Review by: Pete Hines
Published: June 28, 1998

You are about to read of one of the most brief game descriptions I’ve ever had to write. Insurrection, an add-on for Starcraft created by Aztech, isn’t anything other than “more.” It’s simply more campaigns, more missions, and more multiplayer maps. You won’t find additional heroes, new units, or any else of the kind. Accordingly, the scope of the expansion is really left up to what the creators were able to do using the campaign editor and a little imagination. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: June 26, 1998

Industry Giant is essentially an english version of a game called Der Industriegigant that was released in the German market a while back by JoWood. Throughout a world map are a number of populations, ranging from small towns to giant metropolitan cities. In each of these towns, people are demanding certain products, including toys, sporting goods, jewelry, and furniture. Essentially, it’s your job to decide what products you want to produce, where you want your production facilities and retail outlets located, how much you want to charge, and other such decisions. You can try to get a foothold in on a budding town that has great growth potential, or go for the high demand in a metropolitan city. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 26, 1998

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the way, military games became a lot less fun than they used to be. Nowhere is this more evident than in the closely scrutinized sub-genre of the helicopter simulation. That’s not to say that something like Jane’s Longbow 2 isn’t a great game, because it is. But with the release of each new helicopter sim comes a deluge of ranting newsgroup messages from gamers who suddenly consider themselves ex-Army Apache pilots. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 25, 1998

I was convinced I would hate this game.

Now that I’ve got your attention, please allow me to elaborate. You see, I’m one of these “hardcore” space sim junkies, the kind of guy who thinks the exploration of a distant star system is just as much fun as skewering enemy spacecraft with proton torpedoes and particle beams. I actually played the original Elite, and instantly fell in love with the whole space combat/exploration/trading genre, a relationship that only grew stronger with games like Echelon, Nomad, and Privateer. And although I became completely hooked on more action-oriented space sims like X-Wing and Wing Commander III, I have to admit that I never stopped yearning for those days of yore, when exploration and discovery took precedent over simple, fast-paced dogfights. When Descent: Freespace was first announced, when I saw those first glossy magazine ads and flashy 3Dfx screenshots, I committed the one cardinal sin of a computer game reviewer: I made a prejudgment. ( read more… )

Review by: Jordan Thomas
Published: June 23, 1998

Simplicity.

One word, one concept — often both the pride and the fall of a creative project. Dink Smallwood is a perfect example of the refined basics of classic RPG and adventure games. This is a fairly unique title, in purpose and in implementation. It achieves what it sets out to do: to entertain the fans with a return to the golden roots of the genre. And yet, I must make clear that this is indeed best viewed as a bare-bones RPG with an endearing sense of humor. If your gaming tastes these days can only be sated by the crime of industry technology, this might be under par. But if not, you’re in for a hell of a good time. ( read more… )

Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: June 21, 1998

Even though I have been somewhat inundated by racing games lately, I have most eagerly anticipated the release of Motorhead. Designed by the Swedish company Digital Illusions and marketed in Europe by Gremlin, it is still not officially out here in the United States. But thanks to Fox Interactive, the American distributor of the game, I managed after much pleading to get an advanced copy of the final version before its initial release, so that I could give all of you a special early look at what is to come in just a couple of months. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 19, 1998

Release a game, and then release an add-on pack. It’s one of those inevitabilities of the gaming industry, something as expected as the announcement of a new 3D shooter, or a company putting out a patch for a game three days after it hits the shelves. In these days of rushed releases, shoddy beta testing, and multi-million dollar deals, expansion packs are viewed with growing cynicism by those who claim publishers have gotten all too greedy, and are simply trying to make a quick buck. At times, this rationale is certainly valid; God knows I’ve played quite a few boneheaded add-on packs in my day. Yet I’m hesitant to apply this reasoning to most flight sim expansion pack, for one very specific (if not a bit sentimental) reason: Ever since there have been military flight sims, there have been add-on campaigns. More than just a marketing scheme, it is a tradition, born of the desire to take the battle even deeper into enemy lines, to visit new and exciting places and turn them into smoldering ruins. Hey, it may not be pretty, but that’s war.

