PC games

Set phaser to not very stunning

This game takes itself rather too seriously, bearing in mind it likens itself to “chess in outer space”, when it plays more like “Pokemon cards over a computer network”.

You do get to practise Star Trek ConQuest Online offline, which is fortunate as the actual mechanics of play are quite complicated. This complexity is I think the game’s downfall.

You prepare your ships, characters and equipment, moving them from your home planet via a neutral zone to your opponent’s planet. He does the same. Depending on a ship-load of variables, such as the strength of your weapons and shields, diplomatic influence, and the number of personnel you have, one of you wins.

When I logged on I got to play with someone in the US, so there is a little frisson of excitement to be had there, but unfortunately I found the game so tedious I just couldn’t take it seriously.

The layout of the screen looks appropriately hi-tech, but I want action, excitement and even a little gore. Not static characters. Not nice little pictures of the Star Trek Enterprise.

The nearest you get to feeling you are in a Star Trek world are the sound effects. I gather that often there are people in the chat rooms who will help you out. There are others who can’t wait to wipe the desktop with you.

Regrettably, I can’t see myself bothering to get to the standard where I might win the odd game – and I would hate to think how intergalactic my phone bill would be by the time I got to that stage.

Set phasers to stunningly boring.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, August 17, 2000

A game to sink your teeth into

This superb piece of software is based on an already well-established pen-and-paper role-playing game.

You enter the game as a Crusader recovering from battle in a convent in 12th century Prague, where you save the city’s silver mines from the clutches of a vampire, but in the next breath fall in love with the nun who has been looking after you.

As complex in its way as real life. No wonder another vampire decides to get her teeth into you.

And from this moment on, you play as one of the Undead. Mind you, you are a vampire with a conscience, and one that ends up in modern times. If you want to get deep into the background, you will need to read the manual, which goes into it in extraordinary detail.

But it isn’t vital. In fact you pick up a lot of the “history” as you play.

And more importantly, the graphics, voice acting and playability all work together seamlessly to give you much in the way of spine-tingling entertainment. Every time another ghoul rat came for me in the silver mines the hairs on the back of my neck shot up.

And for the purposes of writing this review, I was playing in broad daylight! Goodness knows how I would have coped had I played at night.

You can play multi-player games with up to four people, and even create your own adventure in Storyteller mode. And though it all sounds quite complex, it is really easy to play.

The dramatic lighting, atmospheric music and sound effects, and the superbly presented 3D scenery all help to make this a stunning horror experience, and a must for any lover of the genre.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, August 10, 2000

Get harder Nox

The free Nox multiplayer expansion was being posted for download this week.

A member of the Nox team revealed the Nox Quest release date in a post to the unofficial Nox forum.

Nox Quest brings the addition of co-operative multiplayer to Nox (reviewed in Bytes, April 27) the action-RPG from Westwood, and adds several new maps designed specifically for the new game type.

The expansion will be available as a 26Mb download from http://www.westwood.com/.

A general update to Nox version 1.2 was being issued at the same time to prime the way for Nox Quest and fix a number of bugs.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, August 3, 2000

The Diablo we’ve been waiting for

The greatly anticipated sequel to 1995’s hugely popular Diablo is finally ready to hit PC-CD Roms across the UK.

After three years in the making, those hard-working people at Blizzard have produced Diablo II, a game as addictive, playable and downright brutal as its predecessor.

The tale unfolds following the hero from the original game, shown in a gloriously detailed full-motion video, slowly becoming besieged by the terrible creatures he attempted to harness after successfully defeating Diablo, the Lord of Terror, who brought havoc to the small town of Tristram in the first game.

Taking the role of an Amazon, Paladin, Barbarian, Necromancer or Sorceress, your adventure begins camped where the Wanderer was recently seen travelling east.

Alas, hoards of monsters have followed the Wanderer, and it is up to you to destroy them all in order to find him – before it’s too late.

