite nice until you realise that they are
all pre-recorded: your craft's speed has nothing to do with the apparent
motion of the canyon walls. In fact, the only thing you can control here
is your speed (which you have to keep at maximum to win, so is relatively
useless), and a gunsight pointer which you must use to blast away
Aguirre's followers and the energy mines that they lay in the canyon
ahead. The gunsight pointer takes quite a bit of getting used to: the
up/down motion of the mouse is reversed, so that pulling the mouse
towards you raises your gun's elevation. Once you are used to this,
however, these scenes become relatively trivial to defeat.
The interesting part of the game comes when you land at the end of your
journey. Movement along corridors and through rooms is visually very
smooth, but the motion is all pre-recorded. To quote the game box, this
is 'Free movement through pre-calculated synthesized scenes'. What this
in effect means is that you have no more control over your movement or
heading than you had in the good old games such as Bard's Tale: although
the screen shows your viewpoint smoothly swinging around you can only end
up facing in one of eight directions. This gives the game the feel of a
multiple-choice movie, and means that all the rooms and corridors look
the same.
The land areas are populated with followers of Aguirre, who take
pot-shots of you from behind doorways. These scenes are digitised video
shots of real actors: but again there is only one type of action
evidenced (lean out from behind the doorway, shoot, duck back behind the
doorway, repeat ad infinitum) so this too becomes tedious after a while.
it is also too easy: the baddies only take a few shots to destroy, or
'send to a random place in space-time'. The game is very careful to
avoid actually hurting anyone: maybe Coktel feared their games might be
banned in Germany like Wolfenstein was? The enemies' shots show on the
screen as blobs of red lightning which take 2-3 seconds to reach you.
Although you cannot dodge (only one pre-synthesised viewpoint, remember?)
you can shoot the energy blobs very easily.
The meaty bits of INCA are the puzzles you find in the land sections.
After wandering through the corridors for a while you eventually get to a
puzzle area, where the movement stops and you are presented with a mouse
cursor. When you place the cursor on objects, the name of the object
appears at the bottom of the screen, and clicking the mouse buttons
allows you to either pick up or use the object. Your inventory is
accessed by moving the mouse pointer to the top of the screen: here you
can store objects or click on an icon of Huayna Capac himself to gain a
hint from the spirit of the dead Inca. I personally found all of the
'hints' absolutely useless in helping with the puzzle at hand, but they
occasionally provide some insight into the Inca way of thinking.
As you may guess from the above, none of the puzzles are overly
difficult. You have a limited number of objects, and if all else fails
use everything on everything else until something happens. Unfortunately,
not all of the puzzle solutions are completely logical and so trying
everything on everything else is sometimes the only way to make progress.
After you complete the land sections, it's back in the Tumi for some more
space combat...
One really annoying thing about INCA is the method it uses to save games.
On completing each section you are presented with an 8-digit code number.
Enter the code number and you are returned to the start of the
appropriate section. The code number cannot be typed in: it must be
entered by clicking on numbered buttons with the mouse. Also, the code
numbers are in some way hardware-dependent: they cannot be transferred
between copies of INCA, and so if for some reason you need to re-install
the game you must restart from the beginning. I have heard reports of one
INCA owner who had a new motherboard installed in his computer and found
that all his old codes were now invalid! There appears to be no copy
protection in the game, although a booklet with lots of numbers and little
coloured squares is included in the box. I have yet to be asked for
any details from it, and in fact I have no idea why it is included.
On the whole I found this game quite disappointing. It may have been
truly amazing if released 2-3 years ago, but the quality of more recent
games puts INCA at a distant second. It suffers from trying to do too
much: the space combat scenes pale in comparison to Wing Commander, the
'movement through pre-calculated synthesized scenes' is primitive
compared to the effects achieved in Ultima Underworld or even Wolfenstein
3D, and the canyon races are a simple shoot-em-up with a nifty scrolling
background. To make matters worse, the game is very short. The average
user should complete the game in around 6 - 8 hours, which is a pitifully
small play time for a A$100 game. The end-game is rather tame: the famous
'You have won!' message in Eye of the Beholder comes to mind as a
comparison.
All in all, I cannot recommend INCA as being a worthwhile purchase. While
some sections contain superb graphics, the actual gameplay is very
disappointing. The game is far too short, and has little replay value:
the puzzles never change and the flight scenes aren't interesting enough
to be worth repeating. All in all, you would be better saving your money
for something else. (ED. - Worth of note, it should also be pointed out
that a full CD-ROM version with speech throughout is going to be released
imminently.)
(For those who have ftp access, a demo of INCA containing most of the
introduction to the game as well as several cinematic scenes from later
on is available from ftp.ulowell.edu in the msdos/Games/Demos directory.
The demo is around 4.5 MB in size, and is well worth viewing.)
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Mark Mackey for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
V FOR VICTORY: OPERATION MARKET GARDEN by Three-Sixty Pacific
Reviewed by David Pipes
Reviewed on: '486/33, ATI Graphics Ultra/1 Meg, 8 meg RAM,
Logitech mouse
Required: '386 SX or better, 3 Meg RAM, mouse, VESA video
board/min 512k - supports FPU Sound: Supports Ad-Lib and
SoundBlaster boards
Incompatibilities: None Found
Bugs: A few, most avoidable - see below
Operation Market Garden is the third in the excellent V For Victory series
from 360. It upholds the standards for quality and excellence established
by the previous games, and is a solid addition to any strategy-minded gamer
with a taste for traditional wargames done right. (If you are unfamiliar
with the first two releases, Utah Beach and Velikiye Luki, look up the
recent reviews in GameBytes to get a feel for the basics of the system.)
Market Garden took place in the late summer of 1944 along a corrider
centered on the highway between Eindhoven and Arnhem. General Montgomery
evolved a plan to crack the last defenses of the Rhine river before the
Germans could react, opening a clear path into Northern Germany and
hopefully ending the war quickly. His attack involved dropping 3 airborne
divisions close to the three largest bridges on the highway, with the
objective of securing them and holding on until a large ground force could
break out and string them together like pearls on a necklace. Unfotunately
for him, the plans went off perfectly. The divisions dropped successfully,
right into the jaws of the the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. They were
enjoying a rest in Arnhem, building up strength and supplies and waiting
to be reassigned. This happened much sooner than they expected.
The British breakout went slower than was expected, as the addition of the
SS divisions allowed the area's security forces to be shifted west to deal
with the American and Polish paratroops, as well as the British. The
advance eventually reached past Nijmegen, the last major town before
Arnhem, but stalled before the British 1st Airborne division - the famed
Red Devils - could be saved. The last remnants surrendered after almost two
weeks of desperate fighting, which saw 3,000 of the remaining 6,000 men
wounded. The bridge at Arnhem had been just one bridge too far.
Arnhem finally fell in April of 1945, less than one month before the
Russians tore the flag from the Reichstag. It was General Patton, not
General Montgomery, who saw his troops first across the Rhine.
This game has a number of new features for the series, mostly tweaks to the
interface. A new box allows you to see the supply status of the selected
unit, for example. You can also cycle through a stack of enemy units,
something not allowed in Utah Beach.
New units include many types of motorized units - machine gun battalions,
mech recon (recce) and other fast types. One intriguing addition is the
capability of engineers and specialized units to do bridge and ferry work,
even to repair destroyed bridges in some cases. This is a welcome addition
to the system.
The game has the usual variants, mostly dealing with areas of operations -
restricted or not; availability of "optional" units; air superiority or a
random choice. The scenarios cover a few individual operations to capture
some of the strategic towns, as well as the British breakout and the
defense of Arnhem. The campaign scenario ties it all together. There is
plenty to keep you playing.
One of the attractive features of this series is the random setups
introduced in otherwise identical scenarios. This allows a large number of
replays. While you can't decide where to place each paratroop unit, you do
have to deal with the problems of assembling and attacking after not just
one but three airdrops into unfriendly territory. This coupled with the
"fog of war" options to the game creates a wonderful sense of uncertainty
as the paratroops struggle to their objectives. What is simple in one game
is impossible in another - the variety is quite good.
For lovers of Velikiye Luki and the wheel to wheel artillery barrage,
there is the breakout of the British Corps. An interesting set piece
battle, this features heavily supplied units attempting to force a river
against determined German defenders. The Germans may even counter-attack
if you give them the right opening, quite a galling occurence in the face
of seemingly overwhelming odds. Of course, the victory depends more on
bypassing the Germans rather than smashing them outright, making the task
harder than it appears.
So, Market Garden has some new features, lots of new units and a fresh
battle within the system. What else does it have? Well, unfortunately,
Atomic Games has fallen prey to the infestation of insectoid code manglers
that seems to plague the industry.
There are a few bugs in this game. One causes a crash; I don't know why it
occurs, but it throws you out. Another can occur is you reset a units'
supply value - it can't go back up to what it was! You can restart from a
saved scenario, but if you reload without exitting the game first, the save
file will be corrupted and lock up during the supply phase. (The solution
to that is obvious - save often and never, ever, reload a game from within
the game).
These are mostly nuisances, however. The one to watch for occurs in a
type of terrain called "polder". This is a marshy sort of ground that
motorized vehicles cannot enter. If a vehicle rated bridge is blown in a
polder hex, it will cut the road in, and your mechanized bridge engineers
will not be able to get to it to fix it. You then cannot win unless you
have another way across that river. This one is one to keep an eye out for.
360 promises a fix soon.
One added advantage of this game is that it will Utah beach and Velikiye
Luki to the new AI and features, and allow them to coexist in the same
directory. One problem though - one of the UB scenarios and one of the VL
scenarios are corrupted in the process. Again, fix coming soon.
Let me stress that the bugs are not terrible. The game is 99% stable - all
you really have to watch for is loading games and those couple of
endangered bridges. Given 360's record with this series, this is a
forgiveable state of affairs.
One last hoped-for feature was not present; modem play. But it is also in
development, so whenever it comes out it should be fitted to all three
games.
All in all, Market Garden is an entertaining game which stands up well to
hard use and repeated play. I have never regretted getting any of the V
For Victory games, and this one continues the seires with style. I look
forward to the next release - Gold Juno Sword.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Pipes for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
PACIFIC WAR from SSI
Reviewed by Ken Fishkin
Computer Graphics Memory
Minimum 286 EGA 640k
Max/Rec. 16-color VGA
Control: Keyboard, Mouse (recommended)
Sound: Adlib, Sound Blaster, SB Pro
Reviewed version 1.x10 on: 386SX16 and 486DX250, each with SB, mouse
Reviewer recommends: the more CPU power the better
GAME TOPIC
"Pacific War" (PW) is an extremely detailed strategic-level simulation of
the Pacific Theater in WWII, designed by Gary Grigsby. The game is 2-
player, with the second player either human- or computer-controlled.
ONE-LINE SUMMARY
A great hard-core wargame, once you get past the poor manual and UI.
COPY PROTECTION
Manual lookup.
MANUAL
While the manual seems nice at first read-through (nicely packaged, 155
pp.), when you actually get into the game the manual is quite inadequate.
Of the 155 paperback-sized pages, 30 are a reprint of a 20 year-old S&T
article on the topic. Of the 125 remaining pages, 50-odd are charts and
tables. This leaves 70 pages of explanation. For a game of this scope and
detail, this is woefully insufficient. Many important details are not
mentioned at all in the manual, or mentioned only in passing. Conversely,
some simple commands are described three different times, _in the exact
same language each time_.
To give you a more precise idea of how lacking the manual is: the worth-
its-weight-in-gold "pwhints6.txt" file, co-authored by Gary Grigsby, and
largely devoted to explaining things not mentioned in the manual, is over
1900 lines - not much shorter than the manual itself! This file is
available from forum (805;3) on GEnie, via ftp at ftp.ulowell.edu in /pub,
or wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS.
Finally, there is no index.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are decent EGA. They have a nice crispness to them, but are
severely under-utilized. Many scalar quantities (size of land unit, size
of air squadrons, amount of supplies, number of ships in port) are only
shown as binary quantities.
SOUND
Practically none. There is a little opening tune, and that's it. This is
too bad, because the end-of-turn phase takes a long time (5 minutes or so
on my 386SX), and it would be _very_ useful if an audio cue let you know
when it is done. Even a simple PC speaker beep would be plenty.
BASIC GAME PLAY
Each turn represents one week. To play the entire war will take over 150
turns: this is a long, detailed game! Each week works in a "simultaneous-
move" format: first the Japanese give all their orders, then the Allies,
then the turn is resolved.
This ordering of the Japanese orders before Allied orders is used very
cleverly to incorporate the Allied advantage in cracking Japanese codes:
each week, the Allies get to take a limited "peek" at a certain number of
Japanese orders. The number of peeks, and information revealed in each
peek, changes each week. Beautifully done.
You give orders in 6 different areas: production, leadership, air, land,
sea, and logistics.
PRODUCTION
Games of this type always have to decide whether they will allow players
to "roll their own" armed forces, or give them the historical deployments.
With one exception, PW uses the historical technique: players have no
control over when land or sea units arrive, nor their strength, nor their
initial location. On the other hand, this weakness is also a strength:
units are historically named and rated. You don't move "12 points of
infantry" to Mandalay - you move the 23rd Indian Infantry and the Gurkha
regiment.
The exception is in the area of airplane production. While you have no
choice as to how many air squadrons you have, or their starting airplane
type, you do get to choose which airplanes they eventually upgrade to -
your factories can be tailored to produce different types of planes. When
you wish, the squadron can upgrade to a newer or better model. This
upgrading takes time and reduces experience - you have to trade off the
future benefit versus the present loss. Great!
VITAL NOTE: by default, the computer controls aircraft production. If you
change production, your change will be _ignored_. To change production to
human control, use the undocumented "alt/N" in versions x6 and later.
LEADERSHIP
Each side is controlled through a set of "headquarters" (HQs). An allied
land unit in India, for example, falls under SEAC, one in Australia under
ANZAC, and one in Alaska under "North Pacific". This comes into play in
several ways.
First of all, each turn each headquarters gets a certain number of
"preparation points" (PPs). Virtually everything you do costs PPs. At the
start of the war, the Allies have almost no PPs: it takes them a while to
"get their act together". More aggressive leaders, among other things,
"claim" more PPs for their HQ.
In addition to aggressiveness, leaders have land, air, and sea combat
ratings. When a unit gets into a fight, its behavior is partially
determined by the attributes of its HQ leader.
In addition to HQ leaders, you can also assign an "on-the-spot" leader.
For example, you may decide that Admiral Mountbatten is better at
coordinating SEAC overall, but Vinegar Joe Stillwell is the man for the
Burma trail.
Also, you can assign HQs to computer control: there is a _lot_ to track in
this game, so you may want to, for example, delegate some "back-water" HQs
to computer control.
I loved the leader system, except that the game does a terrible job of
allowing you to control the leader "resource". You have no way of seeing
which leaders are available, and/or where they're currently assigned.
This is particularly irritating because leaders don't retreat with their
land units. If you assign Stillwell to Rangoon, and you have to retreat to
Mandalay, Stillwell is still sitting there in (Japanese- controlled)
Rangoon ("I can beat 'em all by myself!""). There is no way to find this
out without clicking on Rangoon explicitly.
AIR
As mentioned earlier, you control each individual squadron: a squadron has
between 1 and 60 planes, typically 30-50.
Squadrons are based at airfields. Different airfields are different sizes.
This affects both what type of plane can be stationed there (only bigger
fields, for example, accept bombers), how many squadrons can be stationed
there, and also how many planes each squadron can hold. If you send a huge
squadron to a tiny air-strip, most of the planes get damaged. This is yet
another excellent part of the game - it very accurately models your desire
to control and/or upgrade certain "key" fields. Consider Henderson field
at Guadalcanal: as a size "1" field, it can only take a 10-plane squadron
of patrol craft. Upgraded to a "2" it can field 40 planes (2 squadrons of
20), and can now take fighter planes.
Squadrons have an experience rating. This changes as they fight, as they
train, or as they take on replacements (a crack squadron has its
experience go down when new rookie pilots arrive).
Squadrons are also rated indirectly by the type of plane they fly: its
maneuverability, durability, payload, cannon, and range.
Once at an airfield, squadrons can be given a "mission". This really isn't
a mission, but rather a "stance": possible stances are "training", "day
combat" (normal), "night combat" (fly at night - less risk, less reward),
and "naval interdiction (keep an eye out for enemy shipping). You then
specify a particular target base to attack, and your priority in the
attack: the enemy airfield, ships in the port, land units, etc.
This system works terrifically well, except, again, for severe flaws in
squadron management. There is no visual way to see which airfields have a
lot, and which a little, air power (you only see a binary yes/no). While
you can obtain a list of all the squadrons, it doesn't show their mission
or base - you have to visit each squadron explicitly. Finally, if you
assign a target base which is outside the squadron's range, you are not
told so - you only find out next week, when you see that nothing happened.
Another bug/feature is that each week an air unit repairs 3/4 of
its
damaged planes. If you have a 60-plane squadron with 40 damaged planes,
the ground crew can fix 30 in a week. If it only has 2 damaged planes,
though, only _1_ gets fixed!
LAND
As mentioned earlier, you control individual land units. These vary
greatly in size: from Army (some of the Chinese land units), all the way
down to Battalion (marine garrisons). The bigger the land unit, the more
PPs it costs to "activate it" - get it to move or fight. In an homage to
the gung-ho marines, the 1st US Marine Division is _always_ activated.
Semper fi, boys!
Like air units, land units have an "experience" rating. In addition, they
have a "readiness". This vital figure is almost always at maximum, except
for just after a land unit moves, or when its supplies are interdicted
(see "LOGISTICS").
In addition to size, land units are rated on artillery and armor.
Combat occurs when two sides put units in the same square. Combat favors
the defender, and losses on both sides diminish in rougher terrain. Put
these two together, and most combats become long wars of attrition,
decided more by logistics and air/sea bombardment than by fighting skill.
The only exception is the invasion of an "atoll", which is an all-or-
nothing proposition - knock the defenders off, or get pushed back into the
sea.
This system works terrifically, except, again, for flaws in management
(see a common theme yet?). There is no visual way to see how much land
strength is allocated where - only a binary. While you can get a list of
land units, you can't see their strength, readiness, or leader - you have
to click individually over each base.
SEA
Believe it or not, the game works on an individual ship basis for all but
the smallest ships. Since you're dealing with the entire Pacific Theater
here, that's a lot of ships to track. Ships are rated in a zillion
categories: anti-aircraft ability, cargo capacity, armor, durability, fuel
consumption, etc., etc., etc.
Thankfully, you do not give orders to each ship. Rather, you form packages
of ships into "Task Forces" (TF). There are about 6 types of TF: surface
combat, carrier, transport, and so forth. The computer can automatically
pick the ships to go into the task force from those available at the port,
or you can do it manually. Leaders are also assigned on a per-TF basis.
Once a TF has formed, you can tell it where to move, and where it's home
base is (by default where it's created). If it's a cargo/transport TF,
you manually load it up.
Furthermore, you can tell the TF what to do when it gets near its
destination: how close to get to it (you may want a TF to "stand off" from
an enemy base, for example), and whether the TF should return to its home
base immediately, or stay "on station". Staying around on station lets you
fight there longer, of course, but it also sucks down fuel.
This system is great except for, again, severe flaws in information
presentation. There is no way to see which TFs have which leaders, other
than manually clicking on each one. There is no way to see which ports
have a lot of units lying around in them (you only see a binary lots /
less-than-lots). Finally, if you assign a TF a move for which it has
insufficient fuel, you are given no warning. While you sometimes want to
do this (you can re-fuel at sea), sometimes you don't - I lost a 30-ship
squadron of PT boats by getting this wrong. Now I know why people complain
about Unix...
LOGISTICS
As the saying goes, "amateurs talk strategy: pros talk logistics".
Logistics played a vital part in the war in the Pacific: logistics
accordingly plays a vital part in the simulation. Designers usually don't
tackle logistics, as it's difficult to get a handle on and often knocked
as "boring". Mr. Grigsby deserves credit for putting it in, and doing a
good job of it.
To make a long story short, land units need supplies, air and sea units
need fuel (I'll refer to both fuel and supplies as "supplies" - sorry,
it's a good word!). If units don't get the supply they need, they lose
effectiveness. Each base stores a certain amount of supplies. If you're
lucky, the base is not threatened by the enemy, in which case it gets a
certain amount of supply "dumped off" each turn. If you're not lucky, or
if the default amount "dumped off" isn't enough for you, you have to
explicitly ferry the supplies there, either by air (there is an air-drop
capability), by land (supplies "ooze" by land: unfortunately, you can't
control this), or by sea. Sea supply is the most important, the most
common, and the best handled: you create TFs, explicitly load them with
explicit types of supply, and then send them on their way. Of course, if
they're sailing into harms way, you need to clear the path. In 1942-44,
in fact, protecting supply convoys is really the raison d'etre for your
navy!
To cite a particular historical example which is perfectly represented in
the game, suppose you are barely holding on to Guadalcanal. You would like
to upgrade Henderson field, so more planes can be stationed there. You
would also like your land units to get more bullets. You need to send
supplies to enable the upgrade, and to fuel whatever planes are there
already. Finally, if you're using it as a naval base, those units need
fuel too!
Mr. Grigsby has done a very good job modeling a very difficult system
here. While it's not perfect (you can't control land supply, and it's a
mystery to me how it determines how much "routine supply" gets dumped
off), it's close.
AI
Considering all the stuff to juggle in this game, the AI does a very good
job. While it's not a brilliant opponent, it's solid and capable. It's
particularly good at catching any glaring errors you make.
Unfortunately, you can't tune the AI - it would be nice if you could "dumb
it down" at the start, or if you could set AI "personality".
UI
User Interface refers both to how easy it is to accomplish a task
("Command management"), and how easy it is to decide that you want to
perform that task ("Information management").
COMMAND MANAGEMENT
Command management is poor. Sometimes you use the right-mouse button to _
complete_ an operation, and sometimes to _abort_ it. Needless to say, this
takes a lot of getting used to! This is made worse by the inexplicable
binding of the Escape key, not to abort, but rather to "right-mouse". This
leads to the thoroughly counter-intuitive phenomenon of sometimes using
the Escape key to complete an action, and sometimes using it to _not_
complete an action.
Another minor irritant is that while many commands are bound to hot-keys,
those bindings are not shown on the display: it would help a lot for
memorization if they were.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Information management is very important for a game with this much
information. And the game, I regret to say, does a terrible job of it. I
mentioned a number of specific examples earlier in the review. I could
write page after page of examples, but will contain myself to a
representative few more:
1) You are often told that a certain event is happening at a certain base:
"Wewak", say. OK, where in the name of creation is "Wewak"? There is no
list of names in the rules. There is no "find base" command. There is no
"show me all the places where this event is happening" command. Your only
recourse is to click all over the map until you see the name "Wewak" flash
by.
2) You should move your submarines (yes, there's submarine warfare too!)
when they stop getting sinkings. But you are not told how many sinkings a
submarine had last turn, only how many it has had since it last left port.
You have to keep a piece of paper handy and write down this number for
each sub each turn, and do the math yourself. Similarly, the only way to
notice when your subs are getting sunk is to track the number of subs/wolf
pack displayed each turn.
3) You need to do ASW patrols where enemy sub action is heaviest. But this
is never shown in the battle report! You need to keep your eyes glued on
the end-of-turn processing and watch for it.
4) When you load an air unit onto merchant ships for transport, you are
not told how many planes the ship can handle - you only find out when you
unload, and see to your dismay that some/many of your planes have
vanished.
5) Naval units of a particular type vary drastically in their abilities.
Some destroyers are excellent at A-A, for example,while others are
terrible. The ship display, however, does not give you this information
directly: it just dumps the exact armament, and leaves you to figure out.
Thankfully, the most recent issue of CGW has a table which extracts this
information for you.
SUMMARY
Playing Pacific War is like driving a hot sports car in which none of the
gauges are labeled, the speedometer is in yards/second, and the steering
wheel is on the right-hand side: once you can get past the interface,
you're in great shape!
While I hate the UI in this game, the underlying part is so addictive that
I joined GEnie _for no other reason_ than to download the latest patch and
the hints file for this game.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ken Fishkin for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
PINEHURST RESORT & COUNTRY CLUB: SVGA EDITION by Access
Reviewed by Brian Chung
Requirements: PINEHURST requires LINKS, LINKS386 PRO or MICROSOFT GOLF.
PINEHURST RESORT & COUNTRY CLUB is the latest addition to the growing list
of SVGA courses available for LINKS, LINKS386 PRO and MICROSOFT GOLF. And
it certainly is another triumph by Access.
The actual Pinehurst Resort and Country Club is a golf resort with seven
championship courses tucked away in a North Carolina forest. Of the seven,
Access has painstakingly reproduced the verdant beauty of Number Two
Course, known for hosting PGA Championships and the Ryder Cup. The first
thing one notices is the new intro screen. It is the aerial shot of the
clubhouse with an 1-800 number that one can call to get information about
the golf tour packages. As the first hole appears, one will notice
pinetrees, pinetrees and more pinetrees! By the time I finished my first
round, I found out why this course was called PINEHURST. According to a
little promotional card I received, the pictures of Pinehurst Number Two
was digitized with the help of the new Kodak CD Photo technology. And one
can certainly see how detailed this course is. For examply, as I was
standing on the 18th hole green, I could even see the little shrubberies
planted around the club house. I really felt like I was in North
Carolina!
I would rate the course itself as easy to medium easy. The most difficult
part about playing PINEHURST is the lack of space outside the fairways.
All the fairways are lined with pinetrees that seem to form a solid wall
sometimes. To add insult to injury, couple of holes even have huge
bunkers that run the entire length of the fairways on one side. The trick
is to learn to shoot straight. If one stays within the narrow fairways,
there will not be too much trouble. But if one strays onto the rough, the
pinetree walls will raise the score faster than one can say "Did I hit a
tree?" The greens are not too difficult to navigate through, and the dog-
legs are not too difficult either. Overall, the course is quite easy.
Just remember. Shoot straight.
PINEHURST comes along with a real score card, a new "splash" screen, and
v1.09 of the LINKS386 executable. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you what
v1.09 fixes, but I have not seen any changes in LINKS386. There is one
minor difference between PINEHURST and the other SVGA courses. The "top"
view for PINEHURST labels some of the structures in the course. So now we
know where the driving range is, although we can't practice there. And if
anyone out there knows what that Greek temple-looking building is behind
the green of the fifth hole, the author would like to hear from you.
In conclusion, PINEHURST is a welcome addition to the list of SVGA courses
available from Access. The course itself is not too difficult, as long as
one shoots straight. And the charm of North Carolina's pinetree forest
will dazzle your senses. Kudos to Access for bringing us another great
course.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Brian Chung. All rights reserved.
POPULOUS II: TRIALS OF THE OLYMPIAN GODS by Bullfrog
Reviewed by Damon Wischik
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
CPU: IBM PC or compatible
Space: Hard disk, 11MB free
Input: Mouse
OS: DOS 3.3 or above
Memory: Expanded Memory (EMS): 272K or 1040K depending on mode
Graphics: Low-res (320*200*256) or High-res (640*480*16).
[I recommend a fast graphics card for high-res mode.]
Sound: Soundblaster only
Notes: No copy protection
Reviewd on a Viglen 386DX 25MHz with Paradise SVGA.
INTRODUCTION ------------
POPULOUS was a thoroughly original and groundbreaking program, which has
deservedly become a classic. POPULOUS II is essentially a modern release
of Populous: while technically the graphics and options have improved
tremendously, the gameplay is pretty much the same. This has soured me
somewhat: having exhausted my Populability by playing hundreds of levels
of the original, does version II have enough new features to go through it
all again?
For those few unfamiliar with Populous, here is a brief overview. The game
is played on a square landscape, viewed isometrically. You, as a deity,
must control your people to overcome the enemy. Your opponent deity is
played by the computer. Your people settle, breed, and fight, and you must
use these capabilities as well as an arsenal of divine effects to wipe out
the enemy.
Originally, Populous was the only game of its kind. But now, given Maxis
with SIMCITY and various other Sims, there is a new question: is Populous
II arcade or strategy? The simple answer is - both. Especially at the
beginning of the game, there are important decisions to be made about
where to start and what your priorities should be. But as the action hots
up, there is barely enough time to volcano the enemy as well as protect
your leader from falling into a swamp, making sure the enemy heroes get
nowhere near your cities, and choosing where to expand, let alone make
strategic decisions. Essentially, I am sure Populous II is more arcade
than strategy. I sometimes wonder what Maxis might have done with the
concept: those funny little triangles for total control over what your
people do? Poor graphics? Complicated rules?
INSTALLATION ------------
There were no problems, except crashing when I tried to install on a hard
disk with too little space free.
I will include mention of the pathetic introduction here, as you are
unlikely to keep it on longer than one view. Mediocre music, looping
cartoon animation... fortunately the manual says which files to delete.
What a waste of disk space.
GAME MECHANICS --------------
Onto some detailed description. On each level, you each start off with a
small number of people, typically separated by sea. As a deity you use
your powers to help your people to settle, and to destroy the opponent's
people.
Among these powers are effects such as raising and lowering land, building
walls, and also starting pillars and rains of fire, whirlpools, volcanoes,
and many others. The effects are divided into six categories: people,
vegetation, earth, air, fire and water. Each category has five effects,
only certain of which will be enabled on a given level. Your ability to
use these effects is given by your Mana, which increases as your people
farm land, and is used up by doing these effects.
As well as these direct interventions, you can influence your people more
subtly. There are four ways to influence your people:
* Settle directs them to build houses and settle land.
* Fight directs them to attack the enemy.
* Gather tells them to combine together to create stronger people.
* Go to Papal Magnet causes them to be attracted to your leader,
who in turn will go towards your Papal Magnet.
Thus you can only control your people through their leader. If your leader
is destroyed, the first settler to reach the Papal Magnet become your new
leader. Certain effects apply only to the leader: those that convert him
into a Hero, who rushes toward enemy land and people and fights them.
Some of the effects will be familiar to players of the original; most are
new. All have cute graphics, and some sound. Here is a detailed list of
some of these effects:
* Place Papal Magnet: Self explanatory. You use this to control where your
people go: place it safely behind walls to allow your people to gather
safely and create a strong leader; put it in the middle of the sea to
expand your settlements; place it in the heart of enemy territory for
conquest. Be careful not to loose it: if your people have no access to it,
you won't be able to create a leader.
* Fungus: Plants a deadly spreading fungus in enemy territory. Set up the
right configuration, and watch it spread. Those familiar with Conway's
Game of Life will recognize the growth patterns: I haven't yet built a
glider gun, but it would certainly be interesting!
* City Walls: At first, this seemed useless - but I was soon thankful for
it, protecting my people from enemy Heroes, or keeping enemy people away
from their Papal Magnet.
* Volcano: Creates a towering mountain of rock, rains fire, and releases
lava flows, which flow until stopped by ridges. * Helen of Troy: converts
your leaders into the legendary beauty Helen of Troy, who will lure enemy
people to leave their settlements and follow her.
These are your tools, and the care with which you use them will determine
whether you succeed or fail.
INTERFACE ---------
There are two views: a small overview of the entire world, and a larger
close-up view of a selected area, selected by clicking on the overview map
and scrolled with cursor keys. The buttons on the bottom of the screen let
you choose effects and influences: choose a category, click on an effect,
and click on the close-up to have that effect. There is also a colosseum
which fills up with red and blue people, indicating your relative
strengths, and also detailed information on a particular player or
dwelling you have selected.
New in Populous II is the full screen mode. This abbreviates the small map
and icons, does away with the colosseum, and enlarges the close-up playing
area. This is undoubtedly useful at times: unfortunately, so is the larger
world overview. I thus found myself switching between the two regularly,
which was a nuisance. Perhaps a better compromise in screen layout could
have been achieved.
The option screens are terribly thought out. It seems at Bullfrog they
haven't even heard of Windows, let alone seen it. The are no distinctions
between radio buttons, check boxes and buttons; the font is too big, and
the layout is cluttered. Fortunately, these screens are used very little
in the game.
One _major_ difference is the option of Computer Assist. Here, the
computer will help you by building for you, leaving you free to
concentrate on the more interesting aspects of the game.
OVERALL AIM -----------
These levels have been wrapped up in a strategy, unlike the original. You,
as bastard son of Zeus, seek to prove yourself worthy to sit with the gods
on Mount Olympus. Zeus has set you a challenge of conquering a thousand
worlds before you will be expected - with the Father of the Gods himself
as your final opponent. Fortunately you don't have to play all thousand!
You typically advance five or so levels after each win. Each level is
played against one of the Greek pantheon.
Also unlike the original is a small amount of character determination. You
can select your appearance from an array of hats, eyes, mouths and chins.
Supposedly this alters how your opponents attack you: choose a warrior
face and they will be direct; choose a scholar face and they will be
correspondingly devious. This aspect was too subtle for me to notice: my
character seemed to have little effect on the enemy characteristics.
Having chosen your character, you then allocate skill in the six effect
categories. At the end of each level, you will be given lightning bolts,
or skill points, to distribute, depending on how well the computer judges
your play. Again, this didn't seem very relevant: I just allocated them
evenly, and played on.
CUSTOM GAME -----------
You can either play the conquest game, described above, or you can
customize. You can choose, for example, whether falling in water is fatal,
and whether raise/lower is allowed. You can paint the screen, and you can
specify which effects are allowed. (But only out of those made available
on the conquest game so far: a nice touch). And, best of all, you can play
with an opponent via serial cable or network. Next week when I get a new
computer I will try this out straight away; but from my experiences with
Populous, it should be thoroughly enthralling. Warning: the manual says,
'Two player mode may not work on computers that run at different speeds.
If one of the systems you are using is faster than the other, you may be
able to make them run at the same speed by turning off the Turbo button on
the faster system.'
GRAPHICS AND SOUND ------------------
The graphics were impressive. The characters are cute, the picture is
clear, the effects are appropriate. Technically, very good. In high-res
mode, however, the game slowed so much as to become unplayable, due to my
slow (Paradise 512K) video card. But then, low-res graphics were perfectly
fine.
Sound was a big let down. Gone are the throbbing heart-beats of the Amiga
version; us PC owners only get a few digitized sounds, which get pretty
tedious. Particularly the caw-caw of plague birds got so irritating I
turned the sound off completely.
GAMEPLAY --------
And now for some subjective opinions. To answer the question I originally
posed, No, I don't think Populous II has enough to keep me coming back,
after spending so long on Populous. The new version hasn't fixed the most
important gameplay problem: that Populous II has more civil engineering
than being a god. Such a lot of effort is spent simply flattening the land
for your people to settle. Granted, the computer assist can do this for
you - but still, flattening land isn't the point of being a god. On one
level, where raise/lower was turned off, I enjoyed myself much more: you
actually had to take into account the lay of the land in deciding your
strategy.
The feel of play has in one respect changed: in Populous II you can
totally surround an isolated enemy settlement, yet spend a long time
waiting for your people to destroy it. This was off-putting at first: I
put by people into Fight, and expected them to clean up any enemy in my
heartlands - but they didn't. This brings the localized effects, like
Lightning Storm, to the fore, allowing you to target a selected individual
or settlement and eliminate it.
The Populous magic still remains, which is good news. I was playing along
quite happily, conquering world after world, when suddenly I found myself
overrun - which infuriated me, causing me to modify my strategies and try
and try again until I succeeded. There can be quite a savage feeling of
triumph at completing a level, more so than in the original, especially
when it is after many attempts. On the other hand, on a few levels, it was
just a case of slowly building up my people, not doing anything special,
and just waiting, while they gradually outnumbered the enemy. And when
they had outnumbered the enemy, it was equally tedious waiting for the end
of the level. Most levels do have the right balance.
This brings up the issue of the games Artificial Intelligence. Of course
AI is a very advanced topic; yet I can't help but feel disappointed when I
see the enemy simply walking around the fortress I have built enclosing
their Papal Magnet. Eventually the computer gets fed up and sends a
hurricane to try and damage the fortress; but no human player would ever
have waited. On each level you are reminded it is only a computer you are
playing against - but then, overall, I have mentioned the feeling of
triumph that could only be evinced if I was at least part-convinced I was
playing a person.
In summary, Populous II is up-to-scratch for a modern game. But I have by
now become a little bored with the Populous concept, and I won't be
finishing this game for a while. If you have never played Populous, I
would strongly recommend you try out this game; if you have played it to
death then think carefully and preferably try it out before buying.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Damon Wischik. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
POPULOUS 2 by Bullfrog Productions
Reviewed by Carl Muckenhoupt
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386 VGA 480K base, 272K EMS 11 MB
Max/Rec. 617K base, 1040K EMS
Control: mouse/keyboard (mouse HIGHLY recommended)
Sound: Sound Blaster or internal speaker only
Reviewed on: 386-40, SB, installed in lo-res 256-color mode
Over a year ago now, I got my first taste of POPULOUS 2, on a friend's
Amiga. It inspired me to buy a copy of POPULOUS 1 for my IBM machine and
wait eagerly for the inevitable IBM version of POP 2. Now that it is out,
I am not disappointed: it is a faithful translation of the Amiga version,
graphics, sound effects, and all.
POPULOUS was based on an innovative idea: a realtime wargame with a
terrain editor. Sure, there were wargames with terrain editors before,
but in POPULOUS, both ran simultaneously. While your people walked
around, settling in new areas and fighting with the opponent, the player
would be busy flattening out hills to make more farmland or sinking the
opponent's territory into the sea. To explain this, the authors decided
that the player plays the part of a god, able to intervene in mortal
affairs by creating various natural disasters.
POPULOUS 2 takes this idea farther: the player is an aspiring god of
Olympus, pitted against various deities from Greek mythology with
different powers and different strategies. There are 1000 levels in all,
but winning a level advances you through more than one, depending on how
well you did. Between screens, you choose which of your deities' skills
to improve, lending a touch of role-playing to what is essentially still a
wargame. Alternately, you can create your own map, or play against a
human opponent via modem.
The forms of divine intervention are more varied than in POP 1. In
particular, there are creative as well as destructive powers. In some
screens, for instance, you can cause trees to grow around your
settlements. Why? People like living in pleasantly wooded areas. The
happier your people are, the more devout they are, and the more devout
(and numerous) your worshippers, the greater your power. Those powers that
are destructive tend to be destructive on a grand scale, and hard to
control once released. Considerable planning must go into preparing an
effective tidal wave, including buliding large hills to protect your own
population. Finally, some powers simply spread chaos, such as the
baptismal fonts that reverse the alignment of anyone who wanders into
them.
The forms of divine intervention available to you are divided into six
"elemnts": fire, water, air, earth, people, and plants. Every element
has six powers, for 36 powers in all. Add to this the various free
actions, such as telling your people to migrate, and you have one monster
of a user interface to contend with. Thus, the authors have done their
best to smooth down the learning curve. When I first played POP 2, with
no experience with POP 1, I managed to advance pretty well with no idea of
what I was doing and without looking at the manual. Knowledge of POP 1
helps you get through the early screens faster, but the first 50 levels or
so (and remember, you advance several levels at a time) are essentially a
tutorial.
Gameplay is much better than in POP 1. For one thing, it's more varied.
Not all of the 36 powers are available on any given level, so sometimes
you are forced to deal with only using a few powers that you haven't
gotten used to yet. This helps to keep the game fresh, as does the
variety of opponents. The other improvement in gameplay is the speed. In
POP 1, the most frustrating thing the player had to do was wait for his
power to increase to the point where he could use raise/lower land, the
smallest and most useful of the powers. This has not yet happened to me
in POP 2. The chief limiting factor is not power, but attention: there is
simply too much going on for the player to keep track of it all. Instead,
you have to decide what is worth keeping track of.
Graphics are much better than in POP 1 - smoother, faster, and more
realistic. The natural disasters look like natural disasters. One notable
improvement is a full screen mode, which allows the player a larger window
into the map. This quickly became my preferred play mode. It makes
scrolling around a little slower, but at 40 MHz, the scrolling was a
little hard to control anyway. Switching screen modes is as easy as
pressing a button.
The opening cartoon is simply stunning, with high-quality, probably
raytraced, images of plaetary formation and shifting continents. This
takes up about 5 MB on disk, or almost as much as the rest of the game!
Fortunately, it can be erased without any harm, but it there doesn't seem
to be any way to avoid installing it.
Games can be saved in the middle of a screen, but saving your deity
between levels saves your progress in the game. Each level has a lengthy
password of random characters associated with it as well, but there is no
reason to record them, unless you want to skip ahead with another deity.
There is no key-word copy protection in this game.
Making a sequel to a classic is always risky. Too often, the intended
improvements turn out to simply mar the elegance of the origianl.
Bullfrog Productions has avoided this well, while removing the major flaws
of POP 1. Let us hope that Psygnosis will be as successful with LEMMINGS
2.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Carl Muckenhoupt. All rights
reserved.
RINGWORLD: REVENGE OF THE PATRIARCH by Tsunami Media, Inc.
Review by Sean Morgan
Minimum System Needed:
386SX, 16Mhz or better
DOS 5.0
640Kb with 590,000 bytes available
VGA adapter (MCGA not supported)
Supports Roland, MT-32/LAPC-1, ProAudio Spectrum, AdLib, SoundBlaster
Hard disk with 10Mb available
Microsoft compatible mouse
3.5" high density disk drive
Review Platform:
386/33, SoundBlaster, SVGA monitor, 4 MB
Capsule Summary: 7 out of 10. Great graphics and music, but a little
buggy and slow. About as challenging as any other adventure game, but not
too many hours of play, and the characters are uninvolving. I'm not a big
fan of adventure games, but I liked this one, primarily because of the
classic science fiction angle.
