Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: March 27, 1998

Spring means a lot of things to people. For some, it is a time to get rid of snow and welcome in the cool breezes and warm summer nights. For others, it means baseball. It is very simple. Spring and baseball go hand in hand. After having treaded through the different betas during this sports game spring season, it was nice to see one finalize and hit the store shelves. EA Sports has jumped out of the gate first with Triple Play ’99, their yearly installment in the popular baseball series. Tons of sports fanatics have been patiently waiting to get their hands on this new version, along with all the other titles coming out. Does Triple Play ’99 have anything to offer this year? That decision is going to be up to each gamer, but I’ll lay the details of Triple Play ’99 out on the table, to help you. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 19, 1998

Ah, the glorious days when the United States and the U.S.S.R. couldn’t agree on anything. It may have frayed the nerves now and again knowing that millions of pounds of explosives were pointed at you at any given moment, but it sure was great fodder for Tom Clancy novels and computer game plots. Battlezone from Activision relives the days of the Cold War in a roundabout way. None of the action takes place on Earth, and in fact the whole game has a very futuristic look and feel to it. Your task is to lead the forces of the National Space Defense Forces (NSDF) against Soviet forces, known as the Cosmo Colonist Army, or CCA. In this space race, coming in second place means the elimination of your country as a superpower. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 19, 1998

I have always wanted to learn how to play Bridge. My curiosity really stems from two places. First, I come from a family of card-playing fools and games of Oh Hell (a variation of Spades or Hearts) during the holidays are a regular event. You haven’t seen cutthroat card players until you’ve faced my grandmother and my dad. My desire to learn the game of Bridge arose from seeing the daily Bridge column next to the crossword puzzle every day in the paper and always wondering what the heck they were talking about. ( read more… )

Review by: Jordan Thomas
Published: March 17, 1998

Dawn.

You arise from slumber, gratefully inhaling the aroma of automatic coffee. Shaking lethargy from your bones and still-tingling muscles, you scatter the dreams from your head and set about your morning routine. You brush your teeth, comb your hair, and apply a generous helping of deodorant. Yep, another day, another dollar. You crack your knuckles with relish, and yawn as you realize that its time to go to work. That in mind, you prepare to face the day by slipping into your favorite suit. The one that weighs in at approximately 100 tons.

( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines

Published: March 16, 1998

From the company that has made a comfortable living producing turn-based, military simulation strategy games comes the latest in the Steel Panthers series, Steel Panthers 3. This game offers much of the same gameplay found in the previous titles, but with a few added twists and additions to keep things interesting. Between the scenarios, campaigns, battle generator, and scenario editor, fans of this series will find plenty to keep themselves busy with in this latest offering. For those who have played either of the previous two titles in this series, this game is simply an extension with a few added features.

Steel Panthers 3 is, in the most basic terms, a turn-based war game where you command military units in a variety of scenarios ranging fromWorld War 2 to the modern day battles with the most advanced and powerful weapons of today and tomorrow. You control everything from the squad level (i.e., tanks and infantry) to the brigade level, with units
assigned to individual leaders. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: March 15, 1998

“The wind is blowing in your face as you fly across the water…,” Anyone who has ever been on a speedboat knows the feeling you get while cruising around. There is nothing quite like the sounds of water splashing as your boat carves its way through the waves, the smell of the lake or ocean, and the pure exhilaration and sense of speed boating gives you. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: March 13, 1998

In the winter we can build a snowman! And we can pretend he’s a homicidal alien intent on ruling the Earth!

