Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: November 2, 2000

Hunting is considered in many cultures to be a very respected sport; and much like more mainstream activities such as soccer, football or baseball, various hunting organizations across the globe offer competitions for the best in the field to come together and compete. One such well-known organization in the sport-hunting field is the Safari Club International. This fraternity of hunters across the globe is well known for its charter of hunting ethics which is taken seriously by members. Several of the more recognized rules are as follows:

• To conduct myself in the field so as to make a positive contribution to wildlife and ecosystems.
• To improve my skills as a woodsman and marksman to ensure humane harvesting of wildlife.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 30, 2000

“Dedicated to those for whom one lifetime is not enough.”
– Manual, Wizards & Warriors

For those of us blessed enough by fate to be given the gift of translating feelings into words, there are often stories given to us in moments of inspiration that we wish beyond all desires to share with individuals we hold dear, or even society in general. Authors such as Tolkien were adept beyond words at taking the lines of a page and translating them into feelings; or pictures that break through the twilight of imagination, instilling the reader with a profound sense of awe and yearning to walk amidst the ruins of collective unconscious, exploring castles and mountains untouched since the dawn of time. Perhaps it is this yearning which drives us in our need for fantasy and tales of great renown. Heuristic Park — a company that is anything but new to the RPG vanguard — has released Wizards & Warriors, which attempts to capture this feeling of wonder and transport players into an epic world fraught with danger, rich with the promise of eternal fame. ( read more… )

Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 24, 2000

When one pauses to consider the effects that time has on the honored tradition of video game sequels, a very noticeable pattern develops among multi-titled series of every genre. Some of the more well known developers have found a philosophy that seems to breed classics, creating sheer greatness such as that which can be found in LucasArts’ Monkey Island adventures, or id Software’s Quake series. This principle of design is nothing more detailed than a single phrase, “Find what works best, and stick with it,” and while such elements as graphics and sound quality will doubtless evolve with each successive iteration, each piece of truly classic entertainment software retains the heart and soul of its predecessors. With the Monkey Island series it is the gut-twisting humor and unforgettable characters, while in titles like Quake, the core style of gameplay is the memorable component that remains intact. Bearing this in mind, the same principle can be applied to the Deer Hunter cycle with the latest and greatest update, in which the developers have taken requests into consideration and made a title which throws out many of the negative elements in the prequels, yet remains true to the essence of what made the original such a stunning success.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 20, 2000

Since the introduction of games to the personal computer, flight simulators have been with us, keeping the desire to reach for the sky alive in those of us who cannot afford the real thing. Of all the modes of flight available, the style that really gets the heart pounding is combat, and this genre of flight-combat titles has come along quite considerably since old offerings like Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. The two primary styles in this genre are fast and furious action games like Crimson Skies and titles which present an unerring dedication to realism like Falcon 4.0. Microsoft’s newest entry into this genre is Combat Flight Simulator 2 which, though dedicated to a strict flight model, tries to incorporate enough inspiring elements to appease sim enthusiasts and action-buffs alike.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 13, 2000

Those of us who remember old swashbuckling movies of the black-and-white film era most certainly remember Errol Flynn and his adventures as the pillaging pirate-hero, Captain Blood. The character of Blood was the essence of a charismatic hero, far more so than even the legendary James Bond, as Captain Blood had an endless repertoire of pointed wit to throw at his enemies while inspiring great camaraderie among his crew, spurring them on to great deeds in the name of freedom. In essence, he was the ultimate fighter, poet, and lover; in fact he would be just like James Bond except for one fact which made him more endearing and believable: he was human, with a heart both strong and tender, tempered by the flames into the mold of a great hero. One could almost say the exact same thing about many of the other characters that Errol Flynn graced the screen as, such as the mischievous Don Juan and the noble Robin Hood. Microsoft has captured the essence of what made these Errol Flynn movies great with a swashbuckling aerial action-adventure titled Crimson Skies, starring a hero very similar to the character of Captain Blood, the courageous and honorable Air-Pirate, Nathan Zachary.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 11, 2000

For the modern human, the concept of traversing the flow of time itself holds a peculiar fascination. The thought that we might be able to peek into the future of humanity, or change the wrongs of the past has been exploited in countless books and movies over the past fifty years. Undeniably, the literary work that opened up this line of thinking was H.G. Wells classic novel, “The Time Machine,” written over 100 years ago. Wells spun a tale of adventure and discovery, predicting many of modern history’s blunders such as satellites and atomic weapons, and indeed the collective consciousness of modern times embraces such stories as Back to the Future, Timecop and The Journeyman Project. The possibility of discerning the truth behind history by actually observing it as it occurs, or taking a trip into infinity to see the eventual supernova of Earth’s sun are just a few of the unlimited stretches of imagination possible with such a setting. Though Wells’ tale eventually ended with the mysterious traveler taking his machine permanently into the distant future after realizing the fruitlessness of modern life, Cryo Interactive, known for its adaptations of novels and other works of art, has taken the background setting from Wells timeless tale and created an alternate reality version of the story with The New Adventures of the Time Machine.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 5, 2000