The game RINGWORLD takes place mostly on, well, the Ringworld of Larry
Niven's Known Space (the Ringworld is a hoop shaped construct that has a
star at the center for a power supply--it's BIG). The action takes place
twenty years after Louis Wu and the Kilrathi (oops, Kzin) Speaker-to-
Animals have returned from the Ringworld. Humans and Kzinti are at peace,
and have jointly built an unarmed Hyperdrive II exploration ship with the
knowledge acquired by Wu and StA. However the Kzinti are upset with the
discovery that the puppeteers have been breeding them for passivity, thus
the subtitle, REVENGE OF THE [Kzinti] PATRIARCH. Obviously the breeding
program wasn't too successful, since the Kzinti have secretly built their
own version of the Hyperdrive II ship, and it is armed to the teeth. You
have to go to the Ringworld for a technofix to defeat this threat. You
even get to visit the Map of the Earth in this game, a very small fraction
of the total surface area of the world that was turned over to a full-size
replica of the Earth. I have always wondered about that area, ever since
I saw it in the books.
RINGWORLD is an adventure game, so you cannot freely roam around the map.
The charter for the new USENET news group comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
describes RINGWORLD very well:
"Adventure games are generally games in which an unchanging character is
presented with puzzles, problems and obstacles which must be solved to
attain the game's goal. Generally, combat is not a major feature of the
game, and all players are confronted with the same puzzles in the path to
the solution. These games usually transport the character from place to
place in discrete steps, using stylized art to enhance the backdrop and
setting of the game, and present the player with unique puzzles that have
unique solutions. Examples include the King's Quest series and the
Indiana Jones Adventure series."
In RINGWORLD the play revolves around watching a lot of cinematic scenes
(some quite long) that lead into puzzles. The action stops while you try
to figure out which of the (very few) items in you bag might be useful, or
which of the objects around you have a purpose. As with any RPG, look at
everything, take everything not nailed down, and try every thing on
everything else. Notice that "write everything down" does not appear on
this list (more on that later). Very little exploration or inventory
building is required in this game (and no skill building, like in a role
playing game).
RINGWORLD uses the full screen approach, much like KING'S QUEST 5, STAR
TREK 25TH ANNIVERSARY, and ULTIMA 7. There is lots of mouse action, and
very little keyboarding, but the mouse interface wasn't as well used as in
those other games. It was a little awkward to keep popping up the menu to
choose the next function (touch, walk, look, talk, etc., much like in the
ST25). It would have been improved by using one of the mouse keys to
either cycle through the functions or toggle back and forth to the last
one used, like in KQ5. Alternatively they could have made use of double-
clicks like U7. (Why, oh why doesn't anyone offer an option to use the
third mouse button for those of us who have one?!).
The game is a little buggy, but not enough to seriously detract from the
play. Tsunami took the odd route of notifying the user that the program
had bugged out, and any saved games from that point on would not work, but
you can continue to play. The great majority of players would drop out to
DOS then anyway, so they could have just done that for you. "Oh no, our
game doesn't crash, it just won't allow you save usable files sometimes."
The sound effects seemed muted somehow, even with the software volume
control cranked up. There was no digitized speech that I can recall
(except when configuring, odd that), but there was a good variety in the
tunes.
It is ssloooow -- not the animation so much, but the time it takes to load
up between scenes. This is especially annoying during conversations
(mostly non-interactive) where the scene switches between close-up shots
of the characters as they talk. I once waited about 5 seconds to see a
character say something like, "Really?", and then 5 more to go back to the
first character to elaborate.
Actually the animation is a little annoying too, such as when waiting for
a character to walk into the distance from the foreground (or the reverse
of course). It would have helped to have been able to crank up the
walking velocity, like in KQ5 again (sorry, I haven't played KQ6, I am not
a big fan of fantasy stuff, just SF. I only played U7 out of respect to
fond memories of Ultima II, but I digress).
During the (text-based) conversations a selection of responses is
occasionally offered. Unlike in, say, U7 or DUNE (#1), the menu is not
merely to choose between different actions. It gave the appearance of
irreversably affecting the game play. There was no going back to talk to
the same person again as in U7. If I hadn't saved the game for a while, I
got pretty nervous every time I saw a dialogue menu.
I liked that in many of the scenery shots, you can see the ring extending
up into the distance. I found that to be an important detail, to remind
that I was "on" the Ringworld.
A further point in favor of the scenery is that many times the picture
will pan with you as you move. This gives a good panoramic effect,
especially pleasing on some of the more picturesque sequences.
There is minimal copy protection. The manual check is moderately involved
but occurs only once (a little way into the game). I guarantee that no
one will bother to crack this one. Except for that, and the seven
paragraphs describing the background story, there is very little reason to
read the manual, even for a habitual manual reader like myself ("There's
got to be a clue in here somewhere!"). You can just jump right in and
start clicking.
Another nice feature is that there is hardly any note taking. I only had
to grab a pencil twice in the whole game, and if I was able to remember
seven plus or minus two things like I am supposed to be able to, I
wouldn't have even needed it those times. The flow of the game is
(mostly) linear, in that each problem must be solved as it occurs. This
eliminates the need to create maps or notes on things to come back to days
(or weeks) later.
This does not mean that the puzzles are always easy. I got stuck a couple
of time and had to get help over the internet (special thanks Byungwook YU
[not Wu] at McGill). Small warning: the 1-900 number for tips doesn't
work in Canada. In general, a little more perseverance on my part and I
probably could have gotten it. No spoilers here, but if you get into
trouble, check your assumptions. Have you really tried everything on
everything else? Are you sure? Try them again.
The game seemed to be over pretty quickly, five or six sessions of a
couple of hours each. The shear size of the game (7 HD disks) had led me
to expect more.
Bottom line: unless you are a big Ringworld fan, the game is too short to
be worth the money. If you are looking for a science fiction adventure
game, get ST25 or Dune (1) instead.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Sean Morgan. All rights reserved.
SOUND, GRAPHICS & AIRCRAFT UPGRADE for Microsoft Flight Simulator
by Mallard
Reviewed by J. Ollinger
I have a mode for FS4 called "Concorde at Concord." I'm sitting in the
left seat in the cockpit of the world's only flying commercial SST, the
Concorde. We are sitting on Runway 31 on Buchanan Airport in Concord,
California, which is located just east of San Francisco.
We go through the checklist and everything looks okay. It's a beautiful
autumn night, a few scattered clouds and the famous San Francisco fog
over the bay. My copilot tunes in Buchanan's ATIS and there's no real
weather to worry about.
I engage the parking brake, extend the flaps, fire up the engine and wait
for the whine to reach an ear-piercing shriek. I flip the brakes off and
begin rolling down the runway. It is a short runway for the Concorde,
but I can get off the ground with a little room to spare. Almost as soon
as we're off the ground, I draw up the gear and swing the nose to San
Francisco.
The speed keeps picking up, 200 kts. 300 kts. 400 kts. I start
throttling back and the whine subsides. I can hear the voice in my head.
It is the Golden Gate bridge. It has beckoned me before.
"James....James....fly under me, James...."
I look at my copilot and he looks back at me blankly. He is not haunted
by the ghostly yearnings of suspension bridges.
I leave the seatbelt light on and flip on the intercom to the cabin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight
102 nonstop to Honolulu. Now if you look out your windows, you are going
to get a rare treat indeed. Not only will you see one of the most famous
sights on earth, San Francisco at night, but you are going to be able to
see the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge as we fly under it at a
little over the speed of sound."
The airspeed indicator reads over 600 kts, and things are starting to get
hairy. I have corrected the course and I am now flying approximately 200
feet above sea level, with the bridge right in front of me. Or is it? As
the speed creeps up, the bridge starts to waver horizontally. It starts
jerking back and forth wildly. I look at my hands and I look at the
instruments, and I know I'm rock steady, but one instant we're heading
for the bridge and another instant we're going to buzz The Presidio.
The copilot laughs in a staccato, growling bark. "Listen to the
passengers scream."
My eyes are fixed on the altimeter and the attitude indicator, but I can
see the bridge flash over my head. I've done it. Time to climb out and
set sail for paradise.
Because I live in Northern California, I fly every airplane available
around my local geography, and if the Golden Gate happens to be nearby,
the bridge begs me to fly underneath it once more. When I only had FS4,
I flew under the bay bridges so often in the Cessna and Lear that life
got pretty dull. But then Mallard's SOUND, GRAPHIC AND AIRCRAFT UPGRADE
(SGA) came along and gave me a whole new lease on life.
The SGA is one of two packages that add aircraft to Microsoft Flight
Simulator (FS4). The first was the Aircraft and Scenery Designer from
Microsoft, which added the Boeing 747, Beechcraft Starship, and the Piper
Cherokee Archer, but it was primarily a package for custom scenery and
aircraft design. The SGA is a different package. It is a collection of
enhancements to FS4 that change the sound, graphics, and aircraft
capabilities of FS4.
Since I started this review with a scenario involving the Concorde, I
will begin with the aircraft additions. The SGA provides four very
different aircraft. The first is the above mentioned BAe/Aerospatiale
Concorde, the British-French supersonic transport, and star of the movie
"Airport '79." So far it is the only supersonic aircraft represented in
FS4.
Added to that formidable craft is the famous World War II combat plane,
the P-51D Mustang by North American Aviation, the version with the
teardrop canopy. The SGA version has been defanged but the Merlin engine
is still there, and it is a fast, maneuverable craft. Also, there is the
Laird Turner L-RT Meteor, a big specimen from the golden age of air
races. And to round it all out is the Spectrum Beaver RX 550, a Canadian
built ultralight.
The four aircraft make up a wonderful cross-section of aviation. While
one can argue that the Concorde is not such a radical departure from the
747, and the P-51 and the Meteor are just more single engined, single
winged aircraft, the ultralight is truly unique. With a cruise speed
that is lower than the stall speed or nearly every other aircraft in the
FS4 hangar, the ultralight is unparalleled for scenery gawking. Later
scenery add-ons often mention that the ultralight is best suited for
viewing the designers' handiwork.
The SGA also includes new sound and graphics capabilities. The sound is
a series of changes and additions, and the results vary depending on the
user's sound card. Users with the Soundblaster and ATI Sound F/X get the
most sound effects, including speech for the air traffic controllers
(Soundblaster only). Those users with the Covox and the Adlib cards do
not get speech, they do get a good variety of other noises.
I only have an Adlib card, so I can only review what I get from that
card. The most noticeable replacement comes in the form of engine sound.
FS4's engines all the sound the same, a dull clicking sputter that sound
rather like a playing card hitting the spokes of a bicycle tire, my
favorite childhood noisemaker. The sound is the same for both prop and
jet engines. But the SGA changes that. Prop noises are more of a roar,
and the jet noise is the familiar whine. Gear up and down noises sound
like white noise to me. It may be better on a different card.
The stall horn, however, is something else. It really blares. So do the
altitude claxons using the enhanced cockpits and the OMI markers.
One strange thing about the Adlib is the fact that the SGA does not
replace all the sounds. The crash sound, for instance, is still
generated through the computer speaker. It is indescribably weird to be
listening to the engine whine and the stall horn coming through the sound
card speakers, and then hear the thin, lousy crash sound come from the pc
speaker. And then as the mode automatically resets, the sound switches
back to the sound card speakers.
Finally, the SGA also adds graphics enhancements. I have a basic VGA
setup so I cannot review the higher resolution cockpit enhancements. On
my system the SGA adds a new video mode, 640x400x16 (FS only offers
640x350x16). Choosing that video mode gives me a somewhat smaller image
with a thick black band surrounding the screen, which I find irritating.
At first I did not think it made any changes to the cockpit, but it does
replace the gyro compass on the standard cockpit. The standard compass
had two digital readouts--a normal heading and a 180 degree reading
underneath it. The new compass is an analog disk that rotates. That can
make it harder to read a precise degree heading, but it gets rid of the
inverse readout (which I never use) and it is a nice change. If only the
image did not look so small on my monitor.
The SGA offers two other instrument panels, an enhanced analog panel and
a 747, "glass cockpit," panel, but one needs the super VGA capability to
see it. When I upgrade to super VGA, checking out the different panels
is high on my list of things to do.
Despite the fact that my system is not capable of exploiting the full
range of SGA enhancements, I was pleased with the package, especially the
aircraft. When one uses the aircraft editor to redesign the airplanes,
one cannot make radical departures with the airframe. I can sit down
with all the specs and try to recreate all a P-51 Mustang, but while I
could match wing area, fuselage area, weight, center of gravity, and a
zillion other specifications, it would still look like a high-wing Cessna
if I took an outside view of the plane. Mallard's new aircraft, however,
look like the real things. The P-51D looks like a P-51, not a mutant
Piper Cub. The same goes for the Concorde, the Meteor, and the ultra-
light. Obviously they did not use the Aircraft and Scenery Designer.
My only real complaint with the SGA regards the documentation, which is
sparse. Microsoft spoiled me with thick, nicely produced books with lots
of information. Mallard's 17-page booklet looks like it was printed on
the company Laserjet, folded and stapled by hand. The printing is small
and cramped. I am not asking for a four-color brochure with pictures,
but larger fonts and a little graphic design can go a long way.
And while the data on the sound and graphics are complete, the aircraft
data is sparse. There are only five specs for the P-51D Mustang:
height, length, weight, wingspan, and the engine, but nothing else. The
Meteor offers the length, span, the engine and the top speed, but nothing
else. The ultralight offers length, wingspan, engine, weight loaded,
weight empty, stall speed, climb speed, cruise speed, takeoff roll, and
ceiling. The Concorde lists the length, height, wingspan, engines, empty
weight, maximum weight, maximum cruise speed, ceiling, range, and climb
rate. I have no idea how Mallard determined which specs to publish on
each aircraft.
Documentation aside, this is a fine package if you have the hardware to
exploit the enhancements, or an interest in collecting aircraft to fly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please fasten your
safety belts and extinguish your cigarettes. We will be doing a barrel
roll as we pass over the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Those of you with window
seats won't want to miss this one."
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by J. A. Ollinger for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
THE SOCCER GAME II from New Era Software/Wizard Games
Reviewed by Sir Launcelot du Lake
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum XT EGA 640 KB 250 KB
Control: Keyboard only
Sound: PC Speaker
Notes: can be played from a floppy disk
Reviewed on: 486DX-33, 8 MB RAM, SVGA monitor
Many statistically-based sports management games have been made for
baseball, American football, ice hockey, and basketball, yet there are
hardly any for soccer. On closer consideration, this is not surprising,
as most of the aforementioned games have been made by North American
companies for the North American consumers, and soccer does not have as
great a standing in that region as it does with the rest of the world.
What is surprising is that when one looks to the European game companies,
there are very few as well.
It is thus with great delight that I happened to stumble across a little
shareware product called THE SOCCER GAME II sometime last year while I was
rummaging around in ftp.ulowell.edu in one of my bouts of wanderlust.
This is a faithful and very detailed reproduction of the English Football
League (North American readers, please note that soccer is known as
football in the rest of the world, or more formally, Association Football;
I shall thus use soccer and football synonymously). In this game, all 4
divisions are represented, together with a hypothetical European Super
League. The 2 domestic and 3 European cup tournaments are also available.
Kick-Off (Interface)
There are absolutely no graphics in this game, the interface consists only
of menus, lists, and tables. However, this should not put off anyone who
is statistically inclined, because all the information presented is very
adequate and detailed. There are basically two menus from which one can
assess the players' statistics, team history, past performances, league
standings, fixture lists etc. Players are colour coded according to the
positions they play - goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and attackers.
This is standard in all player lists - team lists, top scorers, players on
the transfer market, and opponent teams.
A mouse interface would have helped, as the number of keystrokes required
to select the options is rather numerous. However, as one gets familiar
with the layout, this becomes less noticeable. All documentation is
available on-line, and one can access it anytime during play, except when
matches are in progress. The information given is adequate and it doesn't
take very long before one gets into the swing of things.
Half-Time (Gameplay)
Play begins by selecting the level of difficulty - there are altogether
four levels, with the difference being a lower starting capital and poorer
players at the higher difficulty settings. One then selects a team to
manage from the 100 teams from the Football League and the top European
football clubs in the database. One can change the name of the teams, the
players, and the managerial staff using the alter utility if one so
desires. No matter which team you choose, you will always start out in
the 4th division (and with the worst team to boot), even if the team is
one of the top ones in the continent. It is then your job to bring the
team up to the Super League.
The 4 divisions are not an accurate reflection of the Football League, as
there are only 20 teams in each division, whereas in reality, there are
altogether 96 football clubs. So some clubs are definitely missing from
the database, although the more famous and popular clubs are included (I
myself choose to manage Manchester United - go, red devils, go!). The
hypothetical European Super League has 20 teams from Europe in a league,
with the English place going to Liverpool initially. The player database
looks like it's from the 1990/91 season. Your team will start out with
only 12 players, and you can build a squad of up to 20 players as you
progress.
I reiterate that this is a strictly managerial game; the matches are all
decided statistically, though there is an interesting match commentary
option to create a tense atmosphere. If one is looking for an action
game, look elsewhere. As a managerial game, the amount of information and
detail to monitor is tremendous, although eventually, one will probably
end up paying attention more to some aspects than others. I will list most
of the factors involved but space and time will only allow me to elaborate
on some.
The game mechanics can be roughly divided into two main tasks - finance
and team management. While the latter is essential the heart of the game,
the former is no less important. The player begins with only about 200,
000 pounds in the kitty. With this paltry sum, one has to decide how much
to allocate to buying players, starting a youth team, stadium extensions
and maintenance, staff salaries and contracts. To make more money, one
can sell players, invest in the club's stocks in the share market, and
acquire bank loans. Of course, the surest way of gaining more money is
through success on the field. If the team hits a run of good results, one
is likely to get TV and sponsorship money coming in, as well as donations
from well wishers. Also, spectator interest will increase and
consequently gate receipts will rise. Winning trophies goes without
saying, and a good run in the cup tournaments usually has better returns
than the league.
Team management involves selecting players and formations for the matches.
Here, one has a wealth of information to decide on the final 11. Each
player is rated on emotional stability, experience, consistency, skill,
and stamina. Lists are also available for top scorers, number of
appearances and goals. Events like injuries, suspensions, transfer
requests, exhaustion, loss of form, and international commitments add to
managerial challenge. Besides the players, one's managerial staff is also
rated - the assistant, the physio, scout, and the treasurer. If one is
successful, better staff may offer to join the team. Other teams may also
offer to buy your players or staff.
The matches themselves can be resolved immediately upon the final
selection of a team for that match, giving the score at the final whistle.
One can also choose the slow resolution, in which case a move-by-move
commentary (Hughes passes the ball the McClair; McClair teases the
defence, McClair shoots...etc..) flashes across the screen, adding
considerable tension - I used this option for all the cup games. Results
of all matches from every division and cup round can be accessed, and
league standings and tables can be printed. The program also keeps a
record of past divisional and cup champions.
Technically, one can play this game forever, though your appointment as a
manager is on a contract for a specific number of years only. If one is
successful, a bigger club may offer a contract, and you can choose to
accept or refuse it, in which case your existing club will extend your
contract. Fail, and you may find yourself joining the ranks of the
unemployed.
Extra-Time (Strategy)
Be prepared to get a big bank loan initially, and expect to stay in the
red for at least the first two seasons. Your first task is to get at
least two more players as cover for the 12 that you begin with. If you do
not already have a reserve goalkeeper, it is imperative to get one, for if
your first-choice keeper is injured, the team won't survive matches
without a keeper.
Acquire a good scout, as this will help in the transfer market. A good
scout is more likely to know exactly how much a player is worth and
another club willing to let go for, thus saving yourself money. One can
only bid about three times before the market is declared closed each week.
Also, try to get a good physio, as this will reduce recovery time for
tired and injured players.
As soon as possible, put money into a youth squad, about #500 per week
before the end of the first season. Money invested in a youth program
will result in as much as one youth player being promoted to the
professional team per season, which helps in filling up the reserve
places. The more money spent, the better the youth players' ratings will
be when they are promoted.
Rest tired players, as tired players are more prone to injuries, and will
need longer to recover if it happens. Increase the stadium capacity
whenever the team is promoted, to take advantage of the inevitable
increase in spectator interest. Never sell off more than 51% of the
club's shares!
Final Whistle (Conclusion)
This is a very detailed game of soccer management, gamers who are not
familiar with soccer, and particularly the English and European season may
be lost in this game. For those gamers who are also soccer nuts, this is
a must! At long last, the world's Number 1 sport has been given a long-
overdue statistics-based treatment on the computer, not by any commercial
software group, but by a little shareware company from Scotland. Those
interested can write to:
Wizard Games 4 Hoselaw
Kelso TD5 8BP Scotland
Upon registration (#15), one will receive a copy with the save-game
feature enabled. For those wanting to see the unregistered version, it
can be found at ftp.ulowell.edu in the msdos/Games/Misc directory (should
be called soccer.zip). Soccer fans, beware! I guarantee you will lose
sleep over this!!
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Sir Launcelot du Lake for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
THE SUMMONING by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Reviewed by Alan Whitehurst
THE SUMMONING, a new Role-Playing Game (RPG) from SSI, is set in a world
ravaged by the effects of an earlier conflict between gods and men.
During this conflict, the gods of Magic, War, and Intellect were thwarted
in their desires to subjugate men by the efforts of a warrior king, named
Borel. Unable to best Borel's army, the Gods withdrew to a great tower to
heal themselves and re-plan their campaign. Borel followed the gods into
their tower, to meet them in single combat, and was overcome by the
devilish traps and devices the gods had set to guard them. Thereafter
many heros attempted to meet the challenges of the tower, until finally
one came who was destined to overcome both the traps and the gods,
banishing them from the world of men. Now, a generation later, a new
threat has arisen to the still war-scarred lands of men. A great
sorcerer, known only as Shadow Weaver, has arisen to wage war anew.
Operating from the heart of a labyrinth on his island kingdom, he has sent
his hordes of evil to crash like great waves upon the unprepared armies of
men. In desperation, the council of wizards have called upon their powers
to identify a new hero, someone from the bloodline of that same hero who
overcame the gods, to go forth and meet this new threat. Armed only with
a few months of training in both arms and magic, and a few words of advise
from the council, a hero is teleported into the labyrinth with the
commission to stop Shadow Weaver at all costs.
The basic premise of THE SUMMONING should be well-known to most fans of
fantasy literature: while the armies of men are entangled in a brutal and
hopeless war with the armies of darkness, a lone adventurer is chosen to
penetrate behind the enemy lines and strike a killing blow to the evil
commander. Despite the fact that the basic plot has been well used, Chris
Straka, the creative designer, has done a good job of combining plot
twists, surprises, and hidden quests into an integrated storyline that
grabs and holds the attention. Adding to the enjoyment of this game is a
unique magic system, a well-written manual that provides both detailed
gaming instructions and interesting background information, and a gaming
system that is intuitive, consistent, and well-implemented.
Magic is divided into four categories: Sorcery, Wizardry, Enchantment and
Healing. Each category of magic contains approximately eight possible
spells that must be learned by finding spell parchments. Upon the spell
parchments are recorded the series of hand gestures that constitute the
spell. Once a parchment is found, the movements may be recorded or
memorized, and the parchment may then be discarded. To cast a spell, the
player selects a series of hand gestures. If the right gestures are
selected, a spell icon appears in one of the four magic areas at the
bottom of the display. In the beginning of the game, the player's magical
abilities are limited in four ways: 1) by the number of spell points
available, 2) by the experience of the character in each of the magical
arts, 3) by the hand gestures available to the character, and 4) by the
spells known. The experience of a character in one of the magical arts
governs both the strength of the unleashed spell and the number of spells
of a particular kind that a character can have readied. Once a player has
found a parchment, the hand gestures involved in the particular spell are
available to the character. It is not necessary to find the parchment for
a particular spell to discover it...if one is willing to take the time to
experiment with gesture combinations. The weaker spells involve only a
few gestures (usually three), while the more powerful spells involve as
many as eight gestures.
The real-time nature of the game is frozen during spell selection, so
having spells readied is not as important as watching the remaining spell-
points. When released, a corresponding read-time effect is displayed on
the screen. In contrast to most RPGs, there is no conflict between being
a magician and a warrior. There are no penalties to magical abilities for
wearing armor or fighting with edged weapons. In fact, most of the
enchantment-type spells involve temporarily improving the abilities of the
character in battle. There are a host of both offensive and defensive
spells, and a set of spells to repair battle damage. Since the character
is thrust into Shadow Weaver's labyrinth alone, he or she must be well-
versed in both the magical and martial arts to survive.
The manual is 90 pages long, and contains both background information
about the setting for THE SUMMONING, and fairly detailed information about
game play. The background information is well-written and is in the form
of a narrative from
the perspective of the head wizard of the council. It
details the selection of the new hero, and is as good as most fantasy
literature published today. The manual mentions that some people might
feel that the detailed gaming information contained in the manual is
cheating, so information like the rune effects and the bestiary (where the
weaknesses of each of the monster types is explained) are relegated to the
back of the manual where they need not be accessed. I feel that any self-
respecting hero would have a certain amount of familiarity with his
opponents, so I didn't feel guilty about using the manual. I found the
gaming instructions in the manual to be very helpful, and referred to it
frequently (especially to find out the meaning of the magical runes that
are found in the game). The manual also contains a few pages dedicated to
recording the spells that the character has discovered, which I found most
helpful.
The user-interface is one of the crowning achievements. While not
stretching the state-of-the-art in graphics the way that some of the
"virtual reality" gaming systems do, it is evident that a great deal of
attention went into the user-interface design. The game is real-time, and
most of the display is dedicated to a perspective view of the character
and his or her surroundings. This is an "overhead and to the right" type
of view. The overhead view scrolls smoothly as the character moves,
keeping the character more-or-less centered. The bottom tenth of the
screen is dedicated to a portrait of the character, a couple of lines of
inventory, and the status of his hands (with readied weapons), and spells.
This status display can be grabbed with the mouse and extended (like
pulling down a shade), making the rest of the character's inventory
available, as well as displaying experience information, and a detailed
display of the character's body to show armor in use and readied weapons.
The player interacts with inventory items by grabbing them with the mouse
and moving them to the character's body. Most items must be held in
either hand to be used. Things that are worn are "dropped" onto the
character's body and become part of the display both at the portrait level
and on the overhead view (ie, when you put on a helmet, both the detailed
body display and the overhead view of the character shows the helmet).
One disadvantage of the overhead view is that it is sometimes difficult to
judge alignment. Many times I loosed spells intended to force a door
open, only to have them impact against the wall next to the door. One
spell, the "bouncing fireball", is particularly dangerous. The intention
of this spell is to loose it at an angle down a hallway or into a room and
to allow it to bounce around until it finds a victim. I managed to blast
myself several times by loosing one of these straight against a wall, when
I thought that I was at an angle.
My only other criticism of this game is in interactions with others (Non-
Playing Characters, or NPC) in the labyrinth. While the interface was
nice, the conversations themselves were too structured and predetermined
for my tastes. For example, it was impossible to offend an NPC that was
predetermined to be friendly, and conversely, it was impossible to
befriend an unfriendly NPC. Most of the NPCs were just used to introduce
sub-quests, and so the limited interaction was not a fatal flaw; however,
this is one area where the gaming system could stand substantial
improvement.
In summary, THE SUMMONING represents a solid entry into the ranks of
computer RPG. The user interface is a joy to use, and easy enough for
young children to master. The storyline is rich, filled with twists and
surprises, and the quests and puzzles are challenging. More importantly,
the puzzles and challenges are both motivated and consistent with the
gaming world, providing a captivating gaming experience.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 Alan Whitehurst for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
TEGEL'S MERCENARIES from Mindcraft
Reviewed by : Mark E. Kern
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum PC compat. VGA 640k 4 megs
Rec. 286 or better VGA 1 meg 5 megs
Control: Mouse and Keyboard
Sound: Adlib, SB
Notes: Digitized sound effects require 1 meg machine or better.
Machine used : 486SX-25 with Logitech Soundman 16 soundcard.
The game's premise sounded great. TEGEL'S MERCENARIES puts you in the
position of the B.O.S.S. (Base Operations Squad Sergeant). As a B.O.S.S.
I would get to hand pick a team out of 20 mercenaries, and lead them into
various covert and not-so-covert missions of combat on a tactical level.
I would be part of General Tegel's mercenary band in the year 2198, the
"temp agency" for data-extraction, bodyguard duty and full-scale assaults
in a universe full of deadly aliens and wealthy mega-corporations. But
once you are past the premise, the convoluted game interface drains much
of the enjoyment from this game.
In Mindcraft's latest real-time, tactics-oriented combat game, you are
General Tegel's new B.O.S.S. for operations. His missions send you
throughout the far reaches of the galaxy in search of combat and credits.
There are several missions throughout the game, each mission following the
next in a linear fashion. You must successfully complete each mission to
receive credits which enable you to hire the next round of mercenaries for
the next operation.
A rather ragged plot underlies these missions, and eventually culminates
in a face-off with the K'kistik Queen - leader of an insect race bent on
human destruction. The plot conveys itself through your mission briefings
with General Tegel, and through introspective moments aboard your drop
ship before each mission. These interludes are mainly static images of
the General and your spacecraft, with a frame or two of slide-show
animation from time to time. All in all, I had a difficult time following
the General's jumps from one conclusion to the next as I was dragged along
the very rough edges of this story.
The missions themselves are portrayed from a top-down viewpoint covering
the entire screen. Characters and buildings are illustrated at a slight
perspective, resembling the newer ULTIMA games rather than Mindcraft's
other games such as SIEGE. However, saying the perspective resembles
Ultima is a somewhat generous statement. "Tegel's" uses cartoon-like
graphics, and lacks the visual impact of the Ultima artwork. The colors
used are garish, like a comic book, and are sometimes confusing at all too
critical moments.
Each mercenary in the game is billed as having unique skills. Of the 20
mercenaries available, each will have skills in different areas such as
weapons specialties, demolition, repair and medicine. Your character's
skills will improve with each mission they survive, but you cannot aquire
new skills. Strangely, some skills are crippled, such as the demolition
skill. The manual in the game explains that a character skilled in
demolitions can plant explosive devices to destroy walls and objects. A
glance at the readme file indicates that this feature has been left out of
the final version of the game. Most walls and objects remain
indestructible.
Each mercenary also has a set of equipment and a price tag. The credits
you earn each mission are pretty much useless. You can't purchase new
weapons or ammunition for the characters. The credits only function to
allow you to keep hiring mercenaries for the next mission. If you need to
replenish armor or weapons, you will have to do it by stripping it from
the dead bodies of the battlefield.
You control these mercenaries by clicking on the appropriate character,
which pops up a menu on the screen from which you can choose an action.
The menu manages to obscure most of the screen, but this isn't critical
since all action freezes while you give orders. One nice feature is that
you can chain together a long list of various commands to be carried out
once you hit the "done" button in the menu. Unfortunately, the characters
often get confused with simple tasks such as walking, and if they are
unable to carry out a command they will stop, requiring you to access
their menu, clear all previous commands, and build in a new list. If you
don't clear out the previous commands, your character will behave
unpredictably. Since there is no way to view the list of "stacked"
commands, it is easier to clear them all and start over. This happens
often during the course of the game and for each character.
The most infuriating aspect of the game is the way the characters get in
each other's way during a mission. If one character blocks another's
movement, the blocked mercenary almost never seems to be able to figure
out how to walk around that character to get to where he is going, and
often just wanders off in random, far-flung directions. This always
happens in the thick of combat, when you are trying to get characters to
retreat in tight quarters. The end result is that the character often
goes running into the enemy to be slaughtered. Since you have a finite
amount of mercenaries to complete the game, this can be a real problem.
A lack of intelligence in movement carries over to an inability to attack
with much common sense at all. Characters never seem to be able to handle
an enemy without a direct order to fire from the player. Given this
order, mercenaries will happily blast away in the direction of the enemy,
despite such obstacles as walls, objects, or even other characters
blocking the way. This results in wasted shots and dead mercenaries.
Dying is all too easy in this game. The lack of good AI prevents one from
setting up attacks properly without having the characters bungle it though
random movement or firing. It is also difficult to ascertain when a
character is in danger. As an obvious afterthought (only documented in
the readme file), the designers included some indicators of armor and
health at the top of the screen for each character. The numerical format
is color coded to your mercenaries armor color. This can be confusing
because some mercenaries share similar shades of armor, and it is
difficult to differentiate one character's readout from the next. It is
also difficult to see who is being attacked at the moment, since attacks
on a character are signified by tiny red and blue splotches that tend to
blend right in with the bright colors of several of the game's maps.
Death is swift once an attack begins on your character, and one only has a
few seconds to pull that character out of the line of fire. But then
again, asking the character to move out of the way only serves to bring in
all the problems already mentioned above.
Enemy AI is equally absent. Enemy characters consist of several entities
wandering about in pre-defined areas, sometimes volunteering random
comments in text balloons above their heads. Once a merc enters the
area, the enemy will automatically attack. Opponents lack an overall
strategy. In the first mission, I was sent to act as a team of bodyguards
for a VIP giving a speech. My team landed and placed themselves around
the perimeter, prepared to deflect any attack against the speaker. This
attack never came. Eventually, I wandered around the complex until I
found some entities holed up in sealed rooms. After killing these
entities, the game pronounced the mission "complete."
The music in the game ranges from good to repetitive, but is fine overall.
The digitized effects are another matter. The effects come in once a
mercenary begins an attack. However, the sounds seem to have little to do
with what is going on in the game. No matter what I fired, I would hear a
string of explosions, random screams, and what sounded like speech played
backwards at a slow rate. This string of sounds would continue well after
the weapon had finished firing. The problems I experienced with digitized
sound may be due to some incompatibility between my Logitech Soundman 16
(a Pro Audio Spectrum clone) and the game. In fairness, the game doesn't
claim to support this card and the problem may be local to my particular
hardware.
The game also sports a mission editor. However, there is no documentation
on this section, and even finding the editor was a chore. The editor is
actually embodied in a separate program included with the game. Running
this program invokes the editor.
The editor itself is extremely confusing. The interface can't seem to
decide between using the mouse to select objects, or the keyboard. The
menus are displayed in haphazard form with cryptic labels that provide few
clues as to the function of any selection. Sometimes text will overwrite
itself, leaving unreadable garbage on the screen. I found it difficult to
use, and never did finish editing a scenario before my frustrations would
overtake me.
When comparing the manual with the game, you can't help feeling that
Tegel's Mercenaries is mostly an unfinished product. There are many
discrepancies between the what the manual indicates is possible and what
one can actually accomplish. The readme file is full of sections labeled
as essential to being able to play the game and which are not found in the
printed documentation. The graphics will sometimes glitch and update
erratically, and even on a fast VGA card and fairly speedy system (486SX-
25), fades between scenes are full of "snow" sparkles.
Mindcraft has a promising product idea on their hands that needs an
overhaul on its implementation. The graphics and sound are adequate but
are useless without an interface that allows you to play the game
smoothly. The poor artificial intelligence and especially clumsy
interface manage to put a barrier between the player and any enjoyment
that may lie in the gameplay.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Mark E. Kern. All rights reserved.
THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE from Sierra On-Line
Reviewed by Michael Chin
This game requires a 386SX or better, 640K RAM, VGA, Hard Drive and Mouse.
In the genre of puzzle games such as LEMMINGS and HUMANS, THE INCREDIBLE
MACHINE by Sierra has a series of puzzles with simple goals - "get the ball
in the bucket", "free Pokey the cat" for example. What's not simple is how
to get from the starting position to the end goal. To get from point A to
point B, The Incredible Machine provides you with a toolbox of parts that
you use to create a Rube Goldberg type machine. Using these parts, you
build a simple (or complex) machine to achieve your goal. You set the
machine in motion and watch the fun develop. Watching your machine run is
half the fun.
There are a wide range of objects in this game, including: fan, cannon,
jack-in-the-box, bucket, bellows, bowling ball, fish (in bowl), cat, light
bulb, rocket, dynamite, gun, pulley, flashlight, basketball, see-saw,
baseball, cannon ball, tennis ball, candle, magnifying glass, solar panel,
electric generator, windmill, electric motor, rope, mouse, gear, belt,
treadmill, mouse-in-cage, wired dynamite, walls, pipes, scissors,
balloons, ramps, eye hooks, switches, elbow pipes, bird cage, monkey on
bike, punching glove. The box says there are 45 parts, and I only listed
43, so I'm sure I'm missing a few.
Some people seemed to complain about the speed of the machine in the demo
version. I too noticed this problem on the demo version. On the retail
version, this didn't seem to be a problem except on one board. I should
mention however that I am running this game on a 33 MHz 486 without a sound
board. PC sound was very annoying -- especially on the one board (58 I
think) that I was totally stuck on for hours. So, I turned it off. I've
heard, though, that the music on a sound board is good.
The game has copy protection of the match the picture type on entry into
the game. It feels completely ridiculous, as if it was thrown in just for
the sake of copy protection. Still it's a reasonable method.
There are 87 puzzles, but the first 21 are tutorials. In general, the game
is pretty good, and a number of the puzzles are very hard. Others, though
listed as hard (indicated by bonus values) may be easily solved by very
simple solutions. Of course, I don't think these were the solutions the
designers intended :-), but isn't that what this game is about? Which
brings me up to the first gripe I have with this game - the scoring. The
scoring is time based, so the quickest solution wins. IMHO, there should
be bonus values given for machines of various types (i.e. all the given
pieces used, using fewer than N pieces). That way, the game would
encourage you to think more.
The game is really good in teaching scientific methods. Given the picture,
you make a hypothesis about what needs to be done to finish the level, and
then you try them out. Trying them out may require several "experiments"
where you have to move objects pixel-by-pixel. Having to tweak objects did
not seem like a chore, but was fun instead. Seeing where the ball bounces
given the new configuration was fun. Once you've concluded your
experiments, you can run the whole machine and watch it run. After the
level is completed, you get a password which you may use to bypass that
level in the future. You MUST complete all levels in order. If you're
stuck, you can't bypass the level. Being stuck, detracts from the game.
You simply can't go on if you're royally stuck (like I was). Another minus
is that you can't save the configuration you used. What this means is that
you need some form of external screen grabber to save your configuration to
compare with friends. Since the game requires over 550 K of memory, an
external grabber may be difficult.
I found the game to be very enjoyable, except for that one time I was
stuck. I would recommend getting it, especially if you liked the demo. I
would also recommend it for children. Although there are guns, cannons,
and dynamite, you can't really hurt anything except balloons and the
goldfish bowl. No blood and gore. But if you're looking for close
adhesion to physical rules, you'll be disappointed. The game appears to be
bug free, which is a pleasant change from the current spate of buggy games.
I only locked my computer up once, but I'm not sure that the game was at
fault.
In addition to the puzzle solver, the game includes a freeform mode where
you can design your own machines. Although you can't exactly design your
own puzzles, you can design a machine and ask your friend to solve it by
adding only N different parts. Included with the package are several
sample machines that are fun to watch. Even the introductory screens are
interesting. In freeform mode, you can set different values for air
pressure and gravity. It's interesting to see how these two forces affect
the game elements.
The box also included an offer for an add-on disk in 1/1/93 for $19.95. It
says 70 new levels, 10 new parts.
(ED. - This add-on disk is now available.)
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Michael Chin for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
TONY LA RUSSA BASEBALL II by Stormfront Studios, from SSI
Reviewed by David Masten
Computer Graphics Memory Size
Minimum 386 VGA 1 MB RAM 13 MB
Max/Rec. 386/25 2 MB RAM
Control: Keyboard, Joystick, Mouse
Sound: Adlib, Soundblaster, and compatibles
Notes: Game can be run on Dblspace drive, but is already compressed.
Reviewed on: 386dx33, DOS6, 8 MB RAM, SB, CH Flighstick, mouse
With the advent of another season of the national pastime comes the
release of a few new computer baseball games. The latest to combine both
arcade play and manage only options is TONY LA RUSSA BASEBALL II, an
update of last years TL's ULTIMATE BASEBALL. Notice the name change, I
guess "Ultimater" didn't have the right ring! It is also more accurate,
as I understand this version is improved (I didn't play the original), and
is far superior to EARL WEAVER II, yet it still leaves me wanting.
The game comes with 26 all-time franchises consisting of the best to have
played for each team. For instance, the Yankees have Ruth, Dimaggio,
Munson, Guidry, etc. I like these, but wish they included active players,
and chose career, instead of best season, stats. TLBB2 also includes 26
great past teams through 1968 like the '27 Yankees, '55 Dodgers, '46 Cards
and Red Sox. Plus two all-time "all-star" teams, with some bizarre
selections (Sid Monge over Lefty Grove??). The '92 season disk is an add-
-on.
Play is on nine old-time stadiums: old Yankee, Comiskey, Ebbets Field, the
Polo Grounds, Crosley, Forbes, the Baker Bowl, LA Coliseum, Griffith, and
generic grass and turf parks. You can play an exhibition game in any
stadium, and assign any as a team's home. If you want the current 28
parks, you must purchase the stadium add-on. The ballpark graphics were a
primary attraction, and are excellent. But be warned, the gorgeous full
stadium shots shown in ads and box are not available. I think they are
just composites of the displays you get when "viewing" a stadium. In
normal play, you have very little feel for your environment until a ball
is hit to the outfield, a bit of a letdown.
