Imagine you are a journalist (in other words, a very curious person) and you receive a postcard from an old schoolmate and a friend in Turkey that basically says: come have fun and get a good story out of the trip. Chances are you would not turn him down. But no sooner have you arrived in Turkey’s waterfront city of Istanbul, where your friend Emre Bahis lives, than you start regretting your decision. Typical of Middle Eastern intrigues, the unsuspecting foreigner finds himself involved in a mischief not of his doing. That, in essence, is the storyline of Byzantine: The … Continue reading Byzantine won’t betray gamers looking for a realistic thrill→
It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed since Chris Roberts released his groundbreaking Wing Commander series. I still remember the first time I played this game, booting up my old 386 PC and staying up late just wanting to complete "just one more mission." It definitely was a turning point for PC gaming, and started the process for future Wing Commander games to improve on PC Technology. Its sequel, Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrahi involved communication speech and was responble for the Sound Blaster card being the standard for computer sound. Wing Commander 3 incorporated SVGA … Continue reading Wing Commander Prophecy: space combat gets back to its roots→
Imagine guiding a newborn baby through a deadly maze of lava pits, toxic clouds and spinning laser turrets. You can’t actually touch the child, but he has the capacity to learn from his mistakes. Such is the fun and often highly frustrating world of Anark Software’s Galapagos. Players are charged with guiding a newly born metal bug named Mendel in his attempts to escape the evil workshop that created him. (The plot is a little thin but that’s not where this game’s strength is at.) When Mendel is born his mind is as blank as a political candidate on the … Continue reading Galapagos makes a new(born) splash in industry→
Creatures can realistically claim what few other games can: that it’s fun to play from the cradle to the grave. Or more specifically, it’s fun from the incubation bin to the memorial headstone. Creatures is one of the most unique games to come out in years. Seamlessly combining genetics, the processing of brain chemicals and artificial intelligence is something I don’t think has ever been achieved before now. And it’s fun too. The Norns that players have to nurture from birth are highly intelligent, curious creatures that require a gentle hand and a watchful eye. Having too many "alive" at … Continue reading Creatures Is The Only Digital Pet You’ll Ever Need→
Westwood Studio’s Blade Runner is a real-time adventure that is to the game world today what the movie was for that industry 10 years ago: a sci-fi thrill ride that pushes industry standards to a new level. Westwood has done an excellent job recreating the dark urban world of Los Angeles in 2019 on four CDs. Players will feel like they are inside the movie. There are over 100 interactive areas of the city you can find and explore. And, the game looks perfect – even better than in the movie – without any hardware acceleration required. Realistic fog, fire, … Continue reading Blade Runner is a cut above normal adventure games→
After years of wading through barely-tolerable Star Trek titles, Interplay has finally created a game that lives up to the Star Trek name. It looks good, sounds incredible and is a lot of fun to play. The game lets players boldly go where every federation officer went before, through the doors of the famous Starfleet Academy. Classes are taught in full motion video by William Shatner, Walter Koenig and George Takei. Video clips in the cafeteria and other locations around campus give wanna-be captains time to interface with the inexperienced classmates assigned to their crew. Handling interpersonal conflicts early, by … Continue reading Further your education with Starfleet Academy→
Outpost 2 is a wake up call for gamers forced into their sleep chambers by the boring routine of colony management sported by the original Outpost. The plot is basically the same. Survivors from a dead Earth seek a new world. Only this time, the groups really hate each other. At its heart, Sierra’s Outpost 2 is a top notch war game. It’s as good as Dune II and Command and Conquer, and your units are intelligent and highly detailed. Outposts 2’s laser-equipped attack craft are much more fun to watch than Mars’ Pathfinder as their six wheels slowly spin … Continue reading Outpost II takes aim at sleeper original→
Several months after the somewhat disappointing Mario Kart 64 was released, Rareware learns from Miyamoto’s mistakes and comes out with a Mario-esque racer that goes above and beyond any racer released on the Nintendo 64. Diddy Kong Racing, to the casual gamer, might look identical to Mario Kart 64, but in essence, it’s a whole new game. Sure, there is your typical racing, but it doesn’t end there. The game is one all-out adventure. The basic setting for the course is reminiscent of Mario 64, as vehicles travel over one main island which connects to several different sections, or "lobbies." … Continue reading Diddy Kong Racing Make Up for Mario Kart’s Shortcomings→
