Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: May 19, 1998

Almost a year after its first major showing, Microsoft Baseball 3D has finally gone gold. The time has come to bring all the speculation and inquiries to the table. With the help of 3D acceleration Microsoft promises the best looking baseball title this year, and is trying to dethrone some of the all-time arcade baseball greats. The question is, did they succeed? ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: May 17, 1998

As you might be aware from reading my previews and my Strategic Advantage column, Army Men went through some plastic surgery (pun intended) a couple of months ago. Instead of a real-time strategy (RTS) game with some elements of action, it really became an action game with some elements of strategy. Having played virtually every RTS game that has come out in the last year and a half, I caution strategy gamers who may have misconceptions about this title. Both Editor in Chief Emil Pagliarulo and I agree that this game reminds us of the old coin-operated arcade games, like Commando and Heavy Barrel, where you see the action from a top-down or isometric view and move about blowing things up and picking up special weapons. Certainly Army Men is leaps and bounds beyond these games in terms of what it offers, but the roots are almost unmistakable. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: May 16, 1998

What a surprise…the humans (Terrans) aren’t getting along with aliens somewhere. Liberation Day provides a turn-based forum for these two sides to duke it out for survival. The game is similar to Fallen Haven in a couple of ways, one of which is its setting on a small continent that is comprised of provinces. Conquering each province gives you control of that continent, and then you’ll move on to the next one. The game is heavy on fighting and light on resource management and such. The fate of the humans lies in your capable hands…. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: May 15, 1998

Here’s a frightening question: What do you get when you cross Duke Nukem 3D with Deliverance? If you answered Redneck Rampage, you’re as sick as you are right. Best known as the game that lowered the maturity bar for 3D shooters, Redneck Rampage was also a pretty good (even underrated) action romp. Now, after the mediocre add-on pack Suckin’ Grits on Route 66, Leonard and Bubba are back in an all-new stand-alone adventure. Redneck Rampage Rides Again offers even more white trash shooter action, with all new levels, weapons, and enemies for your gaming pleasure. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: May 14, 1998

Curse Douglas Adams! Here I am, responsible for simultaneously previewing, reviewing, and playing several games, and all I can do is frolic with this tripped-out piece of adventure gaming lunacy called Starship Titanic. There is a stack of unfinished work on my desk, plus an even higher pile of games waiting to be perused, and my only thoughts are of needling a first class upgrade out of Marsinta Drewbish, the DeskBot. If you have ever picked up a copy of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” or a Dirk Gently novel and found yourself incapable of putting it down, steer clear of this game or put your life on hold. It is fun; it is challenging; it will have you in stitches; and it manages to bust the seams of adventure gaming convention wide open. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: May 12, 1998

In their haste to escape Imperium forces in hot pursuit, a Freedom Guard ship crashed through a foldgate and happened upon a planet inhabited by a secret faction of the Imperium, called the Shadowhand. The Freedom Guard Xenite decide to seize the opportunity and attempt to establish a base, in order to eliminate the Shadowhand forces. To do so, they attempt to adapt to the planet’s harsh environment by genetically modifying some of their own troops and harnessing the power of some of the planet’s creatures to complement some of the standard Freedom Guard units. The Shadowhand forces are supplemented by several units developed through a special project called Osiris, which relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and advanced mechanical engineering. The resulting conflict will be brutal and allow only one survivor. In Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand (hereafter referred to as “the expansion”), the fate of this battle is in your hands.

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Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: May 11, 1998

Sometimes, if you are really lucky, you encounter a computer game that feels like it was made just for you. The graphics, music, sound effects, and gameplay all seem just right, and no matter how much you play it you simply cannot get enough. Even if you suspect deep down that nobody else in the whole world likes this game nearly as much as you do, you feel like hugging the designers and programmers and saying to them, “Thanks for making one for me!” Such is the case for me with Astrorock 2000. ( read more… )