You can choose to play, manage, or have the computer manage, one or both
teams. You can play with two on the same computer (keyboard, mouse, two
joysticks supported). You can also choose a fast play mode which hustles
through a 162 game, 28 team season in 15 minutes on my 386/33. In manage
or computer mode, you can opt for single pitch, which reduces game times
to about 30 minutes.
The graphics and sound support are strong. Players are fairly small, but
are portrayed with the correct color and handedness (see below), and move
believably. They are reminiscent of FRONT PAGE SPORTS: FOOTBALL, though
not quite as nice. There are some goofs like the batter running inside
the firstbase line, and most balls hit to the wall wind up as singles.
This version comes with only 30 stock portraits shown next to the hitter,
pitcher, or selected player. Strange to see Tom Seaver portrayed as
black! I understand the season disks will have individual portraits.
Another bit of chrome is some nicely rendered rotoscoped "big screen"
highlights of homers, diving catches, doubleplays, etc. As they are
canned, you'll see a generic lefty black player hit one out after every
homer. I'm already tired of most, and opt to not show them.
At first I didn't care for the Ron Barr play-by-play, but I've grown
accustomed to it. It is somewhat limited. You will hear "next batter the
leftfielder", or "caught by the shortstop", with no names used. It also
often calls groundballs as line drives, and vice-versa. End result, I may
get picked off when controlling runners. There are delays between the
sound and graphics, especially on doubleplays.
There are also slight delays when accessing menus and info screens. It
seemed somewhat better when I moved it to an uncompressed drive. (TLBB2
uses its own compression, so you don't save much with "dblspace" anyway.)
I'm most interested in season recreation, and I'm very much a baseball-
stat purist, but I was also interested in a graphically pleasing game,
with the occasional foray into playing. Otherwise I would have just stuck
with my PURSUE THE PENNANT (PtP). So I'll concentrate on the former, but
will add my impressions of arcade action.
Stats, ratings, and seasons ===========================
Season recreation is a simple process. You can create leagues with up to
two separate leagues, two divisions, 8 teams in each. Set season length
to any desired, fast-playing up to a specified date. You can have it stop
to let you play a particular team. You can save boxscores of all games,
one team's, or where certain special events happen (no-hitter, 3+ homers,
etc). You can set lineups vs lefty and righty, set 4 or 5-man rotations.
A manager's profile, consisting of 15 different tendencies, can be
tailored for each team. Rosters consist of as many as 40 players with 25
active until Sept 1. The only gripe I have here is that you must have 15
hitters and 10 pitchers active. The game fudges old-time teams that
didn't have 25 players by adding part-timers from adjacent years!
Stat presentation is good, allowing you to specify lists of the top (or
bottom) 60 in most every standard stat, for both individuals and teams.
The 320x200 graphics limit the amount that can be shown on a given screen.
And the file dump command is really just a printscreen to disk.
The game includes many stats and ratings. There are provisions for L/R
splits, and percentages of grounders vs flyballs and pull vs opposite
field. Through lack of data for oldtimers, some stats, and ratings for
moral, leadership, and streakiness (three silly ratings IMO), day/night
split, and individual pitch effectiveness are all set at default values.
All pitchers are rated for control, velocity, fastball, curveball,
changeup, and include a specific fourth pitch (knuckler, screwball, split-
finger, but usually slider). There are goofs. For example, they
incorrectly made all pitchers better against opposite-side hitters. And
Hubble isn't rated for his famous screwball.
Players are rated at only two positions. TLBB2 gets around this by
designating "IF" or "OF" for some. While the two positions have
individual fielding averages, they share the same arm and range ratings.
Many ratings just seem ludicrous like Hornsby (known as a poor fielder),
being about as good a 2Bman as Mazeroski. The same goes for running and
power ratings. I could cite hundreds of such examples. Note that you can
edit these.
Ballparks are unique and have individual wall dimensions, altitude,
humidity, temperature, wind direction and velocity, which are all supposed
to affect play.
I recreated many seasons to examine the stat reproduction. Admittedly, it
is impossible to say what would happen when you mix so many stars, and
from such different eras. But on the whole, stats seem to come out
reasonably, with some obvious incongruities. Strangely, the franchise
team replays seem to come out more believably than the great-team replays.
But how the White Sox franchise could win their division in two
consecutive replays is beyond me. And how could the '61 Yanks finish last
so often? Steals come out extremely low, doubleplays too high. I've had
teams steal only 3 bases in a year. And even when I bumped the manager
profiles to as aggressive as possible, the 1900 era teams rarely stole.
Errors came out generally low, except for pitchers and OF's who make too
many. I think variances are also too high. A few players will hit sub .
200, and I can't imagine Ted Williams (.406 year) hitting just .270
against any pitching. Ruth never seems to hit more than 30 homers,
partially explained by the presence of the early "dead-ball era" teams.
I have questions about the implementations of many of the stats and
ratings. When radically varying pull/opposite and ground/flyball stats, I
found no impact on homers in very asymmetric ballparks. Rather, the game
engine just seemed to check if the player is a lefty or righty.
There's also the question of how to "normalize" stats. How would Three-
Finger Brown and his 1.04 ERA in 1906 (where the league ERA was a run
lower than now) fare against Chuck Klein from 1930 (the year of the
hitter)? There is no perfect way, but I would have normalized each player
to his own year, factoring in ballpark effects. I think they just
normalized to some overall average, so Brown always has a sub 2.00 ERA,
while a great pitcher in a hitter era, like Lefty Grove, suffers.
Meanwhile, a Duke Snider might be reduced to 25 homers. Yet when I play
him and his '55 Dodger's against themselves he'll hit 70! In reality, he
should hit about 40 homers against his own year's pitchers, and less
against his own team's better than (that year's) average pitchers. Of
course if you are more interested in the current season, then all this is
moot.
Examining computer AI is more difficult. It pinch-hits far too often, and
it once yanked Christy Mathewson with 2 outs in the ninth when comfortably
pitching a shutout. Otherwise no glaring errors. There are provisions
for setting IF/OF depth and shift, but it is often difficult to see how
the computer controlled team is set. This should be evident, and is
important to know when batting. It is also impossible to check the
computer teams bench or baserunner speed, unless you momentarily switch
them to player controlled. The computer manager profiles are adequate,
but not as flexible as PtP's. For example, you can't set your closer or
spot starters.
I'm being very critical to let you know where my priorities are. If stuff
like the above is as important to you as it is to me, skip TLBB2 and get a
text-based game like PtP. But it does a better job than other graphics
games. And the play mode appeals.
Play and graphics modes =======================
You have the option of allowing the computer to control fielding,
throwing, and/or baserunning. In fielding, you move the computer
selected nearest player to a circle which shows where the ball will land,
with the option of hitting the "enter" key to leap/dive. One cute effect
is watching the circle drift with the wind. But I have trouble with
fielding as I don't get a quick jump on infield balls, and get confused
when the selected player may suddenly switch. More trouble is high
choppers back to the pitcher which happen often. I have no idea where the
ball will land, thus instant hit.
Throwing works acceptably, you control which base to throw to, or whether
to cutoff. As you make the selection only after the fielder has it, you
must react fast!
In running, you just control the lead baserunner using the keyboard or
joystick. You go forward, back, slide, or overrun first. Seems to work
well, though I lost the last game I played on a 9th inning bug. The
computer wouldn't recognize any keystroke other than "advance". End
result, DP, game over.
In hitting, you have a pretty good view (catcher's viewpoint), though
discerning the pitch type and location is difficult. You time your swing,
and choose whether to go for contact, power, normal, bunt, or take a
pitch. You also choose hit & run and stealing from the on-screen hitter
menu, though these are not used when controlling runners.
Pitching options include selection from the four pitches, then location
(using the 9 keypad directions). I like this better than EWBB's as a
pitcher can't curve the ball the opposite way of a curveball unless he is
rated for a screwball. I don't know how the individual pitch rating
factors in. You can also pitch out, pitch around, and attempt a pickoff.
Joystick control doesn't work well. To get the pitch to actuate, I either
have to give it a large displacement (resulting in a ball) or groove one.
Keyboard works fine as you hit the direction multiple times to move the
pitch further away.
In final, this may be the best of the baseball games to combine play,
manage, and season replay modes. It has a good combination of stats,
ratings, features, graphics, and sound. Though I'm not a big arcade
player, I find the play mode fun. They took great care in some facets,
like the ballpark graphics, but missed on some details. I also dislike
the manual copy protection which sometimes is called upon more than once.
Some may love it, but if you are one of the new breed of fans who look for
statistical "truth" (ie, read Bill James, and get livid over ESPN
commentators' drivel), TLBB2 may not fully satisfy.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Masten for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
TROLLS by Flare Software
Review by Psycho & Oz
In this game you're wading through masses of enemies, shooting round after
round of heavy-duty ammo from your plasma rifle.... not!
So why should you bother to play it after all ?
Well - TROLLS is a classical jump'n'run game with some nice touches.
You'll be running through huge levels filled with really nice graphics,
nasty monsters and quite surreal goodies to collect.
The game consists of 6 (7?) worlds with 3 or sometimes 4 levels each. Your
objective is to find a differing number of baby trolls in each level, and
to free them by running them over (sorry - touching.) After that you'll
have to find the Pigstop (yes, PIGstop), which is usually placed in the
lower right corner.
A multitude of monster are out there waiting for you to bump into them.
[Underlying game principle: you have three hearts representing life
energy. Monster touches -> heart lost; all 3 hearts gone -> you're a
troll with one life less; falling out of the bottom of the screen ->
instant death.] Monsters can be temporarily killed by jumping on top of
them (which reminds me of a certain Monty Python sketch, something about
Raquel Welch?!?).
The screen is virtually littered with balloons containing certain items,
more or less useful: by collecting them you can obtain SPECIAL POWERS
(Wow) or Bonus Points.
The Items include
* A YoYo (replicates Spiderman's ability to swing from high buildings
- here, you'll be swinging from platform to platform -- also useful to
blast those monsters to kingdom come, not to mention the ability to
smash down yellow walls (try that, Guy Gardner !) )
* Ball & Chain (Avoid. Slows you down for some time)
* Beer (Avoid. Makes you dizzy fr shum taim)
* Spring (Increases your jumping ability temporariliy [that is, in most
cases, until you bump into one of the nasties])
* Engine (Increase Of Horizontal Movement Power)
* Wings (Fly fly away)
* Letters (collecting the word 'BONUS' gives you access to a bonus level,
but avoid the 'G' -> 'BOGUS' forces you into the bogus level, where you
have to collect a pair of a special item in time, otherwise you'll lose
a life)
* Hearts (restore life energy by one heart)
All other items are just points, every 5000 you'll get an extra life.
The steering is as simple as this: use left/right cursor to walk around,
cursor up makes you jump and SPACE lets you throw your yoyo (if you got
one).
The 7 worlds are:
*Toyland : become adult and break your toys,
*Medialand : lots of tapes and newspaperstuff, read the headlines
carefully ;)
*Soda Pop : this one is a bit different: you'll be diving
and got only a certain amount of air, collecting bubbles out of some
balloons helps you breathing.
*Boardgameland : yeah, snakes'n'ladders, monopoly, checkers and chess,
everything you used to play in the pre-computer-times.
*Fableland : meet the Mad Hatter, dragons etc.
*Fairground : including giant wheels, the ghost train and the tunnel of
love.
*Candyland : chewing gum can be dangerous to your health.
Once you've entered a world, you'll have to finish it, before you come
back to the hallway to enter another one (but you can choose them in any
order you want). After finishing every world, you can enter the LAST DOOR
(tadaa!) to exit, but maybe there's another world available (I just popped
out and didn't look around for it, and couldn't muster the nerve to play
it all over again, wasting about 4 precious hours).
Tactical Tips:
* The Troll's Inertia (he moves on after you've released
the key) can in most cases _NOT_ be used to your advatage, it's just
unnerving.
* Go for the WARP Zones to finish the levels quickly. Spoiler: The Warp
in Toyland, Area 1, is in the middle of the level: Shoot the
yellow bricks in the upper half, jump up, and WOOM!
* You don't have to collect every baby troll in sight - usually there are
enough of the little buggers around so you can afford to abandon some of
them if they are too hard to reach.
* In case you run out of lives, you can Continue up to 5 times in the
world/area where you left. To increase the number of Continues, collect
LUCKY RABBITS (they're the cool variety, with shades and everything)
NOTE: I haven't seen any rabbits, but Oz keeps telling me that they exist.
* In each Level you'll find a pink elephant. Touching him allows you
to restart from the place you found him in case you lose a life.
By the way: Do not even consider to play this one on a 286 unless you like
rreeaallyy slow animation.
Overall, this game doesn't really induce a cardiac arrest, but if you're
just looking for a nice jump'n'run this one is o.k.
This review is Copyiright (C) 1993 by Psycho & Oz for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
WAVE BLASTER by Creative Technology/Labs
Reviewed by Sir Launcelot du Lake & Flash
Technical Specifications
4 MB Sound ROM with 213 instrument sounds and waveforms
128 instrument presets, 18 drum kits, 50 sound effects
16 channels and 32-note polyphony
General MIDI compatible
MT32 emulation mode
The Wave Blaster is an add-on General MIDI module for the Sound Blaster 16
ASP. It is a daughterboard for the SB16, so only owners of the SB16 will
be able to use it. Adding on this module opens the world of MIDI and
sampled wave synthesis for the SB16 as it uses the Proteus chip developed
by E-mu Systems, one of the leading players in the MIDI industry.
Installation of the Wave Blaster is just a simple matter of plugging it
into the existing slot on the SB16. No other hardware components need to
be added or adjusted - no additional IRQ, DMA, or jumper settings are
required. No further additions to the autoexec.bat or config.sys are
needed; the card will use whatever has been set for the SB16. Another
bonus is that the SB16 + Wave Blaster combination fits snugly into just
one 16-bit slot; the addition of the daughterboard does not cause a
neighbouring slot to be blocked.
The user manual is rather technical, and presumes knowledge of MIDI
jargon. The section on setting up the MIDI environment in Windows and in
DOS was a little too sparse. Users who buy the card just for games only
(like Sir L) may encounter some difficulty in understanding some of the
options. For example, the difference between General MIDI, Extended MIDI,
and Basic MIDI was not explained. It was also unclear whether the
settings in Windows would also affect the settings in DOS. For example,
if one configures the Wave Blaster to run in MT32 emulation mode in
Windows, what would be the mode in DOS? We only found out by trial and
error that resetting is necessary if, for example, one wants to default
back to General MIDI in DOS after running Windows in MT32 mode. The
converse is not necessary as the startup process in Windows would set the
Wave Blaster to whatever mode it was last in as configured in the Wave
Blaster Control Panel. The manual also includes several appendixes which
list the MIDI specifications, factory presets, drum presets and links,
sound effects bank file, MT32 instruments map, and sampled sounds
instruments.
The software included are some MIDI utilities for switching modes in DOS,
the Wave Blaster Control Panel for Windows, and Twelve Tone Systems'
Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows, which is a 256-track graphic MIDI
sequencer.
Games (Sir L)
In this section, I will list the games that I have tested using the MT32
emulation mode and the General MIDI mode, and the problems that were
encountered. Switching between modes is done by just typing WBMODE with
the appropriate parameters in the WAVBLAST subdirectory.
MT32 Emulation - the emulation is not perfect, much like when the Roland
SCC-1 emulates the MT32/LAPC-1. Software that have their own custom
settings for sound effects in MT32 will not be reproduced correctly under
the emulation. For example, one may hear musical instruments instead of
laser shots. However, if the software uses the default MT32 sounds and
instruments (without SysEx messages), emulation is superb. In the list
below, the games that run fine means that they can start and run, those
that do not work either hung when executed or could not run eventually for
various reasons. I suspect that these games are specifically looking for
the LAPC-1 or MT32 card. Some of these games were also tried with the
Roland LAPC-1/MT32 plus Sound Blaster option for music and sound
effect/speech respectively.
Runs Fine Does not Work
Carrier Strike Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space (demo)
Countdown to Doomsday The Magic Candle II
The Dark Queen of Krynn Pirates of Realmspace
Death Knights of Krynn Wing Commander II Deluxe CD
Empire Deluxe
Matrix Cubed
Pacific War
General MIDI - this is when games have the General MIDI plus Sound Blaster
option for music/sound effects and sound effects/speech. I also tried the
Roland SCC-1/GS Sound Canvas plus Sound Blaster option where available,
since the SCC-1 follows General MIDI settings. For the titles that did
not work, they were all using the SCC-1/GS Sound Canvas plus Sound Blaster
option. I also suspect that these games were looking for the specific
Roland cards.
Runs Fine Does not Work
X-Wing Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space (demo)
Might & Magic: Clouds of Xeen (demo)
At the moment, the only game I have with the General MIDI plus Sound
Blaster option is X-Wing. The music and sound effects in this mode are
excellent, even when using just the generic speakers.
MIDI (Flash)
The Control Panel allows for the configuration of standard MIDI parameters
like channel number (16 altogether), channel on/off, volume and panning.
Users are also able to control Global settings like master tuning,
transpose, pitch bend, and velocity curve. Users do not have to rely on
sequencer/editor software from third party developers to manipulate these
features. The software found in the WB package also features an
instrument Bank Arranger. This is especially useful for sequencing tasks
where instrument sounds that are anticipated to be used can be rearranged
to appear higher up in the instrument list and thus reduce much of the
time spent searching for a desired instrument sound.
The WB offers two complete and distinct banks of 128 instrument and 64
percusion presets (divided into 18 different drum kits). All presets
reside in RAM and can be replaced via SysEx messages. Normal MIDI program
change commands received on channel 10 in the range of 0 to 63 will
automatically be mapped to percussion presets. MIDI channel numbers are
used to determine the voice stealing algorithm, with the percussion
channel, i.e. 10, having the highest priority. A certain number of voice
channels can be reserved for each MIDI channel so that the polyphony on
these channels never fall below a set minimum. A maximum can also be set.
The default maximum is 32 with the percussion channel having a default
maximum of 16. Included are another 50 sound effects and these can be
assigned to certain patch locations via WBPanel.
Bundled together with WB is the Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows. This
sequencer utilises the graphical interface associated with new generation
of DOS sequencers running under Windows. Users more accustomed to the
graphical interfaces that fully incorporate the mouse as a manipulation
tool found in Macintosh or Atari based sequencing software will feel very
comfortable with the Cakewalk Apprentice's interface. Basic sequencing
tools like transpose and quantise are present and easily accessible. Most
serious hobbyist would find this a worthwhile product to have as part of
their composition arsenal.
Conclusion
For those who already have the SB16, the Wave Blaster is a serious
consideration. Given that many games will now have the option of General
MIDI plus Sound Blaster mode for music, sound effects and speech, this
card will enhance your gaming experience. MIDI enthusiasts who want value
for the dollar should seriously consider this product. Creative has
finally included a sequencing software that matches the ability of the
hardware and should go a long way in enhancing any MIDI setup. For those
who are considering the SB16 ASP + Wave Blaster combination, or who are
looking for a soundcard, do realize that this duo will not be cheap, but
if you can afford the money, it is a sound investment (no pun intended),
considering that you will be assured of Sound Blaster and General MIDI
compatibility.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Sir Launcelot du Lake & Flash for
Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.
Flashback, by U.S. Gold and Delphine Software
For the Sega Genesis, 12 Megs
Reviewed by Jer Horwitz
What are the ingredients for a successful action game with a plot? Mix two
parts Total Recall, one part They Live, a half part of James Bond and a
dash of The Running Man. The result is Flashback, a futuristic attempt to
snare action game players by actually providing them with a cinematic
storyline, presented in several megabits of intermission screens.
Originally billed as the sequel to Delphine's highly acclaimed action
game, Out of This World, U.S. Gold's Flashback begins the saga of an
entirely new character, retaining many play mechanics from OOTW and adding
better cinema intermissions and character animation. Your character,
Conrad Hart, is the average everyday secret agent who also happens to be
an inventor. During an experiment with his newest gadget -- a lens which
allows a person to see the molecular density of objects -- he glances at a
group of people and notices that some of them are composed of a completely
different molecular structure than human beings. When the alien creatures
find out that Conrad has discovered their identity, they capture him, take
him into outer space, and wipe his memory. He escapes on a hoverbike, and
is shot down and left for dead in the jungles of the planet Titan, where
you assume control of his destiny.
Flashback is a futuristic version of Broderbund's Prince of Persia -
Conrad runs, jumps and grabs ledges in a manner which should remind
everyone of the screen-by-screen movement in Jordan Mechner's classic. The
games are also similar in that both have a lot of emphasis on opening doors
and avoiding traps, although there is less emphasis on jumping from
platform to platform in Flashback. The battles in this game are all fought
with a handgun instead of the Prince's sword, and the main character has
more moves than the Prince did in the first Persia adventure.
Conrad awakens on Titan with his gun and a electronic shield which can take
four hits without a recharge. Although his memory has been erased, his
skills as a secret agent somehow survived the procedure. He can tumble on
the ground and come out of the roll shooting. He can sidle against walls
with his gun drawn, use the butt of his gun to knock out nearby enemies,
and run at a reasonable pace if he's caught in a dangerous spot. The
variety of his moves is impressive, but the execution is even better - the
game's graphics are animated at a rate of 20 frames per second, which
exceeds the speed of the "full motion" video displayed on many Sega-CD
games. In a process known as rotoscope animation, all of the characters'
body movements were digitized from video of Delphine employees going
through the same motions. The visuals are silky smooth, although the
characters themselves are quite small. (Probably about 1/24 of the screen,
each, or thereabouts.) Although they're not large enough, they move
beautifully - you *will* start to wince when Conrad takes a shotgun blast
to the chest (but is kept alive by his shields), and perhaps even enjoy
the recoil of your pistol as it fires round after realistic round. The
bullets even leave traces of smoke streaming from the walls.
Flashback's strongest assets are the layouts of each of the six levels in
the game -- the map designers created worlds which were small enough to
have memorable landmarks but large enough to pose a challenge to the
player. On the one confusing world, where several subways lead to
different "Europa", "Asia", "America" and "Africa", the programmers were
nice enough to provide a map of the four areas (with important landmarks
noted) in each subway station. Each level is designed with several quest-
like puzzles for Conrad to complete; the word puzzle may scare some people
off, but I assure you that the action in this game is every bit as intense
as Rolling Thunder 2 or other action games with an emphasis on shooting.
The puzzles are a combination of traversing obstacles and shooting/
avoiding waves of alien attackers. The obstacles include laser cannons
hooked up to nearby sensors, doors triggered by distant floor panels and
elevators which always seem to be inaccessible. Luckily, you're not forced
to beat the traps with wits alone - chance meetings with other characters
(and occasionally just looking around) will net you items like teleporters
and explosives, keys and money. The teleporters add some great spice to
the game.
On each of the planets, your goal is to complete a mission which involves
either getting from point A to point B or locating items and bringing them
to designated places. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds. The alien
troops found on the various worlds start out as savages who die from a
single bullet and evolve into resilient terrors who can take several hits
and transform into energy. There are no "bosses" in Flashback, something
which doesn't hurt the experience (and may win it some points from
computer gamers), but you almost wish for them when you realize how great
the rest of the game was programmed.
The game's difficulty level is configurable from an options menu, the only
noticeable difference being the increasing population of aliens on each
planet, placed in strategically challenging areas. Adding these creatures
in greater proportions *does* change the game, since completing a lot of
the missions depends on your ability to jump onto a platform which may or
may not contain an alien ready to knock you to your death... and you
*will* find yourself dying a lot - long falls kill you instantly, and you
can't always find a place to recharge your shields. There are "save"
points in each level, where you can begin after dying with whatever items
you had at that point. Unlimited continues are reasonably employed, as
well.
The game's aesthetics are above average when taken on the whole.
Backgrounds are not generally animated, and the colors used to draw all of
them are very dark. The shading in some levels is quite well done
(especially those with liquid textures) and there is a tremendous amount
of detail in the artwork. The scale of the characters and the background
art is a little too confined, in my opinion, but the character animation
is the real star of the game anyway. You'll love the Terminator 2-style
puddles that morph into humanoids. The sound effects and music are good,
although there are too few of each - Delphine's style of music is
cinematic - near dead silence until a moment of suspense, and suddenly a
quick tune will start your heart pounding. I would have preferred a full
soundtrack, myself.
I've been reluctant to give away the game's story beyond what the
instruction manual tells you, because it's really well done and a good
portion of the appeal of the game. I *can* tell you, however, that the
plot is revealed well. The cinema intermissions are quite beautiful, with
more of the rotoscoped animation -- a (roughly) half-screen box is filled
with well-choreographed scenes illustrating the results of the successful
completion of each mission. Other cinema screens appear *during* the
gameplay - each time Conrad finds an item, you see his hand reaching down
and picking it up. Certain items actually have their own special cinema
displays, such as the Holocube you find at the game's beginning (remember
something similar in Total Recall?). Because the cinemas are done with
highly detailed polygon shapes instead of bitmapped graphics, there is the
occasional truly scaling polygon object - a very impressive thing to see
Conrad coming up an elevator shaft with smooth scaling. There are also
some great death scenes, although a few more wouldn't have hurt. (You see,
there are *some* drawbacks to releasing a "CD-ROM game on a cartridge" -
you run out of memory for the little things.)
Out of This World and Flashback are two very different games. I like them
equally; Out of This World's intermissions weren't as detailed, but they
had a lot of subtle class -- seeing yourself gored by the first level's
beast is a sight no one will ever forget. Flashback's intermissions are
more movie-like in that there are more characters, a broader story, and
better and more detailed animations. You have far more abilities in this
game than you did in Delphine's first - The gameplay in Out of This World
was much more limited to figuring out what to do with the scenery;
Flashback's gameplay is more about using Conrad's many talents in
increasingly precise situations. Each game is a great challenge -
Flashback, like its predecessor, has a password feature because the levels
are very long. After you've won the game, there's a password that will
take you directly to the ending, a nice way to show the game off to a
friend or two.
The graphics (especially the animation) are the main draw for many people,
but Flashback's gameplay is the feature that impresses me the most. The
difficulty curve is fair, and you have to learn how to use the controls to
beat the game. The puzzle solving will keep you thinking, not frustrated.
It's a great Prince of Persia-style intellectual action game geared
towards the technological age.
If you're looking to try a game that requires skill and intelligence, look
no further. Flashback delivers a good challenge, with a great plotline --
and even if you remember seeing some of the story and play mechanics
before, that's what a flashback is all about, right?
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Jer Horwitz for Game Bytes Magazine.
All Rights Reserved.
FINAL FIGHT 2 by Capcom
For the Super NES / Super Famicom, 10 Megs
Japanese Version Used for the Review
Reviewed by Jer Horwitz
The title of the game may be oxymoronic, but let's save that discussion for
an EGM or Die Hard editorial. After racking up months in the number one
spot in both Japan and the US, the original Final Fight was proclaimed the
1990-91 king of the "mindless side-scrolling fighting game" genre. The
concept to these games was simple; the screen scrolls from left to right
as you walk in three dimensions, punching and kicking the tar out of gangs
of thugs. At each level's end, meet the boss, who has more strength and
stamina than 10 of the punks put together. Defeat the boss, repeat the
process several times, and then meet the "big" boss, someone who has done
you great harm. Beat him or her, and you've saved the world, rescued a
beautiful girl, or found the stolen amulet and given it back to Professor
Shabazz. You know the routine.
Final Fight's plot followed the above guidelines precisely. The main
character, Haggar, was the typical "former wrestler who happens to be the
Mayor of a major metropolitan city," which, coincidentally, was named
"Metro City." After his daughter Jessica was kidnapped by the Mad Gear
gang (the local Mafia branch), Haggar called Cody, Jessica's fiancee, to
help bring down the Mad Gears and rescue the bride-to-be. Although the
Super NES version omitted it, the arcade version also included Cody's
friend Guy, a "Ninja" who came along to bash some heads. The game was
wildly successful because the graphics were twice as good as the
competition -- huge (roughly 1/2 screen height) characters and detailed
urban backgrounds, and also because the characters had "the cool factor"
(my favorite Capcom advertising phrase). The game was the first of its
kind to have huge martial artists doing over-the-shoulder flips, backhand
punches and piledrivers -- all in one game with good animation and
attention to detail. The big complaint about the SNES version was that it
omitted the arcade's two-player simultaneous feature because of the
flicker and slowdown it would have caused.
It was to have been the "final fight". Cody and Jessica lived happily ever
after, Guy went back to selling knives on late night TV, and Haggar finally
had something to show for his "law and order" campaign. Life goes on until
Haggar suddenly receives a call from Maki, a female martial artist who is
tracking another suspicious set of kidnappers in Hong Kong -- this time,
the kidnappers have taken Guy's nearest and dearest, and Maki wonders if
Haggar knows anything about them... "The Mad Gear Gang."
A beautiful opening cinema display opens Final Fight 2, relating the story
above and introducing Carlos, a friend who has decided to help out. Thus,
you are presented with three characters - Maki (the weak but agile Ninja-
type), Carlos (the mid-strength martial artist with a sword), and Haggar
(the powerful but low-stamina middle-aged ex-wrestler who has decided to
come out of retirement yet again and fly to Hong Kong). Like the original
arcade game, there are six levels, each with several unique sections. The
extra 2 megs are used to provide a full cast of characters, a problem which
plagued Batman Returns and one which would have forced the programmers to
cut either the opening, a full level, or one of the player characters.
Bravo to Capcom for doing what needed to be done.
The most significant feature of this game is the 2-player simultaneous
option, where a nearly flicker-free game can be played with any two of the
three player characters on screen at once. Flicker is infrequent and
quickly vanquished when it does appear, achieved by limiting the number of
on-screen characters to a maximum of five at once and moving them around
to keep them out of each others' scan lines. It is noticable, however, in
that it sometimes happens when only four characters are on screen in one
player mode -- luckily, there isn't slowdown, and the flicker disappears as
quickly as it comes. The characters are roughly the same size as those in
the original SNES Final Fight, although two or three of them appear to be a
little shorter than their predecessors - on the average, they're the same.
You find yourself walking the streets of several countries in Europe and
Asia and hopping on the occasional boat and train. There are also two bonus
stages - break the car and smash the flaming barrels - each much better
visually and play-wise than the original Final Fight. Along the way, quite
a few items and weapons are hidden in barrels and crates - there are more
items than Final Fight, and better weapons, too. The Tonfa stick (a black
pole with a perpendicular handle, the length of which is kept under the
forearm and swung out) is a terrific addition, the knife remains and a
piece of lumber replaces the metal pipe found in the first Final Fight.
The swords have disappeared. The three characters are each pretty neat;
Maki and Carlos look especially good standing still, and Haggar has a new
combat outfit. They're balanced much like the original three characters in
Final Fight.
The levels are a sight to see. The detail in the backgrounds is extremely
impressive for a game never released in the arcades - shading, color and
layout are very impressive for a Super NES title, although there will
likely be some dispute over which has better backgrounds - Batman Returns
or this game. There are some levels with vertical scrolling, also - a nice
change but not overly well executed. The music is great, too - a lot of
the old Final Fight tunes were rescored and made funkier and more upbeat,
although the instruments still aren't exactly orchestra quality. You may
actually want to tape and listen to some of them if you were a fan of the
old music.
Some little problems from FF have been fixed, too. If you use up all of
your lives, and decide to continue, you continue at the beginning of the
section where you died, instead of at the beginning of the level. The
clock actually ticks once in a while, although it still seems to be using
some elephantine units of measurement. Also, things from the arcade Final
Fight, like walking up staircases and into doors, have been put back into
this game. Another nice thing is that the game doesn't dwell on the same
background too long; the game doesn't send out waves of characters to
attack you without advancing the screen a little.
Those are the good points. Here's the abrupt change - sorry to spoil your
joy.
The gameplay hasn't progressed beyond the level of the original Final
Fight - in fact, it has actually suffered somewhat. Fewer of the enemies
block your attacks or require any sort of technique to defeat. On easy and
normal, the game is a total pushover - I defeated the final boss on my
first game, which is made somewhat easier with six continues given to the
player. The bosses themselves are amazingly similar - a motley bunch of
freaks who are great looking but offer surprisingly little resistance.
Only two of the bosses - one, a holdover from the arcade Final Fight who
never made it to the SNES translation, and the final boss - are remotely
challenging. The cast of characters increases over three or four of the
levels, then tapers off abruptly, so you find yourself fighting the same
people again and again. A few of the characters, like Andore and his
brothers (?), make return appearances in this sequel - what's especially
odd is that the Andores aren't at all as aggressive as they used to be...
The only noticable difference between the difficulty levels besides
*slightly* better dodging by enemies [I mean slightly; see below] is that
the bosses have more life energy, as do some of the characters later in the
game.
Gone are the stylish touches which gave Final Fight "the cool factor"; no
more bosses who whistle for backup, no more policemen who spit out gum you
can pick up to replenish your lifebar, and no more seedy alleys or gritty
arenas to battle in. The best battle takes place on top of a train, but
the other scenes aren't quite the places you'd expect to be fighting a
gang. (For that reason, I prefer Batman Returns' backgrounds. They're more
interactive and more appropriate to a fighting game.) The thugs themselves
are pretty boring, too -- no more guys with knives who fly over your head,
just a bunch of guys who walk around and punch you. One guy carries an
electric shocker, another a metal rod, and the fire-bombers are back.
Besides the fact that the characters don't attack in an inspired manner,
they don't dodge all that well, either. Perhaps the coolest things in
Final
Fight 2 are the continue screens (which, like the original, show
your characters on the verge of death, rescuable only by pressing your
start button) and the occasional animations in the backgrounds. [The "cool"
animations that come to mind are Chun Li and Guile, each found in a level.
]
The control is just as good as the original. The gameplay is probably
quite adequate for any fan of the first game who wants a 2-player
simultaneous version. My only question - it's been more than 4 years since
the game first debuted in Japan: Why is the game is still limited to two
buttons (punch/jump)? The play mechanics are very shallow in that respect,
made worse by the fact that you're meeting the same enemies level after
level. At least there are quite a few characters to choose from and fight
against - if there were only two player characters or a smaller cast of
enemies, the game would be too boring, as the little diversity Final Fight
2 offers comes from changing characters after your lives are used up.
Batman Returns had more involved play mechanics but too few enemies. Final
Fight 2 has mediocre play mechanics and a reasonable cast of characters.
The bonus stages are arguably the best parts of the game - the car is
cooler than the first game's, and the barrels (not stacked like SF2's) are
a challenge similar to the glass pane shattering of the first Final Fight.
You won't beat that stage the first time you try, unfortunately unlike the
game itself.
Capcom is a terrific company, no doubt about it - the Street Fighter II
series has earned them a spot at the top of everybody's lists. This type
of flat game practically ignores the things which made the SF2 games such
a success -- diversity, multiple buttons for attacks, and impressive boss
characters. Final Fight 2 is very much like its SNES predecessor, except it
has two-player play. For that feature alone, it is the best large
character 2-player game on the system; far better than Brawl Brothers or
Rival Turf. I still prefer TMNT 4 and Super Double Dragon as games, but
the FF2 programmers were obviously up against a wall. To release a Final
Fight 2 with smaller characters would have been a media disaster, but to
release a sequel with more moves and more animation (with characters this
large) would have required more memory and more programming time.
The king of the hill in this genre is still Sega's Streets of Rage 2,
which has more moves, more background interactivity, and better music than
any other side-scrolling fighting game out there. Perhaps we'll see
another not-so-final Fight vying for the throne in the near future.
[Let's see if Nintendo USA allows the female enemies to stay in the game
now that there's a female hero to fight them with...]
This Review Copyright (C) 1993 by Jer Horwitz for Game Bytes Magazine. All
Rights Reserved.
JOHN MADDEN '93 FOOTBALL from Electronic Arts
Review by Cedric Higgins
With John Madden '93 Electronic Arts has captured the heart and soul of
every sports fan that enjoys the game of football. The improvement from
the '92 edition (which is still a good game) is impressive. With the 28
NFL teams and eight "All Time Great" teams, the game play is much faster
and smoother. The computer is a better opponent than before because it
analyzes your play calling technique on offense and defense, therefore
allowing itself to call better plays.
The offensive and defensive plays are the same as the '92, but with the
added features of No Huddle and the Quarterback can stop the clock for
offense. Added features for defense are close line tackles and the
ability to "knock" a player out of the game with a crushing tackle.
Madden '93 also features a coin toss at the beginning of each game. Losers
of the toss can select which goal to defend, thus allowing them to play
against or with the wind if this is a factor. There are 2 types of
playoffs for the Madden '93, first is the regular season playoffs which is
8 games total and second is the "All Time Greats" playoffs which is also 8
games before the championship game. One feature that stands out while
playing either of the playoffs is that there are playoff score updates,
and at the half of *your* game the computer will show you the last few
seconds of another playoff game. There is an instant replay feature to
see hard hits, a great play call or even to contest penalties; unlike the
'92 edition of Madden Football, '93 allows you to overturn one penalty per
game -- now you have to make the right call at the right time.
If you ever wanted to play in the NFL now here is the chance to make the
big play and score the winning field goal from 45 yards out. If you ever
wanted to be a coach in the NFL, now play the coach mode, call your plays
and watch the action. John Madden '93 offers a lot of possibilities for
fun, and if you're a sports nut this game is definitely for you!!
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Cedric Higgins for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
SUPER NBA BASKETBALL by Tecmo for SNES
Reviewed by Rob Nava
Tecmo has finally taken the plunge into the 16-bit world! And they've
decided to stick to what they know best for their first SNES entry--
Sports. TECMO SUPER NBA BASTKETBALL (an official NBA licensed product) is a
relief for all those SNES sports fans out there that have been swamped with
poorly animated, shoddy, poor-excuses-for-sports-games sports games (NCAA
is an exception).
The intros (2) are quite good for a sports game. In fact, they're quite
good for a non-sports game. The first thing that comes on the screen is
the Tecmo logo. It comes in from the right and settles in the middle of
the screen as its reflection on the floor follows along. Then a rabbit
("The Tecmo Rabbit"??) comes up to the logo from the left, leans on it, and
twirls its whiskers. It's animated very nicely. The game intro itself
consists of several basketball players (supposedly from different NBA
teams) working together to get a bucket. I was more impressed with the
Tecmo logo intro :-). BTW I'm sorry if you think that I spend too much
space on intros, but I happen to think that good intros are fun to watch.
I DO admit that they don't make or break a game though (SF2 didn't have a
good intro). So let's move on to something more important... the
cornucopia of options and features built-in to this quite revolutionary
cart.
The options/game select screen is the first to appear. The available
choices here are:
--Preseason Game...You have the option to play several different ways: Man
vs Com, Man vs Man, Man vs Coa, Coa vs Com, Coa vs Coa, and Com vs Com.
The "Coa" of course stands for "Coaching" in which a human player calls the
plays (choice of four), and makes decisions about timeouts, substitutions,
game speed, and even music during the game.
--Season Game...You play your season games which are saved via battery
backup. Only one season may be saved at one time, but more than one team
can be manually controlled (all the teams can be manually controlled for
the whole season if you like!). All the records for each team, the top 18
players in each of the League Leaders categories, and the upcoming games
for the season (complete with dates) are all saved automatically when
playing in this mode.
--All Star Game...Pretty self-explanatory. An East vs West war on the
court with all of your favorite players of last season. The same options
are available for this as are for the Preseason Mode.
--Game Speed...Choose between Fast (it's REAL fast), Normal, or Slow play.
The characters can really jam in fast mode, but beginners can be easily
confused too. This option is also available during the game (press
select).
--Period Length...Choose from 2, 3, 4, 8, or 12 minute periods.
--Game Music...Choose to turn the background music on or off. This option
is also available during the game.
--Team Data...Pick the NBA team of interest and view the following info:
The conference of the team, its division, and its current record are shown
automatically in the upper right hand corner. Below that you may choose to
change the starters, look at the playbook (each team gets 4 plays), or view
a starter's data (only the five original starters' data can be viewed). If
you choose to view a starter's data, you'll see a small b/w picture of the
player in the upper left hand corner, last years stats for that player, his
height, weight, position, and current condition (injured, etc.). The
players abilities are also shown on the bottom half of the screen. The
abilities shown are the player's running speed, jumping, stealing,
blocking, shooting range, an stamina. A true stats lover's dream come
true!! But there's more...
When you play season mode, even more stats are available, the most obvious
one being the League Leaders data. As your season progresses, Super NBA
calculates and then remembers the top 18 players in each of these seven (7)
categories: Points Per Game, Three Point %'s, Blocked Shots, Field Goal
%'s, Free Throw %'s, Rebounds, and Steals. The standings (w/l, % won, and
games back) of each team are also kept and upgraded as the season
progresses. Another feature offered in Season Mode is the ability to change
all the teams' operators to either man, com, coa, or skp anytime during the
season. So you can switch to a team with a better record if you want, right
in the middle of the season while making the computer take over your team.