Various tweaks have been added to the recognisable Diablo interface to enhance your gaming pleasure. These include being able to run, wear more armour, and use a single click-and-hold to kill an enemy.

The “learn spells by reading books” element of the previous game has been dumped, and now, as levels of experience are gained, skills for each character can be learned. So gain enough experience as Paladin and you learn the Blessed Hammer skill, which hurls a spiritual hammer at your enemies.

The first game had fans disappointed that the entire game was set inside the same area and there was only a little exploration element. Now, huge areas over four different lands need to be explored and incredible amounts of enemies need to be slain to proceed in your quest.

The downfall here is that the areas are so large, searching through them can become slightly dull. Newcomers will easily get into the addictive gameplay of Diablo II, and fans of the original will enjoy the improvements and continued hack’n’slash slaughter.

Diablo II is a great title to have in your collection – just make sure you have 1.5GB free on your hard drive first.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, July 20, 2000

Settlers bring some games relief

There is one proverb which has always been good to me – don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow.

If I had been a fan of The Settlers since the early days, I would have had to spend oodles of cash, and who knows, I meet even be a little fed up with the game by now. But here I am coming fresh to The Settlers III Gold Edition, so for the price of a meal for two in my favourite pizza house, I can buy Settlers III, plus the Mission CD extension pack, plus Quest for the Amazons.

It even says on the box there are desktop graphics and sounds included. I’ve searched high and low and can’t find them, but there is more than enough here to keep me going until I do.

And what of the game itself? This isn’t for the fan of the shoot’em-up or the boy racer. But if you like sims and enjoy watching a small village grow into a civilisation over the course of an afternoon by building, farming, and good husbandry – not forgetting of course it has to arm itself in preparation for attack – this is for you.

The game was as likely to appeal to girls as boys even before the Amazon characters were introduced as a race alongside the Romans, Egyptians and Asians, because you quite quickly develop protective instincts for these little characters running around in their simulated world.

And there really is no need to get bored with the game because not only are there many occupations for the characters to busy themselves with, tools to use, and buildings to construct, but you can then create your own maps and scenarios.

Published by Blue Byte Software, the game has support for play across a LAN and on the Internet. There is also a handy Web site where you can get updates and bug fixes.

The Settlers III is a thoroughly captivating piece of entertainment – and once you get the bug it’s very difficult to click that exit button.

Which is why I keep putting off things like getting some sleep.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, June 1, 2000

King loses ctrl, alt and shiver

It is not often – apart from anything coming from the direction of Microsoft – that computer software gets the severe critical panning awarded to Stephen King’s F13.

I have so far read only one review that had a good word to say for the title, which comprises a short story, three mini-games and a collection of desktop wallpapers, system sounds and screen savers.

So I will begin with a few good words. First, the program runs on both Macs and PCs. Second, reading a story with background music playing and sound effects does have a certain forward-looking charm. Third, the screen savers, being actually mini-movies developed using Macromedia, make a refreshing change from the usual fare.

But that’s about it, I’m afraid. The games are about five years behind the times, and as un-addictive as you can get. So un-addictive that I stopped playing half-way through my first go of two of the three games.

The only exception was the piranha tank, into which you drop animals of various sizes, which is more of a diversion than a game and was fun! Watchdogs will appreciate that blood is neither seen nor spilt, though they might be upset by the way the carcasses sink.

As far as backgrounds and system sounds go, they are available for nothing all over the Internet. So when F13 appears in the bargain buckets, it might be worth picking up, but at full price, it is a bit of a liberty.

For Stephen King completists or people with more money than sense only.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, May 11, 2000

Have fun in the school of hard Nox

A new game from Westwood Studios, developers of the classic Command & Conquer series, is bound to get gamers excited – and Nox does not disappoint.

It is however a bit of a puzzle. On the surface, Nox is a standard role-playing game. You choose whether you are warrior, conjurer or wizard and start with appropriate levels of health, strength, speed and “mana” – magical powers.