When most people think of hunting, the memories evoked are those of lurking high up in a tree stand, waiting patiently for the deer to wander into your sights, or cruising stealthily through the deep forest looking for a black bear which might make a good den rug. One area of hunting known primarily only in strong hunting circles is bird hunting. Take a step back into the early 80′s, most gamers familiar with the period will remember one of the first offerings for the original Nintendo system — Duck Hunt: A light-gun title in which the object was to shoot down as many ducks as possible and have your dogs retrieve them. Since then, no one has tried to create a game with roughly the same objectives. Fast forward to the fall of 2000, a time when hunting products have become wildly successful with a wide market range other than those who comprise the backbone of the hardcore gaming industry. WizardWorks, anxious to exploit the market potential of killing avian life for sport, has turned Bird Hunter: Wild Wings Edition loose on the world.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: October 3, 2000

As you step lightly over a scattering of leaves and bramble, you pause and check the wind, always taking great care to head into the current of air. You pull out a tiny bottle of scent neutralizer and unleash a small cloud around yourself; no need to take any chances. Checking your rifle, you advance step-by-step into the thick foliage looking for a good spot to set up your trap. Crouching behind a collection of bushes you listen intently to the world around you, for any sound of life other than your own. ( read more… )

Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: September 29, 2000

Throughout the history of electronic entertainment, many sports have successfully been emulated on the screens of gaming enthusiasts. From the most popular sports like Football, Basketball and Baseball, to those with less of a following like Martial Arts, Boxing, and Hunting. Every four years, seemingly in shadow to the political races in the United States, the world holds a set of events derived from ancient days, known worldwide as the Olympics, where the best athletes of each generation come together in a major world city to compete for coveted medals, distributing joy and sorrow to many nations with a slip of a velvet ribbon and metallic disc over necks bent in reverent pride. It has been almost time out of mind since this venerable conglomeration of athleticism received an update from the developers in our industry, but now ATD software is bringing the world games back to PCs everywhere with an adaptation of the Olympic games being held in Australia entitled Sydney 2000.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: September 22, 2000

The sports gaming market has been a strange entity in-and-of itself over the past ten years. For the longest time, only consoles would get sports titles like Tecmo Bowl, while PC athletes were, for the most part, left out in the dust. As time progressed, so did the genre, and eventually we began to see offerings on the PC like Hardball and the Front Page Sports series (which coincidentally passed on over a year ago). Having dominated the console sports market with their line of football and basketball products for several years, Electronic Arts struck gold with their John Madden football series. Following fast on the heels of the incredibly successful Madden NFL 2000, EA Sports has rushed the next title in this award winning series to players on both consoles and PCs with Madden NFL 2001. ( read more… )

Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: September 6, 2000

In many families, hunting is a long and proud tradition, passed on from father to son over many generations, with each having different styles and techniques. Some prefer to use rifles, powerful and deadly from long ranges while others are more traditional, using sturdy bows and arrows to stalk their prey. Buckmaster’s Deer Hunting is the latest incarnation of Wizardworks popular Deer Hunter series, appealing to both the modern and traditional styles of hunting, offering all that the original had and more. ( read more… )

Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: September 6, 2000

In their youth, many people experience a desire to become like their favorite superhero from comic books or cartoon shows, wanting to have fantastic powers beyond reach of the average man. This is a common dream in our society, as is evidenced by the recent popularity of such franchises as X-Men and Superman. Though many games attempt to make players feel as though their characters are immortal, or one-man-armies, few try to manifest this childhood yearning of wanting to play the role of a Marvel-comics style superhero. Monolith Productions is presenting one such opportunity, giving gamers a chance to escape into this dream with their newest title, Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact.

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Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: August 19, 2000

Every so often an attempt is made in the digital entertainment industry to fuse fundamental aspects of several genres into a single game. The results of such experiments in the past have been mixed, ranging from the mediocre Daikatana to the widely acclaimed Deus Ex, which successfully fused first-person action with role-playing and adventure elements. In a bid to create a similarly genre-bending title, Infogrames has allied with Interplay to deliver Soulbringer to American shores. ( read more… )

Review by: Jonathan Houghton
Published: August 12, 2000

Stories are ingrained within the American psyche of the bravery and sacrifice made by our troops at Omaha Beach when D-Day came during World War II. As our men disembarked from their Amphibious Carriers, many of them were brutally struck down by machine-gun fire from nests of Nazi soldiers fortified in strategic positions near the top of the beach. Movies such as the recent Saving Private Ryan did well in depicting the sheer hell experienced by our marines as many of them were picked off almost immediately after the doors to their carriers swung open. The shores ran red with blood, the beach was slowly taken and the rest is history. Though technological advancement has thankfully rendered this style of invasion obsolete, its brutality lived on within the 80s’ video gaming classic, Beach Head. Keeping with the recent trend of modernizing the hits of yesteryear, WizardWorks has updated the weaponry and the time period, bringing Beach Head 2000 to gamers worldwide. ( read more… )