Also, up to all of the teams can be manually controlled. But if one of
your friends is playing another team, you must wait until he plays his game
before you are able to continue in the season. Unless of course, you
change his team temporarily to "skp" in which case the computer will play
out he game without you having to sit through it. If a team is man, com,
or coa controlled you will have to watch and/or play all the games out.
You are also allowed to program the win/loss records for each team to mimic
the real season to date! But enough about the stats!! How's the game??
Well the game is actually pretty good. It is much more fluid than EA's
BULLS VS BLAZERS for the SNES ever hopes to be even with all the space
allocated for the stats (not sure how much that actually is though). NCAA
BASKETBALL is really a different type of game. It's hard to compare the
two. Some people like NCAA's point of view, and some like Super NBA/Bull
vs Blazer's point of view. As a game, both NCAA and Super NBA are quite
good. But if you're a die hard stats man (or woman) though, Super NBA is
the way to go.
Super NBA has many good features besides the stats. The control of each
character is good. But, since Tecmo decided to use a generic sprite for
all the players (Spud Webb looks like Manute Bol), having five basically
identical players on the court at one time can be confusing at first. I
suggest slow game speed until beginners get the hang of it. Also, generic
characters mean NO signature moves. Bummer. There are some nice cutaway
cinema sequences sprinkled throughout the game. Bullet passes, certain
slam dunks, and some 3 pointers are animated. They are basically random
happenings (except the slam). Speaking of cutaway sequences... the referee
has some animation when he blows his whistle: traveling, charging, pushing,
shot clock, 5 & 10 second violations, out of bounce, and backcourt no-no's
are all ref cutaway sequences.
There are a few quirks in the game too. The freethrows are actually jump
shots!! Yes, the players actually jump into the air for freethrows. All
the players have small Afro's. My friend calls it Super 70's NBA.:-)
Rebounds tend to be harder than actual shots themselves. Sometimes players
will shoot from under the basket and the ball will rebound all the way to
the sidelines!! Another flaw is that teams NEVER switch sides. If your
home, you play the whole game going to the right (or is it left?).
Kinda cheesy. The cheerleaders at halftime, are all digitized from one
person, and it looks very... I don't know... stupid. The digitized
graphics, and the animation is quite fluid, but they still look kinda dumb
when they dance. And either the cheerleaders NEVER stop, or they dance for
a very, very long time.
The setup... Even though all the arenas look that same, the home team's
logo is nicely represented in the middle of the court and the keys are
colored appropriately. Their are two scoreboards, one on each side of the
court in the background, that display the name of the team, fouls, bonus,
period, and time remaining. The shot clock is located right above the
backboard, and is somewhat difficult to read at times because it lies at
such a severe angle. There is a number (1 or 2) above the two players being
controlled on the screen and the names of the players currently being
controlled are displayed in the lower right and left corners of the screen.
When a player scores a basket, though, his name is temporarily shown in big
letters in the bottom middle of the screen. All players not being
controlled have a letter representing their position above them (C, G, or
F).
Playing against another human is a lot of fun. But, unlike so many sports
games, I found playing against the computer rather fun as well. It is
quite easy to defeat the computer once you acquire some game experience,
but the multitude of stat features kept me playing more and more. I want
ALL my players to be Number 1!! BTW Super NBA even allows players to
intentionally foul. The L and R buttons can send the opposing player to
the stands. Remember how the football players practically flew across the
screen in the original Tecmo Bowl for the NES? Well now basketball players
are flying high too!!:-)
THE RATINGS
GRAPHICS: The graphics of Super NBA are not bad. The use of generic
characters detracts a little from the game though. At least the characters
were smoothly animated though. There was absolutely NO use of Mode 7 in
Super NBA that I can remember (I don't think the title screen had any).
Although, there was no real call for its use anyway. Overall the graphics
were good, but not exceptional. [7.5]
SOUND/MUSIC: The background music can get annoying at times. Good thing
that you can turn it off in the middle of a game. No real strong showings
as far as sound goes either. Average. [6]
PLAYABILITY: The playability is fairly high. It takes some getting used to
before people really start noticing the control though. I could never
really tell if my play selections were working or not though. [7.5]
ENDURANCE: I still play this game. After all there are MANY games in an
NBA season (I forget exactly how many). Plus if a friend comes over, we
can always play it too. [9]
FUN FACTOR: Super NBA is a pretty fun game. Especially the two player
mode. It's a toss up between NCAA and this one as the best basketball game.
It just depends on your opinion of the views. Like Mode 7? NCAA. Like
stats? Super NBA. Both are fun. [8.5]
Final SCORE: [8]
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Rob Nava for Game Bytes Magazine. All
rights reserved.
PGA TOUR GOLF II by Electronic Arts
Reviewed by Cedric Higgens
It's 6:00 am on saturday morning, you've just checked over your golf clubs
and made a few practice putts in the front room while waiting for the rest
of the gang to arrive. Hoping you don't lose the box of Maxflites you
bought the night before, your ready to shoot a new course record of 62.
Finally, it's TEE time. You pop in Electronic Arts PGA Tour Golf II
cartridge, for the Sega Genesis, select your course to play on, and now the
luck of the swing comes in to play.
Electronic Arts PGA Tour Golf II is one the best sports games that they
have made. It is a 1 to four player game, and has all the elements and
excitement of being on an actual course. There are six courses to choose
from and three types of play mode. One, there is a practice round in which
you are playing to get familiar with the course, and determining what type
of player you are. Some nice features in this play mode are the ability to
take a mulligen, practice putting on any of the 126 greens in the game, and
select any hole to start off on. Second, is the Tournament round. A
tournament encompasses four full rounds (72 holes) on the same course.
Sixty professional golfers, plus 1 to 4 players in your party. All players
compete for cash prizes. Significant features that stand out immediately,
you are required to use the professional tee opposed to the amateurs, and
mulligans are not allowed. Also, players need to make the cut in order to
advance to the second round of play. Generally, if you shoot par or better
you will make the cut. Third is the Skins play mode. This play mode is for
two to four players to compete for cash. The game is played over the course
of 18 holes, with each hole assigned to dollar value. The player at the end
of 18 holes that has the most cash is the winner.
Electronic Arts has really beefed up the graphics in this game. They
provide the player with aerial shots of the course (which they call a "Fly
By" ) to a 3 dimensional view of the putting green. The instant replay
feature is notably better than the first PGA Tour Golf. Though the graphics
are really hot in this game, it lacks real sound capabilities. Besides a
cheer for making a putt, and moans for a bad putt, the only other sounds
that are present are birds singing in the wind. The six golf courses that
a player can choose from are exact duplication of famous PGA courses from
around the world. They provide lots of bunkers, trees, ruff, and water.
Along with unstable wind conditions on many of the holes. Each of the 126
putting greens are different, therefore accuracy is very important.
Electronic Arts has also done a good job on keeping statics on players. At
any given time in a game players can see what place they are in depending
on what play mode they are using. Players can view there accuracy
percentage on putting, driving and how well they save par. The most
important feature that Electronic Arts has incorporated into the PGA Tour
Golf II cartridge is the 90 page instruction guide. It offers helpful hints
on club selection to a brief history of the PGA tour.
If there is any sports game that needs to be part of a video game
collection, this is the one. Don't think of this as a ordinary golf game,
you must have accuracy, patience and a lot of golf balls. This game
provides lots of fun and may even teach you the game of golf. Don't be
surprised, the next time you tee off, it may be on a real course.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Cedric Higgens for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
Dead Dance / Tuff Enuff by Jaleco
For the Super Famicom / Super NES, 16 Megs
Japanese Import, US Version AKA Tuff Enuff
Reviewed by Jer Horwitz
I like one-on-one fighting games quite a bit. I would even go so far as to
say that they're the last hope of real game players - the only games which
put pressure on both your strategy and reflexes simultaneously. I haven't
given many of them a full review, though, as it seems that the majority of
them just don't measure up to Street Fighter II. While Fatal Fury, Power
Moves and the two Ranma imports are pleasant diversions, the unbalanced
artificial intelligence and limited number of moves in each have prevented
them from being enjoyable in the long term.
Recent arcade one-on-one fighting games have become significantly better,
and are quite close to the level of balanced perfection which the Street
Fighter II upgrades have attained. The first console title showing real
improvement [as I measure it] is Dead Dance, a one-on-one combat game which
draws its character ideas heavily from Jaleco's soon-to-be-released Brawl
Brothers (see Game Bytes 9). The improvement, however, is most noticeable
on the highest level of difficulty only.
You are able to choose between four characters; Syoh and Zazi are the Ryu
and Ken of the game, sharing bodies but using different heads. They can
throw fireballs, a special energy punch, and a dragon punch which is
derived from Streets of Rage 2's Axel. Kotono is a female Ninja girl,
wielding two knives which can be thrown or used for slicing in hand-to-hand
combat. Vortz is a wrestler like SoR2's Max and Zangief combined, with
some moves taken from each of those two characters.
These characters can be used in three modes. The first is "Story" mode,
where you proceed through a Street Fighter-like competition, this time
with a map screen which takes your character from a Gladiator's Arena to
the various floors of a huge tower ruled by Jado, "the big boss" who lies
in wait on the top floor. The second mode is a "Vs. CPU" mode, where you
can practice against the non-player character "enemies" who reside in the
tower. The last mode is a "One-on-One" where you can fight your friend
with the aforementioned four characters.
The control mechanism from the best fighting games has been retained - up
on the joystick is "jump", back+down are defensive crouch, and there are
buttons allotted for both weak and strong punches and kicks. The response
is generally very good, and each character has SF2-style special moves
hidden with combinations of the joystick and buttons. The game is ever-so-
slightly slower than SF2, which is certainly not enough to detract from the
play, at least from my point of view. A friend who is a staunch supporter
of Street Fighter 2 did voice the complaint, however, and for those of you
interested, it is certainly faster than Fatal Fury and Power Moves.
Here's a list of the important general details vital to understanding the
design style of the game: The player characters become more powerful after
every two fights, and their throwing weapons and mystical auras transform
from simple shapes to flames and dragons. During the fight, characters
faces are bloodied as they lose life. There are no "dizzies". The moves
are very well balanced, and take off a very reasonable amount of damage
(although I would have liked to be able to choose the damage in an options
screen). There are air and ground throws. There is a "replay" feature:
After either player has won two of three rounds, you're able to rewind,
fast forward and play through the loser's depletion of his last ounce of
life. The game does not steal as many SF2 ideas as most other one-on-one
games - quite a few moves are taken from Streets of Rage 2 (which moves, I
believe, belonged in a one-on-one fighting game to begin with). There are
some completely excellent original animations and some great enemy
characters.
Ah, the enemy characters. Beans is an American punk who has an oxygen cord
under his nose, platform shoes on his feet and a Joker-esque laugh. Dolf
is a Libyan who carries a missile launcher in one hand and a knife in the
other. Rei is a young female Aikido artist who has iron shoes and Japanese
clothes. Gajet is a wrestler and clone of Vortz. Sirou is a Ninja who looks
suspiciously like the one from Brawl Brothers, but carries a sword. K's
(quite a name) is a German whose metal extended arms and rocket boots make
him deadlier than almost any other character. The final boss, Jado, wears a
body suit which enhances his already powerful body to superhuman levels.
The characters are excellent, as is the background art created for each of
them. Dolf arrives into the arena on the tip of an ICBM which becomes part
of the background art. Sirou has a dojo complete with wooden floors and a
paper door in the center. Rei's level is a room filled with candles and
lamps which glow and reflect off of the glossy wooden floor. Speaking of
the floors, they adjust in 3-D in each room, as do the ceilings. The
general style of the scenery is appropriate to the game's theme, which is a
story about the power-struggle ensuing after a 21st-Century war, with black
mist blowing through some levels and a weathered look to the buildings.
In my judgment, the graphics deserve a very high score based on the
character movement animations, intelligently conceived backgrounds, and
high level of detail. The 16 megs were put to good use; characters have
neat little weirdnesses which will catch your eye more than once, and
they're always moving in some way (even if they're just waiting). The
opening, options screens and individual character endings have the "flow"
(using fade outs, music and sound effects to move smoothly) which was
lacking in Brawl Brothers. I especially liked the changing animations for
the special moves as the characters become more powerful, a nice new
concept for the genre.
The music is adequate in some places and pretty good in others. This is
the weakest feature of the game, except for the fact that the two- or
three-rounds of each match are fought without interrupting the music;
something I felt was a nice feature in the Neo-Geo Fatal Fury only to find
it screwed up in the Super NES translation. The sound effects, however,
are very nice, with lots of digitized voices and two channels allotted so
that both characters can announce their special moves simultaneously.
I was very happy to see that there were two buttons for punching and two
for kicking, with throws incorporated into those buttons rather than
creating a separate one. The computer opponent plays at three levels of
difficulty which are perhaps the equivalents of SF2's levels 1, 3 and 5 or
6; easy is quite easy, normal can be beaten within several hours, and hard
may take a day or two. Two or three computer opponents on normal could be
taken out with the same combination of moves I figured out, but on hard
they seem far more aggressive and less vulnerable. The game feels as if it
was playtested enough to remove any rough edges, something I appreciate a
lot, but the artificial intelligence is just too weak. The fun level
overall is slightly below SF2 (primarily because of the spotty challenge),
but it's certainly the second best console fighting game out there.
To eliminate the boredom of fighting a character who you've been able to
defeat, Jaleco incorporated a password system which allows you to start at
whichever character you've worked your way up to. Unfortunately, this
feature detracts from the long-term challenge and value of the game, as I
found myself (on "hard") just luckily winning 1 battle after losing 10
times to certain characters, and I never had to fight them again. I wasn't
necessarily able to find "their weak point", I just got lucky, as some
beginners might after pressing random buttons on Street Fighter 2. The
difference on Dead Dance was that my luck was enough to get me completely
past an enemy permanently.
A few more things which deserve small notes: There aren't enough options
in that screen - you can only configure three levels of difficulty, your
buttons, and whether or not you have a time limit. The password feature
records these things, as well, so if you turn the timer off and later want
to resume a game and turn it on, you can't. There are multiple endings
based on the difficulty levels and characters you choose, in a similar
manner to SF2. The game does have a plot in "Story" mode, which involves
small dialog boxes appearing, unfortunately, during the fight, which
detracts somewhat from the pacing [as you must scroll through a page or
three before each round].
Dead Dance will unfortunately will be renamed for (what they must perceive
to be idiotic) American audiences to "Tuff Enuff", and although I can't
say I like the former name, I hate the latter. Would I recommend
purchasing the game? Maybe. On the hard difficulty level, it's a solid
challenge which should keep a tenacious player occupied for a day or two
(if they want only to see one character's full ending), and someone not-so
-committed busy for longer. On any other level, it's not "Tuff Enuff" for
me, but it's still the most attention-worthy Street Fighter clone released
for the SNES to date.
This Review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Jer Horwitz for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
THE LOST VIKINGS by Interplay
For the Super Nintendo (SNES), 8 Megabits
Reviewed by Jer Horwitz
Very rarely does a game impress me enough that I'll say, "Drop whatever
you're doing and *buy* this game". In the case of Interplay's The Lost
Vikings, I have to make that recommendation. Any company can make a game
where the main character runs, jumps, slashes and shoots his or her way
through a few levels. What Interplay and their developer group Silicon &
Synapse have done is to divide those play mechanics between three really
funny Viking characters, and force you to beat mazes using a combination
of their talents. Plus, the game has amazing music.
The main characters of the game are Olaf the Stout, Erik the Swift and
Baleog the Berserker, three classical Vikings who live together in a
village with their families. In the opening of the game, you're introduced
to each character with a demonstration of their abilities; Olaf carries a
shield which blocks almost anything and can be used as a hang-glider, but
he cannot attack nor jump. Erik can run faster than the other Vikings,
head-butt breakable walls and also jump, although he can't attack monsters
or defend against them. Baleog, by process of elimination, has the
attacking powers of close-range sword slashing and long-range arrow
shooting. His arrows can also be used to trigger switches. None of these
abilities were doing them much good in a peaceful hunting village, so the
programmers decided that an alien spacecraft might be an interesting test
of their abilities.
Lo and behold, the spacecraft captures the Vikings and draws them into
their cargo bay, which is where the game begins. The point of each level
is to manuever the Vikings, as a team, towards a distant exit which is
invariably guarded by an assortment of monsters and traps. The levels
following your escape from the spaceship take place on various planets and
inside various complexes which start out tame and become much more
difficult. The learning curve is very gradual, so don't expect to find
yourself throwing the game in the closet after level two because you "just
don't understand what the heck to do".
The game has some humorous touches which seem to only exist in games
programmed or reprogrammed by English-speaking designers -- little
obnoxious text box comments at the beginning and end of many levels, and a
great 'viking' sound effect which accompanies the eating of food. A lot of
the humor will appeal to kids, like the way Olaf picks his nose when he's
standing around holding his shield up, or the way Baleog flexes his muscles
when he's waiting to be utilized.
The best part of the game is where it should be - the gameplay. With the
various powers of each character, you must learn strategies on how to
tackle unexplored territories without dying. That's right, if one of your
Vikings suddenly gets burnt to a crisp or drowned in a pool of acid, you
can't complete the level. Period. You can still use the other characters
to explore as much of the room as you can access without the dead Viking's
talents, but you'll eventually have to restart the level. Luckily, death
isn't always a concern, since your characters each have three life points
(upgradable to four if you use a special protective item), and there is a
reasonable amount of food lying around to replentish your life supply. The
levels involve searching for keys, smashing walls, setting off traps,
blowing up computers with bombs, and climbing palm trees - not necessarily
in order... and there are LOTS of levels, with a handy password feature.
(Special thanks to Silicon & Synapse for programming the password option
without using similar-looking letters, therefore reducing your risk of
screwing up when you enter something you've scrawled on a sheet of paper.)
The graphics are reasonable, not spectacular, a fact which may turn
prospective players away from it. It's their loss. The animation of the
main characters is perfect for what they do, but the enemy characters
don't have too much to show off. One nice thing is that the enemies never
get boring; there is a large selection of monsters and humans which are
used with themed backgrounds from caves to deserts to castles. The
backgrounds themselves are all drawn well, and although lots of the same
pieces of art are recycled for multiple levels, there are a lot of pieces
of art to recycle. There aren't any elaborate boss characters throughout
the game, so there isn't anything to critique there.
You'll never forget the music in the Lost Vikings. A combination of techno,
house, and some odd (yet beautiful) jungle music, the songs are among the
best ever designed for a game. The sound quality is crystal clear,
especially welcome when there are voice samples and delicate, unique
instruments such as the ones featured in the house and jungle tunes. I
wish there were more songs (or an evident 'sound test' feature), but I'll
be content to wait for the sequel to hear more from the sound programmers.
The value of this title as a puzzle game is quite high, since there are a
lot of levels and they do become tough. The enemies get stronger and more
capable of attacking your characters from undefendable locations, and the
levels become longer but not intolerably so. I seriously doubt that many
people will be finishing this game in one day, although there's always an
exception, I'm sure. (In this game, that exception would have to play for
about 20 hours straight without mistakes.) There is also a two player
option, which allows simultaneous control of any two of the Vikings on
screen at once. Unfortunately, as soon as the first player moves off the
same screen as player two, player two is completely incapable of moving,
and can't even be moved back on-screen. This doesn't necessarily matter,
since you can tell your friend not to move so fast/slow, and it is
extremely useful to work as a team. The programmers were also nice enough
to add a screen-saver to the game, a spotlight that moves around and keeps
the rest of the screen black. The music doesn't stop when you pause, so
you can listen while you're doing something else and not worry about
damaging your screen.
The Lost Vikings is fun, humorous, and has smooth graphics and music. It's
also challenging, intellectual, and not as frustrating as the majority of
puzzle games out there. The game won't blow your mind visually, but it's
an extremely playable action/puzzler which should please almost anybody --
I'd recommend this as the perfect "gift" game for someone who has a Super
NES.
[Please note: I was very disappointed to see this game receive a review
from EGM with an average of 7.5/10. It's truly a disservice to the readers
when an excellent game like this is not heralded for what it is.]
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 Jer Horwitz for Game Bytes Magazine. All
Rights Reserved.
AIR DUEL / DOG FIGHT by Microprose
Previewed by Ross Erickson
Though just hitting the stores on this side of the pond, Air Duel (AD, here
in the U.S., Dog Fight in Europe), looks to provide those with a passion
for pure dogfighting just what the doctor ordered - nothing but great head-
to-head air combat.
Air Combat doesn't pretend to have ultra realistic flight models or
avionics borrowed from the military, but it does offer the flight simu-
lation novice the opportunity to learn the basics of dogfighting in a
fun, new way. Air Duel offers two main features that make it a worth-
while addition to your gaming library. First, the 'What If' scenarios
that allow the player to pit aircraft from vastly different eras against
each other in air combat. Imagine taking on a Fokker Triplane with an
F-15?? Not as easy as it sounds. Not exactly simple to get radar lock on
a plane that small. You'll also find yourself outturned quite easily and
possibly in the gunsights of what appears to be an inferior plane. Air
Duel will allow the pilot to choose from the Sopwith Camel, the Spitfire,
the F-4 Phantom, the Harrier Jump Jet, the F-16 Eagle, the Fokker DR1, and
the Mig-23. All of these aircraft can be pitted against each other to
provide for some very interesting matchups. A heat-seeking Sidewinder
doesn't do much good against a prop-driven Sopwith Camel!
The other great feature of Air Duel is the head-to-head modem play mode.
Here, you can take on your pilot friends in a duel with the aircraft of
their choice, again from different eras.
The Air Duel manual is very well done with plenty of pages devoted to air
combat maneuvering (ACM), teaching flight novices the nuances of Scissors,
Split-S, and Yo-Yos. When you practice long enough, you'll find yourself
reacting instinctively to your opponent moves as you both try to get on
the other's 'six'.
Air Duel is made of of three main modes: Duel Mode, where you match famous
aircraft from the same historical period against each other; the 'What-If'
mode, that allows you to put any aircraft from the game up against any
other plane; and finally, the Mission Mode, that provides full mission
planning, allocation of resources, and targeting of ground and air
targets. You begin in WWI and work your way all the way up to the
conflict over Syria. Here you'll use all your flying skills as well as
your landing and taking off skills.
Air Duel/Dog Fight is available now.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
REALMS OF ARKANIA: BLADE OF DESTINY by Sir-Tech Software
Previewed by Ross Erickson
Though the game is not new in Europe (under the German title of Das
Schwarze Auge), Realms of Arkania (RoA) will soon be making its debut on
the American shores soon, much to the delight of FRPG players everywhere.
This game is a pure complement to the Sir-Tech Wizardry family of games
and provides much more of the same fantasy 'Tolkien-like' adventuring.
Set in the fantasy land of Arkania, the Thorwallians (good guys! :-) are
being backed up to their northern coast by hordes of marauding Orcs that
threatend to wipe out their very existence. Villages and homes are plund-
ered and crops and fields are laid to waste. There are rumors that an
entire army of Orcs are standing ready to destroy the very civilization of
the humans. With no hope of readying an army of their own, the
Thorwallian leader puts their last hope on finding a long-lost artifact,
the sword of Grimring, and sends a party of adventurers off to find it.
Blade of Destiny is the first of several planned RPG adventures in
Arkania using this engine designed by Attic Entertainment Software of
Germany.
The character generation capabilities of RoA are terrific. The stand-alone
module ties into the main program to reduce memory requirements, but allows
character generation to have great depth. 12 different classes of
character can be chosen. Also unique is the positive AND negative
attributes that are assigned to each character. Negative attributes such
as green, superstition, and various fears and phobias will directly affect
the character action on screen.
The world of Arkania is truly immense. There are 52 different towns and
villages in the Thorwal region of the Arkanian continent. The party must
investigate the entire region, communicate with the townspeople, and build
a network of informers to locate the sword of Grimring and stop the Orcs.
Plenty of opponents will stand in your way as you explore the area.
The magic system of RoA offers more than 80 animated spells and 12 spell
realms. Characters are not limited in which spells they may learn, but
classes do have inherent abilities in certain realms making specialization
a fact of life. It's also nice to note that RoA offers two difficulty
levels - novice or advanced that will simply magic creation and combat if
the player desires an easier game.
Combat in RoA is handled in a turn-based or 'phased' approach rather than
a real-time basis. Each combat scenario is shown in a fully animated 3-D
view, allowing the player to view the entire situation without missing any
spatial depth. Landmarks and terrain are true to the character's location.
Players must rely on a strategical thinking approach to maximize their
success in combat. In the novice mode, the player can also choose to have
the computer pick the character's fighting modes and action. Combat can
take a long time in RoA and a successful combat scenario becomes an
important milestone during the game itself.
All things considered, RoA should be a good FRPG for the PC in 1993.
It is due to ship by early to mid June, 1993.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
DAY OF THE TENTACLE: MANIAC MANSION 2 by LucasArts Entertainment
Previewed by Ross Erickson
Since their very first adventure game years ago, LucasArts has had the
Midas touch on almost every adventure they've published to date. From
the wildly successful Indiana Jones and Monkey Island adventures, to the
Zak MacCraken and Maniac Mansion games, LucasArts always seems to hit the
mark on delivering what the avid adventurer wants - a compelling, yet
humorous storyline, well-developed characters, and intriguing puzzles.
Quite soon, we'll all be seeing the next installment in the LucasArts
adventure hall of fame - Day of the Tentacle (DOTT): Maniac Mansion 2.
In this interactive cartoon, you find yourself playing one of three
very different characters - Hoagie, a laid-back roadie for a heavy metal
band; Laverne, a moderately crazy medical student; and Bernard, a well-
meaning computer Geek - all trying to save the world from Dr. Fred
Edison's mutated pet tentacles. With the psycho neon tentacles out of
control, Dr. Fred sends the kids into different eras of time to solve
the problem of the tentacle and save the world. All three characters must
be manipulated in these different time periods cooperatively to solve the
puzzles. For example, upon coming out of the time capsule (actually, I
believe the time pods are all actually outoor toilets!), one of the
characters in the future finds him/herself stuck in a tree. To get that
character out of the tree, one of the other characters must convince a
character from the past to chop down the tree, thus preventing it from
being there in the future. This type of cooperative time logic abounds in
DOTT.
The graphics have a very extreme look to them. This isn't surprising,
given that the DOTT creators, Tim Delacruz and Dave Grossman both shared
billing with the Monkey Island adventures. The characters are very
expressive, oversized, and exaggerated in their actions which makes for
a very hilarious appearance. The disk and CD-ROM versions are due to
be released simultaneously, with the CD version having a full voice
soundtrack throughout and a full "talkie" introduction. The sound effects
are very cartoon-like in nature and add a lot to the wacky atmosphere
of the game. I wouldn't consider playing this game without a digital
soundcard of some kind.
If you're looking for an adventure that is on the light-hearted and wacky
side while retaining a challenge, DOTT may be just what you're looking
for. It is expected to be shipping by late June or July.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
MIGHT AND MAGIC: DARK SIDE OF XEEN by New World Computing
Previewed by Ross Erickson
For several years now, New World Computing (NWC) has passionately devoted
their creative energies to create a gaming world as compelling as the
Ultima series of games for serious FRPG'ers. Their most recent game,
Might and Magic: Clouds of Xeen put the player into the most graphical and
complex Might and Magic world to date. Yet, as players discovered while
finishing "Clouds", there was a part of the world they could not pass into
and continue the adventure. The "Dark Side of Xeen" was not opened yet.
With the most recent release from New World, this other half now opens up.
The second half of this RPG experience is now unfolding for Might and Magic
gamers in Might and Magic: Dark Side of Xeen (DSoX).
In DSoX, NWC introduces a new gaming concept to the FRPG genre: inter-
connected games. With Clouds of Xeen and Dark Side of Xeen installed on
the same computer, the gamer can actually move the characters from one
world to another in one seamless whole. NWC claims the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts. In this second in the Xeen saga, the future
of Xeen looks bleak as Alamar the Tyrant has stolen the cube of power, a
source of great magic and a key to the destiny of Xeen. The Queen and the
Dragon Pharoah are besieged and deserted by friends, and the covenant of
peace between men and monsters is broken. Enter you, the player. Inasmuch
as there is no linear way to play DSoX, you can set your own course of
exploration and discovery. You begin in the town of Castleview and on
your adventures, you'll discover dungeons, castles, towns, and more on
your way to discovering the secrets of Xeen. The game also features
automapping, auto-note taking, and even programmable Quick Fight options
to make combat less tedious. There's also an impressive amount of
digitized speech, stunning music and sound effects. I was particularly
impressed with the quality of visual effects when magic spells are cast.
You can tell that the designers put a lot of creative energy into this
part of the game.
NWC continues to evolve the graphical advances of the Xeen universe with
every new edition. DSoX is no exception. The NPC monsters and characters
seem to have a smoother and not-so-harsh colored appearance to them. The
designers are obviously improving their artistic talents with each
successive game. The game still features "tiled-based" movement. Though
not ineffective, it does present a stark difference to the smooth motion
sensation we've all come to enjoy in the Underworld style of games.
Nonetheless, Might and Magic enthusiasts will still enjoy this latest
effort. The game is due to ship by the end of May, 1993.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
GATEWAY II: HOMEWORLD by Legend Entertainment
Previewed by Ross Erickson
Legend Entertainment is doing it again! One of their most successful
games is coming back as a sequel and it looks to be another sure hit.
Gateway II: Homeworld (G2) is based on the continuing saga of the Heechee
alien race created by the Frederik Pohl in his award-winning series of
science fiction.
In G2, an unidentified artifact emerges in the solar system and you, the
player, are pressed into service again to rescue another prospector held
captive on what turns out to be a Heechee starship. Your mission will be
made more difficult by religious fanatics on earth who aim to cleanse
earth of its inhabitants in a sweeping fire. You'll begin your adventure
on 22nd century earth and end up discovering new worlds, eventually arriv-
ing in the Heechee homeworld itself, hidden in the core of a massive black
hole. The final confrontation will pit you against the Phoenix Sect, the
religious terrorists who aim to end humanity. The Sect attempt to
accomplish this destruction by soliciting the help of the Heechee's ancient
enemy - The Assassins.
There will be plenty to keep the adventurer busy in G2. Players will
encounter murderous robots, dinosaurs, and threatening humanoids. You'll
encounter various new beings on distant planets where crystalline creatures
metabolize electricity. You must also rescue a fellow prospector marooned
inside a robot-controlled Heechee biological station and escape using
knowledge stored in the digitized brains of former prospectors.
The cinematic effects of G2 are truly grandeur. There is a true sense of
the immensity of space and Legend has done well to preserve the pure
science fiction atmostphere of the Frederik Pohl novels. Graphically,
this is undoubtedly the most artistic work Legend has produced yet. 256
color graphics abound in SVGA resolution and many of the major sound boards
are supported.
Anyone who longs for the rebirth of science fiction on the computer will
revel in G2. It is due to be ship in July.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
HIGH COMMAND: Europe 1939 - '45 by Colorado Computer Creations and
Three-Sixty Pacific
Previewed by Ross Erickson
It was only just last issue that Game Bytes published a very thorough
review of High Command by Colorado Computer Creations. So, what are we
doing back here again Previewing the same game again? Simply. This is
a vastly new game that has been redone from the ground up. It's also
being distributed through the Three-Sixty/Electronic Arts distribution
network so many more wargamers and non-wargamers alike are likely to play
it.
High Command is a grand game of war and resource strategy set in Europe in
1939. As either the Allied or Axis side, you will be fully responsible for
all of the military, economic, and political decisions for your side.
Should you allocate your resources to military units immediately or should
you invest in your country's infrastructure first? Do you allocate
resouces to sabotage or to negotiation? Once war is waged, the player
has complete control over all land, air, and sea forces anywhere in the
European theater. Playing as the Axis powers, the player truly has the
ability to fight a completely different war if he/she chooses. There
need not be an Eastern front if you decide against it. Economic options
in High Command include production and research and development to give the
player the flexibility to determine the course of weapons development and
usage. Political options include diplomacy, intelligence, and foreign
aid. Again, it's possible to develop entirely "anti-historic" alliances
in WWII depending upon your decisions and goals. High Command also
features flexible weather conditions, the ability to adjust Allied and
Axis intelligence, and a also a strong computer AI.
The SVGA graphics are a far cry from the somewhat crude 320x200x16 color
graphics of the first High Command. Rich 256 color graphics at 640x480
and utilizing the icon-driven interface make playing and choosing options
a breeze. One feature I especially liked is the ability to assign any of
the game elements to the computer and just leave whatever decision making
responsibilities that I choose to handle initially until my experience
increased. This way the learning curve of the game is quite short and
enjoyable.
Three-Sixty and Colorado Computer Creations intend to make High Command
just the first in a series of new strategy games to be released in 1993
and 1994. For true miilitary strategy buffs, High Command is destined to
please. The game should be shipping by mid-June, 1993.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
MAD DOG McCREE by American Laser Games
Previewed by Ross Erickson
Anyone who has set foot in one of the ubiquitous video arcades in most
American shopping malls during the past year has likely seen a lot of
action around a game that features laser disk quality live video action
combined with a life-size pistol. Players would be lined up waiting their
turn to "fire" the gun at the screen, dropping the bad guys in the old
west. This phenomenon is the laserdisk game, Mad Dog McCree (MDM) and it's
coming out of the mall and into your home. MDM will actually be available
on three different platforms - PC CD-ROM, Sega CD, and even the new 3DO
systems later this year.
MDM puts you behind the six-gun and the sherrif's star in a typical old
west town. You play the game through the eyes of this sherrif and your
job is to use your keen reflexes and eyes to take the bad guys down with
your virtual six-shooter and avoid killing the good townsfolk and also
getting shot yourself. Using this technology of captured live action
video, there is a real sense of "being there" in the old west. On-screen
characters will converse with you just as if you were "in the game".
Obviously, the arcade pistol will not be used in the PC version though the
mouse makes a reasonable substitute. To aim, the player will use a small
on-screen crosshair for reference purposes. MDM is the first in a series
of live video action games from American Laser Games. Using their branch-
ing video programming, which changes the action based on variable outcomes
such as hits or misses, the gamer can quickly find him/herself in different
parts of the game, including dead and starting over! While the home
CD-ROM video quality is not up to the standards of real arcade laser disks,
it's still good enough to enjoy the gaming experience and lose yourself in
the old west.
Mad Dog McCree should be available for PC CD-ROM this summer.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
KING'S RANSOM by ReadySoft
Previewed by Ross Erickson
King's Ransom (KR) is one of those games that is hard to classify. It's
certainly not just an arcade game, but it's also not in the category
of pure adventure either. It best fits in the somewhat nebulous category
of 'action adventure'. KR is certainly one that will give the joystick
a workout with plenty of action/animation but also requires the player
to don his thinking cap to solve the puzzles. In some respects, KR is
also an RPG as there is distinct character development, weapons and
armor choices, and plenty of NPC interaction.
The storyline (have you heard this before?) is set in a fantasy world
where evil has been caged for a long time by the powerful wizards of the
land, but evil continues to grow unabated until such time as things get
out of control, and the king sends you off on your quest to destroy the
crystals that house the demonic forces of your world. In your quest,
you'll explore six different cities, 150 different locations and interact
with over 500 different characters on your quest. There are over 40
different monsters to dismiss on your way to the mountain of Kandar to
destroy the crystals.
KR has multiple save games to provide for contingencies if you end up in
trouble. In your quest, you will visit many temples, taverns, armorers,
shops of all kinds to equip you with both information and equipment to
help you on your way. King's Ransom has a "Risky Woods"-like appearance,
but with a much stronger adventure element. Readysoft claims there are
hundreds of hours of game play in KR, so those seeking a lot of game
value might find this new title especially attractivve.
King's Ransom is expected to ship in September for the PC, Amiga, and
CD-ROM.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
RAGS TO RICHES by Interplay
Previewed by Daniel Silevitch
A stockmarket simulation by Interplay, and comments based on the Interplay
interactive demo.
My first impression on trying to run the demo to this game was, "It didn't
work. That's just screen junk." An hour of fiddling revealed the cause,
unmentioned in the README file. I needed to load a VESA driver for my video
card. That done, the RTR demo loaded flawlessly, bringing up a title screen
and then the main demo, in 640x480x256.
The game simulates the stock market in todays world. There are 4 stocks
that can be bought and sold; Bonds, Chips, Gold, and Oil. You are a broker,
trying to make yourself wealthy (of course). The demo starts you off in a
nice office, with a lot of money. Presumably the full game starts in a
scummy office with only a pittance. To aid in your quest for riches, you
have the ability to hire various employees. Secretaries field phone calls,
etc, Accountants provide detailed breakdowns of your status, pit runners
bring orders to the 'pit', where they are executed, etc.
You get to watch a continous graph of how one stock is doing, as well as a
tickertape giving data on all stocks and outside events. That's right,
outside events. There is a reasonably complex economy that drives the
motions of the various stocks. You can affect the market, but not greatly.
Your information on the outside events comes from the ticker, one of 4 TV
stations (digitized speech, 1 station for each stock), and from reading the
newspaper, a copy of which you recieve every day.
In my opinion, the best draw for this game is the user interface. The
interface is completely mouse driven. Keyboard shortcuts exist for all of
the commands, but I found myself only using the mouse. For example, to
change channels on the TV, or change the active stock (price movement
displayed on the graph), simply click on the TV or the graph until the one
you want comes up. To make a telephone call, click on your Rolodex until
the name you want comes up, and then click on the telephone to make the
call. I like calling my mother, she gives a mix of old neighborhood gossip
and adds for other Interplay games!
I have only two complaints with the game as presented in the demo. The
first is that there is no speed control. On my 486DX-50, things moved too
fast for me to watch everything at once. I couldn't track the ticker tape
and the active stock, listen to the TV, and give orders, all at the same
time. I hope the final version has this.
My other complaint has to do specifically with the demo. If you don't touch
the controls for a certain time, the computer assumes that you don't want
to play, and starts an automatic game. I lost a few games because it timed
out when I was waiting for a stock to hit a certain price. I would have
liked either a longer delay, or a confirmation. This is just a problem with
the demo, though.
All in all, the demo of Rags to Riches has me very hopeful that Interplay
will deliver a fine game in an area that has not seen much activity
recently.
The demo can be had via anonymous ftp to wuarchive.wustl.edu, in pub/MSDOS_
UPLOADS/demos, as rtrdmo.zip. It should be unzipped with the -d option
(subdirectories inside file), and is about 1.3 megs compressed. Minimum
system requirements include a VESA capable video card (must be able to do
640x480x256), and a hard drive. Sound Blaster supported for music and
speech.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Daniel Silevitch for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
MIG-29 (Add-on for Falcon 3.0) by Spectrum Holobyte
Previewed by Ross Erickson
In all fairness to all readers, this is such a last-minute thing, that the
article here will not present much in the way of observation and detail
about Spectrum's newest addition to the Falcon 3.0 family. Mig-29 will
be making its appearance very soon and I thought this would be useful to
show you what kind of graphics and artwork will be in place for this
exciting new product.
The Mig-29, of course, is Russia's premier air-to-air dogfighting aircraft
that compares to Falcon 3.0's own F-16. The Mig-29 has been proliferated
among many of the countries that appear in the Falcon 3.0 theaters, so the
timing is perfect and qualified. The Mig-29 will be a worthy opponent
for Falcon flyers now and the add-on will allow you to enter a mission
with Mig-29s in the aircraft itself and fly for the opposing forces. The
Mig-29 is as agile and quick as an F-16, but does not have the fly-by-wire
controls that makes control much easier in a Falcon. Thus, the Mig-29 will
have the ability to do more "on the edge" kind of maneuvers that may
overstress the aircraft (and the laws of aerodynamics!).
This add-on product also introduces some very exciting concepts in the
area of multi-player options. Via the network or modem, true adversarial
roles in the mission planning can be setup. The two premier air superior-
ity jets can face off in a battle over the strategic theaters of the world-
just like the real thing!
Mig-29 should be available by June or July of this year.
This preview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
TORNADO by Digital Integration, Distributed by Spectrum Holobyte
Previewed by David Pipes
Note: This preview is based on a beta version of the game. This means that
the game is subject to change and revision before release; some features
described here may not exist in the release versions, and there may be some
functions not mentioned here which will be in the game.
Digital Integration is an English company not particularly well known here
in the United States. Some will remember a previous release from them
called "F-16 Fighting Falcon", which came out a few years ago. I can't
speak to that, I never saw it. But I can speak to their recent efforts,
which are impressive indeed.
The Tornado is a British ground attack plane, which is also manufactured in
an Air Defense Variant. Both of these planes are modelled in the game.
The plane itself is a two-seater, pilot in front, Navigator/Weapons Officer
in the rear. It has two engines with afterburner (reheat) capability, and
a 3 position sweeping wing. It also features a very advanced terrain
following system which combines a forward looking radar to read terrain and
a digital map system to predict general features before they appear. It
can carry quite a respectable bombload.
This game will inevitably be compared to Falcon 3.0, which after all also
contains Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground work. Falcon, which was developed
in-house by Spectrum Holobyte, the American marketer of Tornado, has
become the standard for realistic military flight sims and as yet has no
real competition. Tornado is the first military flight sim to follow in
Falcon's footsteps, and yet it is not a direct competitor.
