Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: April 6, 1997

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Just ask Duke Nukem. The King of Kill is back again in the Plutonium PAK add-on for Duke Nukem 3D, and he’s aiming to put the smack-dab on gamers in a big way. The Plutonium PAK is the first official new episode for Duke 3D, straight from the boys at 3D Realms and GT Interactive. Forget those cheapie unlicensed collections that contain thousands of mediocre, user-made maps. This baby’s the real thing. ( read more… )

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: April 6, 1997

The concept is oh-so simple: change all the playing pieces on the board to be of the same color. But, if you are playing Lights Out 3D, making that happen is not such an easy task.

The “Classic” game is played on a square matrix with dimensions of either 5×5, 6×6 or 7×7 squares. A playing piece appears in every square, and is one of two different colors/shapes. By clicking the mouse over one of the playing pieces, it changes from “lit” (one shape/color) to “unlit” (the other shape/color). However, the four playing pieces adjacent to the one that is clicked will also change shape/color, which is what makes the game difficult and challenging. A menu selection determines whether the four pieces in an adjacent cross pattern (+) or the four pieces in an adjacent diagonal pattern (X) are the ones which change shape and color with the piece that is clicked. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: April 4, 1997

When Chris Roberts’ original Privateer hit store shelves in 1993, gamers were plunged into the most expansive and imaginative game of space combat and trading ever created. Set in the Wing Commander universe during the heyday of the Terran-Kilrathi War, Privateer combined the best elements of space simulation and rpg, while improving upon the basic premise introduced in the classic Elite. ( read more… )

Review by: Brian Pipa
Published: April 1, 1997

I’ll admit it, I wasn’t overly thrilled when I received Scrabble to review. I haven’t played the board game in well over ten years and I usually steer toward action games on the computer. However, Scrabble has made the transition to the computer in admirable fashion. ( read more… )

Review by: Brian Pipa
Published: March 28, 1997

“Sir, we’re taking fire,” he tells me. “Sir, we’re taking fire.” I wait until just the right moment then give the command, “Fire at will!” My platoon of iM1A2 tanks tears through the enemy and sends Saddam’s men running. Another victory and maybe even a medal. It’s all in a day’s work when you’re the commander of a platoon of the U.S. Army’s main battle tank – the M1A2 Abrams. ( read more… )

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: March 27, 1997

The day seems quiet and calm – that is, except for the rumbling noise. Only a few wispy, white clouds appear in the sky on this clear, summer’s day. Suddenly, a woman’s scream of laughter pierces your eardrums. “Is that a rocket between your legs, or are you just happy to see me?”, she says as the metal cable wraps itself securely around your neck. Your body is wrenched from its perch atop your Rocket Cycle as it is dragged along the ground like a rag doll, to the cheers of the fans in the stands. After a few seconds of torture, the cable is released allowing your body to crash into a nearby retaining wall. The woman, also a jockey, speeds away with a burst of flame blasting out of the tailpipe of her cycle. After a few moments of disorientation you try to stand, and notice one of your legs is broken. You have been dragged on your face a good one hundred feet from your cycle, and as you begin to hobble back to it, you see the woman round one of the pylons at the other end of the stadium as she makes another run at you. The question is, can you make it back to your cycle in time, or do you have another date with the wall? ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: March 26, 1997

“We’re going to the BIG one BABY. ” The month is March. To college basketball fans that means “March Madness,” when 64 teams get to fight for the national championship. To this day there have not been any good college basketball games that have been worthy of being the king of basketball simulations. The new Mindscape Sports Advantage label is hoping to change that with their recent release of NCAA Final Four 97. ( read more… )

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: March 21, 1997

If you think you “know it all,” Tiger Interactive offers Quiz Wiz Cyber Trivia to test the limits of your gray matter.

The premise is simple – pose a series of questions to the user, which must each be answered within a specified time frame. Over 15,000 questions are contained in the product, culled from four general subject categories: Sports, Entertainment, Places to Go & Things to Know, and Figments & Other People. There are six sub-categories within each main category, so that the questions can be pulled from very specific subject groups. For example, “The NFL” can be selected from the Sports category, eliminating questions pertaining to Baseball and other sports. ( read more… )

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: March 20, 1997

In the multiverse known as Dominia, a great battle has been undertaken. On the plane of Shandalar, the one plane in all of Dominia in which mana is so plentiful that the casting of magical spells is commonplace, a struggle for the dominion of the plane is being waged by five different wizards. To the first wizard who gains enough power to cast the Spell Of Dominion, immortality awaits – or, so he/she thinks. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: February 26, 1997

Imagine this: Not being able to ever see a ray of sunlight again! Not being able ever to walk on land!

Welcome to the world of “Aqua,” the world under the seas, the world of Archimedean Dynasty.

The year is 2661, all living organisms are now living underwater. In the beginning of the 21st century, mankind self-destructed and nuclear wars destroyed the surface of the earth. Mankind was forced into the depths of the oceans to begin a new life, a new home. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: February 13, 1997

In Evolution, you control a clade of species with the intent of evolving into the first intelligent species, and becoming the most dominant clade. In order to be successful, you must ensure that your species are kept safe, in areas where food is abundant and they are able to grow and multiply. You must also choose wisely in how you decide to move up the evolutionary tree. The road to success isn’t always a straight line, and one has to consider changes in the climate and the shifting continents when deciding on what species you want to evolve into next. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: February 8, 1997

As computer technology grows increasingly powerful, games are becoming more and more realistic. Of course, Apogee Software, once a small shareware developer that released charming, unassuming titles like Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure and the Commander Keen series, has been keeping pace with the rest of the industry. The abstract designs of yesterday, such as the garish colors and bowling alley-precise hallways of Wolfenstein 3D, and the rustic, two-dimensional crudity of the original Duke Nukem side-scroller, have been discarded in favor of unbridled authenticity. Their focus on developing quality games in each respective genre, and their refusal to release a title that was not cutting-edge in some respect, has led the company to cancel more games than they have released, much to the chagrin of enthusiastic fans. ( read more… )

Review by: Brian Pipa
Published: January 30, 1997

Most games released now have some form of multiplayer Internet play, and multiplayer online-only games are becoming more prevalent all the time. Games like Ultima Online, Subspace, Tanarus, and Terra: Battle for the Outland are just a few of the most recent ones. Now, Headland Digital Media adds netWAR to this ever-expanding list. ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: January 14, 1997

Alien Trilogy is a 3D action shooter from Acclaim and is the same type of game as Duke Nukem, Quake, and Doom. It is, of course, based on the original Alien movies and features those dreaded creatures. Your goal in this demo is to clear a landing area by eliminating all of the aliens (plus other enemies) and removing the barrels that you’ll find in several locations. There are three difficulty levels to choose from: Acid Reign, Raging Terror, Xenomania (more on these in the criteria). ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: January 14, 1997

Two years ago, the clever developers at Team 17, based in England, quietly unleashed an addictive turn-based strategy game called Worms. The concept was simple: players commanded a team of worms armed with ridiculously destructive weapons in an attempt to defeat other, equally well-equipped battalions. Apparently, the little wrigglers harbor a deep-seeded hatred for one another, and delight in the glorious and inventive destruction of their own kind. The demo hit the Internet with little fanfare, but before long, word spread through the newsgroups about this terrific title. It quickly developed a cult following, and soon garnered eight industry awards and enough sales to warrant a sequel. ( read more… )