Then you explore, solve puzzles and fight battles, all the usual stuff in another words, with the ultimate aim of finding out why you, all-American boy Jack Mower, settling down for a bacon sandwich in front of the TV, have suddenly found yourself in another world – the world of Nox, which is falling under the control of the evil sorceress Hecubah.

While RPG purists may be disappointed by the predominance of action over navel-gazing, the fast pace of the game makes it very easy to get into.

And above all, Nox really is a lot of fun to play. The interface is easy to get the hang of. Great graphics are enhanced by atmospheric music and sound effects – in particular there are loads of things that move around and interact with your character.

Because there is so much going on, and because you can actually get somewhere with your game after a minimum of practice, Nox is quite addictive. While it is neither RPG or shoot’em-up, you lose yourself in the game-play so quickly that at times you might even think you are playing Atic Atac on the old Sinclair Spectrum – with vastly improved graphics – so it’s not surprising I found it fun.

Multiplayer modes are available, as well as LAN or Internet play. Nox is published by Electronic Arts and costs around £30.

Click here for an update.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, April 27, 2000

Your team might be giant killers

Giant Killers is a football game with a difference.

A game of fantasy football management, specifically developed for 11 to 16-year-olds, Giant Killers lets you steer the team of your choice through a football season.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this game is that you can not only play with teams from the Premiership, you can chose right the way through the Divisions to the Conference.

This means that not only can you play with Woking, but if you make enough money you could buy in Bergkamp! And of course you could even take the Cards into the Premiership!

There is no on-screen football to play, but once you have chosen your squad and given them a talking-to on tactics, you get a teletyped commentary on the computer-generated match. You can chose from the variety of “resolutions” how much detail you want this in.

There are numerous considerations to be dealt with - including fitness, suspensions, the transfer market - so a seemingly infinite number of possibilities.

There are three levels of difficulty. “Easy” brings in a new club chairman with a hefty wad of cash for you to spend on new players and is recommended if you want to take a Conference team to the top. “Hard” gives you nothing - so it’s best to start of with a Premiership team and work your way down!

It seems strange at first playing a game without little creatures running around the screen, but the music and sound effects - which include crowd noise - help to give a bit of atmosphere to the game.

Published by On-line Sports, Giant Killers is available for under £25.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, April 13, 2000

Settling down

The Settlers made their first appearance on the Amiga in 1993, and by the time the third version was published five years later, Blue Byte Software was winning award after award for this popular fantasy civilization sim.

Now Blue Byte has brought out The Settlers III Gold Edition, which includes the full version of strategy-filled economic simulation The Settlers III, The Settlers III Mission CD, and the expansion pack, Quest Of The Amazons, which adds in the Amazons as an extra race!

There are also 88 additional maps, as well as a Settlers theme pack with wallpaper, system sounds and so on.

And all for under £35!

(Click here for my review.)

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, April 6, 2000

Solve your identity crisis here

If you are after a quick adrenalin rush, this game is probably not for you. But if you have a slow cerebral massage in mind, read on.

You won’t find a lot of information in the booklet that comes with the four CDs, and you get even less in the opening movie.

Effectively you are left, once you have decided on the various strengths and weaknesses of your character, to find out what he can do, and where he has found himself.

You are the Nameless One. You rise from a mortuary slab remembering nothing. Where are you? How did you get here?

It doesn’t help that most of the other characters you come across are zombies or skeletons. But there are plenty of sub-quests to entertain you as you journey towards the ultimate goal of the game, solving the mystery of your identity.

And you can take this journey using not only might, but also stealth, cunning or - perhaps most fun of all - charisma. From the developers of Baldur’s Gate, it is to a large extent a conventional role-playing game - and that is meant as a compliment.