Falcon 3 is primarily an air combat simulator with extensive ground attack
capabilities. Tornado is the inverse, with perhaps even proportionally
less Air-to-Air capabilities. It is also more systems oriented - for
example, in the beta there was no radio chatter. The Tornado is used
stealthily, skimming as low as 200 feet AGL on automatic, with a digital
timing system to allow all the planes to fly divergent courses and still
arrive on time over the target. So radio comms would actually give away the
location of the incoming Tornados. In Falcon 3, since the planes operate
at higher altitudes and are more likely to be spotted for that reason,
emissions control is less of a concern.
This is just one example of the careful attention to detail in this game.
I found enough details to keep me busy for months. The game has 3 major
parts - simulator missions, live practice missions (which can be run before
in the simulator, a good touch) and
war. The player starts as commander of
his plane in a campaign, and progresses to being an Air Group commander,
with responsibilities for prioritizing targets and organizing entire
sorties.
The missions are set up from the heart of the non-flying portion of the
game, the Mission Planner. This is based on both the specs of the current
RAF system, and the specs for the next generation of systems, expected to
be online in a year or two. In effect, the features available in the
mission planner are not only realistic, but are what the actual systems
*will* *be* in 2 years. You get it before the RAF!
The mission planner consists of a map, complete with up to 32x zoom and
250' elevation contours, covering the active area (there is one training
map and 3 war campaign maps). Along the sides of the map are boxes which
bring up different informational and utility windows, which in turn can be
opaque or transparent. These windows provide all the functions needed to
set up a mission - flight path planning, weapons loadouts, even a terrain
profile with estimated enemy radar coverage. You can display all the
different target types selectively on the map, and zoom in to get a close
look at the relationship of the target to the surrounding terrain.
The terrain is much like Falcon 3, with a few enhancements. Hills are
better defined visually to allow manual low-level flight. There are trees
and the like scattered around, and many towns with varied buildings -
homes, gas stations, convenience stores. There are TV towers and power
line, nuclear power plants and street lights, microwave comms towers and
industrial smokestacks. Military bases are extensively modeled. All of
the graphics are crisp and performed only very slightly slower than Falcon
3 on my machine with the detail turned full on. The effect of flying
through a real world is very good.
Back to the mission planner. You set up a mission by specifying the
waypoints, starting with the first one after takeoff. You need to check
the prevailing wind first, and choose the proper runway (the machine will
suggest this, but you can change it). As the manual puts it, "Anything
which flies and has a brain lands and takes off into the wind". And yes,
you will have to worry about crosswinds, not a big factor on takeoff, but
one which can really screw up your approach for landing.
After setting up your first waypoint, you then pick your others to allow a
course to be flown. You can set altitude, speed, and heading info for the
autopilot, as well as mode - terrain following (with a height setting, 200'
AGL minimum), loft attack, level bombing, etc. You can use terrain and
altitude to mask your ingress to the target, after looking at suspected
enemy radar and SAM coverage in both horizontal and vertical profiles of
the terrain. Even likely CAP points are available. You then set the time
to each waypoint; you will be expected to be extremely precise (the on-time
indicator only shows 30 seconds of variance either way; screw up that
badly, and you will be in serious trouble).
Once you have your flight plan ready, you can fly through it in the
planner, to get a look at various parts of the route beforehand. This is
essentially an aid to allow you to see the terrain as you will in flight,
and note any potential problems. This is another useful innovation not
found in Falcon 3.
When your course is set, you can set up the packages your planes will
carry. Your supply officer has kindly provided you with a base package of
munitions which you will be expected to carry along. You can also choose
other packages if you have the hardpoints and mounts and weight and fuel to
carry them. Packages are groups of weapons which are intended for a
particular target. The plane has a large number of hardpoints; each
hardpoint can take a weapon, or a mount. A mount can carry multiple
weapons. Weight and drag of weapons and external pods are taken into
account; sometimes, the only way off the ground will be with full reheat.
Since the waypoints can have packages associated with them, the autopilot
can assist in some attacks to reduce your workload.
The weapons are fairly standard; thousand pound bombs, 500 pound laser
guided munitions, standoff radar attack missles and one tremendous load - a
5 ton pack called JP-233, a mixture of about 50 runway penetrators and
hundreds of AP submunitions, designed to be dropped along the length of a
runway. It takes 4 seconds to empty this thing, and it will create a
nightmare for the enemy. (In the course of reading about the use of this
weapon, I found another interesting touch; your base can be attacked while
you are out zooming around the landscape, and if someone craters your
runway, you have to deal with it - land short, land long or <gulp> try to
steer around the holes. You could land on a stretch of road, but then
someone has to ferry the plane back. Remember another tip from the manual
- "Try to choose a section of road without bridges". Of course, you could
probably get your wings swept back fully in time. Probably.)
So mission planning is similar to Falcon 3, but still different enough
that you don't feel you are playing the same game. Another difference is
the ability to wipe a mission out if you don't like the result. While
there was no flight recorder like the Falcon AVTR in the beta, there is a
detailled debrief; if you don't like your performance, take it off your
record.
The next step is obvious - get out there and fly the plane! I only had a
few days to test the flight model, and so I did not push it. It seems
accurate, and the drag/weight effects were obvious, but I don't have enough
practice to compare it usefully to Falcon 3. I will limit myself to saying
that it seemed very realistic.
The systems are another matter - they are *definitely* realistic. You can't
enter this cockpit and expect to do anything without some memorization.
You need to know where the gear safety indicator is and what the colors
mean. Ditto for the various switches, dials and buttons scattered around.
They all function, and they are all important. This is one of the few
games with instructions about, say, standard engine temperatures - 400 C
for mil power, 700 C for reheat. Much higher and you know your engine is
on fire! Or maybe not - there are random systems failures which can occur.
How well do you have to know these systems? Well, suppose you forget to
sweep your wings back after takeoff, even though you have that nice wing
position indicator right there on the left, under the flaps/slats
indicator. Your plane will begin to thump and vibrate as parts of the wing
go supersonic and the shockwaves grow. You will hear the warning sound
and a light will flash. You need to check with your backseater to make
sure that is your only problem, then punch the wing sweep key to start the
wings moving. If that is they haven't jammed in position because of your
carelessness. When the flight smooths out again, hit the master alarm
reset button to turn the light and sound off. Similar procedures exist for
enough systems to warrant keeping a checklist for certain activities. This
is not in any way a forgiving aircraft.
The backseaters' position is the heart of weapons, nav and countermeasures.
There are two large and one small multifunction displays, which feature a
moving map system on which new waypoints can be plotted and activated; a
ground and an air radar, both of which use the mouse to zoom in and out and
designate targets; a forward looking camera to provide orientation; and the
Thermal Imaging and Laser Designator sytem, or TIALD. The TIALD system
allows you to manually track and lock onto ground targets with a laser; you
can jump the laser from place to place to perform realistic ripple attacks
with laser guided weapons. This is the first game I've seen to allow this.
The Tornado is a highly automated aircraft, and missions can be flown on
autopilot from shortly after takeoff to shortly before landing. Even some
attack profiles can be flown by wire, with the computer arming weapons at
the right time while you do whatever active targetting is needed and
control changes in altitude and speed. On landing, you can set up on the
proper course, speed and rate of descent, then hand over flight to the
computer while you just wait for the right moments to extend flaps, drop
gear and flare. This too creates a different, but no less detailled feel
from Falcon 3.
While you are flying or attacking, the HUD is you primary tool for
maintaining situational awareness. It provides the usual airspeed
indicator (in mach numbers or knots) and pitch ladder, as well as flight
path indicator and time to waypoint indicator. There is a heading to
waypoint indicator as well, and angle of attack is modelled and controlled
automatically or manually (autotrim is standard). In the attack, for
example in a loft bombing approach, you get several indicators - a release
path indicator, a fly-to indicator to put the release path over the
target, an altitude indicator to remind you of the explosive radius for the
weapon and a time to release counter to allow you to figure when to pull
the trigger. This is very complicated, especially with the timing
component. Not to mention that your hits are tallied in the debrief by how
close they came to the target, in feet, and clock position deviation. By
the time you get used to this, you will be thinking in all three
dimensions.
Landing, you can usually find an ILS on the active runway in a cone which
extends out from the runway approximately 10 miles. It is only 8,000 feet
wide and deep at the maximum distance. You can easily fly right out of
this ILS. Another little detail, although if you need to you could just
land on a taxiway or a disused runway. Watch out for helicopters and
taxiing aircraft...
I found the flight itself to be smooth and fluid. The plane handles with a
certain deliberation - it seems to have a lot of mass. I did not have the
temptation to yank it all over the sky like Falcon. Good thing too - it is
a bomber, after all. (I haven't tried the Air Defense Variant much, but it
is obviously a missle platform. The Tornado can roll at almost 180 degrees
per second, but its turning rate is such that you will want to play
*between* hills, not above them. Again, deliberation is required.)
While you are flying around, the war goes on. The effects of your bombing
will become apparent in the conduct of the campaign. This promises to be
as detailled as Falcon, although I did not have enough time to verify this.
By all descriptions in the manual, you should be able to see combat on the
ground, but no promises here.
The manual is very useful and full of details and advice, like Falcon.
Tornado has current graphics, and the flight model seems to be up to the
level of Falcon 3. It breaks new ground in the area of systems
simulations, however. I expect this to appeal to all the Falcon 3 pilots
out there, and maybe even some of the Civil Aviation types who are bored
with FS 4 and want something nearly as detailled in its' depiction of
cockpit systems. This will be a welcome addition to my library as soon as
it hits the shelves, and DI promises more like it in the future. If they
continue like this, we high-end flight sim fanatics will soon have a number
of choices for detailled military flight simulation.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by David Pipes for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
CD-ROM AND THE PC: Introduction
by Ross Erickson
Welcome to the special edition focus of Game Bytes #11 - CD-ROM for the
PC! A little history behind the existance of this set of articles - quite
frequently, I've been getting a lot of email from our Game Bytes readers
asking, "Should I buy a CD-ROM drive now? What games are available on
CD-ROM? What's good? Besides entertainment titles, what else is good to
have on CD?" I've been a proponent of the CD-ROM on the PC for sometime
now, so with this type of questioning, I wanted to answer the question,
"Should I buy a CD-ROM drive now?" with a resounding YES! But, talk is
cheap and I wanted to talk ABOUT the titles that ARE out there right now
that definitely deserve a look. If, by the end of this series of articles,
you're still not convinced that buying a drive now is a good thing, then
you're just a pessimist or you're broke! :-) Honestly, the CD market for
the PC is just exploding right now and prices are dropping like crazy for
very capable CD drives.
We're going to divide this topic into a series of articles based on the
genre of CD-ROM titles available: Entertainment, Academic Reference,
Personal Enhancement/Reference, and General Multimedia. We'll also present
an article on CD-ROM drives, and also CD-ROM software futures - what can
we expect next?
It should be made clear up front that the products covered in this series
of articles are not meant to be comprehensive, lengthy reviews, but rather
a short paragraph discussing their features and general purpose. There
are some products that we will give an unqualified recommendation to, and
others that we'll let each person judge for themselves based on their
needs.
We hope that by the end of these articles you'll be convinced that finances
permitting, now is a GREAT time to buy that CD-ROM drive. Given that
PC companies such as Gateway 2000 are putting CD-ROM drives standard in all
their high-end systems, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out
that there's some great things going on with these products. As always,
if you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to email us at the
usual places.
Ross Erickson, Editor/Publisher
Game Bytes MagazineCD-ROM AND THE PC: Entertainment
by Ross Erickson
Introduction:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's what we've all been waiting for - a new entertainment form that
takes us well beyond traditional PC format games to date. The storage
capacity of CD-ROM makes adding exciting new features like full audio
speech, real video, and high-resolution graphics a reality. But make no
mistake - CD-ROM is not Shangrila simply because of its capacity. It's
still entirely possible (and probable!) that CD-ROM may not be used to
its fullest potential. "Shovelware", as the phrase has been coined,
denotes a so-called CD-ROM title that has simply been 'shoveled' from a
diskette format to the CD. This isn't entirely bad if expectations are
not set in another direction. These days, in the era of 20MB+ games,
hard disk space is always at a premium. A huge game on CD-ROM simply
for distribution and delivery purposes is still valuable. But the real
benefit of CD-ROM entertainment will be when the developers see this
600+ MB of space as an opportunity to do vastly newer and better things
with these entertainment products we all love so much. It's starting to
happen now with significant products now being launched like The 7th
Guest and others.
This rundown is not meant to be a comprehensive review of each product,
but rather a quick overview of many of the CD-ROM games available now and
some quick comments about their features. In no particular order...
Ecoquest I: The Search for Cetus - Sierra On-Line - This game is a new
version of the original disk version that now features full speech
throughout the entire game. It makes a world of difference to actually
hear Adam speak and the animals respond instead of reading balloon text
boxes. Well worth the upgrade price for the original disk owners.
The Dagger of Amon Ra - Sierra On-Line - Like Ecoquest, this CD version
provides full speech for Laura Bow and all the other characters in the
game. I was particularly impressed with the quality and choice of the
voice actors in this title. Laura has a VERY distinctive southern belle
drawl. It adds a lot of character and atmosphere to the game.
King's Quest V - Sierra On-Line - The first in the multimedia conversions,
KQ5 provides a full voice soundtrack for King Graham and all of the
characters in the kingdom of Daventry. The speech and sound effects add
a great deal to the already beautiful music composed for this adventure.
Space Quest IV - Sierra On-Line - One of my favorites! This CD conversion
features the voice of Gary "Laugh-in" Owens as the narrator as Roger Wilco
makes his way through the past, present, and future of the Space Quest
adventures. The commentary gets hilarious as Roger manipulates the world
(and himself) to counter his long-time nemesis, Sludge Vohaul.
The Adventures of Willy Beamish - Dynamix - Dynamix' first entry into the
CD-ROM world. This title is a pretty decent effort, though the narration
is a bit weak. It gets a bit tedious in places. A better debut CD
adventure might have been Rise of the Dragon or Heart of China. Still,
it's a lot of fun to listen to Willy and his sisters get on each other's
case at the dinner table.
Loom - LucasArts Entertainment - The classic Brian Moriarty tale for
beginning adventures is a wonderful example of how to do an adventure game
on CD-ROM. Full dialog is spoken throughout without any narration. As
Bobbin, you can hear his thoughts aloud as you make your way through the
Loom world. Also included with the CD-ROM version is a 30 minute audio
drama that you can play on your standard audio CD player that provides a
lot of background information on the adventure. Though the game is fairly
easy to play and finish, the polish on this product is well worth the
price.
The Secret of Monkey Island - LucasArts Entertainment - This game you can
put in the shovelware category, but with some nice things added. The game
itself is unchanged from the disk version, but LucasArts has put some high
quality reggae music that adds a lot of atmosphere to the game. This CD
version also includes the game in 5 languages. This title comes from
Software Toolworks.
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - LucasArts Entertainment - Software Tool-
works also did this version from LucasArts. It is also 'shovelware' in
that the entire game, plus all four of the expansion plane disks are
included on the CD. It does offer a complete and full game and saves
precious hard disk space.
Conan the Cimmerian - Virgin Games - Full voice and speech throughout as
you become the mighty Conan and set out to avenge your village's destruct-
ion and your wife's murder. There are points in the game where the speech
would seem to get disconnected with the game action, but a simple game
restore seemed to solve the problem.
Spirit of Excalibur - Virgin Games - Like Conan, this game features full
speech throughout the entire game as you adventure in the days of Camelot
to save the kingdom. Something seems to be missing here. The simple
addition of speech is very effective, but the gameplay doesn't seem to
match the quality of the audio output.
Eric the Unready - Legend Entertainment - From the fertile mind of Bob
Bates comes this utterly hilarious adventure. The main difference between
this CD version and the one on diskette are the 256 color hi-res SVGA
images in place of 16 color images. Rendered in 640x480, this game
looks terrific on CD. No audio changes to the original game were
made.
Wing Commander I / Secret Missions - Origin/Software Toolworks - This game
actually comes in two flavors; you can get Wing Commander with either both
Secret Mission disks or with Ultima VI. I think the choice is obvious.
The game is pure shovelware, but does save an incredible amount of disk
space.
Ultima I-VI Series - Origin / Software Toolworks - The entire Ultima series
up to and including Ultima 6: The False Prophet are now available on CD.
Though none of the games are enhanced by CD-ROM, it's nice to finally have
both trilogies of this timeless classic series available all in one place.
The installation program puts certain directories on your harddrive for
loading and menu purposes, but all the games are played from the CD.
Wing Commander II Deluxe Edition - Origin Systems - Like the Wing I bundle
listed above, this CD offers no improvements over their originals other
than saving huge amounts of disk space. There are two versions of this
CD-ROM: one with both the Special Operations mission disks included; and
one with Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Your hard drive will thank
you. Both versions come directly from Origin.
Battlechess - Interplay - Available in both DOS CD and MPC (Windows)
formats, this classic offers just gorgeous SVGA (640x480x256) graphics
and CD quality audio sound bytes for the chess piece fighting scenes.
The music is played via a soundboard.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vols. 1, 2, and 3 - ICOM Simulations
These games are terrific examples of games designed from scratch for
CD-ROM. Designed as 'whodunit' mysteries and general logic detective
puzzle solvers, they include very well done full motion video and speech
throughout the games as you become the famous Sherlock Holmes in the late
19th century. All are excellent products for those who enjoy deductive
reasoning challenges.
The Chessmaster 3000 - Software Toolworks - This multimedia edition is
for MPC Windows machines and adds a number of very useful and effective
features to the standard disk version. Foremost on this list of features
is the Chessmaster audio tutoring and advice feature. At any point in the
match, you can call upon the Chessmaster. He'll think for a few moments,
then advise on what move he recommends. But along with the recommendation
is an explanation of WHY this is the correct move. For learning chess
players, this is an excellent tutorial on this classic strategy game.
Maddog McCree - American Laser Games - See the preview in this issues
First Looks! section. Just the beginning of laserdisk games for the
home PC.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Deluxe? - Broderbund - This family
of educational games has been around in various incarnations for quite
sometime, but no other version comes close to the quality of this CD-ROM
version. High resolution 16 color graphics are used perfectly in the game
but the real win is the audio. Music from around the world is used
judiciously when your travels take you from place to place. Plus, you
just gotta hear 'Shirl'.. She's a crackup.
Mantis - Microprose - A full review of Mantis appear in Game Bytes several
issues ago. This CD-ROM version offers a much longer and more graphical
introduction sequence, and provides full voice and speech throughout the
entire game.
Putt Putt Joins the Parade - A full review of 'Putt Putt' will be appearing
in Game Bytes next issue along with it's companion product, Putt Putt's
Fun Pack. Suffice it to say that both of these products are excellent
for the younger 3-9 audience range. Putt Putt is a cartoon car that has
adventures in Cartown. The production quality is outstanding. They take
full advantage of the CD format by providing full speech throughout. The
funpack is a collection of fun, easy kids games like X's and O's, etc.,
that really engage the young kids. If you have youngsters in your home,
both these CD's are great to have for them.
Rodney's Fun Screen - Activision - For the MPC machine, this is an inter-
esting product for young kids. Kids can pick from one of five games to
play from a Concentration-like "Guess-O-Matic" to counting, spelling, and
letter recognition games. Speech is provided throughout for easy
instruction for the kids.
The Manhole - Activision - This critically acclaimed product of a few
years ago comes back on CD-ROM with more sound, more colors, and much
clearer speech. It's basically a game of free form exploration. Even
the smallest parts or objects on-screen can unlock an entirely new realm
for exploration. You never "win" in The Manhole; you just continue to
explore and watch.
The 7th Guest - Virgin Games - This landmark CD-ROM game alone may make or
break the CD-ROM entertainment field. Stunning high-resolution 256 color
graphics with amazing animation and sound. It will be reviewed in full
in an upcoming issue of Game Bytes.
Power Modeller: European Racers - Revell/Monogram - These two modelling
companies are taking on the software market in a big way. Their debut
product is an excellent game that uses CD-ROM capacity to its fullest
with a very creative idea - automobile fine-scale modelling on screen,
then being able to race your creation. The CD-ROM comes with four high-
performance cars from Europe including the famous Lamborghini Countach.
You build them, then race them on one of the included raceways in Europe.
Full motion video clips are included when succeed or fail or the road.
A full review will appear in a future edition of Game Bytes.
Conclusion:
~~~~~~~~~~~
The entertainment category of CD-ROM is literally exploding with growth,
creative products, and stunning visuals. 1993 will bring more creative
and exciting products in the entertainment category than all other previous
years combined. Some companies, like Software Sorcery are betting all the
marbles on CD-ROM, and to these visionaries and pioneers, we take our hat
off to you. Other huge ventures, like the 3DO multimedia player are
destined to add even more credibility and vitality to this rapidly emerging
classification of entertainment.
It's going to be a great 1993 for CD-ROM.
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
CD-ROM AND THE PC: Personal Enhancement / Reference
by Ross Erickson
Perhaps in no other category is CD-ROM-based software more unique and
personally rewarding than in the personal enhancement area. The nature
of the medium provides the storage space for vast amounts of varied data
types that can educate, improve, and enhance us on a personal level.
The Software Toolworks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Software Toolworks company has made it a corporate priority to deliver
content-driven CD-ROM titles in quantity to the market. 1993 will bring
many new titles to their already strong offerings.
The Animals - Available for both MPC (Windows) and DOS CD formats, this
title opens up the world of the San Diego zoo to users. You can visit any
one of the 10 biomes and explore all of the animals that make it their
habitat. There are also narrated tours showing animals which share a
common theme such as 'Jaws', 'Claws', etc. There's a real sense of the
ecological balance that goes on in nature presented in the Animals. The
CD also includes over an hour of different video clips, plus over 1300
pictures of the animals in the zoo. This is an excellent demonstration
of content-driven CD software.
1993 Guinness Multimedia Disc of Records - Remember as a kid leafing
through the Guinness Book of World Records and being amazed at all the
incredible things in it? Remember how hard it was to find something you
KNOW was in the book? Well, now you can have all the latest world record
breaking data at your fingertips, AND be able to search on a quick and
easy to use index to find just what you're looking for. This disc includes
the thousands of world records, hundreds of color pictures, and even sound
and video clips of record breaking performances. Anyone interested in
the trivia of extremes in our world will find this CD a must-have.
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - This product has been on diskette for quite
a few years now in various versions and now comes to the CD-ROM with some
impressive new features. What is most significant for typing tutors is the
dictation feature that speaks aloud the sentences you're to type during
your tutelage. The help function, typing analysis, and demonstrations
also includes voice-over speech. The product can be installed for DOS
or MPC Windows and is critically acclaimed for its methods on teaching
typing to new users.
Time Table of History - This multimedia CD offers history up to the user
in an innovative timeline approach. Taken from the theoretical big bang
to present day, the CD offers more than 6000 stories and a library of
graphics, sounds, and video clips. A first class history teacher!
Microsoft:
~~~~~~~~~~
The biggest software company in the world also intends to participate in
a big way in the content-driven multimedia software market. They have
released several titles that show their commitment to this method of
delivering useful information to the consumer.
Cinemania - For anyone who even has a remote interest in movies, the
actor and actresses in them, and the awards and people behind the movies,
Cinemania is a 'must-have' title. It offers over 19,000 movie reviews from
1914 to 1991, biographies of actors, directors and producers, as well as
movie stills, dialog from classic movies, and a complete rundown on all the
academy award nominees and winners. It's quite a treat to be able to
search for all movies made by Spielberg, Lucas, or Scorcese, or find all
the academy award nominations Jack Nicholson has been granted. All of
Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1992 is included as well. The
screen presentation and filter tools are easy to learn and use. This
focused title is a perfect example of the efficient and good use of the
CD-ROM format.
Musical Instruments - Another very focused and well-done title from Micro-
soft is the Musical Instruments multimedia database. This title offers
an interactive environment to learn and explore the sights and sounds of
over 200 musical instruments. The library of instruments are divided into
families: brass, woodwinds, strings, keyboard, and percussion, and each
title has many different high-quality sound samples that demonstrate the
instrument in various settings. The instruments are also subdivided into
their respective parts to demonstrate the makings of each. A descriptive
paragraph is included about each part. Musical ensembles are also included
to demonstrate the variety and diversity of musical styles, such as chamber
music, reggae, rock, and jazz. Even rare and exotic instruments are
included in this title which makes it a fascinating global look at the
musical world around us. Another excellent title from Microsoft.
Multimedia Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony - Quite some time ago, Macintosh
users were amazed to see a CD-ROM title that went far beyond other
reference materials of the day. It was a multimedia expose on the life
of Ludwig van Beethoven and his ninth symphony. Now PC users can enjoy
the same title under MPC and Windows. MM Beethovenhas innovative search
capabilities that allow the user to explore any part of this musical
masterpiece in any order. The CD allows the user to explore background
information on Beethoven's life, take a look at the musical architecture
of the symphony or review a measure-by-measure commentary. This type of
product truly opens up the world of music and the life of Beethoven in
incredible detail even to casual music listeners.
E-Book:
~~~~~~~
Establishing themselves as a premier provider of CD-ROM based information,
E-book continues to develop and distribute more content-based CD-ROM
software than most other companies. They have several products on the
market in the personal enhancement and reference category:
Electronic Library of Art: Survey of Western Art - Organized in
the cardfile metaphor, this CD-ROM offers a beautiful look at western
civilization art masterpieces. Over 1,000 images are included and are
easily indexed by author, medium, date, school, or object. For art
students, collectors, or artists themselves, this is a great addition.
Electronic Library of Art: Renaissance Masters I and II - Life the title
above, this collection of two CDs (can be purchased separately) offers
a personal tour through the most famous pieces of art in our museums
throughout the world today. da Vinci, Botticelli, Michaelangelo, Raphael
and hundreds more are all here. Combined, both CDs offer over 2,600
high quality images with an easy to use search and indexing function.
Short biographies of the artist's life are also included.
Electronic Library of Art: Impressionism and It's Sources - The latest
in the Art series features one of the most popular periods in art history.
Like its counterparts, this CD offers a cardfile approach to the most
famous paintings in the Impressionism era. Paintings by Renoir, Degas,
Monet, and Cassatt are all featured with over 1200 images included. An
interesting essay on Impressionism is also included. E-Book has also
included beautiful music of Chopin and Faure while you view the online
art.
Mozart - Though not as focused on one symphony as the MM Beethoven CD,
this product provides a fascinating glimpse into the overall life and
musical style of the most famous classical composer in the world. It
includes a critical analysis with music notation for each work on the disc
and includes a detailed description of Mozart's life and premature death.
Some of his most beautiful music is featured on the disc to study. Plus,
the disc also includes a music glossary, biography, essay, and trivia.
Twelve Roads to Gettysburg - To any Civil War history fans, this title
is indispensable. It teaches in great detail about the greatest battle
fought in North America - the battle at Gettysburg. It gives a day-by-
day synopsis of the battle, with the action reviewed by both sides, as it
happened. Animated maps help to see the ebb and flow of the various
encounters. Scanned photographs really add flavor to this already strong
work. Over 200 biographical sketches and drawings are also included with
this CD.
California Travel - With over 1,000 photographs of California, this CD
really opens up the state to those planning a trip. This product makes
planning a trip to any of the many sites in California a breeze. Video
for Windows does all the introductions to each destination. The state
gets divided into several subparts and within those divisions, each of the
many tourist sites are spotlighted and described in great detail.
Compton's NewMedia:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Originally known as Britannica Software, Compton's NewMedia is now a
leading producer of content-based software. Their breadth of titles is
impressive and they plan many more titles in 1993 including a math
teaching product based on "The Human Calculator" and a retrospective on
the Beatles.
Jazz: A Multimedia History - This title explores thie history of Jazz
music from its roots to modern day. You'll hear jazz music and sound
effects from 1923 and read quotes and interviews from yesterday and today's
jazz masters like Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Herbie Hancock.
Biographies of jazz greats are included plus video clips and photo stills
are also part of 'Jazz'. All of the music is recorded in CD quality
audio for great playback.
USA Wars: Desert Storm with Coalition Command Data Game - A full and
complete description of America's most recent war comes to life in this
MM title. The product featuresa tremendous amount of detailed facts
on the war, its armament, personnel, and a final report on the war from
the Department of Defense. The datagame included makes it possible for
the user to recreate the war events and apply different strategies to see
the makeup of the battle from a different perspective. All throughout the
game, the comprehensive database of men and equipment can be accessed
for detailed analysis. For strategy game fans, this is a great way to
wargame with exacting detail. It's too bad the Patriot game wasn't this
effective.
USA: Wars - Civil War - In similar fashion to Desert Storm, the Civil
War series title offers an unique perspective into the war of 1860-1865.
This MM database includes biographies or prominent Civil War figures,
chronologies, descriptions of campaigns and battles, statistics and
plenty of high quality photographs. The search and retrieval engine
makes searching for information or media types of any kind a breeze.
Different icons appear in the report body when pictures, sounds, or
illustrations are available. While the 12 Roads to Gettysburg CD-ROM
is an excellent detailed report on one famous battle, USA Wars: Civil War
provides much insight into the entire war.
KGB-CIA World Factbook - This title offers a unique perspective to
database information of the world around us - information from the CIA
perspective as well as information taken from real KGB files. The data-
base of information provides indepth geographical information and analysis
on the countries and regions of the world. The search engine makes it
easy to find articles, pictures, and other data types in the massive amount
of data presented.
The Grammy Awards - This title is the first compilation of the 34 year old
Grammy awards - the music industry's "Oscars". This rich title offers an
incredible amount of sound, video, and highlights from all of the awards
presentations back to the award's inception. You can select an artist
and see what nominations he/she has received over the years, and even
watch and listen to the actual dialog spoken during the awards ceremony.
The CD-quality sound is excellent (no soundcard required) and the hundreds
of included images show many of your favorite artists accepting their
awards. This title is a lot of fun. A trivia contest/game is also
included to test your knowledge of who won and who was nominated. This
title is an excellent example of the real application of MM technology.
Compton's Multimedia Golf Guide: California/Hawaii Edition - Before you
leave on your next golf vacation to the west coast or Hawaii, you owe it
to yourself to check out this title. Over 750 golf courses are featured
and include detailed data about each course such as slope rating, member-
ship requirements, cost, yardage, and even course layouts. Included are
over 100 aerial photographs of the courses, audio clips from the course
architects, and over 175 digitized scorecards. Also included is the award-
winning Links golf game from Access Software (not Links 386 Pro) that
includes the Torrey Pines golf course in La Jolla, California. For golfers
on the west coast or those travelling often to California or Hawaii, this
is a terrific product.
U.S. Presidents - This title provides a full biography of all 41 U.s.
presidents up to and including President Bush. It has not been updated
to include President Clinton. Each president's full biography is
presented along with the First Lady and the Vice Presidents as well.
Color pictures and photographs are also included.
Conclusions:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is only but a small sample of the type of titles that can be found
today for PC CD-ROM systems to educate and enhance your understanding
of a wide variety of topics. Many more titles that offer a unique insight
into other various topics of interest are also available.
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
CD-ROM AND THE PC: Academic and Geographic Reference
by Ross Erickson
Introduction:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CD-ROM technology enables pure reference material to be made available to
users at remarkably lower costs and new types of information to be
accessable by more users. In the past, the term 'encyclopedia' usually
conjured up images of an entire bookshelf full of thick reference material.
Now, that same quantity of information can be found on one CD-ROM disk
and is infinitely more accessable. This article focuses on a few of the
academic reference materials available to the CD-ROM user today.
Delorme Street Atlas U.S.A. - This personal U.S. Atlas is one of the most
amazing products on the market today. It contains, in map format,
virtually every road, street, avenue, and boulevard in every town in the
entire United States! The CD starts with a map of the entire U.S., showing
every state. Using the mouse, you can begin to zoom in on the area you are
interested in and find more and more detail as you zoom further. The
detail just continues to grow until finally, in any town/city of your
choice, you'll find individual streets and roads with their streetnames
listed. Find the street where you live with this title. You'll find your-
self moving around the U.S. for hours just discovering where different
landmarks are in the country. Anyone with even a mild interest in U.S.
geography will love this title.
Delorme Global Explorer - As good as Street Atlas U.S.A. is, I've recently
discovered a new CD-ROM title that is even better and more fascinating.
Imagine 75% of the detail of SA:USA on an entire global level! This is
what Global Explorer provides. You begin with a map of the globe, and
using mouse zoom windows, you can zero in on any particular place on the
entire planet for an incredible amount of detail. As you zoom further,
icons will indicate an important geographical landmark. Once selected,
a text box will appear with information about that landmark. It's
a terrific way to learn all about the world around us. Over 100,000
gazetteer items are a part of Global Explorer. Detailed street maps of
100 of the largest cities in the world are also included. Finally, the
Airnet interface shows commercial air travel routes throughout the world,
making it easy to map out travel plans from virtually any place TO any
place on the globe. There's even more, but suffice it to say that
anyone who has a CD-ROM drive owes it to themselves to have this CD-ROM
in their collection.
World Atlas and U.S. Atlas - Software Toolworks - These two CD titles,
though much less in geographical map detail than Global Explorer, provide
a wealth of sociological and geographical statistical data that no other
product offers. The World edition shows the world continents and then
provides individual country maps with topographical and political data.
Once at the country level, numerous information categories such as birth
rate, population grown, medical statistics, and transportation and comm-
unication data is provided. The CD version also plays the national anthems
from each country and displays that country's flag. The U.S. version
starts with a U.S. map and then allows the user to focus in on any
individual state. Topographical and county data is also shown. Once
at the state level, all of the statistical data for that state is
available. To research this level of data would take days or weeks with
other standard reference material. World Atlas and U.S. Atlas makes this
level of study a breeze.
Compton's Dictionary of the Living World - This title offers an insight
into the world of nature and life on earth. It is a visual database of
over 5,000 species, and contains thousands of articles, and hundreds of
video clips and pictures. Authentic audio clips of various animals sounds
are included in the database as well. Once an animal is selected, a
distribution map of the habitat of that animal is available to learn more
about it's home and environment. This title is an excellent resource for
students who write term papers about biology.
Software Toolworks Reference Library - This electronic library offers a
vast amount of reference data to aid in a wide variety of research
projects. It includes The New York Public Library Desk Reference,
Webster's New World Thesaurus, Dictionary, Guide to Concise Writing, and
Dictionary of Quotable Definitions. It also includes The Dictionary of
20th Century History, J.K. Lasser's Legal and Corporate Forms, and the
National Directory of Addresses and Telephone Numbers. For writers or
researchers, this title is very useful.
Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia - Software Toolworks - This is an
impressive collection of all 21 volumes of the Grolier Encyclopedia. It
includes over 33,000 articles ranging from NASA missions, sporting events,
and famous people history. It also includes more than 3,000 color photo-
graphs and illustrations and many different audio and video clips as well.
The search index is impressively fast and friendly and provides a knowledge
tree outline that lets you begin with broad topics and leads you to more
specific inquires based on associated topics. A historical timeline is
also available that presents data from prehistoric days to modern day.
Overall, an excellent example of how encyclopedic data can be presented
to the CD-ROM user.
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia - Compton's encyclopedia may be the
most impressive of all the competitive offerings, simply because they have
done their research and discovered how people use reference materials.
Using a Virtual Workspace concept, reference look-up windows are kept
open on a virtual desktop that is mapped out on a small window on the
bottom of the screen. This represents a workspace that is much larger than
what is available to display physically on the screen. If a research
project involved several related topics, each of these topics could be
open at once on the screen. Moving to and from these topics is as simple
as pointing to their windows in the Virtual Workspace. A very novel and
useful approach. An on-screen map illustrates a grin which represents an
18-foot-by-13-foot work area. You can move windows and panels over the
workspace easily, using the map as a guide. The encyclopedia itself
contains the complete 26-volume Compton's Encyclopedia and includes more
than 15,000 pictures, 60 minutes of audio clips, and wide variety of
video clips. For research projects that involve a combination of various
topics, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia is top notch.
Encarta - Microsoft - Being the latest in the market has its advantages
and disadvantages - you end up playing catch-up with other great products,
but you also can pinpoint weaknesses and exploit your product in those
areas. This is true with Encarta. The other encyclopedias have been on
the market much longer and have more market share, but Encarta offers some
brilliant features and is extremely well integrated. Encarta has three
main parts - The Encyclopedia, which has over 25,000 topics to choose
from; the Atlas, which allows you to zoom in on any place on the globe,
read about the culture and history, enhancing this with video and audio;
and the Timeline, which provides a way for you to explore the events that
shaped human development. What is so effective about Encarta is its
presentation of category information through the Browser. Categories such
as Physical Science, Life Science, History, Geography, Religion and Phil-
osophy, and Sports are just some of the areas you can explore in Encarta.
Each individual article is considered a Topic and the cross-referencing
function of Encarta is superb. Through each topic there will likely be
several other topics referenced and highlighted to make switching to
related topics a breeze. The multimedia gallery items (audio, video,
image clips) are very high quality. Encarta is very enjoyable to work
with and makes just general interest browsing a lot of fun.
Conclusions:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
No other topic seems to provide as much utility on a personal basis than
your choice of a good Encyclopedia. With a well-designed interface, it's
a joy just to go exploring into new knowledge territories. There are
plenty of great products to choose from with more products coming in the
year ahead.
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
CD-ROM AND THE PC: General Multimedia / Multimedia Storybooks
by Ross Erickson
Introduction:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This particular category of CD-ROM products are unique in their presen-
tation and are certainly not for everyone. These products are designed
to present classic literature and stories to a younger audience and
provide an interactive and engaging environment wherever possible to the
player. Using my own 7 and 3 year old as a "test market", I found this
class of products to be indispensable to get them interested and focused
on learning and listening. Nothing captures the imagination of a child
better than a well-told story. This is where these products excel.
The Products:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE LIVING BOOKS by Broderbund
Broderbund has been around as a software entertainment company for many
years producing such hit games as the Carmen San Diego series and the
successful Prince of Persia games. Their emphasis has shifted somewhat
in the past couple of years, focusing much of their creative energies on
the younger audience and creating an interactive world through story-
telling. The Living Books are a perfect example of multimedia story-
telling done well.
Just Grandma and Me - This debut product from Broderbund tells the story
of 'lil Critter' as he and his Grandma take a trip to the beach. The
author of the story, Mercer Mayer, is well respected among children's
authors. The conversion to CD-ROM puts the child in control of activating
many of the interesting pieces of the environment he/she will discover
during the story. Each click of the mouse on an object on the screen will
result in a cute and sometimes very elaborate animation with terrific
accompanying sound effects. Umbrellas launch into the ocean, crabs skitter
across the sand, fish jump out of pails, and much more. Also, every
word of the story is presented on screen and is read aloud to the child.
Reading skills are thus enhanced as well. Additionally, each word, when
clicked on, can be read back to the child. This goes a long way towards
word and pattern recognition. If Game Bytes would have had a CD-ROM
category for CD-ROM Title of the Year, 1992, Just Grandma and Me would
have been a strong contender to win.
Arthur's Teacher Trouble - This second installment in the Living Books
series is even stronger than the first. It tells the story of a young
boy named Arthur and his first day at school. He ends up in the class of
the infamous Mr. Ratburn and tells the story of how Arthur ends up in
the school-wide spelling bee. This Living Book has even more great
animations and objects to activate than Just Grandma and Me. The music
is great and the story is very engaging. Any Game Bytes reader out there
who has a child in the 3-10 year range owes it to themselves to check out
the Living Books series. They are tremendous additions to anyone's CD-ROM
library.
Other Living Books planned for later this year are the famous story/fable,
The Tortoise and the Hare, and a new story entitled New Kid on the Block.
E-BOOK:
~~~~~~~
This company, and recent affiliate of Electronic Arts, is making multi-
media the cornerstone of their business. E-Book may have more CD-ROM
products on the market than any other company in the world. They have
several different areas of focus as a company, one being multimedia
storybooks. Though not as interactive as the Living Books, they do open
up the world of classic storytelling to the younger audience with
attractive artwork and music. The MM storybooks from E-Book will make
re-telling of these classics an easy and enjoyable experience. All of
these products require an MPC class machine (Windows 3.X, Soundcard, and
SVGA 640x480x256 video resolution).
Aesop's Fables - This collection of fables, written by Aesop around
500 B.C. live to teach one of life's many lessons and morals. E-Book has
successfuly put all of these fables on CD with very attractive artwork
and illustrations. Each fable is read aloud and an on-screen dictionary
will pronounce and define difficult words. Because the fables are short
and brief, children will find it easy to stay focused. Adults will also
appreciate having all of these fables in one place as a useful teaching
tool.
A Christmas Carol - This famous tale by Dickens comes to life on the CD
combined with excellent illustrations by Sir Arthur Rackham. Also, a
variety of Christmas carols are also kept on the CD-ROM for audio play-
back on your standard stereo CD players. The narration of the story is
very well done and really draws the reader into the atmosphere of this
classic novel.
Don Quixote - Using truth and honor as his lance and sword, Don Quixote
and his faithful companion, Sancho Panza, set forth into the world to
rid it of evil. The CD-ROM version of this story is replete with classic
artwork and illustrations from the story with beautiful background music.
This Cervantes masterpiece is well-served in this multimedia version.
The White Horse Child - This story by Greg Bear comes to life on CD-ROM
that also includes Video for Windows interview clips with the author. In
the interview, Mr. Bear discusses creation and writing of the story. The
White Horse Child tells the tale of a young boy's encounter with his
imagination and the censorship he faces in school, home and society in
general.
