Review by: Pete Hines
Published: April 22, 1997

KKnD (Krush Kill ‘n Destroy) is EA/Beam’s entry into the ever-expanding market for real-time strategy games. While this game looks and plays a lot like some of the others (many people say it’s just another C&C:Red Alert), KKnD has features that set it apart from the rest. The game’s scenario is a battle between two types of humans who inhabit what is left of poor Mother Earth after a devastating nuclear war. Basically, everyone who survived either went underground and stayed there for 60 years of so (Survivors), or lived above ground and suffered horrible mutations as a result (Evolved). The Survivors are ready for some sunshine and want to reclaim the Earth for their own. Meanwhile, the Evolved think that humans have done enough damage to the planet already, and will do whatever it takes to keep the Survivors from exploiting it and messing it up again. The result is a lot of crushing, killing, and destroying. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: April 16, 1997

Put your leather gloves on, lace up your leather boots, throw on that leather jacket, and prepare yourself for one hell of a ride in Electronic Arts’ Road Rash. This game puts you on top of your motorcycle and challenges you to stay on it while traveling through cities and other surroundings. This is the most aggressive motorcycle game ever to hit the PC.

After installing the game, you are brought into another world of gameplay. The graphics and menu screens are all classic representations of what the menu is. Once the game is loaded, you have the option to either enter right into the Thrash Mode of play, which is modeled after the arcade, or you can take on a personality and enter the Big Game Mode. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: April 15, 1997

From as far back as you can see, you probably can remember the first time you played the original Test Drive racing simulation from Accolade. This time around the corner, Accolade puts you behind the wheel of high performance off-road vehicles, including the Hummer, Land Rover Defender 90, Jeep Wrangler, and the Chevrolet K-1500 Z71 (there are also 6 bonus vehicles: Monster Truck, Dune Buggy, Stock Car, Hot Rod, Mini Cooper, and the Off-road Beetle). What makes Test Drive: Off-Road so different is the ability to drive almost anywhere within each track, essentially giving you the freedom to drive off and explore areas “off-road.” ( read more… )

Review by: Pete Hines
Published: April 10, 1997

Enter a world where role-playing, action, adventure, and on-line gaming come together to create a whole new experience in 3DO’s Meridian 59. From the moment you enter this world, the sights, sounds, and experiences will thrill and amaze you. You’ll be dropped into a 3D world as a character of your own design and left to your own cunning and skills to survive and improve. When it’s all said and done, Meridian 59 will leave you breathless and ready for more. ( read more… )

Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: April 9, 1997

With all the hype over golf in recent years, there is really only one true icon of the game, Jack Nicklaus. For the first time, golfers will get their opportunity to tee off with the man who has won 20 majors and some 85 tournaments around the world. Accolade’s Jack Nicklaus 4 opens the door to that opportunity in what many consider to be Links LS’s only competition. ( read more… )

Review by: Emil Pagliarulo
Published: April 8, 1997

The Duke does it again. Everyone’s favorite wise-cracking, gun-toting badass is back, and our nation’s capital will never be the same. Duke it out in D.C. is the latest add-on for Duke Nukem 3D, giving gamers ten all new levels set in the very hub of American government. This time out, the alien maggots actually have a plan. After crashing a spaceship Kamikaze-style into the Capitol Building, they’ve begun destroying critical buildings and monuments in the hope of crippling the United States government. But that’s just the icing on the cake. The invading E.T.’s have even kidnapped the President! Clinton had better hope Duke’s a Democrat . . . ( read more… )

Review by: Jim Brumbaugh
Published: April 8, 1997

Dear Mom:
Before I go up tomorrow, I wanted to write to you to let you know how much I love you and Dad. Now that I have been promoted to Major, the General has assigned an entire squadron to my care. Tomorrow, the 354th is supposed to escort a bomber group to an aircraft factory in Northern France, and I am told to expect resistance from the Germans. I hope that I will return to write to you again.
Love, Your Son. ( read more… )

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… )