It’s funny how Winter Wonderland just sort of takes on a life of its own after playing Duke Nukem: Nuclear Winter, the new Duke Nukem 3D add-on from Wizardworks. This time around, our stalwart hero returns for his most important job yet. Save the Earth? Child’s play. What’s at stake now is more important, and Duke will have to muster all of his courage and firepower if he’s to succeed. The mission: save Christmas. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: March 12, 1998

Between the years of 1914 and 1918, the world experienced what some would argue was the most devastating conflict known to humankind. World War I became known as the “war to end all wars,” an epic struggle between opposing ideologies, opposing factions, opposing armies. When the fighting was over, nearly 40 million casualties had been claimed. There is one element of World War I, however, which makes the conflict particularly horrific. Perhaps even more important than where the fighting took place, or who was killed, is how those lives were claimed. For World War I marked a decisive turning point in the history of warfare. It was in fact the first modern war, defined by a terrible marriage of 19th Century combat tactics with 20th Century technology. For the first time, killing became a true science. Deadly mustard gas burned soldiers’ internal organs; frightening, nearly unstoppable tanks lumbered across shell-blasted battlefields like dragons of steel; bullets sliced the air at speeds once thought unimaginable. And high in the smoke-filled skies, circling the trenches like vultures, soared the airplanes. Bright, colorful, the incredible flying machines flew in stark contrast to the bleak browns and reds of the trenches of France. They looked almost beautiful…until they started raining down death onto the defenseless troops below.

( read more… )

Review by: Brian Pipa
Published: March 11, 1998

I’ll admit it — I’m not the biggest fan of puzzle-type games anymore, now that I have a 3Dfx card and I have become hopelessly addicted to Quake deathmatches. However, back in the old days I was known to really get into certain puzzle games and I can still play a mean game of Tetris. One such puzzle game that I spent way too much time playing was Mahjongg. I first started playing it in college, since our Unix/X-Windows system had X-Mahjongg available at every terminal. Later, when I got my first PC (a screaming 386sx/16 with 4 MB RAM) I downloaded a shareware version of Mahjongg and wasted even more time playing that. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 9, 1998

Boldly go where no pinball has gone before in Interplay’s latest pinball title, Star Trek Pinball. It’s an interesting pinball game that mixes the action of a real table with the nostalgia of the famous sci-fi series. Try your hand (or fingers as the case may be) at one of the game’s three tables and see if you can fit the bill of “pinball wizard” and the savior of Starfleet Command at the same time. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 8, 1998

To their credit, Microforum never tried to pretend that Armored Moon was going to be anything but what it is. When I saw that the news release on this game highlighted the fact that every copy would come with a $10 rebate in the box, I knew this one was going to be a doozy. It is essentially a real-time strategy game targeted towards people who are still using a 486 and are in need of a new title to play. Let that be a warning shot across the bow to the rest of you. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 6, 1998

Arsenal is the work of a handful of guys who had a limited budget and whatever free time they could muster to put together their vision for a real-time strategy game. After three years, and with total expenditures in the neighborhood of only $10,000, Tactical Software managed to put together this shareware release. You’ll find no fluff, video cutscenes, or any other frills in this title. It’s only intent is to offer some solid gameplay and an entertaining challenge. Does it live up to the task? ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: March 3, 1998

The Night. Cold, dark…unforgiving. My heart is a perfect mirror of my surroundings, as the Eurofighter rockets above the Ukrainian forest (yet under the veil of radar) toward a munitions depot that will soon cease to exist. So far, it’s been one smooth ride; even my mid-air refueling was a breeze. But I know the worst is yet to come. Engaging and destroying my target is the easy part. Hey, they don’t call ‘em “smart bombs” for nothing. The problem is getting out in one piece after I deliver my payload. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: March 3, 1998

Can one of the most successful console games be brought over to the PC and made a success? Acclaim has made the attempt with their hugely successful N64 title Turok Dinosaur Hunter. On the N64 this game was a huge success. At the time of the release, there were slim pickings for good titles, but Turok Dinosaur Hunter offered a whole new experience most console gamers had never had. The lush graphics, awesome sounds, and amazing weapons drew them into the polyganized jungle of this title. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: March 2, 1998

Ew, gross! Hey, cool! I find myself saying those two rather eloquent phrases consistently while playing the new add-on for Carmageddon, called the Splat Pack. Quite simply, this expansion offers more of the same. If you loved the thrill of making a bloody mess of pedestrians while making your way around some pretty cool tracks, then hang on to your hat. More levels, new opponents, and souped-up cars make for more great action in the Carmageddon Splat Pack. ( read more… )