The Star Child - This story by Oscar Wilde tells the tale in classic
fairy tale format of a baby discovered in the woods by a woodcutter.
Raised as if he were not of this world, the child grows into a self-
centered and proud man. One day he happens across and insults a poor
beggar-woman and turns into a very ugly person. This sends the Star
Child on a quest for forgiveness and personal redemption. The full-color
and black and white illustrations are very well done along with a original
musical score.
The Sleeping Beauty - This famous fairy tale is presented well by E-Book.
It tells the tale of Kings and Queens, Princes and Witches and a hundred
year spell. This MM story combines original illustrations, animations,
sound effects, and an original musical score for an all-around engaging
story. This book will bring children back to this famous story many times.
Beauty and the Beast - Given the tremendous success of the recent Disney
movie of the same name, this CD is likely to be a big hit with kids. It
tells the story of personal transformation of the heart and all of the
engaging characters that make up this fantasy tale. The illustrations are
beautifully rendered and the animation in the final scene is very well
done. The narration is spoken clearly and encourages children to read
along.
Mowgli's Brothers - This is the first in E-Book's Jungle Book series. It
tells the famous Rudyard Kipling story of a young boy raised by wolves in
the jungle. This fully narrated edition is complete with an extensive
musical score that sets the tone of the 19th century Indian jungle. The
disc also contains a selection of music that can be played on a standard
audio CD player.
Kaa's Hunting - The second in the Jungle Book series, Kaa's Hunting
continues the tale of Mowgli as he grows older and disregards the advice
of his friends and becomes acquainted with the Bandor-log, the monkey
people and his experiences with Kaa the snake. This CD adds new features
to the E-Book titles, offering a lively selection of animations. Standard
CD audio is also available on the disk for standard CD audio playback.
Goferwinkel's Adventures - Dubbed the world's first multimedia CD-ROM
comic book, Goferwinkel's Adventure breaks new ground by bringing to life
a classic style of cartoon character. The CD presents the cartoon in
classic panel format, synchronized speech and text, and offers interactive
questions to the reader to draw them into the story. The story teaches
concepts of bravery, loyalty, moral dilemmas and their consequences.
More E-Book storybook titles are on the way, including the third in the
Jungle Book series, Tiger, Tiger!, and also Jack and the Beanstalk,
Aladdin, and Trouble in Mind.
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
CD-ROM AND THE PC: Future Titles
by Ross Erickson
Plenty of great titles for the PC CD-ROM are coming in all categories
during the remainder of 1993 and into 1994. What follows is a brief
rundown on a few of the titles to watch for that are definitely slated
for the near future.
Personal Enhancement and Academic Reference
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft:
Dinosaurs
Multimedia Stravinsky
Multimedia Mozart
Software Toolworks:
Multimedia Newsweek
Video Encyclopedia of the 20th Century
World Atlas 4.0
U.S. Atlas 4.0
Space Shuttle
Oceans Below
Capitol Hill
Compton's New Media (and affiliates):
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Cookbook
Learning at Home: Upstairs
USA Today: The 90's Volume I
The Beatles
The Human Calculator
Kathy Smith's Fat Burning System
E-Book:
Vivaldi
A Zillion Sounds
Oshkosh '92
Publically Speaking
Bach
Airworks
Wine
Battle of the Bulge
Duke Ellington
Count Basie
Billie Holliday
Louie Armstrong
Browning McGee
Muddy Waters
Multimedia Storybooks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Broderbund:
New Kid on the Block
The Tortoise and the Hare
E-Book:
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp
Trouble in Mind
Wallobee Jack
Eddy the Robot
Jersey Devil
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Three Little Pigs
Tiger Tiger
Entertainment/Games:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access Software:
Multimedia Links (through Microsoft)
Tex Murphy 3: Under a Killing Moon
Amazon (through Tandy)
Activision:
Return to Zork
Electronic Arts:
Kasparov's Gambit
The Labyrinth
Gametek:
NFL Video Pro CD
Beat the House CD
Humongous Entertainment:
Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise
Fatty Bear's Fun Pack
ICOM Simulations:
GGA Tour: Earth Invitational Golf
Beyond Shadowgate
Interplay:
Omar Sharif on Bridge CD
Simcity CD
Lord of the Rings CD
SimAnt CD
Mario Teaches Typing
Star Trek: The 25th Anniversary
SimEarth CD
Intracorp:
Terminator 2: Chess Wars
Legend Entertainment:
Gateway II: Homeworld
LucasArts Entertainment:
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis "Talkie"
Rebel Assault
Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle
Microprose:
Civilization
Novalogic:
Wolfpack Multimedia
Pop Rocket:
Total Distortion
Psygnosis:
Microcosm
Phantom
Planetside
Dracula
Reactor:
Spaceship Warlock
Screaming Metal
Virtual Valerie
Revell/Monogram:
Power Modeller Backroad Racers
Power Modeller Hi-Tech Aircraft
Sierra On-Line:
Leisure Suit Larry I
Phantasmagoria
King's Quest VI
Inca
Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist
Software Sorcery:
Jutland
Aegis
Fantasy Fiefdom
Dead Zone Jr.
Software Toolworks:
Chessmaster 3000 Pro
Mario is Missing Deluxe
Spectrum Holobyte:
Iron Helix
SSI:
Dark Sun
Virgin Games:
The 11th Hour
Kyrandia
Curse of Enchantia
Dune
Monopoly Deluxe
Shuttle
White Web:
Sierra Hotel
Rolling Thunder
Alliance
Alpha Strike
Deep Six
Operation Phoenix
Defender of the Stone
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Ross Erickson for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
MULTIMEDIA BATTLECHESS from Interplay
Reviewed by Richard Wyckoff
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386/SX 640x480x256 3MB 1MB+CD-ROM
(Can be copied to
hard drive - 40MB)
Max/Rec. Fast 386 or better
Control: Mouse or Keyboard
Sound: CD-audio plus MPC digitized audio
Notes: Requires MPC compatible machine, also supports modem for
two-player option
Reviewed on: 486/33, 8MB RAM, Gravis Ultrasound card
Reviewer recommends: Fast CD-ROM drive
I have to admit that I find chess to be rather boring, especially against
a computer, which takes the whole intense two-player mental conflict and
turns it into a mechanical and uneven contest. MPC BATTLECHESS, however,
changed my mind about the game. Interplay has provided enough graphical
flash to make the most Origin-jaded game player forget that they are only
playing chess. Even if you are not a chess player, you will enjoy this
game.
MPC BATTLECHESS runs under Windows, and provides a screen with 640x480x256
color graphics. It is best played with a 640x480 screen driver, as the
program is a little buggy under higher resolutions, and the pieces are
harder to see. You can play from a top view of the board, where you only
see static images of traditional chess pieces, or you can choose the
perspective view. In this view, your pieces are incredibly detailed renderings
of armored knights, faithful pawns, the doddering old king and his seductive
wife. When a piece is captured, there is an animated battle, where the
pieces hack off limbs and use magic to turn their oponents to piles of dust.
This game is a sort of medieval version of the hologram game that Chewbacca
plays on the Millenium Falcon in the first Star Wars movie, and it was that
scene which originally inspired Battlechess.
The soundtrack is all CD-audio, and the songs and sound effects are high-
quality. The only sounds that aren't recorded directly on the CD are the
footstep samples for each piece. There are three or four songs which play
while you are thinking, a theme for each piece, and, of course, the sounds
of combat. The only drawback to using so much CD-audio is that there is
no continuous music - every time a piece is moved, the 'thinking' music
gets cut off, and then a little snippet of theme music is played while the
piece walks into position, which gets cut off immediately by other sounds.
This isn't a problem when playing with the animated pieces, but it would
be nice if the game would keep the background music playing when the flat
chessboard is used, since no other sounds occur, but it still gets cut off
after every move.
There is a tutorial included for each piece, where they come forward and
explain to the player the history of the piece, and give basic
instructions on movement and strategy. The voice acting is generally
quite nice, but this section could have been much more interesting with
large close-up animation.
MPC BATTLECHESS does have two big drawbacks to play: one is that it is
often quite hard to tell where individual pieces are on the board in the
animated view, which can lead to severe mistakes. Luckily, there is an
unlimited 'Undo' feature. The second drawback is that, while the box
claims that the game includes a library of thousands of opening moves,
these are only available to the computer, not the player. There are also
no play analysis options either, and this makes MPC Battlechess mostly
useless as a learning tool.
While MPC BATTLECHESS may not have the complex options of a package like
Chessmaster MPC for the casual player, it is infinitely more entertaining
to play. Even if you despise chess, this game will wow you and all your
friends, and you will find yourself playing it long after you finish the
typical adventure or RPG.
This review is
Copyright (C) Richard Wyckoff 1993 for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
MAMMALS, A MULTIMEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
aka National Geographic's Mammals
Reviewed by Jeff Blatt
MAMMALS is an intriguing journey into the lives of mammals that live all
over our planet. More of an educational toy than a game, Mammals is one
product that utilizes multimedia as it was intended to be.
Features:
700 full-screen photos each with its own caption.
150 world range maps.
150 fact screens.
150 vital statistics screens.
155 authentic vocalizations.
45 full-motion color movie clips from National
Geographic TV documentaries.
essays equivalent to 600 pages of text.
a mammal classification game.
a pop-up glossary.
Mammals is completely mouse driven. From the main menu you can go to an
alphabetized listing of all the animals, or you can first select the
taxonomic order you're interested in and then select from a list of
animals from that order. The menus are set up so that you can move around
easily and quickly.
The animals range from the aardvark to the zorilla. There is even an
entry for humans. Each animal has at least one photograph; most have
several. Many also have an accompaning range map, vital statistics
screen, and essay. Some of the photographs have an attached sound clip.
The sound clips are very good quality, and go a long way to bring the
images to life. The sound of the Tazmainian Devil is particularly
interesting (yes, it is an actual animal). In addition to the
vocalizations, every animal's name can be pronounced.
The best feature is the video clips. They are not full screen as you
might expect and there is no sound, but it is amazing to see some of the
world's best wildlife photography running, swimming, hopping, and leaping
on your screen. Several of the videos last over a minute. The video clip
usually depicts the animal in an interesting activity -- not just walking
down a trail but chasing prey, burrowing, or breaching.
There is an audio tutorial that takes you through the different features
of the program. If you still run into trouble they provide a 1-800 number
for help.
The documentation stresses the use of PS/2 computers, but it runs just
fine on my clone. It would also be nice if you could copy the text to a
file instead of just being able to print it out.
The classification game is targeted towards a grade school to high school
audiance. It has the look and feel of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN
SANDIEGO?. You are sent on a mission to find and photograph an animal.
There are 36 missions in all. In each mission you are initially given
several clues about the animal you are searching for. You must then find
the animal and identify where in the world it lives. You finally
photograph the animal and if you have answered the previous multiple
choice questions correctly you will have completed the mission. You are
given an opportunity to use the encyclopedia to do a little 'research' to
see if you're on the right track. Your results can be saved to disk for
future play.
The program also contains a glossary of terms. Through out the essays and
captions you will find words that are highlighted. If you click on one of
these words a pop-up window will appear with a definition of the word.
There are also 11 essays on various topics about mammals in general, as
well as complete credits for the program and all of the photographs used
in it.
If you are not curious about the diversity of mammals that exist in our
world this CD will only collect dust for you, but if such things spark
your imagination this CD will provide you with many hours of fun and
exploration for both you and your children.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Jeff Blatt for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
MEDIA CLIPS: WORLD VIEW from ARIS
Reviewed by Richard Wyckoff
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386/SX 640x480x256 4MB 1MB+CD-ROM
Max/Rec. Fast 386
Control: Mouse, keyboard
Sound: MPC standard digitial audio
Notes:
Reviewed on: 486/33, 8MB RAM, T8900 video card, Gravis
Ultrasound
Reviewer recommends: Accelerated video card for film clips
Aris' MEDIA CLIPS:WORLD VIEW is one of a series of thematic CD-ROMS with
pictures, music, and movies. WORLD VIEW is a collection of satellite views
of earth, photos of planets, moon landings, and other space-related images.
It includes 100 640x480x256 color images, each with its own accompanying
digitized song (low quality 8-bit .WAV files, unfortunately), and 25 movies.
This may sound interesting, but unfortunately, the product can not decide if
it wants to be a space image data-base or a musical slide show, and fails in
both attempts.
On the WORLD VIEW disc are DOS, MPC, and Macintosh versions of the
program, which explains why the selection of images is so limited. Each
image also has a lower-resolution version stored as a separate low-res
image for the selection display, taking up even more room.
When you start the program (the Windows version was used for this review),
the low-res version of the first picture is displayed, and the
accompanying soundtrack is played. This is the first problem with WORLD
VIEW - if you are just using it to skim through images, the songs, which
can't be turned off, but can be interrupted, slow down the process. The
songs themselves are another part of the problem. They range from
relatively inoffensive but totally unoriginal 'adult contemporary
electronic jazz' to completely cheesy synthesizer noodlings - the random
beeps accompanying one image of the space shuttle launching a satellite
were particularly disturbing. I can understand Aris' attempt to appeal
to a wider market by excluding the more pop-oriented soundtracks of the
typical game, but there were so many more interesting choices they could
have made - Sun Ra or Philip Glass, for example - real composers, not
'studio musicians' (a politically correct term for the semi-talented).
The next serious failing of the package is the movies, one of the reasons
I bought it. This product was released before Microsoft invented the
Video for Windows standard, unfortunately, so Aris came up with their own
movie player, which is woefully inadequate. On the Macintosh side, the
movies are in Quicktime format, and presumably more watchable, but the PC
versions, which are *only* accessible in the MPC version, play in a window
that is tiny with a 640x480 resolution Windows driver and miniscule at
800x600, and they play incredibly slowly. This is to be expected with the
access time of a CD, but some form of buffering could have sped things up
tremendously. Worst, however, are the soundtracks which some movies have
- the digitized audio plays at about the same frame rate as the movie, it
seems, which means the roar of a rocket taking off is cut up into a series
of short bursts of static.
These complaints seem a little less valid when the following is
considered: Aris allows royalty free non-commercial use of the entire
contents of the disc, which explains the 'Media Clips' portion of the
title. This explains why original (albeit poor) music was used, and also
explains why the Windows shell allows the user to copy images to files.
This disc is also relatively cheap, so if you are in dire need of a few
photos of space and can't download them from NASA, you may be interested
in WORLD VIEW. If you are looking for a mind-blowing CD-ROM or a useful
space database, however, look elsewhere.
This review Copyright (C) 1993 by Richard Wyckoff for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
SPACE QUEST IV - ROGER WILCO AND THE TIME RIPPERS from Sierra On-Line
CD-ROM Version
Reviewed by James E. Luchford
RATINGS: (Based on MS-DOS/Windows versions)
Graphics: 8/9
Music: 8/8
Speech: 9/9
Playability: 9/9
Originality: 8+/8+ (see review)
REQUIREMENTS: (From the box)
CD-ROM (no kidding!)
2MB RAM
Dos 5.0
580K Free memory (MS-DOS version)
386SX or Better VGA (vga320 driver in configuration for MS-DOS)
Sound card w/DAC - Pro Audio, Sound Blaster, Thunderboard, Sound Source
Mouse or Joystick
Windows version: Win 3.0 MME or Win 3.1
OPTIONAL:
Sound: MT/CM32, General MIDI
Video: Windows SVGA 640x480x256 driver
Digitized Speech: Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
EXTRA:
"Space Piston Magazine"
TSN (The Sierra Network) with 3 Free hours play time.
Free Prodigy startup kit Mail-In Card
REVIEWER'S EQUIPMENT:
486SX/25 4MB RAM On-Board Cirrus Logic SVGA chip w/512k
Sound Blaster Pro (T4 firmware rev)
CD-ROM (Creative Labs) rated at 290ms
INTRODUCTION: After leaving those ingrates from Andromeda (see SQ III)
when join our hero Roger Wilco as he rockets through space headed for his
home planet Xenon, which he hasn't seen since Space Quest II. Not knowing
that his travels are being watched from afar, decides to make a "pit stop"
at a bar on the planet Magmetheus.
INSTALLATION: MS-DOS: Change to the CD-ROM drive and type "install"
Install will also let you read a file that tells you subtle things that a
Pro-Audio 16 board should use the Sound Blaster driver, since the Pro-
Audio option is designed for the 8 bit Pro-Audio. The file also suggests
that you put a switch in the MSCDEX line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT for your
CD-ROM "/M:10" for audio buffers as a minimum. They say that if your
game play is too slow or the sound breaks repeatedly, you can try
decreasing whatever the buffer is set for.
INTERFACE: Microsoft compatible mouse or joystick is used to change your
cursor to Walk, Look, Touch, Speak to, Smell, Taste, or Use a selected
object in your inventory -- in other words, the standard Sierra interface.
GRAPHICS: The graphics are well drawn to give a 3d-feel to the
background. As Roger appears in different screens, his size is changed
relative to where he appears in the background. The _depth_ is thought
out very well. I started with the (320x200) MS-DOS version and discovered
the Windows version runs with a 640x480x256 screen with no apparent loss
to the appearance or speed (as long as I'm not foolish enough to run an
intensive application at the same time).
The only difference I noticed was that the cursor was now B/W where in
MS-DOS it was color. That and the Windows title border above the status
bar were the only two things that told me I was in Windows -- not a MS-DOS
window but a full-fledged MPC game. I could not, however, load the MS-DOS
saved games because the save format was different, which shows they had to
rewrite the interface entirely to optimize it for Windows. By comparison,
I've tried the KING'S QUEST IV CD version for Windows and whole frames
were skipped in the animation.
SOUND AND MUSIC: What is the use of a CD-ROM with its 600MB+ of disk
space if you don't use as much as you can? Sierra uses it for music and
much more. More in the way of speech to be exact. Almost all the text in
the game has been replaced by voices of actors, in particular Gary Owens,
who narrates all of Roger's antic's. He, or rather I, would use the Eye
icon and look at Roger: "It's _you_ -- Roger Wilco, _space hero!_" When I
changed to the Hand icon and clicked on Roger and I broke up, helplessly
rolling on the floor, as I heard: "Hey, _watch it_ -- this is a _family_
game!"
Another benefit of the Windows version is that your Windows drivers are
almost always better sounding than the MS-DOS (at least mine are).
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Almost non-existent, unless you count _Space
Piston Magazine_ which is filled with hilarious Ads like Radio Shock,
Buckazoid Bill's Arcade and Sushi Bar, and a succulent Ad from Monolith
Burger on the back. The installation is simple and even comes with hints
on-line if you have trouble.
PLOT: Roger Wilco, space janitor, continues to foil his adversaries in
this latest game in a popular series by stumbling his merry way down the
old rabbit hole of time. As Roger, I not only made contact with my past
life but saw what the possibilities were in store for _our hero_ and they
were not always happy ones. He starts out in visiting the site of Space
Quest XII, where he not only doesn't get a his expected hero's welcome,
but discovers ruins of the planet he once saved.
Of course, this serious mood is purposely broken by the narrator: "You
wonder what catastrophe befell your homeworld." "You wonder what happened
to all the people." "You wonder why you're _talking_ to yourself!" I'm
surprised at this point that you don't wonder if you have to clean up this
mess when _boom boom boom boom_ -- in walks the EverWise Bunny.
PLAYABILITY: It's hard to play when you're laughing....
PUZZLES: The hardest puzzle is figuring what you should _not_ do to
complete a part of the game. I was stuck for a week in the Space Quest I
part until I found out that I only had only _one_ thing to do there....
RECOMMENDATION: It's _the_ CD-ROM to get. Even if you've played the
text version to the end, it's really a whole 'nother game folks. As for
Roger, he's everybody that you know and everyone you would like to be.
He's a lazy slob. He's a common janitor. Yet -- he takes you places
where you've never imagined. He's the kid that needs your help to
survive in the hostile universe, and he is the side of you that can see
humor in almost everything. He's even a father this time....if he can
live that long.
He is Roger Wilco, _Space Hero!_
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by James E. Luchford for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
A View From the Edge
Editorial by Ross Erickson
Welcome to another issue of Game Bytes! Now that we've got the train
firmly back on the tracks with some solid code (fingers crossed), I hope
that we'll be reporting into the gaming world on the networks with great
regularlity. Once again, I apologize for the delays with the two previous
issues. I'm a perfectionist and hate putting something out there when I
know it has bugs in it. Thanks to Ed Rafalko for putting up with my
rants and demands for a polished product. Ed is to be congratulated
for making Game Bytes 'technically' possible.
Several things are going on with Game Bytes right now. CES is upon us
again. The annual pilgrimage in Chicago looks to be one of the best and
well attended of many CES's in recent memory. There are a LOT of new
products being announced and I'm proud to say that Game Bytes will be
covering them all in great detail. Look for issue #12 to have a very
broad and comprehensive report on all the goings on at CES.
Game Bytes is also moving (inching, rather...) closer towards a Windows-
based interface. The nightmare that has arisen out of the desire to
support all the SVGA cards out there makes this move a desireable one.
Not having to worry about which chipsets and whose VESA driver is running
is a big boost to making the magazine easier to manage.
The magazine is also starting to take advertising to try to offset our
costs of production and distribution. Phone bills from hell!! We are
thrilled to have the support of Epic Megagames and others who might join
with us to help us keep this magazine afloat. I would especially like to
appeal to you, the readers. Game Bytes is for you and my intention is to
keep it free for you as long as possible, but it becomes prohibitive to
keep putting more issues of the magazine out while continuing to mount
personal losses. Any contribution you feel you can afford will be GREATLY
appreciated! We hope you feel this magazine is worth continuing to
produce as we do.
I'm also pleased to 'officially' announce that Daniel Starr is now my
REAL assistant editor, taking a ton of work from my shoulders so I can
concentrate on expanding and furthering our efforts. He'll be the main
contact person for submitted reviews and other specific issues for the
magazine. Congrats and HUGE thanks to Daniel.
Unfortunately, because of some strict policies about "commercial
advertising", one of our distribution sites, Compuserve, has elected to
bar Game Bytes from its readers. A long debate can occur at this point
about what comprises 'commerical advertising', but that debate would grow
tiresome quickly. Internet, the BBS network(s), America On-Line, and
hopefully soon, GEnie and Prodigy, will continue to be our main
distribution points.
Enough for this issue. I look forward to greeting you in issue #12 with
LOADS of excitement about the new fall '93 products demo'ed at CES.
Thanks for reading Game Bytes!
Ross Erickson, Editor/Publisher
Game Bytes Magazine
Rumors and News
by Ross Erickson
With the CES show ready to begin in just over 36 hours from now, I'm going
to keep this report short, sweet, and to the point. After all, I'm not
going to spoil the fun of all the excitement of CES, even though we've
been briefed on many new products. I'll be merciful and give you a few
things to look forward to in greater depth in the next CES special issue.
Watch for an announcement from Accolade regarding a new license from the
Speed Racer character. Something is brewing. Accolade is also making it
clear their long-term direction is NOT with the computer game market, but
rather towards the cash-cow cartridges.
Capcom will be showing both Turbo Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition
for the SNES and also Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition (GOSH I hate
typing all that!!!) for the Genesis at CES. Also, watch these screens
for a big announcement of their Aladdin game and Super MegaMan for the
SNES.
Sony has purchased the U.K.'s own Psygnosis Ltd., so this could help the
struggling U.K. company get their newer products out on time.
Armorgeddon??? A year late??? A schedule! Look into it. Their newer
CD titles like Dracula and Microcosm might get a much needed boost too.
One company I'm VERY high on is Software Sorcery. This relative newcomer
to the games market is actually not so new after all. Their aggressive
plans include publishing ONLY on CD-ROM (YEA!!!) and only in SVGA! Yes,
they can get frame rate too. It's incredible, but they seem to have hit
on something that others claim is next to impossible. Moving 4 times as
many pixels around the screen without sacrificing what's actually ON the
screen. A tip for a REALLY hot late summer product - Aegis.
No specifics yet, but Broderbund supposedly has a hot CD-ROM game up their
sleeves that they've been hiding for sometime. Watch for an excited
newsflash on this next issue.
EA's also been good at keeping a hot new title under wraps. But, it's TOO
LATE! Marine buffs who want to get back under the waves will thrill with
the sequel to 688 Attack Sub ("688 Attack Sub II???"....Nahhh). Subs are
also the talk of the town in Oregon where Dynamix will be briefing us at
the Museum of Science and Industry in Chitown on their upcoming WWII-era
sub game. "The waves, the waves...." (inside joke. Sorry Jerry, couldn't
resist!). Microprose will do the honors in the futuristic sense on the
subs with SubWars 2050. Boy, when it rains, it pours.
The last bit of news unfortunately might end on a sad note. Disney
Software, who gave us the incredible Stunt Island, just might be packing it
up as a game software developer. More news soon, but talk is that they are
going back to their roots as a developer of more kids oriented products,
plus they're going to get a lot more involved in development and animation
that involves their own licensed Disney characters. Unnatural Selection
was my dark horse pick of 1993, but now it may not ever even see the light
of day.
Watch this space intently soon for a full round-up of all the softs and
carts, hits and dogs, from this summer's 1993 CES.
Ciao.
Ross Erickson, Editor/Publisher
Game Bytes Magazine
============== GAME BYTES ================
Editor and Publisher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ross Erickson
Assistant Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel Starr
Programmer
~~~~~~~~~~
Ed Rafalko
Contributors
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicholas Deakin Drew Hess
Jer Horwitz Jurgen Appelo
David Taylor Ron Dippold
Roland Yap Vince Alonso
Richard Wyckoff David Pipes
Jim Knutson Cedric Higgens
Jeff Blatt Rob Nava
John Garcia Ken Fishkin
Brian Chung Damon Wischik
Daniel Silevitch Sean Morgan
James Ollinger Sir Launcelot Du Lake
James E. Luchford Alan Whitehurst
Mark Kern Michael Chin
Dave Masten Psycho & Oz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Game Bytes is published monthly by Ross Erickson,
108 Castleton Drive
Harvest, AL 35749
INTERNET - ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com
Compuserve - 71441,1537
America On-Line - RossGBytes
Contents are copyright 1992, 1993 Game Bytes, unless otherwise indicated.
Reviewer Spotlight: Ron Dippold
Right, I've been asked to give a short reviewer profile.
This is Volume I.
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A ship
appeared on the horizon. In other news, I'm a native of Alaska (though
not an Alaskan Native), having lived in Juneau nearly all my life. I
currently reside in San Diego, California, though I consider that it
would be a big plus if San Diego was in another state.
I attended college at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a small,
respected science and engineering university in Terre Haute (the armpit
of the Midwest), Indiana. I graduated from there with a degree in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and various minors
including Psychology (what a surprise, Ah ha hahahahahahahahaha!)
After graduation I started work for Qualcomm, Inc in San Diego, which is
a high tech, high pressure communications firm. So far, we've been
kicking butt, and they haven't grown afraid enough of me so I still work
here. Cutting edge technology development, flexibly hours, smart
people, great company!
Okay, so much for the trivialities. Let's talk about games. My first
experience with a "personal" computer game was with a really old
behemoth of an Olivetti calculator that had minimal programmability. It
was capable of doing the "I've got a number between 1 and 100, try to
guess it, I'll tell you if your guess too is high or too low" game,
although it strained its tiny microbrain. Next was a huge step upwards
- a programmable HP calculator. Only a one-line LED display, but it
could do lunar lander, and I could make improvement.
In another direction, I was there for the arcades. I played Pong, I
camped out for Space Invaders and Asteroids. I haunted the old arcades,
back in the old days when they were (unfortunately) almost estrogen-free
zones.
Given those two influences, it wasn't a big step to my own Apple ][ (I
still have the famous Red book) and all the excellent games that came
out for that. The graphics weren't as good as the arcades, but the
games were plentiful, didn't cost a quarter, and had games which you
wouldn't find in the arcade. For instance, _Alkabeth_, the predecessor
to _Ultima I_ was an early favorite, and _Wizardry_. I learned the most
about the machine by cracking games - 5 1/4" disks were very fragile
compared to 3 1/2" disks, and losing my original _Bolo_ disk would have
been a disaster.
I moved on to the IIgs, and finally to the PC when it became obvious
that software companies were abandoning the // after Apple abandoned
hardware upgrades for it. In fact, it was _Ultima VI_, which Origin
decided not to do for the Apple //, that was the final straw. In many
ways the PC was inferior to the IIgs (only recently has there appeared a
sound card for the PC which could match its sound), but the software
base was hard to argue with. I still pull out a game on the // and play
it now and then: _Castle Wolfenstein_, _Wavy Navy_, _Bandits_, _Drol_,
_Ali Baba_, etc.
I get into all sorts of games, from RPGs to arcade to flight simulators,
and I've programmed quite a few (though no flight sims). My big
complaint is that days aren't 30 hours long. Remember the days of High
School when you could play from 3:30 PM to midnight if you'd just gotten
a good game? And college, where you could skip that English class?
Sigh...
Presenting... the Game Bytes Issues Index! (Issues 1-11)
Game Bytes has covered well over 170 products in the past several issues.
Using this index, you can look up the particular games you're interested
in, find out what issues of Game Bytes cover them, and download those
issues. Also included is a list of the interviews and other special
features GB has done to date -- the interviews from several issues ago
still contain a lot of current material.
The easiest way to use the games index is to employ the search command of
your favorite word processor to find a distinctive string, such as
"Ultima", "Perfect", or "Lemmings". The list is alphabetized; series have
been listed together rather than by individual subtitle.
All issues of Game Bytes to date are available by anonymous FTP at ftp.
ulowell.edu in the /msdos/Games/Game_Bytes directory. Contact Ross
Erickson, ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com, if you need assistance acquiring Game
Bytes or have other questions.
Game Bytes Features List, Issues 1 - 10, Chronological Order
-----------------------------------------------------------
Issue Interview (Sample Associated Games)/Feature
----- -----------------
2 Richard Garriott of Origin (Ultima series)
3 Chris Roberts of Origin (Wing Commander, Strike Commander)
4 ID Software (Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Commander
Keen)
5 Damon Slye of Dynamix (Red Baron, Aces of the Pacific)
5 Scott Miller of Apogee (Wolf3D, Duke Nukem)
6 Bob Bates of Legend (Part 1) (Spellcasting 101)
7 Bob Bates of Legend (Part 2)
8 Looking Glass Technologies (Ultima Underworld)
9 Warren Spector of Origin (Serpent's Isle)
9 Ron Gilbert of Humongous (Putt Putt)
9 -- Winter CES Report --
9 -- Hardware Issue: sound cards, joysticks, etc. --
10 Sid Meier (Pirates!,Civilization,RR Tycoon)
11 John Garcia of Novalogic (Comanche, Ultrabots)
11 --CD-ROM and the PC: Entertainment, Multimedia, and more--
Game Bytes Article Index (Issues 1-11), Alphabetical by Title
------------------------------------------------------------
Product Title Review Preview Tips
------------- ------ ------- ----
4-D Boxing 10
The 7th Guest 11 5
A-Train 3
A.T.A.C. 5
AV8B Harrier Assault 11
Aces of the Pacific 3 1 8,9
Action Stations! 8
Air Combat 5
Air Duel 11
Air Force Commander 8
Alien 3 (Genesis) 7
Alone in the Dark 9
Amazon 6
Armorgeddon 10
ASCIIpad (SNES, Genesis) 9
Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator (SNES) 9
Axelay (SNES) 8
B-17 Flying Fortress 6 4
B.A.T. II: The Koshan Conspiracy 7
Batman Returns (Genesis) 9
Batman Returns (SNES) 10
Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. 8
Battles of Destiny 9
Betrayal at Krondor 9
Birds of Prey 7 4
Bio-Metal (SNES) 10
Bubsy: Claws Encounters ... (SNES) 10
Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space 10
Caesar 9
Carrier Strike 6
Carriers at War 6
Castle Wolfenstein 3-D 2
Castles II: Siege and Conquest 9 9
Challenge of the Five Realms 4
Chessmaster 3000 2
Civilization 5 9
Comanche: Maximum Overkill 10 6
Conflict: Korea 6
Conquered Kingdoms 10 7
Conquest of Japan 11
Conquests of the Longbow 3
Contra 3: The Alien Wars (SNES) 5
Crisis in the Kremlin 6
Cyber Empires 9
D/Generation 2
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands 6
Darklands 7 3 7
Darkseed 5
Dead Dance (SNES) 11
Doom 9,10
Dune 3
Dune II 10
Dungeon Master 7
Dynamix Football 3
Earl Weaver Baseball 2 4
Ecoquest: The Search for Cetus 2 5
El-Fish 10
Eric the Unready 10 8
Eye of the Beholder 2 1
Eye of the Beholder 3 8
F-117A Stealth Fighter 3
F-15 Strike Eagle III 10 5
F-Zero (SNES) 10
Falcon 3.0 1 5,8
Falcon 3.0: Operation Flying Tiger 6
Fatal Fury (Comparison) 10
Fatal Fury 2 (NeoGeo) 10
Fatty Bear's Birthday Suprise 10
Fighter Power Stick (SNES) 9
Final Fight 2 (SNES) 11
Flashback PC 10
Flashback (Genesis) 11
Flight Simulator 4.0 (Scenery Round-up) 8
Front Page Sports: Football 8 6
Galactix 6
Gateway 4
Gateway 2: Homeworld 11
Global Conquest 3
Gobliiins 10
Gods 6
Gravis Gamepad 4
Gravis Ultrasound 9
Great Naval Battles 8
Greens! 2
Gunship 2000 2 10
Hardball 3 4,5
Hardball 3 Statistical Utilities 7
Harpoon 1.3 Designer Series / IOPG 6
Heaven and Earth 4
Heimdall 7
High Command 10
High Command SVGA 11
Hong Kong Mahjong 3
Humans 9
Inca 11
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 5
Jack Nicklaus Golf: Signature Edition 2
Jimmy Connor's Tennis (SNES) 9
Joe and Mac (SNES) 2
John Madden Football '93 (Genesis) 11
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow 9 6
King's Ransom 11
Laura Bow 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra 4 3
Legacy: Realm of Terror 10
Legends of Valor 8
Lemmings II 9
Les Manley: Lost in L.A. 1
Lightning Force (Genesis) 9
Links 386 Pro 5 1
Links Courses: Mauna Kea 10
Links Courses: Troon North 2
Links Courses: Pinehurst #2 11
Loom -- CD-ROM version 5
Lord of the Rings II: The Two Towers 7 3
Lost Treasures of Infocom 5
The Lost Vikings (SNES) 11
Lure of the Temptress 8
Mad Dog McCree 11
Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle 11
Mantis: XF5700 Experimental Space Fighter 7 4
Martian Memorandum 5
Mech Warrior (SNES) 10
Micro League Baseball 4 6
Mig-29 (Add-in for Falcon 3.0) 11
Might & Magic: Clouds of Xeen 8 9,10
Might & Magic: Dark Side of Xeen 11
Mike Ditka's Ultimate Football 6
Monkey Island 1 9
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge 5
Monopoly 9
NCAA: The Road to the Final Four 3
NCAA Basketball (SNES) 8
NFL Pro League 7
NHLPA Hockey '93 (Genesis) 7
Nova 9 2
Oh No! More Lemmings 3
Out of This World 6
Pacific War 11
PGA Tour Golf II (Genesis) 11
Pirates! Gold 2
Planet's Edge 3 9
Pools of Darkness 2
Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods 11
Powermonger 5
Power Politics 10
Prince of Persia 4
Pro Audio Spectrum 16 9
Prophecy of the Shadow 7
Pursue the Pennant 4.0 4
Quest for Glory I (VGA edition) 7
Quest for Glory III: The Wages of War 7
Quarterpole 10
Rags to Riches 11
Rampart 4
Rampart (SNES) 7
RBI Baseball 4 (Genesis) 7
Realms of Arkania 11
Red Baron Mission Builder 8 4
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender 5
Return of the Phantom 10
Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch 11
Risk for Windows 1
Risky Woods 9
Road Rash II (Genesis) 10
Road Runner Rescue (SNES) 9
Robosport for Windows 8
Roland MT-32/LAPC 9
Rules of Engagement 7
Screen Antics: Johnny Castaway 8
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe 4
Sega CD (Genesis) 8
Shadow of Yserbius 10
Shadow President 9
Shadowrun (SNES) 9
Starfox (SNES) 9
Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective Vol.I 7
Shining in the Darkness (Genesis) 4
Siege 6
SimAnt 4
The Soccer Game II 11
Solitaire's Journey 5
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) 8
Sound, Graphics and Aircraft for FS 4.0 11
Sound Blaster 16 ASP 9
Space Megaforce (SNES) 7
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation 3
Spaceward Ho for Windows 11
Spectre 10
Speedball 2 5
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break 8 8
Spellcraft: Aspects of Valor 9 3
Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace 9
Splatterhouse 2 (Genesis) 5
Star Control II 8
Star Legions 10 6
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary 1
Street Fighter 2 (SNES) 8
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) 9
Strike Commander 10 3
Stunt Island 8 7
Summer Games 8
Summer Challenge 5
The Summoning 11
Super Advantage Joystick (SNES) 9
Super Double Dragon (Genesis) 10
Super Hi-Impact Football (Genesis) 8
Super NBA Basketball (SNES) 11
Super Play Action Football (SNES) 9
Super Mario Kart (SNES) 9
Super Smash T.V. (SNES) 9
Super Sonic Blastman (SNES) 9
Super Star Wars (SNES) 7
Super Tetris 3
Take-a-Break Pinball 6
Tegel's Mercenaries 11 6
Terminator 2029: Cybergen 9 5 9
The Castle of Dr. Brain 5
The Incredible Machine 11 7
The Legend of Kyrandia 7
The Lost Admiral 6
The Magic Candle II: The Four and Forty 5
The Miracle 3
The Mystical Quest (SNES) 7
The Perfect General 3
Theatre of War 6
Thrustmaster Weapons Control System 4,9
Thrustmaster Flight Control System 11
Thrustmaster Flight Control System Pro 11
Thunderhawk 2
TimeQuest 2
Tony La Russa Baseball II 11 8
Tornado 11
Triax Turbo Touch (SNES) 9
Tristan Pinball 9
Trolls 11
Turbo Science 7
Ultima 1, 2, and 3 (First Trilogy) 7
Ultima 7: Forge of Virtue 6 4
Ultima 7: The Black Gate 3 1 5,6
Ultima 7: Part 2 - Serpent Isle 10
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss 3 7
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds 9 8
Ultimate Fighter (SNES) 9
Utopia 9
V for Victory: Utah Beach 7
V for Victory: Market Garden 11 9
Veil of Darkness 8
Virtual Pilot 9
Wave Blaster 11
WaxWorks 7
Wayne Gretzky Hockey III 5
Wilson Pro Staff Golf 9
Wing Commander 2 1
Wing Commander 2: Special Operations 2 4
Winter Challenge 5
Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge 1
Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant 8 5
Wonderdog (Sega CD) 10
Wordtris 4
World Circuit 10 7 10
X-Wing: Star Wars Space Combat Simulator 10 7 10
Name: Lonnie Barnett
City: Cincinnati, OH
Phone: 513-777-4419
Email address: INTERNET - lonnie@meaddata.com
Opponent wanted for: Perfect General, Conquered Kingdoms.
Name: Andy Van Fossen
City: Columbus, Ohio
Phone: 614-771-7233
Email address: INTERNET - andy.vanfossen@osu.edu
Opponent wanted for: Command HQ
Name: Scot Kight
City: Ames, Iowa
Phone: 515-292-8097
Modem speed: 14.4K
Email address: INTERNET - tarjan@iastate.edu
Opponent wanted for: Falcon; Battle Chess; F1GP(when available);
Perfect General
Name: Marc Paulin
City: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Phone: 506-855-4974
Modem speed: 2400
Email address: INTERNET - markus@info.umoncton.ca
Opponent wanted for: Battle Chess 1 & 2, Fire Power, 688 Attack Sub,
Populous I
Name: Steve Crawford
City: , Colorado
Phone: 303-440-5917
Modem speed: 14.4K-baud
Email address: INTERNET - smithme@spot.Colorado.EDU
Opponent wanted for: Conquered Kingdoms, Siege: Dogs of War
Name: John Gantert
City:
Phone: 410-569-0416
Modem speed: 2400
Email address: INTERNET - jgantert@nyx.cs.du.edu
Opponent wanted for: Wordtris, Super Tetris
Name: Brett Lawler
City: Hunstville, Alabama
Phone: 205-464-0651
Modem speed: 14.4K-baud
Email address: INTERNET - brett@b8.b8.ingr.com
Opponent wanted for: Falcon 3.0
Name: Andrew Argyle
City:
Phone: 514-985-2998
Modem speed: 2400
Email address: INTERNET - uunet!sobeco!paxmtl!andrew
Opponent wanted for: Command HQ
Name: Jim Knutson
City: Austin, Texas
Phone: 512-892-1386
Modem Speed/Type: V.32bis/2400/1200/...