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Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: June 17, 1998

If you like hacking off people’s arms, watching blood fly everywhere, taking a bat and beating someone to death, or the sounds of the undead sucking the blood from living beings, then SegaSoft’s new release is a game for you. Although the title sounds a little strange, Flesh Feast is just what the title says, a game all about a group of evil beings eating everything living in sight. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: June 16, 1998

When this whole 3D action stuff began to explode when Doom hit the market, even though it was not the first title to boast these types of graphics, there was not much else to look at. Then came Descent, a title which no one could forget playing for the first time. It was something completely different and offered a new spin on playing 3D action games. Since the first release of Descent there has been a sequel, and another in the works, and some other titles that have tried to pick up on the success of the first. Another title recently released is attempting the same thing, but this time around it includes half-naked women and a flashy 3D graphics engine to help it achieve the same success. The question is…will it? ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 16, 1998

Your local software store is a battlefield. Swirling smoke blinds your eyes, as you grope uncertainly for the new release shelf. “Get down!” a store clerk yells, milliseconds before a mortar shell turns the main counter into a mess of wood and plastic, raining demo disks and change from the now shattered cash register throughout the room. Still, you carry on. Your retrieval mission must succeed. Interactive Magic’s iPanzer ’44 will be yours! Now on hands and knees, you crawl through the aisles, ignoring the pain of glass in your palms and the deafening roar of artillery. Legs. A flash of color from a coat. You see another consumer, pinned beneath an overturned shelf, a copy of Unreal still clutched in one bloody hand. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 16, 1998

Trust no one…boy, you got that right. After playing Fox Interactive’s The X-Files, I find myself on the fringes of paranoia, checking my cat for alien tentacles and questioning my wife — if that’s who she really is — about events from our past. So far, I think I’m safe. Both doors are locked and bolted, I destroyed the potted plant (I know the hidden microphone was in there somewhere), and I’ve got a big steak knife sitting on top of my monitor, just in case…. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: June 15, 1998

Soldiers at War (SAW) from Random Games and SSI offers gamers the opportunity to lead a squad of soldiers in missions behind enemy lines. The campaign is a series of linked scenarios, each an important mission crucial to the course of WWII. The game offers a campaign of 15 scenarios as well as the ability to play single missions, custom missions, and multiplayer. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: June 14, 1998

I have always believed a mission pack for a 3D game is a breeze to create. The development tools have been created, the design precedent has been set, and all that is left is to produce a solid set of levels, creatures, weapons, and items. Choose the right design team, give the graphics a unique visual flair, then pound it out, wrap it up, and ship it off. I have been wrong. Although development teams at Ritual Entertainment and Rogue Entertainment gave the first game in this series fresh life with their add-ons, the first mission pack for the sequel is a disappointment, and fails to attain the grandeur of the id Software masterpiece.

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Review by: David Laprad
Published: June 12, 1998

Although keeping pace with the ever-pressing advance of hardware is a constant source of frustration for insolvent game players, game developers must be pleased with increased horsepower. It enables them to mold and shape unprecedented visual splendor, but just as important, faster CPUs and more RAM gives them power to inject hard-core science into their code. No genre has gone untouched, including the humble pinball simulation. Case in point, Microprose’s latest release, which simulates the physics of real-world pinball with painstaking perfection. In fact, the only things missing are the smoke-filled air and hazy lights.

( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: June 11, 1998

When your world is a darkened womb of blood, sweat, and steel, the best you can do is put faith in God, the skill of your crewmates, and the strength of your main gun. In Interactive Magic’s iPanzer ’44, you are a tank commander during the latter days of World War II, fighting for crew and country and your own expendable life. Not since the simulation/strategy hybrid Across the Rhine was released several years ago have gamers been given the opportunity to control the armored beasts of the “Last Great War,” relying on speed, tenacity, and pure dumb luck over advanced computer technology and up-to-the-minute intelligence. One thing’s for sure: World War II enthusiasts have been waiting for this game for a long, long time. ( read more… )