Review by: Jordan Thomas
Published: May 10, 1998

Imagine, if you will for a moment cast aside the chains of skepticism…that the world is far less secure than it appears. Consider that each and every act of justice has an ethereal, though absolutely significant measure against the fate of the race. And of course, the darker half of the equation rings true; inky black marks of damnation are scrawled across our future for every rage-filled murder or unfaithful lover. The foreshadowed plotline contained in Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy is about the nature of sin and the salvation of the human race. It is, decidedly, a more weighty story than one usually finds on a pressed plastic disc, or even a videotape. This is the dreamstuff of scripture and revelation, and though fictional, it engages the mind by probing moral issues closer to the spirit. Unfortunately, the gameplay, while initially stimulating, needs a great deal more to it, which I’ll explicate later. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: May 5, 1998

Film director Sam Peckinpah made movies that explored the pervasiveness of violence in human nature. Motion pictures like Straw Dogs and The Wild Bunch contend we have an essential need for violence that supersedes ideological boundaries. Given the right circumstances, even the most pacifistic individual is capable of taking a human life. For me, the right circumstances include gratuitous computer-based carnage. In real life, I advocate non-violence; however, my computer gaming persona is more intense, and I derive profound pleasure from playing violent games. One moment, an enemy is thinking about home and family, the next his thoughts are reduced to virtual gray matter slickering down the bullet-marked wall behind his air conditioned cranium. You may call it sick; I call it catharsis, a purification of my cabalistic psyche. ( read more… )

Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: May 4, 1998

In an era of high-powered computers, 3D accelerated video cards, and 3D surround sound, the action puzzle game has largely been cast aside by major computer game companies. Over the last few years, if we ignore clones of existing board games transported to the computer, there has only been a handful of games of this type released, and of those only a few — such as Lose Your Marbles, Gubble, and Icebreaker — have really provided high-quality entertainment. None of these has made a significant splash in terms of consumer sales (even Microsoft’s entry into the fray last year with its Puzzle Collection did not have a big impact), and indeed one would have to go all the way back to the emergence of Tetris in the late 1980s to find a real market winner here. While in the shareware world action puzzle games still emerge with great regularity, in the retail game world the preponderant assumption has been that buyers expect and demand more realism, immersion, and bells-and-whistles than this type of game can possibly provide. ( read more… )

Review by: Jordan Thomas
Published: May 3, 1998

We, as a species, possess a fascination with time travel. Our perceptual set organizes the flow of time into a stream; a linear set of events which defines the way we understand the universe. Given that within these boundaries, an effect is the direct consequence of a cause, and reaction can only occur after an action…then why should we not wish to experiment with the process? Few people on the planet have gone through their lives without reconsidering their chosen course, and occasionally wishing they could alter the past.

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Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: April 30, 1998

It is hard to believe how many baseball titles have been released so far this year, with none of them really capturing the gameplay that makes baseball so exciting. Triple Play has its graphics, Hardball 6 has its options, but neither one of them really shines when it comes to gameplay. 3DO has tried to fill this void by releasing High Heat Baseball 1999. This title takes the approach that everything is secondary to gameplay, including graphics and features. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: April 29, 1998

Games. To our myopic subculture, the word denotes computer entertainment. It means exploring adventurous worlds, solving baffling puzzles, killing menacing alien creatures, and forming strategies to defeat real-time armies. In short, if it does not fit inside a CD-ROM drive and require a 3D graphics accelerator, it is not a game. Surprisingly, not all games require a cutting-edge computer; many need nothing more than a horizontal surface of the cheapest materials and a friend. These insurgent amusements are not games as we define the term. They are… something else. They are board g-… They are board g-… Give me a moment, I can say this. They are board ga-… [Cough] They are board games! There, I said it.

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Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: April 26, 1998

When you first load HardBall 6, you are you given some basic options to play baseball. You have the choice to play an exhibition game, which uses the default rosters; go into league play; train your players; play an All-Time baseball game; or enter into a home run derby. The quickest way to get on the field is by playing an exhibition game, but league play is where you end up having the most control over a certain team. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: April 23, 1998

With assistance from Hot Rod Magazine, Bethesda Softworks has put together a foray into the world of drag racing, called Burnout Championship Drag Racing. The premise of the game is pretty simple and basically consists of going as fast as you can down a short length of straight track. You have a number of cars to choose from, and each can be customized as to its transmission, fuel, and other variables. You can select from a number of different tracks and race in different weather conditions (i.e., wind, humidity). So, pop in your copy of “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” by the Beach Boys and prepare to drag race! ( read more… )