Email path/Internet number: knutson@mcc.com
Modem opponent wanted for: Falcon 3
Name: David Ondzes
City: , MA
Phone: 617-661-2597
Modem Speed/Type: 2400
Email path/Internet number: picasso@acs.bu.edu
Modem opponent wanted for: Anything, I do not know what is possible
Name: David desJardins
City: Princeton NJ
Phone: 609-683-0312
Modem Speed/Type: Nuvotel 14400I (V.32 bis, V.42, MNP-5)
Email path/Internet number: desj@ccr-p.ida.org
Modem opponent wanted for: Conquered Kingdoms, Battles of Destiny,
will buy other strategy games
Name: Kevin Williams
City: Cleveland, Ohio
Phone: 216-754-2313
Modem Speed/Type: 2400/Infotel
Email path/Internet number: kbw@po.CWRU.Edu
Modem opponent wanted for: Falcon3, TPG, Powermonger, CHQ
Name: Chris Fodor
City: San Diego, California
Phone: 619-220-0115
Modem Speed/Type: 2400 Hayes Compat
Email path/Internet number: cfodor@UCSD.edu (most reliable)
Modem opponent Wanted for: Modem Wars, Global Conquest, F29 Retaliator,
Falcon 3.0?
Name: Jim Green
City: Madison, Alabama
Phone: 205-464-0691 (home) or 205-730-8850 (work)
Modem Speed/Type: 2400 Hayes compatible
Internet/email: 129.135.142.103/jim@pdsjg.b24a.ingr.com
Modem apponent for: Siege (Dogs of War), Mail or call me for other game.
I can't remember ones that have modem support.
Name: Ray Eifler
City: Southfield, Michigan
Phone:
Modem Speed/Type: USR HST 14.4
Email path/Internet Number: goldberg@iastate.edu (until spring)
Modem opponent wanted for: Perfect General, others
Name: Robert Keng
City: Fremont, California
Phone: 510-794-8421
Modem Speed/Type: US Robotics Courier HST DS w/ v.32bis and ASL
14,400 max connection speed, 38,400 DTE
Email path/Internet Number: primus@netcom.com
Modem opponent wanted for: Falcon 3.0/OFT, F-15 III......
Name: Brian Weaver
City: Boulder, Colorado
Phone: 303-786-0021
Modem Speed/Type: 9600 v.32/v.42bis
Email path/Internet Number: weaverb@rintintin.colorado.edu
Modem opponent wanted for: Falcon 3.0, Armor Alley, I'll buy just about
any good game.
Name: Joel Schaubert
City: Round Rock, Texas
Phone: 512-388-4298
Modem Speed/Type: 2400 baud connections
Email path/Internet Number: schaubert@fisher.com
Modem opponent wanted for: Command HQ
Name: Dave Killion
City: Concord, California
Phone: 510-674-9143
Modem Speed/Type: Generic 2400B, getting a Generic 9600B
Internet/Email path: Killion@eis.calstate.edu
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Perfect General, 688 Attack Sub, Falcon 3.0,
others
Name: Wity Ganda
Internet/Email path: wity@iastate.edu
City, State, Country: Ames, IA, USA
Zipcode/Postal Code: 50012
Phone number: (515)294-5016
Modem Speed/Type: 14,400 bps (Intel)
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Knights of the Sky
Name: Simon Garton
Internet/Email path: sgarton@ucsd.edu
City, State, Country: La Jolla, CA USA
Zipcode/Postal Code: 92037
Phone number: 619-458-8390
Modem Speed/Type: 14.4 Kbaud (v.32bis)
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Falcon 3.0
Name: David Ondzes
Internet/Email path: picasso@acs.bu.edu
City, State, Country: Cambridge, MA USA
Zipcode/Postal Code: 02139
Phone number: 617-661-2597
Modem Speed/Type: 2400
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Any modem game
Name: Steve Krispli
Internet/Email path: 00048323@ysub.ysu.edu
City, State, Country: Youngstown, OH USA
Zipcode/Postal Code: 44512
Phone number: 216-726-7647
Modem Speed/Type: 14.4 Kbaud (v.32bis)
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Interested in playing Perfect General, Empire
Deluxe, Battles of Destiny
Name: Kris Ong
Internet/Email path: krismon@quack.kfu.com
City, State, Country: Sunnyvale, CA USA
Zipcode: None given
Phone number: 408-736-9518
Modem Speed/Type: Zoltrix 14.4 v32bis/v42bis
Modem Opponent Wanted For: Falcon3, Modem War(old)
Internet/Usenet Gaming Top 100
This week the votes from 157 people have been used to compile this chart.
Send your votes to appelo@dutiag.twi.tudelft.nl and you'll get the next
chart sent to you personally. Ask for the document that tells how to vote.
The format for every line with a vote is: points title publisher [ ID ]
===========================================================================
The Net PC Games Top 100 Edition 23 - Week 23 - June 7, 1993
===========================================================================
TW LW NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat ID Points
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 1 23 Civilization MicroProse ST [1002] 783
2 2 14 X-Wing LucasArts/US Gold AC [1169] 534
3 6^ 20 VGA Planets {S} Tim Wisseman ST [1131] 284
4 3 23 Wolfenstein 3D {S} Id/Apogee AC [1013] 237
5 7^ 22 Dune 2 Westwood/Virgin ST [1110] 257
6 4 20 Ultima Underworld 2 Origin/Electronic Arts RP [1127] 226
7 5 21 World Circuit/F1 Grand Prix MicroProse SP [1123] 232
8 8 10 Ultima 7 Part 2 (Serpent Isle) Origin/El. Arts RP [1195] 208
9 11^ 20 The Incredible Machine Dynamix/Sierra PU [1128] 226
10 10 21 Railroad Tycoon MicroProse ST [1121] 186
11 12^ 22 Alone in the Dark Infogrames AD [1105] 181
12 15^ 6 Strike Commander Origin/Electronic Arts SI [1218] 189
13 9 22 Star Control 2 Accolade ST [1116] 129
14 13 23 Ind. Jones: Fate of Atlantis LucasArts/US Gold AD [1003] 136
15 18^ 23 Harpoon (+ disks) Three-Sixty/Electronic Arts ST [1058] 158
16 16 23 Ultima Underworld Origin/Mindscape RP [1009] 121
17 17 23 Ultima 7 (+ Forge of Virtue) Origin/Mindscape RP [1001] 126
18 19^ 23 Falcon 3.0 (+ op.) Spectrum Holob./MicroProse SI [1005] 132
19 20^ 22 Crusaders o.t. Dark Savant Sir-tech/US Gold RP [1104] 132
20 14 22 Comanche: Maximum Overkill NovaLogic/US Gold SI [1101] 81
21 25^ 14 Space Quest 5 Dynamix/Sierra AD [1173] 118
22 22 7 Monster Bash {S} Apogee AC [1213] 93
23 21 21 V for Victory (+ scenario's) Three-sixty/El. Arts ST [1114] 76
24 23 12 Minesweeper MicroSoft ST [1184] 74
25 27^ 13 Empire Deluxe New World ST [1177] 94
26 26 23 Darklands MicroProse RP [1008] 72
27 28^ 23 Aces of the Pacific (+ miss.) Dynamix/Sierra SI [1010] 81
28 24 23 Lemmings (+ More Lemmings) Psygnosis PU [1095] 56
29 45* 4 Prince of Persia 2 Broderbund AC [1232] 157
30 29 11 Nethack 3.1 {freeware} DevTeam RP [1186] 60
31 34^ 4 7th Guest Trilobyte/Virgin AD [1230] 84
32 30 20 Commander Keen 4, 5, 6 {S} Id/Apogee AC [1129] 55
33 32 23 King's Quest 6 Sierra AD [1015] 60
34 35^ 23 Out of this World Delph./Interp./US Gold AC [1012] 74
35 37^ 7 Lemmings 2: The Tribes Psygnosis PU [1207] 81
36 33 18 Warlords SSG ST [1135] 54
37 31 23 Wing Commander 2 (+ Sp. Oper.) Origin/Mindscape AC [1007] 33
38 36 23 Eye of the Beholder 2 SSI/US Gold RP [1067] 50
39 38 23 Monkey Island 2 LucasArts/US Gold AD [1014] 41
40 46^ 5 Eye of the Beholder 3 SSI/US Gold RP [1225] 74
41 39 19 Spear of Destiny Id/FormGen/Psygnosis AC [1124] 32
42 40 20 The Lost Admiral QQP ST [1126] 36
43 48^ 23 Links 386 Pro (+ courses) Access/US Gold SP [1006] 67
44 42 21 Conquered Kingdoms QQP ST [1122] 38
45 44 23 Wing Commander 1 (+ Secret M.) Origin/Mindscape AC [1026] 33
46 43 22 F-15 Strike Eagle 3 MicroProse SI [1103] 20
47 47 20 The Humans (Human Race) Imagitec/US Gold/Mirage PU [1112] 36
48 41 23 A-train (+ constr. set) Maxis/Spectr. H./Ocean ST [1004] 10
49 53^ 23 SimCity Maxis/Ocean ST [1079] 44
50 49 13 Prince of Persia Broderbund AC [1172] 26
51 52^ 20 The Summoning SSI/US Gold RP [1117] 32
52 50 23 Eye of the Beholder 1 SSI/US Gold RP [1093] 25
53 51 14 Ultima 6 (The False Prophet) Origin/Mindscape RP [1153] 26
54 54 15 Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure {S} Apogee AC [1162] 26
55 62^ 13 Command HQ MicroProse ST [1166] 45
56 58^ 16 Populous 2 (+ disk) Bullfrog/Electronic Arts ST [1149] 30
57 55 19 Stunt Island Assembly Line/Disney/Infogr. AC [1130] 20
58 57 9 Violent Fighter Star AC [1185] 26
59 56 15 Eric the Unready Legend/Accolade AD [1151] 20
60 59 18 Empire: Wargame of the Century Interstel ST [1142] 26
61 60 21 Gobliins 2 Coktel V./Digital I./Sierra PU [1107] 24
62 72^ 3 Romance o.t. Three Kingdoms 2 Koei ST [1231] 51
63 63 23 Quest for Glory 3 Sierra RP [1018] 26
64 61 10 Solitaire's Journey QQP ST [1183] 18
65 65 8 Bandit King of Ancient China Koei ST [1210] 26
66 84* 3 Flashback Delphine/US Gold/SSI AC [1236] 60
67 64 12 Veil of Darkness Event Horizon/SSI/US Gold AD [1175] 20
68 71^ 23 Perfect General (+ scenario's) QQP/Ubi ST [1098] 33
69 68 5 Core Wars Intern. Core Wars Society ST [1227] 26
70 76^ 19 Battles of Destiny QQP ST [1132] 36
71 67 10 Galactix {S} Cygnus AC [1194] 15
72 73^ 3 Stunts Broderbund AC [1221] 26
73 66 11 Zone66 {S} Renaissance/Epic AC [1190] 10
74 69 11 Tony Larussa's Ult. Baseball 2 SSI SP [1191] 16
75 74 23 Red Baron (+ missions) Dynamix/Sierra SI [1070] 21
76 83^ 3 Solitaire for Windows MicroSoft ST [1214] 36
77 77 14 Might & Magic 3 New World/US Gold RP [1170] 25
78 70 12 Inca Coktel V./Digital I./Sierra AC [1158] 3
79 82^ 4 AD&D Unlimited Adventures SSI RP [1219] 23
80 79 21 Might & Magic: Clouds of Xeen New World/US Gold RP [1102] 16
81 78 5 Ultrabots (Xenobots) NovaLogic/Electronic Arts AC [1201] 14
82 75 17 SimLife (The Genetic Playgr.) Maxis/Mindscape ST [1138] 8
83 95^ 2 Shadow of the Comet Infogrames/Interplay AD [1224] 33
84 87^ 16 Catacomb Abyss {S} Softdisk AC [1141] 20
85 85 23 Dungeon Master Psygnosis RP [1024] 13
86 81 15 MechWarrior Activision AC [1159] 6
87 -^ 1 MS Flight Simulator 4.0 MicroSoft SI [1233] 37
88 86 4 M.U.L.E. Ozark/Electronic Arts ST [1228] 13
89 88 14 Wayne Gretzky Hockey 3 Bethesda SP [1171] 13
90 92^ 8 Rex Nebular MicroProse AD [1115] 18
91 100^ 23 Monkey Island 1 (+ vga v.) LucasArts/US Gold AD [1027] 26
92 -^ 1 Tristan (Solid State Pinball) Amtex AC [1247] 43
93 90 15 Major Stryker {S} Apogee AC [1161] 13
94 91 14 Chuck Yeager Air Combat Electronic Arts SI [1174] 13
95 94 23 Push-over Ocean PU [1030] 15
96 99^ 2 Freddy Pharkas Frontier... Sierra AD [1237] 18
97 89 23 Conquest of the Longbow Sierra AD [1055] 5
98 96 23 Global Conquest MicroProse ST [1068] 13
99 97 11 Rise of the Dragon Dynamix/Sierra AD [1181] 13
100 -^ 1 The Legacy (Realm of Terror) MicroProse AD [1242] 26
Dropped out:
80 22 Gods Renegade/Konami [1023]
93 4 Bard's Tale 1 Interplay [1226]
98 9 Savage Empire Origin [1192]
===========================================================================
The Net PC Games Tip 20 Edition 23 - Week 23 - June 7, 1993
===========================================================================
TW LW NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat ID
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 1 7 Cobra Mission Megatech AD [1222]
2 2 8 Ween: The Prophecy Coktel V./Digital Int./Sierra AD [1215]
3 3 8 Paganitzu {S} Apogee PU [1216]
4 5 5 Eco Quest 2 Sierra AD [1234]
5 7 3 El-Fish Animatek/Maxis/Mindscape ST [1244]
6 9 4 Robosport Maxis/Broderbund/Ocean ST [1238]
7 8 5 Red Storm Rising MicroProse SI [1235]
8 11 3 Ragnarok Norsehelm RP [1243]
9 12 4 Shadowgate for Windows ICOM AD [1239]
10 16 2 Bard's Tale 2 Interplay RP [1248]
11 18 2 Sword of Aragon SSI RP [1249]
12 14 4 Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space Interplay/El. Arts ST [1240]
13 13 4 Zool Gremlin AC [1241]
14 20 2 SVGA Air Warrior Kesmai/Konami/GEnie SI [1251]
15 15 3 Street Fighter 2 Capcom/Electronic Arts AC [1246]
16 - 1 Might & Magic Darkside of Xeen New World/US Gold RP [1252]
17 17 3 Risky Woods Electronic Arts AC [1245]
18 - 1 Legend of Myra Grandslam AC [1253]
19 19 2 Twilight 2000 Empire RP [1250]
20 - 1 Executioners {S} Bloodlust AC [1254]
The Net PC Games Top 100 is compiled using votes sent by many people from
all over the world. The latest chart is published every Monday on Usenet
in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games newsgroup. A collection of all editions can
be found on the risc.ua.edu ftp-site. More detailed information on how the
chart is compiled, can be found in the Top 100 document. Just ask for it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TW : This Week | (c) 1993 all rights reserved Jojo Productions
LW : Last Week | Weena 41 a
NW : Number of Weeks | With many thanks to the 3013 CD Rotterdam
- : New Entry | Delft University of Technology The Netherlands
^ : Climbing | for providing us with the Tel: +31 10 4114510
* : Bullet | necessary facilities. appelo@dutiag.twi.tudelft.nl
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC : Action PU : Puzzle SI : Simulation ST : Strategy
AD : Adventure RP : Role-Playing SP : Sports {S}: Shareware
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ED. - We would like to acknowledge Robert Spencer of PC Games Plus Magazine
out of Australia and offer our sincere thanks for allowing us to publish
his interview with John Garcia, President and Founder of Novalogic, authors
of the hit product, Comanche: Maximum Overkill. Our scheduled interview
for this issue fell through at the last minute and Robert was kind enough
to allow us to publish this interview. In fact, look for another great
interview with Larry "X-Wing" Holland, also from Robert, in issue #12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob: Can you tell us something about your earlier projects and how you got
involved with games?
John: Sure, I got involved with games about eleven years ago with this
company called Datasoft. The first project I was involved with was
programming the Apple version of a game called Zaxxon. After that I became
the Vice-President of the company. In 1985 I left Datasoft and started
Novalogic and we started out by doing conversions for other people. Then we
started doing original work and licensing it to others. The first
significant thing we did was Wolfpack which we licensed to Broderbund in
USA and Eurosoft in the UK. Eurosoft was the head of the UK and Australian
scene and of course you know what happened to them! But it actually did
very well for us. In fact it was over three years ago. In the last year in
overall sales. The product is kind of underwater and the underground bit.
People don't know about it but they are buying it. What happened was
Broderbund dropped the price to 19.95 in January and from that point on
sales just skyrocketed. And in November we had the best sellers list from
Software Etc. we had Comanche was #1 and Wolfpack was #3.
Rob: That's fairly impressive.
John: Yes! From that point on, we primarily did original product. We
didn't publish it ourselves, bur rather, we did it for other companies.
Things like the Rocketeer, for example, we wrote on PC and SNES. The
project we just signed off on we worked on for over three years, we
licensed to Electronic Arts. It was called Ultrabots. EA will release it
next month and that is really a LARGE project. (ED. - As you all know,
Ultrabots has already been released.)
Rob: Three years is a long time for a game. How long did it take for
Comanche?
John: We were working for about a year, although by the time it became
Comanche with the name and became a helicopter simulator it was already
another year and R&D was constantly coming out with new technology.
Rob: Comanche was
a very big hit for you can you tell us how the concept
evolved?
John: Every once in a while you get lucky, right? It wasn't so much that
we had to work real hard at coming up with the concept, but it was the fact
that we had the technology and it was such a compelling technology. I
would say about two years ago we had the first prototypes and we had
basically a map, which at the time was done by hand with NO gameplay. All
you could do was move around and explore. There was a lot of critical
projects going on in house that had a lot of gameplay to them. Yet
everybody gravitated towards the Comanche demo just so they could move
around explore. Nobody had done anything like that before. So right then
and there, we knew we had something that people were attracted to. It was
just a matter of saying, "We know what this technology can do, how can we
wrap it up into a game?" It was just a pretty easy call to say a helicopter
simulation, as it can provide the most freedom as far as the exploration
aspect. And, of course, it also allows you to shoot, which every good bo
-toy should have.
Rob: Yes it has some very nice digitized effects for the explosions and
things. The only real complaint I would have with Comanche, and I have
played a lot of the game myself, is that there is not enough missions, or
not enough variety there.
John: Well Mission Disk #1 is about to come out with 30 more missions!
(ED. - Mission Disk #1 is now available.) We have BEAUTIFUL snow terrain.
Actually, I will give you this background. We shipped the only major game
for Christmas and to do that we had to get this out fast. So the terrain
in Comanche is not as good as the ones we are now shipping in the scenario
missions where we have had months to really polish them. The look is
significantly better and a little bit better thought out. Also, we got a
lot of feedback on Comanche through the registration cards and everybody
said their #1 thing was "We want more missions!". Their second issue
concerned the balance of the missions. It's interesting. Some people say
"they are too easy" while others say "they are too hard". What we are
doing is three sets of ten. The first set is pretty easy where you might
have options like no damage. One registration card said, "Is there an easy
mode so my son can play it?". We know this a very large segment of the
market so we want to have ten easy ones, then another ten pretty much like
Maximum Overkill (which is somewhat arcade-like), then the third segment,
which will provide ten more missions that will be closely based on reality.
Unfortunately, when you model reality, the missions are not as much fun.
With this kind of hardware, you can get a hellfire missile within an eight
kilometer range which means you can hardly see your target. It takes the
gameplay out of it. But nevertheless, there was a lot of people that
requested more 'simulation'. What we will probably do is have a lot fewer
bad guys, but they are pretty smart. You will have to stay out of trouble
hoping you see them before they see you because in modern warfare, if you
can see it you can kill it.
Rob: Or, if you can see it they can kill you!
John: By the way, going back to Wolfpack, this one will probably be a WW2
simulation rather than a contemporary sub simulation. In contemporary sub
warfare, there is just no play. I think this is one of the reasons why
Dynamix has done so well with Red Baron - flight simulation based on bi-
planes rather than Mach 3 aircraft because you can really fly these things.
Rob: Yes that's a problem with simulating the modern planes. Especially
with the F-117A and F-22.
John: Like the F-117A, it's a really cool plane and I'd love to do a game
around it but what do you do, you know? <laugh> Nobody can see you, you
fly past everything else... You drop your bombs and your out of there. By
the way, I want one thing, just for clarification purposes. A lot of
people have asked about the title, Comanche: Maximum Overkill. The Maximum
Overkill part started as an in-house joke to describe the technology more
than the gameplay. Plus, it was catchy. Although we are finding it really
polarizes people. I read all the registration cards today and I counted a
total of four women who had bought this game.
Rob: What technologies are you working on at the moment?
John: Well, I can't get into too much detail but we are about to obsolete
Comanche technology.
Rob: There is going to be a Comanche 2, of course?
John: You know Comanche will never die! But we will not be a one product
company.
Rob: I've heard rumors of some urban scenarios for Comanche. Can you
confirm this?
John: People certainly WANT urban scenarios. That's probably how the
rumors get started. Being candid, it's probably not going to happen in
this revision of Comanche. It's something we would probably be looking at
in Comanche 6.0 or something! You know we can do anything but it takes up
a lot of processor bandwidth and as you get into it, particularly urban
landscape, you run into that problem. We are evaluating the Pentium. We
hope that we can do things like urban landscapes and other things that we
can't do right now. The flip side of it is that it's going to help every-
body, not just voxel technology. It can help Strike Commander <laugh> and
everybody else too. So I think the winner will be the consumer. The
consumer is going to get the most of it.
Rob: What would you like to change about the PC if you worked for IBM back
in 1980? The common things designers complain about are the bus, the
operating system...
John: In fact, we are pretty happy with DOS. The problems we've had are
people who are trying to enhance DOS, like QEMM, and the rest who have
actually tried to emulate the old, you know, maintain the status quo as far
as memory models by doing all these complex gyrations. Whereas, Microsoft
is going more in the right direction with HIMEM.SYS in keeping a pretty
clean environment. So I think all these complex memory managers will die
eventually. The other thing that has to happen quickly is some
standardization of sound card where obviously speech plays a part. Once you
have 'talkies' you never want to go back. Sound Blaster is okay. Let's
say IBM said "Our hardware is now going to include Sound Blaster-
compatible audio", that would work for me. But now you have Microsoft
wants to have their standard and somebody told me TI is coming out with
something else. You have to try to support ALL these people and that's a
pain in the butt. But more horse power, more RAM.
Rob: The 4MB that Comanche requires is pushing the boundaries a little
bit, but I would imagine that is limiting the size of your map.
John: Yeah, that is the primary consideration. We would like to have 16
MB. We also thought 4 MB was a lot to ask for but that didn't seem to hurt
our sales. What tended to happen was that if you had a machine that has
4MB and a 486, this was THE game to buy. We got a lot of that. I think the
next step that makes a lot of sense for us is if we want something
significantly different, we go for 16 MB. We are looking at that in a year
/ year and a half, when the 4MB SIMMs starts dropping in price a little
bit.
Rob: Is Voxel technology similar to the Voxel technology developed at
Pixar or is Voxel space just a similar name?
John: The underlying concepts are very similar, but what we have that is
different is the transform. Voxels have been around for awhile, primarily
in medical applications but they have been very, very slow as far as the
3D/2D screen transform. What we have is an incredibly fast transform. We
have filed for patents on it and we will continue to build up our
intellectual property coverage on it.
Rob: You said it was two years - a year developing the game and a year for
the technology. How many people ended up working on the game?
John: A lot of people ended up working on the game but the technology was
primarily developed by the programmer Kyle Freeman.
Rob: I imagine there is going to be a family of Voxel space games. What
have you got on the drawing board at the moment that you can tell me about?
John: Several things. I can go as far as telling we have at least two
major games that we are working on, but for a variety of reasons, I can't
reveal them to you. We will be making announcements at June CES. (ED. -
Mysteriously, no major Novalogic product announcements were made at CES.)
Rob: Can you tell me what they are going to be simulating?
John: No, that's what I can't tell you, but I can tell you that we will do
category after category.
Rob: How fast can the technology go as far? Obviously, a helicopter was
good because you didn't have to move the scenery past at too fast a rate
while a Mach 3 jet...
John: It's a different situation. Moving it fast isn't a problem. It is
just that we run out of it. At Mach 3 the ground is moving pretty fast, and
it would certainly be a challenge.
Rob: So you can't stretch the technology to be a falcon 4 competitor at
this state?
John: Aaahhh...I can't confirm that right now.
Rob: Okay, so there is no sign of Comanche version 2 at this stage?
John: No. Not this year, not in 1993
Rob: Wolfpack is going on a CD-ROM, I saw on your release sheet. What
other developments are planned? Are you looking at high resolution
graphics?
John: Higher resolution is not a very high priority. We would rather have
high frame rates.
Rob: Domark is working on their Harrier simulator. They are going to be
using the S3 graphics accelerator chip. Do you see that any of your
products would take advantage of something like that? Obviously Comanche
wouldn't have any advantage for that.
John: It's funny, we had a meeting yesterday where it came up that we
could use the S3 chip to speed up some of the processes. I think if we
evolved the technology we might go in a direction like that. Right now, we
would rather concentrate on letting the CPU do most of the work and doing
the very general system rather than start optimizing at this point.
Rob: So you prefer to stick with the processor to get as much bandwidth as
you can. Obviously, the Pentium will make that job a little bit easier.
As the processors become more powerful will we be getting new types of
games or the same types of games done better?
John: I think it opens up the possibilities for different types of games.
One of the things that intrigues us is having the type of game where you
call up a 'group-ware' or multi-player game, simulate a city or whatever.
A complete environment to run around in. I think that would be very
interesting.
Rob: You haven't got any plans on doing anything like that in the near
future?
John: No, but we are evaluating the situation. We are getting two or
three phone calls a week from people who have projects like that or similar
that would want to use our software.
Rob: So that's something you are keeping your eye on but not actually
doing anything at the moment?
John: We have been involved with human opponent activity for a long time.
When I was with Datasoft, we worked with AT&T in the mid-80's on this
project that was called Teleplay. It was primarily to evaluate those
systems which interacted with the user. AT&T funded this thing, allowing
us to explore a lot of potential.
Rob: Sounds like a reasonably fun project. That reminds me, any plans on
multi-player Comanche?
John: Yes, probably the next revision. It's too far off to think
seriously about how we would do the upgrade. I would say about a year from
now we might see some activity there.
Rob: Would you say that a lot of your products are technology based or do
you tend to have a more rigorous "Okay let's sit down and design a a Mech-
type game, how are we going to write it?" or is it just sitting around and
playing with technology saying, "Wow! I wonder how we can do this?"
John: Ultrabots was probably the former. We decided we wanted to write a
game with robots where you could get up close and see some real cool robots
and then we designed the technology around that concept. So projects are
pretty much done on a game by game basis. It's generally driven by
something that we want to do. Sometimes you get lucky and wind up with a
technology which makes a slam dunk. That really makes you think about how
you are going to implement it and make it better than anybody else.
Rob: So are you trying to set up several different product lines with
things like an Ultrabots-type engine and a Comanche engine?
John: Well, we are doing another product using the Ultrabots system which
is a forthcoming game called Armored Fist, a tank simulator. We probably
won't do much more than that. One of the things we try and do is obsolete
our own technology. So rather than rest on our laurels and let other
people get ahead of us, we are already doing a post-Comanche technology.
(ED. - Novalogic has already announced that they are redesigned Armored
Fist to take advantage of their Voxel technology first seen in Comanche).
Rob: Is there going to be an Ultrabots 2?
John: There may be. It really depends how well Ultrabots does in the
market. One of the things we are looking at is nobody has yet done a
successful robot simulation. There has been FASA titles such as
Mechwarrior and Battletech. I'm not quite sure if this is correct, but
what I had heard is that life time sales on one, (I think it was
Mechwarrior, the one that looked a little like Ultrabots but uses Dynamix
weapons and engines) sold about 16000 units which as you know, would be
considered not a great hit. I played the game and I wasn't very impressed
with it. Nevertheless, nobody in that category, to my knowledge, has had
any major sales. We sold 140,000 units in ten weeks. So nothing has had
that strength. We will see. I think Ultrabots should do very well and
depending on the strength of that before we will determine whether we do
any follow-ons.
Rob: What games do you, or have you played, that influence your design
philosophy?
John: Hmmm. Good question. I play very few games these days since I'm
somewhat burnt out on games. One of the things that lets me know if a game
is good is that it catches my interest at this point in my career. I like
things like Lemmings, SimCity, Comanche <laughs>. I played that a lot and
not just because I had to. Of course, I sample a lot of games like flight
simulators. I've really enjoyed the ones in the past few years. I
thought Lemmings was very cute.
Rob: How do you see the future of PC games? What direction will be be
going next?
John: We are very actively working on a VR project, full blown, total
immersion VR!
Rob: On what platform?
John: I can't say.
Rob: That's not fair <grin>.
John: That's more than most people have gotten.
Rob: Has is got anything to do with Sega's home VR plans?
John: I can't say any more.
Rob: What about the seasickness problems that some people are complaining
about with Comanche? Are you attempting to minimize this problem with your
VR products?
John: Well, I was just talking about this to someone yesterday. I have
not seen this first hand, we haven't had any complaints of people getting
sick playing Comanche. What I heard is that if you strap someone up to a
motion base, then you start running into motion sickness problems. But in
Virtual Reality, when you have a head tracker and you look right, the whole
scenery moves accordingly, almost instantaneously. You lose that motion
sickness problem.
Rob: It is exactly the opposite to seasickness. Your inner ear doesn't
recognize that you are moving at 200 mph, while your eyes and brain are
firmly convinced that you are about to crash into a cliff.
John: Yeah, you know I don't have that much experience with it. It's one
of the reasons why we are so interested in what we are doing right now. We
will probably have what will be the first mass market total immersion piece
of software, and that intrigues me a lot. Not so much for the financial
aspects but just from getting the feedback, you know, being the first to
get REAL feedback on what happens when you expose people to this.
Rob: One other problem is the data glove, your hand gets heavy after
sitting there using all these hand signals to do different things.
John: Are you talking about the ones that ran on the Nintendo or the real
ones, the $5000 job?
Rob: Both. Anything. Just keeping your hand up above the desk, just
sitting there playing a game. At least with Comanche, you can sit there
for an hour or two playing, just using the joysticks. But, using a data
glove sitting there for an hour and your arm gets very, very tired.
John: I haven't tried it all, but the system I played was the Virtuality
system and that doesn't use a glove.
Rob: What is your role at Novalogic now?
John: President. There has not been a hostile take over... yet. I am
trying to get myself in the position where I am more involved with the
product than doing a lot of the things I have been doing, which is
basically running the company.
Rob: There is a big danger that as the company grows you tend to lose
touch with the entertainment side of it.
John: Yes, that is something we are acutely aware of and we're taking some
very definite steps to make sure that does not happen.
Rob: Do you tend to follow an approach of one person who takes the idea
all the way through to completion or is it more of a team concept?
John: I can't generalize. You have things like Ultrabots with two
programmers working on it for three years, or six man years. We have
projects where we have a team work on one project, could be just one
assigned programmer or an artist on one project. We have projects that
have one programmer to the available resources. It really depends on the
project. Trying to identify the best working environment for any given
person or project causes us to evaluate how to make the best of it rather
than make them fit into some structure which might look good in the
corporate flow chart. It's a very individualistic art form here and we
try to work with that rather than against it.
Rob: How many projects do you have in development at the moment?
John: Quite a few, off the top of my head, maybe ten. We have been around
for eight years. Since Comanche, people have been going crazy and we've
become an overnight success. They don't realize it's a fairly substantial
company and we do a lot of work with a lot of people. We worked for
Philips, Sega and others. We still have involvement with people like
Disney.
Rob: It seems to be one of the more free-form companies around. You guys
seem to have a lot of different things going on, all heading off in
different directions.
John: Yeah, we have a good mixture, a good stage, a good financial base
and I can sleep at night. We are profitable, and there is a lot to be said
for that. We are very conservative. It has taken us eight years to get
where we are. Whereas other people have come and gone, we're still taking
very deliberate steps to keep on growing in a very well-thought out way.
For the VR project, certain milestones we can talk about, but because we
are doing this in conjunction with somebody else, there is a great deal of
hardware involved and it is really the other party that is gating the
dissemination of information. Two weeks ago, I couldn't have even told you
we were working on a VR project. So as that progresses, the other party
will be working on other announcements.
Rob: Is it an American company? Can you tell me that much?
John: Yes and No. It's a Multinational company.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ED. - At this point the interview moved towards local issues for PC Games
Plus Magazine and Novalogic and wouldn't be of interest to Game Bytes
readers. We hope you enjoyed this interview and look forward to publishing
more in the future. Our thanks, once again, to Robert Spencer of PC Games
Plus Magazine.
This interview is Copyright (C) 1993 by Midnight Publishing. Used with
permission in Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.
CES Early Press Release Information (Or so it seems)
By Jer Horwitz
The following information on new game releases has been provided to me in
advance of the Summer CES in Chicago -- As promised on UseNET, when I get
the info, you get the info... So, here goes.
ABSOLUTE ENTERTAINMENT is brimming with pride over their new RPG sequel to
the successful tank strategy game, Super Battletank. Their new one, "No
Gays in the Military", carries the endorsement of the famous retired
General, Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf. Working your way up the ranks from
Fort Dix, you earn your medals by removing effeminate men, butch
women and cross dressers. Face the final battle on Capitol Hill with the
evil henchman Barney Frank and the "Commie-in-Chief" himself, Bill
Clinton. Don't forget to wrap yourself in the Red, White and Blue - you
just may need it! (Amiga, IBM PC SVGA, Sega Genesis, Super NES)
To appease Nintendo fans of the successful arcade title Mortal Kombat,
ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT is considering two methods of including the gore
in the SNES version -- both using pack-ins. The box for the game will
either contain a blindfold and a coupon for counseling *or* will leave
the gore out of the game entirely, instead including a packet of
photographs of real people being burned alive, decapitated, and injured
"in popular ways." People are encouraged to write to Acclaim to express
their views on the subject of 'gore in video games', although an insider
at Acclaim says that "No one around Nintendo gives a rat's ass anyway."
(Super NES)
Back on the gaming scene again, ATARI is gearing up to show their brand
new Jaguar game system, touted in the more questionable gaming media as
64-Bit and $99. Jack Tramiel, owner and CEO of Atari, claimed that the
genius is in the marketing. "When the kids see a box that reads 'Some
Assembly Required', they know it's going to be excitement from minute
one... We're marketing this as 'a gaming kit' - you put the system
together with your own hands and save that cash right up front. If you
don't like our company's logo, you don't put the sticker on the machine --
it's *your* choice." On the subject of Atari's infrequent software
releases and lack of third-party support, "Those problems are both in
the past. Our new plan - every system ships with JagBasic.
Program the games yourself. These are the '90s. We can't be everything to
everybody."
CAPCOM's recent signing as a licensee for the guys at Sega has been
turning a lot of heads... especially those at Nintendo. In a pre-CES press
release, Capcom announced a special deal they had worked out recently to
appease both of the 16-bit manufacturers -- They'll release games for both
systems, but the Genesis ones won't be any good.
More TV game show titles are on their way courtesy of GAMETEK. Expect to
see hot conversions of England's BBC's "Name That Plant", Japan's "Benny-
Chan's Sugoi! Sugoi! Animal Torture" and "BET [Black Entertainment
Television]'s Obscure Nations of Africa." Negotiations are in progress
for Lifetime's "Supermarket Sweeps", as well as games based on the
whinews shows "Hard Copy" and "Inside Edition." GameTek
will also show "Kawasaki Caribbean Challenge." (Sega Genesis, Super NES.)
JALECO has announced "Pat Robertson Plays Super Bases Loaded 2." (SNES)
Great digitized pictures are the highlight of the MICROPROSE's brand new
3DO, Super NES and Sega Genesis release, "God's Stockpile: Super David
Koresh and the Divine Battle at Waco", the first title in their Religious
Understanding line. The line will "emphasize the tolerance of 'different'
religions," says Mary Seriph, a Microprose spokeswoman. Negotiations
with the FBI are underway to obtain voice samples from telephone
conversations with Koresh, including "Let's get it on!", "Which wife
are you referring to?" and one that's only rumored: "No - I said
Bud Light." [Ba-dum-dum, ching.] (3DO, Genesis, SNES)
The hype machine at NINTENDO is working overtime to promote their new $200
32-Bit CD-ROM, which has been nicknamed "Steam-CD" (in honor of deceased
Nintendo sales rep. Herman Vapor). The first three titles, "Misty the
Whale", "Super Mario Haze", and "The Mystical Cloud of Heated Gaseous
Water" will ship with the system. Representatives also announced that
they'll be "giving away a free car with every Game Pak sold," and that the
Big N also intends to "start selling Florida swampland" and "pieces of
famous New York monuments." And to think they only used to sell playing
cards and video games...
The exciting new three-CD product from ORIGIN, TRILOBYTE and VIRGIN GAMES,
"The Seventh Guest Part 2: The Serpent's Isle," is right on schedule for a
Christmas release. Although I tried calling each company, none of them
could speculate on the actual year the game would be released... only
"Christmas time." (IBM PC, other versions to follow upon completion.)
Origin also plans to release a special 4-disk collection titled "Origin
Bug Fixes 1989-94", a compilation of software patches for games such
as "Strike Commander", "Ultima 6", "Ultima 7", "Ultima 7 pt. 2", and
several unreleased games such as "Ultima 7 pt. 3" and "Wing Commander 3."
The 4-disk set will cost $49.95 -- a price that Origin insists is profit-
free, as the boxed set will contain a rabbit's foot, miniature Blarney
Stone, and a "lucky" penny. You can probably guess why they're included.
A $9.95 hint book for the Bug Fixes, "Assembly Language Programming" is
forthcoming. (IBM PC, Amiga.)
Word from SEGA of America is that their new Virtua (Virtual Reality
headset) will ship with several exciting simulation titles. "Cheers VR"
will be based on the hit TV show, and players can expect to play bar games
such as 'Table (Paper Triangle) Football', 'Hit the Bartender with
Beer Nuts', and 'Guess What's in Norm's Pants'. "Chimpy and the Cheetah"
is Sega's first two-player simultaneous Virtua game, where you play as one
of two zoo animals let free by crazy animal rights activists. Your goal is
simply to avoid capture -- at any cost. Finally, "Street Fighter 3" is the
sequel to the wildly successful arcade title, specially programmed by
Capcom and Sega for exclusive use on the Genesis. SF3 will use polygon-
filled, 4-color graphics to represent all of the old famous fighters *and*
their 25 new friends, but won't have any sound effects because of the
memory limitations of the cartridge. Sega has promised to insure that the
game "isn't too tough for our core owner group, 8-13 year olds."
SEGA also announced the development of a Sega-CD version of "Street
Fighter 3", which will be the exact same game as the cartridge, delayed
for several months and, for no apparent reason, minus the two-player
option. A CD version of the upcoming movie, "Howard Stern's Fartman", is
also in the works; developers say that it will "have really good sound
effects and intermissions, but we're not sure about the game itself."
Game Gear and Sega Menacer versions of "Ice-T's Cop Killer" are to
be released in the third quarter '93, but rumors of a Menacer game
with a caricature of Super Mario are "completely unfounded."
The guys at SENDAI PUBLISHING are vehemently denying printed rumors that
they intend to clone Electronic Gaming Monthly into 5 publications, which
would consist of a Super NES magazine, a Sega Genesis magazine, a Japanese
gaming magazine, a computer magazine, and a comic book magazine, while
retaining what is currently known as EGM. According to the rumor, the 50+
page splinter magazines would have contained most of the same pictures and
articles from EGM, but would have appeared on news stands a week or two
earlier to entice people to buy both the mini-magazine *and* EGM. "You
can't believe everything you read," said Steve Harris, President of Sendai
Publishing, when contacted by phone. Thanks for the advice, Steve.
Big news from SNK Home Entertainment. They're planning to sell stripped
down $99 versions of their pricey Neo-Geo entertainment system -- capable
of playing less expensive versions of their high-mega games, which will
reportedly run from $50-65 each. The first three games have already
shipped, and four more are on the way. Upon contacting SNK for more
details, a representative informed me that they were already taking
pre-orders, and would start shipping the Genesis and Super NES systems
as soon as they arrived.
Adding on to their successful 'edutainment' releases for PCs and game
consoles, SOFTWARE TOOLWORKS plans to unveil "Secrets of the Female
Erogenous Zones Starring Hugh Hefner" for the Turbo Duo and 3DO systems.
Although the 3DO version will supposedly feature "full-motion video", the
Duo system has a smaller RAM buffer (2 meg) so the video will "come on
screen in short spurts." Can't wait... A Super NES version of "Secrets
of the Male Erogenous Zones" is planned, but Software Toolworks'
programmers are having trouble making it harder, longer, and faster.
After the success of their Super NES versions of "Home Alone" and "Home
Alone 2", TOY*HEADQUARTERS (aka T*HQ) has decided not to release another
Home Alone game... but they do have a new line of big licensed carts in
the works. The "Washed Up" series will begin with "Bob Hope's Comedy
Palace", which will feature a one-meg "comedy game" and a seven-meg golf
section for people who find that they can't win the first part. T*HQ
has also announced plans to work with Sony Imagesoft to develop a
"Washed Up" line of "Make Your Own Music Videos", which will begin with
games featuring Jerry Lee Lewis and Willie Nelson. Proceeds from the
games will go directly to the IRS. Negotiations for an Ed McMahon game
are in the works. (Sega Genesis, Super NES)
TURBO TECHNOLOGIES INC. announced the theme of their new advertising
campaign, "The Comeback Company," and several game licenses to help
solidify that image. "Jim Kelly Football" will carry the endorsement of
the 3-time SuperBowl-contender Buffalo Bills' Quarterback, who has had
his hands in the design of the game. Programmers note it will be one of
the most realistic ever; "Jim helped a lot with the 'RealInjury' feature,"
says Jack Darman, "which will take a key player out of the game during
a critical moment -- adds to the challenge. With Jim's help, we also
wrote in several 'status' types for each of the players, and to the best
of our knowledge, this is the only football game ever to incorporate
'drunk' and 'hung-over' as status types." Darman also noted that they
were interested in signing former Bills' place kicker Scott Norwood for a
few digitized pictures in the kicking sections of the game, "but we're
having a hard time finding him." TTI will also show "Jimmy the Greek's
Hard Knocks Casino" and "General Motors Auto Racing." (TurboGrafx-16 and
TTI TurboDuo)
That's all for now, but you can count on more honest information direct
from Game Bytes after the show. Until then, CIAO...
- Jer Horwitz
THE LOST FILES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE SERRATED SCAPEL
by Electronic Arts
Game Solution
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game notes:
1. Talk to EVERYONE, including your pal Dr. Watson!
2. Try ALL the replies you see on screen.
3. Look at EVERY OBJECT. Especially those you picked up. They
usually lead to a new location on the map.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to Alley.
Get cigs butts, battered piece of paper, white powdery residue, and iron
pipe. Look at EVERYTHING! Like the corpse, abrasions, scratches, etc.
Anything you can point at: LOOK AT IT. Likewise, LOOK AT EVERY OBJECT you
pick up.
Talk to Inspector Lestrade. Exhaustively use up all your reply option.
It's also a good idea to talk to Dr. Watson or anyone else. Just use all
the reply option. You never know what sort of information you can get from
them.
Open stagedoor and go into the dressing room.
Get perfume bottle, spring (under the wardrobe), flower, and handwritten
note. (REMEMBER TO LOOK AT EVERY OBJECT YOU GET!) Talk to Henry
Cattruthers. Give him the spring. Talk to Shelia Parker. Tell Watson to
give her a sedative to calm her down. Question Shelia again.
Go to Sarah Carroway's Flat; it should be on the map now.
Open umbrella; get brass key. Look at laundry basket; pick up sweater;
look at rugby sweater.
Go to Belle's Perfumerie (this will appear on the map once you look at the
perfume bottle). Talk to Belle about the man who purchased the perfume
bottle. Just exhaustively ask/answer her questions. Buy perfume number 4:
Cote D'Azur. Belle will go into the storage room to get it; this is your
chance to talk to the cleaning woman. Again, ask her about the man who
purchased the perfume bottle.
Go to 221b Baker Street and go inside your house.
Use flower on lab table; use flower on microscope. Use oil-wicker burner.
Use flower on flask.
Use powdery residue on lab table. Use residue on flask. Use oil-wicker
burner. Use reside on test tube.
Go outside and give flower to Wiggins (the boy next to the newspaper
stand). Tell him to locate the person who sells this artificially dyed
flower.
Go to Southwark Morgue.
Ask the coroner for the effects of Sarah. Try to get the large key. He'll
tell you that you need permission. Talk to Inspector Gregson. Go to
Scotland Yard.
You won't be able to go in; go back to the Morgue. Talk to Gregson AGAIN.
He'll fix things for you. Go in and talk to Duty Officer. He'll tell you
to get lost. Go outside and talk to apparently blind vendor. Tell him that
you need some advice on getting pass the Duty Officer or else you will
turn him in. Go in and talk to the Duty Officer again. Ask for Inspector
Lestrade; tell him that you need his permission to get at Sarah's effects.
Talk to Duty Officer to obtain permission slip. Go back to the Morgue.
Show permission slip to the coroner. Now get large key.
Go to Alley.
Open stagedoor with large key. Go inside; open drawer with brass key. Look
at top drawer and get the opera tickets.
Go to Chancery Opera House.
Show tickets to usher on the left. Talk to the manager. Tell him you want
to see Anna Carroway's dressing room. He'll say no. Don't worry. Go right
and show tickets to usher on the right. Go upstairs. Show your tickets to
the elderly woman. Follow the dialogue and she'll give you a note saying
you can have access to Anna Carroway's dressing room. Pump the elderly
woman for ALL the information you can; it's crucial she tells you that
Sarah's boyfriend (the one who HATES Sarah's pendant) name's is JAMES. Go
down and show the note to the manager.
You need to open up the drawer inside the dressing room. Talk to Watson so
he can distract the manager by going into the closet searching for
something. Open the drawer and look at the middle one. Get the ring of
keys. Leave the opera and ...
Go to 221b Baker Street.
Wiggins should be back by now. If not just wander around other locations
until he is. He'll tell you that he's located the flower seller in Covent
Gardens.
Go to Covent Gardens.
Talk to the young girl selling flowers. Buy a flower from her first and
then pump her for all the info. she's got! Pick up the flower bouquet in
the barrel. Use the wire basket in the barrel to get the cuff-links. Go
into the Moongate pub.
Ask the bartender (publican) about the cuff links. Then ask him about the
guy who came into the bar. You'll have to beat him at darts before he
gives you this bit of info. Challenge the other three drunks. Beat them
and then challenge the bartender.
Go to Hattington Street Chemist.
Buy any potion from the chemist first. Then talk to the stockboy. Pump him
for all he's got.
Go to South Kensington Field.
Now the guy you're looking for his named James. You need these three
pieces of info. in order to find him. What he smokes (from the cleaning
lady in Belle's Perfumerie), his name (from the elderly woman in the
opera), and his physical appearance (from Belle of Belle's Perfumerie). If
you have all that then talk to the coach and James will come running out
from the field. Talk to him about Sarah Carroway. Then lower the boom by
showing him the perfume bottle!
Go to the Dormitory.
Talk to James; in the end he won't believe his beloved Sarah's dead until
you bring him PROOF ... like a death certificate. If anyone managed to
snag the certificate from the Morgue let me know! I can't do it. Instead
let's bring James something else ... like a NEWSPAPER!
Go to 221b Baker Street.
Talk to Jonas the newspaper seller. Tell him that you want last week's
paper. Then talk to Wiggins as he can get it for you. (Actually he HAS it.
.)
Go to the Dormitory.
Show the newspaper to James. Now while he's all depressed fire those
questions away!
Go to St. Bernard's Publick House.
Talk to the two billiard player and the spectator. You won't get much from
them initially. The player in the yellow sweater (Jack Mahoney) has the
info. you need. After talking to the trio, talk to the bartender. Ask him
about the marriage status of Jack Mahoney. Then talk to Jack again. He'll
probably tell you to bug off at first, but then he'll listen when you
threaten to tell his wife about his mistress. He'll give in and tell you
where Antonio Caruso's flat is.
Go to Antonio Caruso's flat.
Talk to Antonio. Ask him all the questions you can. He'll tell you the
location of Anna Carroway's flat and a little boy who's attached to Anna
and how he likes to play with a gyroscope.
Go to Anna Carroway's flat.
Ring the doorbell or pull the knocker a couple of times first. Then you
can just use the ring of keys to open up the door and go on in. Look at
the silver salver and get the calling cards. Be sure to grab the calling
card of Jacob Farthington, Barrister. You can ignore the calling card of
Antonio Caruso. Now MOVE the left plant pot to spill over some dirt. Go
upstairs and talk to the cleaning lady. Tell her you spilled some dirt
downstairs. When she's gone move the statue and get the book. Look at the
book.
Go to The Law Officer of Jacob Farthington.
Talk to him and he'll tell you the whole sob story of the Carroway's
family.
Go to 221b Baker Street.
Talk to Wiggins and get his gyroscope.
Go to Picnic Site and Playground.
Use gyroscope on solitary boy. Talk to him and then GIVE him the
gyroscope. He's going to leave his cap. Take it and LOOK at his cap.
Go to Eddington's Equestrian Shop.
Talk to the counterman. He won't tell you who purchased the cap. Not yet
at least. Look at the coat of arms. Some of them are FAKE! Cry fraud and
watch the two customers depart! Talk to Watson and see what he thinks and
then talk to the counterman again. Now he's singing a different tune!
Go to Bradley's Tobacco Shop.
Talk to the young man behind the counter. Then start moving those crates.
When he says you can't just talk to him again. Move all three crates so
they form a step under the moose head. Step up and look at the head. Then
MOVE it.
Go to Oxford Taxidermy.
Get the knife (right next to the carcass on the table) and the smock. Look
at both item. Talk to Watson. Talk to Lars. Tell him that if he doesn't
tell you where Blackwood is then he's a whole mess of trouble. Then talk
to Watson so you can get Toby the wonder dog to sniff out Blackwood in the
Surrey.
Go to Sherman's Place.
Talk to Sherman. Get the leash. Use the leash on Toby (he's under the
store's two front windows) and you'll be transported to the docks.
Open shed door and get hammer. Move barrel so it's in front of the right
door. Step up on barrel and get pail. Get rag. Use pail on Thames River.
Use rag on pail. Use wet rag on window. LOOK in window. Use hammer on
door.
Now you're back at 221b Baker Street.
Go to Scotland Yard.
Talk to Duty Officer and tell him you need a pass to visit the prisoner in
Row Street Police Court.
Go to Row Street Police Court.
Show pass to guard. Open gate and talk to Blackwood.
Go to Jaimeson Buying and Selling.
Talk to Nigel Jaimeson. Just try all the different dialogue and Nigel will
cave in eventually.
Go to Moorehead and Gardner Detective Agency.
Talk to the receptionist. Try all the different dialogue here, too.
Go to London Zoological Gardens.
Talk to Officer Dugan. Open the gates. Go right. Look at corpse, its
broken leg, etc. Talk to Inspector Gregson and his constable. Go into Head
Keeper office. Talk to Hollington. You just need to get the name of lion
keeper from Hollington: Simon Kingsley.
Exit Hollington's office. Go right to where the elephant is. Go right
again. Look at the shiny object in the lion's den. Try to get it. Exit
zoo.
Go to Simon Kingsley's flat.
Talk to Simon. Look at his boots. Talk to him again. Look at the picture
of Felix the lion. Talk to him. Look at his books about animals. Now you
should be able to ask him to hold down Felix while you go into the lion's
den to retrieve the shiny object.
Go to London Zoological Gardens.
Go to lion's den and retrieve shiny object. Look at it. It's a pocket
watch with a piece of paper inside.
Go to Moorehead and Gardner Detective Agency.
Try to open the door. Talk to Watson. Talk to the receptionist. Pick up
typewriter and throw it through the door!
Watch the scene between Robert Hunt and Moorehead and Holmes and Watson.
Like those English accent (if you have a SB or PAS-16)!
You'll be back at 221b Baker Street.
Go to Moorehead and Gardner Detective Agency.
(What a ROYAL receptionist! Both her bosses are DEAD and yet she's still
here!) Go into office. Move comfy chair. Move the false shelf of book. Use
safe combination (the piece of paper) on safe. Open safe and get pendant.
Look at pendant. Read letter.
Go to Lord Brumwell's Manor.
Ring bell. Go in and talk to Lady Brumwell. Open door and confront Lord
Brumwell. He's going to leave and lock you in the room. Move left Persian
sword. Move painting and open safe. Get key and use key on door to open
it. Follow Lord Brumwell outside. Watch the bridge jumping scene.
Go to Robert Hunt's flat.
Open small book (on the night stand next to the bed) and get bookmark.
Go to Jaimeson Buying and Selling.
Give bookmark to Nigel. Look at Tarot cards.
Go to Covent Garden.
Go into the Palmist place. Use key on desk drawer. Open it and get silver
key. Move the candle that's on the left column. Use silver key on strong
box. Open it and get parchment. Look at parchment.
Go to Savoy Street Pier.
(Save your game here if you want, because the next move is the LAST move.)
Use iron bar on door. Sit back and watch the ending.
Modem Games Across the Internet
by Jim Knutson
My addiction to multi-player games started many years ago when I was
introduced to DECWAR, a real-time multi-player Star Trek game played on a
DEC-10. It has taken quite a few years for the PC game industry to catch
on to the spice a human opponent adds to any game. Now, we see flight
simulators, racing simulators, strategic games, and action games supporting
multiple players either over modems or local networks.
I'm also a flight simulator nut in addition to being a fan of multi-player
games, so when FALCON AT was released with multi-player support, I jumped
at the chance to fly air combat against someone. I would have preferred to
fly against my father, a retired Air Force F-4 Phantom driver, but he
graciously declined. The intelligence of the computer controlled planes
was pretty predictable and human opponents was what I really wanted so the
next problem to be conquered was where do I find an opponent.
FALCON 3.0 fixed the AI problem, but it only added to the burning desire to
fly against someone. Here I was, in the capital of Texas, a major high
tech region of the US (3 out of 4 Austinites use a computer at home or at
work), and I can't find an opponent to fly against. Yet I see several
people on USENET news looking for opponents everyday. The problem is that
they're spread across the world and I certainly can't afford those kinds of
phone bills.
That's when it hit me. Why not use the Internet to link these would-be
opponents from around the world together? So in March 1993, I quickly
threw some design documents together, created the IHHD (Internet Head to
Head Daemon) mailing list and announced my intentions on USENET. It didn't
take long to spark the interest of quite a few people. Since that time we
have gone from a small group looking at the concept to over 200 people
doing proof-of-concept testing with some simple software we've written.
One of the most common questions is "What is IHHD?". Eventually, I see it
as a network based service which allows game players from around the world
to gather in real time over the Internet to converse about their favorite
games, to find opponents to play against, and to handle the linking between
those opponents. Currently, we use electronic mail and USENET news for
finding opponents. "Talk" or "chat" (two person real-time conferencing
over a network) is used to coordinate link up between opponents, and we
have written some simple network software that runs on the Internet host to
do the actual link.
The way it works is that a player uses their favorite terminal emulator or
file transfer program to login to some host connected to the Internet. The
IHHD software is then run on the Internet host to establish a link between
the player's host and their opponent's host. The player then exits the
terminal emulator without dropping the modem connection, starts the game,
and configures it to use a direct or null modem type link.
Theoretically, this should act like a REALLY long null modem cable. In
reality, there are interesting problems that come in to play. One of those
has to do with applications using RS-232 signals on null modem cables.
Another has to do with the way applications exchange data. Most of the
proof of concept work we are doing now involves classifying these problems
and categorizing the applications into the problem areas and attempting to
find work arounds.
Applications that expect RS-232 signals on the cable are probably a lost
cause as far as using IHHD to play them over the Internet goes. There isn't
a way for us to capture these signals and pass them through to the other
side. In addition, DTR signal changes usually tend to make modems hang up
although this can usually be prevented by changing a modem setting.
Other applications do strange things such as send the Hayes escape sequence
(+++) regardless of whether or not you are using a direct connection.
Break signals would also be problematic. Problems can occur if you don't
modify the way the modem behaves when it sees these.
Lastly, there are problems with applications and the way they expect their
data to be transferred. There can be significant delays in the transfer of
data across in the Internet, particularly if it involves a round trip.
There can also be asymmetrical delays where one side can get data faster
than it can send it back. Although these delays are measured in
milliseconds, they can add up to a significant amount of characters
depending on your baud rate.
Our first successful use of the IHHD software was using Kermit between
Austin, TX and the University of Hawaii. It ran at about half the normal
modem to modem speed and clearly showed the problem with applications that
use a round trip or ACK/NACK protocol. Fortunately, modern Kermits also
supports a sliding window protocol to get around this problem.
To date, the following applications have been reported to work using the
IHHD software.
Application First Success -----------
------------- KERMIT 3/19/93 MEGA255
4/10/93 MICRPROSE DOGFIGHT 4/29/93 PERFECT GENERAL
5/10/93 SVGA AIR WARRIOR 4/29/93
Other applications currently being tested include ARMOR ALLEY, F15 STRIKE
EAGLE III, FALCON 3.0, SPECTRE, and WORLD CIRCUIT. You might note that
most of these applications are strictly MS-DOS based. This is just an
artifact of where IHHD grew from. There seems to be a growing interest
from the Amiga folks in getting FIGHTER DUEL PRO working. The only real
requirement is a serial line and modem connection to an Internet host.
For the future, we are actively working with vendors to make them aware of
the issues in game playing over long haul networks. The sheer number of
users on the Internet (roughly 5 million at last estimate) coupled with an
exponential growth rate should make the vendors stand up and take notice of
a huge potential market. We are also lobbying for the support of more than
a single opponent over a modem link where the IHHD software would handle
the information dispensing as long as the application took care to identify
the source in the data.
If you are interested in finding opponents to play against, testing your
favorite modem game, contributing to the development, lobbying or talking
with vendors or following the developments of the IHHD project, then you
should consider joining the mailing list. The IHHD mailing list can be
subscribed to by sending electronic mail to listserv@cactus.org with the
following text:
subscribe ihhd <your name>
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Jim Knutson for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
ON BEING GOD: Behind the scenes programming at Origin and Id Software
by Dave Taylor
Most game players don't realize what goes into a high-end commercial
game today. We can be told how much money, how large a staff, and how
much time it takes. But what are they spending all their time doing?
All of the staff should get credit for a good game, but of special
importance is the programmer. If the game is a small universe, then
the programmer is God. He creates and arbitrates the laws of the
universe.
Being God isn't easy, however. As game players, we expect huge
universes emulated so well that we are sucked into them quickly. The
first requirement for this is a complete fluidity of movement because our
reality is not a jumpy slideshow. This requirement is paramount, and also
happens to be one of the most difficult parts of a game. The problem is
that our eyes are far too advanced. We can't really believe animation
slower than 10 frames/second. For this reason, game programmers spend most
of their time on what is called the "graphics engine" or that part of the
program which draws the world.
On Being a 2-dimensional God
There are two entirely different balls of wax to consider when looking
at a graphics engine. Is it 2D or 3D? The techniques are very different.
2D graphics require an impressive ability to scroll by quickly so that you
can travel the world without having to shrink it to unbelievably small
proportions. John Carmack, who wrote the graphics engines for Commander
Keen series, needed the main character to travel the world smoothly.
In Keen 1-3, he used a "smart tile refresh". He maintained two
pictures of what you see on the screen in the EGA memory, and made each
one a tile larger than the actual screen. Because a little more is
drawn than is needed, in order to scroll the screen, all he had to do
was redefine where the screen started. In Fig. 1, the visible
screen is defined as you see in the solid lines, and the next screen
is the dotted lines, then you effectively want to move where the screen
is defined a little down and to the right.
------------------
---------------- | |
|................|. | |
|. |. | |
|. |. | |
|. |. | |
|. |. | |
---------------- . | |
.................. ------------------
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
As it turns out, EGA and VGA cards allow you to redefine where you want
the visible screen to start. Fig. 2 shows that you need a picture of
the screen slightly larger in all dimensions so that you have room to
slide around like this.
But there's a problem with this. If you keep scrolling in a certain
direction, let's say right, then you need a picture in memory that looks
like Fig. 3:
--------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
--------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 3
If any of you have played Commander Keen, you know that it's a mighty
big world, and you can move up and down, not just left and right. Can
you imagine the size of this virtual screen? Yeouch! So it turns out
that you can use this scrolling technique a little ways, but it's a
super-good idea to just start over and redraw a slightly shifted piece
of the world. That's exactly what John Carmack did. After sliding the
definition of the starting point of the screen in 16 pixels of any
direction, he moved his slightly larger viewport of the world over about
16 pixels. That one shift is somewhat slow, because you have to redraw
the entire picture. So on top of this sliding trick, Carmack kept track
of what the last screen looked like and said, "what needs to change here?"
There were lots of repeated tiles in Commander Keen, which meant that he
didn't have to actually change most of those. Let's say that you had 9
red, blue, and green tiles being displayed on the screen as in Fig. 4 and
that the user wants to move one tile to the right. The new colors are in
the dotted lines.
-----------..... -----------
| | | | . | | | |
| G | G | G | G . | G | G | G |
|---|---|---|.... |---|---|---|
| | | | . | | | |
| R | R | B | G . -----> | R | B | G |
|---|---|---|.... |---|---|---|
| | | | . | | | |
| R | R | B | B . | R | B | B |
-----------..... -----------
Fig. 4
What's the difference between these two sets of tiles? The top line is
identical. The next line changed two of its colors (from RRB to RBG). The
last line changed from RRB to RBB or only one of its colors (the middle
one). So instead of changing 9 tiles, you change only 3! The performance
savings is considerable on a PC. One of the slowest things on a PC is
the system bus which is what allows the CPU to talk to peripherals such
as the video card or hard drive. Drawing things over that bus is slow,
so if you can get away with drawing only a third as much as you need to,
then you can often increase the game speed almost three-fold!
But when Carmack wrote Keens 4-6, the background was quite complex,
and the slimiarity between one set of tiles and the next often wasn't
very good. And looking to see what changed wasn't really worth it
because usually, almost everything changed. But because they were
also smooth-scrolling games, he really wanted to use that slick scrolling
technique defining where the visible screen started. That part worked,
but what about redrawing it every 16 pixels? That was too slow, now. The
screen would almost always have to be completely redrawn. So what
if he *didn't* shift everything every 16 pixels? What if he just let
the screens sort of float through memory? Normally, that would be a
really really bad idea, because eventually, it might float somewhere
important, like the memory where your program is stored or even DOS.
But he found another trick with the VGA memory. Apparently, if you
told the VGA card to define the start of the screen near the end of
its memory, you'd think that there wouldn't be enough memory and the
VGA card would return some kind of error, or you might get garbage
on the screen where there was no memory. Instead, VGA cards draw
whatever is stored at the top of their memory. They actually wrap
around. So now, floating around wasn't such a bad idea. The screens
could never actually get away, because the screen memory behaved like a
globe (actually a toroid or donut). You can move north, south, east, or
west all you like, but you'll never get off the planet! In this case,
you'd never get out of the address range of the video memory. Because
he didn't have to worry about spending much time drawing anymore, he
decided to add a neat feature where he could combine two pictures to
generate what looked like one. "This let us have complex backgrounds (like
the forest in the first level) behind the sloping foregrounds, which would
have required thousands of tiles if done in a single plane."
On Being a 3-dimensional God
So drawing in 2 dimensions isn't entirely trivial. But 3D is all the
rage nowadays. Can you use your 2D tricks? Not really. You can't use
that scrolling technique anymore, because when a person moves his head
to the left or right, he sees different things. Try sliding your head
from the left to the right. You'll see the left side of your monitor,
then it'll disappear, then you'll see the right side. If you were
animating that with 10 frames, every frame would be slightly different.
Fortunately, things with solid colors will only change their boundaries.
Their insides will be the same. So if you go through what you just
drew and compare it to the last thing you drew, pixel by pixel, you'll
find that there aren't too many differences. Paul Isaac, who wrote the
graphics engine for Strike Commander, says that they used a kind of
"triple buffering." They drew one screen in memory, compared it to the
last screen drawn, then only drew the parts which changed to the video
card. This way, only the part of the scene which changes has to go
over that slow PC bus. Local video buses make this technique redundant
as there is no savings in speed (it's actually slower).
When Paul wrote the graphics engine, he made it so that you specify your
point of view in any direction and could see as far as you like. But
this caused problems. If you could see as far as you like, you have to
draw a super-tiny, perfectly modelled fighter craft, even if it's miles
away. The computer will spend quite a while on this, and the user will
only see a speck in the distance. So it became obvious, hey, if it's
really far away, draw a simpler image. The user won't even notice.
In fact, for each object in the game, there were four models. There was
the extremely detailed model for close-in views, and the extremely simple
(unrealistic) models for things that were far away. This increased the
amount of memory needed for speed, a common tradeoff, but this was well
worth it. They used the same technique with the terrain meshes. The
terrain is a large 2D array of numbers, each representing a height. There
is also an array specifying the colors. Each point represents the top
vertex of 6 triangles which end there. For instance, if you had the
matrix:
0 0 0 /\
0 6 0 / \
0 0 0 ___/ \___
0 6 0
This would represent what looks like a pyramid of height 6. To create
a skinny mountain-range, you could make one that looks like this:
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 6 0 2 4 5 1 6 1 2 5 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
>From the side:
/\ . /\ .
/ \ /\ /\ / \ /\
____/ \_/\/ \/ \./ \./\/ \____
0 6 0 2 4 5 1 6 1 2 5 0
Frank Savage, who wrote the Strike Commander terrain editor, had to
maintain this huge set of data. "The original mesh was supposed to be for
terrain, but then we found out we had to use it for cities, too," says
Savage. You can perhaps imagine the amount of space it would take to
store all this for a decent-sized world. That's a lot of diskettes just
for drawing the ground! Unfortunately, there's a big shortage on diskettes
due to Microsoft having bought a huge number for distribution of Windows.
So what did he do? Frank actually creates the world on your machine when
you install it using a midpoint displacement fractal algorithm discovered
by IBM scientists. The cities were drawn by the technical data assistants
(TDA's). Savage notes, "What would have taken 15Mb is reduced to just
70-80k compressed."
On Being a 3-dimensional Demon
Origin is well-known for its huge, immersive, detailed style. Id
Software, on the other-hand, was made quickly famous by the incredibly
fluid Wolfenstein 3D. John Carmack is not the God of his worlds but
the Speed Demon. Through the use of several clever ideas, Carmack was
able to animate his world so fluidly that many complained of motion
sickness shortly after its release.
One technique used was "compiled scalers". Normally, when you want to
scale an object to simulate it being close to or far from the viewer,
you pass it a value to scale it to and a picture to draw larger or
smaller than normal. But this routine has to work for all the pictures,
and it has to "clip" them to make sure the program doesn't draw beyond
the screen boundary. Instead of having one routine to do all this, he
automatically generates all the possible needed routines when you specify
the size window that you want to view the world from. Carmack writes,
"[I had] one for 2 pixels tall, one for four, six, etc on up to several
hundred pixels tall."
But instead of just drawing differences between one screen and the next,
Carmack used another feature of the VGA card, the ability to assign
one value to several pixels at once. For walls with regions of solid
color, this saved a lot of time.
But that wasn't the core of the graphics engine. "The 3-D code was based on
ray casting, where each vertical column had a ray cast out into the world
to
find out where it hit." But because everything was restricted to
90 degree angles, that ray would always hit a wall, and above that wall
would be ceiling, and below it, floor. Most columns as drawn would have
three parts: ceiling, wall, and floor. To illustrate this, Fig. 5 shows
a section of wall at a perspective angle and a piece separated so that we
can look at it more carefully.
CCCCCCC C
CCCCCCC C
WWCCCCC C <--- ceiling
WWWWCCC C --
WWWWWWC C | ---
WWWWWWW W | \
WWWWWWW W <--- wall (eye) < --------- | crt >
WWWWWWW W | /
WWWWWWW W | ---
WWWWWWF F --
WWWWFFF F
WWFFFFF F <--- floor
FFFFFFF F
FFFFFFF F
Fig. 5 Fig. 6
If you project the ray at an angle originating at your eye, assuming that it
is centered in front of the screen as in Fig. 6, passing through the center
of a column in the screen, the ray will always hit the middle of a wall. He
then rendered that column of the wall, the floor below it, and the ceiling
above it.
The net effect, with a fair bit of assembly, is a very fast 3D graphics
engine.
On Keeping the Gods from Making Mistakes
and Making Gods' Creations Intelligent
There are many comments about the long-awaited Strike Commander, but what
few expected was such a bug-free product from Origin. Jason Yenawine was
responsible for much of this. Using the 386's ability to specify
read-only pages of memory, he forced programs to crash whenever they
accessed forbidden areas of memory with a program called JEMM. The problem
is, you have a pointer which is set to zero, which is a bad thing in
itself, but it points to another pointer which points somewhere illegal.
"Usually, the game freezes up minutes later after a bad access. You can't
trace the problem at all," comments Yenawine. By specifying that certain
areas of memory were not to be touched, any crash would indicate the
offending piece of program which greatly aided the programmers in making
a bug-free product. He adds, "You can expect fewer bugs when we start to
get more protected-mode games."
Yenawine was also responsible for the artificial intelligence of the
wingmen in Strike, which have been noted to be more useful than their
predecessors. In each group, be they enemies or friends, there are
leader pilots which talk to their wingmen, telling them what to do.
Often when chasing the tail of an enemy leader, the leader will tell
his wingman to circle round and take you out from behind. Also,
friendly wingmen tend to cover your rear better.
Where the Gods Go from Here
Carmack is currently working on a product called Doom without the limit-
ations of its predecessor, Wolfenstein 3D. The graphics engine for this
product promises to feature more realism and speed than ever before in a
game of this genre. He has already gone through four graphics engines in
his effort to find the best one.
Savage has already begun work on Wing Commander III using the Strike
graphics engine (without the terrain and haze) which should be out...
nevermind- I don't want to jinx it. :)
This article is Copyright (C) 1993 by Dave Taylor for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.
WING COMMANDER: FREEDOM FLIGHT by Mercedes Lackey & Ellen Guon
Published by Baen Books
Reviewed by Sir Launcelot du Lake
United they fly, divided they fall
Ralgha nar Hhallas, captain of a war cruiser, noble lord of the
Kilrathi Empire - and a rebel....
Captain K'Kai of Firekka, first of her winged species to leave
her planet for the stars....
Captain Ian St. John, call sign, "Hunter," hotshot human pilot -
he thinks he's just in it for the thrill of the chase....
Rikik, K'Kai's niece, hereditary leader of her clan - all she
wants to do is follow in her notorious relative's footsteps and
fly the stars....
They were as disreputable a gang of misfits as ever flew between
the stars. But together they would free a world.....
- blurb from the book
It had to happen sooner or later, one of the most beloved and hugely
successful games ever to come our way has spinned-off a series of novels;
the only thing left now is a movie. While Freedom Flight, the first book
in a planned series, isn't going to win any Hugos or Nebulas, it is a
fairly exciting and fast moving book that is very easy to digest and
suitable for light reading. Interestingly, one of the authors, Ellen
Guon, is the lead writer at Origin, and she has teamed up with Mercedes
Lackey previously on a few other novels. Lackey is also the co-author of
The Bard's Tale novels, Castle of Deception and Fortress of Frost and
Fire.
The storyline is based on Wing Commander Secret Missions 2: Crusade, and
the first half of the book follows the plot in the mission disk
faithfully, as seen from the eyes of the main protagonists. Everyone
from the TCS Tiger's Claw is featured - Iceman, Spirit, Knight, Maniac,
Colonel Halcyon etc.. Naturally, the hero of the Wing Commander series
does not make an appearance. The major events from the game are also
used, Ralgha's defection, Bossman's death and Angel's subsequent
depression, the missions in the captured Kilrathi fighters, and the
disruption of the Kilrathi ceremony on Firekka. The second half of the
book is a totally new plot, in which the Kilrathi took several Firekkan
leaders as hostages in their retreat and the subsequent, er, hastily
arranged rescue mission which is obviously the theme of the title, though
it only comes in the latter half of the book. The mission is depicted as
Paladin's first in the Bonnie Heather under the Special Operations group.
There isn't much characterization here, and in fact, the blurb is a
little misleading. Rikik isn't one of the main protagonists at all in
the novel; Kirha hrai Ralgha nar Hhallas, Ralgha's first mate (who
subsequently becomes Kirha hrai Hunter nar Aussie through some amusing
circumstances), is actually a key character. There are, however, some
amusing anecdotes of cultural clashes between the Confederation humans,
the Firekkans, and the defecting Kilrathi.
It was fun reading this novel and I would recommend it to all those who
liked the Wing Commander series. It should bring back memories of the
harrowing days in the Secret Missions. It is a stand alone book and the
other novels in the planned series are not strictly sequels. The next
one, Intruder/End Run (it was listed this way in the Origin catalogue),
introduces totally new characters and situations never before seen in the
game.
This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by Sir Launcelot du Lake for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.
Epic MegaGames is pleased to become the first advertiser in Game Bytes
Magazine. Like Game Bytes, our shareware games are distributed through
on-line channels. Over the next year you will see some really exciting
games coming from us, including this gem - Solar Winds by James Shmaltz.
Check them out on your local BBS, CompuServe or Software Creations.
----------* S O L A R W I N D S *----------
From Epic MegaGames
In Solar Winds, you play the role of Jake Stone, bounty hunter. You'll
interact with a wide variety of characters. Some will become your allies
and help you while others will prove to be dangerous adversaries who may
try to lead you to a tragic ending. All along, a dark and mysterious plot
is developing as you progress. If you; carefully examine all of the
clues, avoid dangerous situations, win in combat against your enemies,
obtain the proper items and complete all the missions, you -may- survive
long enough to learn the secret of Solar Winds.
Solar Winds features beautiful smooth-scrolling 256-color VGA graphics,
sound card and mouse support. Requires a 286 (or higher) processor and a
hard disk drive.
Solar Winds is two complete episodes. You can try the first episode
as shareware. When you register, you'll receive both episodes, a hint book
and cheat codes. The price is only $30 US.
-- SPECIAL OFFER TO GAME BYTES MAGAZINE READERS --
Check out our special offer for Game Bytes readers for $5 off the price
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---------------------*- GAME BYTES SPECIAL OFFER -*-----------------------
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wish to have their opinions made known as well. Game Bytes is a magazine
for the gamer from the gamer, and we hope our reviewer ranks will grow.
Don't be bashful - let us hear your views on your favorite games.
In future editions of Game Bytes, we will use this column to publish your
letters, comments, raves, and complaints for all to share. We hope you
will take the time to use it. Editorially speaking, we'll only be
concerned about certain types of four-letter words, so keep those to a
minimum, and we'll not be concerned about censorship. This is a free
forum, but a certain sense of decorum should prevail. Nothing more needs
to be said.
There are several ways to send your letters and comments to Game Bytes if
you wish to be heard. We'll start with the U.S. postal system. Letters
can be mailed to:
Game Bytes
108 Castleton Drive
Harvest, AL 36749
Using Compuserve, your letters can be sent to the address:
71441,1537
On America On-Line, send your comments addressed to:
RossGBytes
And finally, using Internet mail, feel free to mail your letters to:
ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com
Any of these three mailing methods are perfectly acceptable. If you
happen to have an account on EXEC-PC in Wisconsin, one of the largest
subscription service bulletin board systems in the world, or Nitelog in
California, you can also leave a mail message for me there. My full
account name on both systems is Ross Erickson.
We look forward to reading your comments about Game Bytes and how to make
it better with each issue. There are a lot of active gamers out there,
and if we can reach just some of you, we will know this effort is
worthwhile.
Hope to hear from many of you soon!
Ross Erickson
Editor and Publisher
We'll be repeating this message in a few more issues of Game Bytes to
encourage readers to respond.
Nicholas Deakin of the University of Tasmania, Australia writes:
Dear Ross,
I happened to come across a large file titled gb10-gra.zip the other day
while browsing through wuarchive.wustl.edu and downloaded it to see what it
was all about. I unzipped it, loaded gamebyte.exe and BANG!!
GB: Gotcha!! :-)
I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing. A complete magazine with
screenshots and decent articles available free! I was simply blown away by
the thought that there's a group of people out there providing such a
fantastic service at no cost to the user.
GB: I'm blushing!
Hence this letter to both congratulate and thank you for such an excellent
presentation.
I also have a couple of questions.
1. The people who review your games. You mentioned that you have no
permanent set of writers as such. Can anyone who has bought a copy of a
game send in a review or do you send (electronically) a copy of a game to
someone to review. I ask because I wouldn't mind writing for Game Bytes but,
living where I do means that by the time a game finally reaches the shops
it is already well established in America. I am also a poverty stricken
student which means I am lucky to buy a game more than once every couple of
months.
GB: Well, we're starting to get a more permanent base of reviewers now
that we're getting our feet underneath us. We're now starting to crawl,
whereas before, all we could do is tumble around the crib. We're not
distributing games electronically be no means. That would make the
publishers more than a little uptight! Typically, our reviewers beat us
to the punch, providing reviews in many cases before we even ask for a
review. Stay with us. We're growing.
2. How do I get into ftp.ulowell.edu? I tried to so I could download
earlier issues but the computer kept requesting passwords which I didn't
have. Have you considered sending earlier issues to wuarchive.wustl.edu
which I do have access to?
GB: When you receive the 'login' prompt, just type "anonymous" (no quote
marks), then when you're prompted for a password, just type in your
Internet email path (like ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com would be my password).
Finally, a word concerning advertising.
Here in Australia we had a similar debate about advertisments on the ABC
(our national television broadcaster) due to government funding cuts.
Although the idea was dropped due to public disapproval many people held
the view that as long as it was kept unobtrusive (unobtrusive advertising?
Isn't that a contradiction in terms?) it would be okay. In fact SBS
(national ethnic broadcaster) now does have advertising but between
programs rather than during them. The point is, I think most people would
prefer to have advertising and Game Byte rather than no advertising and no
Game Bytes.
Advertising doesn't have to be irritating. Add a few cool screenshots of
upcoming games and people will be glad to read them.
GB: We share your sentiments. We think that if advertising is available,
and not forced upon someone, in fact, they will be more receptive to the
topic and promotion element of the ad itself. Nice to hear from you.
Drew Hess of Stanford, California writes:
DS: Please don't construe this as bashing or criticism, since I know
you're certainly not doing Game Bytes because it's profitable. I think we
all appreciate Game Bytes, but I think I can take a stab at why your mail
volume has gone down.
GB: Having composed on-line rather quickly, I think I already had the
answer to my question. But, I digress, please proceed...
DS: The last 3 or so issues have been delivered late, and unfortunately,
by the time we get them it's usually all old news. I think that the one
thing Game Bytes had going for it was that you had news on games that were
not yet delivered. Now your "sneak previews" are usually out-of-date by
the time you distribute the mag.
GB: Yes, no doubt. We have certainly felt the pains of squashing the bugs
we encountered earlier this year. The 'trickle-down' effect of that has
been very annoying, but I think we're over the rough spots now. With very
stable code running, it will be much easier to produce issues on a much
more regular basis. In our own defense, however, even with some problems,
we still beat every other magazine to print and distribution on reviews
like Strike Commander, Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle, and many others.
DS: The reviews in Game Bytes are usually pretty good. However, by the
time most of us get our hands on an issue, we've already either purchased
the games ourselves or heard countless other reviews by netters. I'm sure
the situation is similar on Compuserve and the various BBSes that you use
to distribute Game Bytes.
GB: Now Drew, surely you must realize that there's no way we can compete
with the speed of the net for delivering RAW information. We can't
possibly do an issue every other day. What we pride ourselves on is the
completeness of the whole, not the little pieces that make up each menu
item. Our goal is to make each issue as current as possible, no doubt, but
we can't possibly be as timely as casual comments on the net. We want to
provide more than casual electronic conversation anyway.
DS: Personally, the parts of Game Bytes that I enjoy the most are the
*true* sneak previews, the interviews with various gaming industry
celebrities, and your own "Rumor Bag"-type columns. Until you can start
churning out mags again with this type of news, I'm afraid that most people
don't see Game Bytes as having any real value when compared to the mini-
reviews they can read on the net or the other gaming magazines that are
available at newsstands.
GB: Well, here we have a disagreement. You're certainly entitled to your
opinion, but I think we can offer more than the net can in some ways, and
certainly more than the print magazines. We just need to get our act
together now that the bugs are behind us. We've never stopped producing
rumors, news, and previews. In fact, you'll read ALL about CES in Game
Bytes long before you'll read about it in any paper magazine. And, you'll
get a more complete picture of the show than you ever would from the net.
I hope you'll stay with us. There's some exciting things ahead, and with
some help that I've recently received from some very gracious people, Game
Bytes will improve even further. Given our price, though, we intend to
double our per issue price soon. <GGGG>.
DS: Again, please take this for what it is: some helpful/hopeful
suggestions as to what it is that makes Game Bytes appealing. I don't
think anyone envies your task of having to make the engine work with
umpteen million video cards, but late is late, after all.
GB: Late is late, if you have someone paying you a subscription price and
they aren't getting what they paid for. GB is late when it can't deliver
what I want it to deliver. With problems behind us, now it can.
DS: I think you should consider ditching the engine period: just
distribute the formatted text file (better yet, how about doing it in
Microsoft Word or Write -- it would look pretty) and then include a
separate .ZIP with a bunch of GIFs that are your screen shots. Let people
use their favorite graphics viewer and text file viewer. I realize that
you publish a text-only version now, but instead of publishing an
integrated text/graphics viewer that seems to cause you nothing but
trouble, maybe you should distribute the screen shots in a separate .ZIP.
(Of course, vendors may prevent you from doing this.)
GB: I appreciate your suggestions, Drew, but this will never happen. GB
will never simply become a random collection of ASCII and .PCX files. It
simply isn't what I wanted to do. You can go on Compuserve now and get the
text files. Game Bytes always will be something different and unique. When
it isn't, we won't make it anymore. (and we'll refund your money!) :-)
Good luck,
Drew Hess
GB: Thanks for your comments, Drew. It's very helpful to hear feedback.
I know you speak for a lot of readers, and we're aiming first and foremost
to keep the readers impressed. Luck has nothing to do with it.
(BTW, this is not a Game Bytes letter :) )
GB: The heck it isn't! It's probably one of the best letters we've ever
received about the magazine.