While you can play it - as if you’d want to - as a straight combat game, you could go as far as entering dice-rolling, or even navel-contemplating, territory in some configurations. But that is one of its strengths - you can customise it to the way you want to play.

And if tomorrow you want to play it differently, you can do that too.

The user interface is very easy to get the hang of, and music, sound effects and graphics all help to keep the atmosphere tense and sensual.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, March 30, 2000

Let’s spend a night on the tiles

I must admit I have been a fan of this game since Activision brought out its first version a few years ago.

No fancy handbook this time - the manual comes in html on the CD-Rom, but again you have a beautifully presented game as simple yet as addictive as solitaire, though as it doesn’t come for free there are a variety of extras.

For a start there is an enormous range of different tiles, which I find a bit pointless, but loads of layouts, which open up the game enormously, because it is amazing how much harder it becomes if you try a more advanced layout.

There is also some nifty new age music, which is very soothing after a tense day out in the real world.

Talking of reality, Shanghai is about as Chinese as chop suey, in other words it is an American dish using Chinese ingredients. It is a game of strategy, memory and luck, using “virtual” Mah-Jongg tiles. There are 144 tiles, with four of each design, which can be removed as two matching pairs, subject to certain rules.

As I said, as simple as Solitaire, but there are also multi-player variations, played either with friends or against the computer. You can even play - or learn how to play - Mah-Jongg itself, in any of four versions.

Shanghai: Second Dynasty runs on both Mac OS and Windows 9x, and if you have the latter, there is quite sophisticated support for online gaming with any of the multi-player games.

The best of these is Power Dragon’s Eye, which is so addictive this review was virtually impossible to write. Must dash!

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 17, 2000

Who wants to have a million games?

While Abomination: The Nemesis Project from Eidos is in a sense a standard 3D tactical combat adventure, each time you play it, you get a different terrain, enemies and power-ups.

Apparently there are a million variations, so I don’t think any of us will live long enough to exhaust its possibilities.

A deadly plague has devastated the United States, wiping out 90% of its inhabitants, and you are in charge of a group of genetically engineered soldiers.

What is left on the streets is rather a ghastly mess, and includes survivors who have been taken over by a sinister force who are clearly out to get your team.

If you fail a mission you don’t have to go back to it - you can even skip missions - but be careful, as you must accomplish some objectives to develop your skills.

I found the music and sound effects no more than adequate, but at least you can get a different game each time you play.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 17, 2000

Take a peep at the world of Omikron

The involvement of a certain David Bowie - both as a character and as co-writer of eight original songs which crop up at odd points throughout the action - is a fairly good indicator that The Nomad Soul is going to be red hot.

Bowie is pretty good at being close to the cutting edge, even when he is not sharpening the next blade himself.

But the game, from Eidos, is certainly not for Bowie lovers only.

It is a superb blend of 3D adventure, shoot’em up and hand-to-hand combat, so is likely to appeal to most gamers, but with quite a dark and often sleazy sense of humour, so it is clearly aimed at the older player.

In fact I’m surprised it doesn’t have a 15 or 18 certificate, given the amount of time and Omikron currency you can spend in peep shows and pole-dancing clubs.

So welcome to Omikron, a futuristic and utopian city in a parallel universe where you inhabit the body of a policeman whose partner has been mysteriously and brutally killed.

Your job is to find out what the two of you were working on at the time.

Reviews have been mixed, but I found the atmospheric music and graphics highly addictive and very entertaining - and what more can you ask of as you slip the CD into the drive?

Gameplay is fairly easy to get the hang of, so before long you are off exploring the highly imaginative and curiously detailed environment.

The mysterious cityscape and the way the inhabitants glance at you as they pass you by enhance the film noir atmosphere. And watch how you go crossing the road!

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 10, 2000

Third time lucky for Gabriel

Horror fans will have been eagerly awaiting Gabriel Knight 3: Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned.

The third title of the series, again published by Sierra, returns to the world of computer graphics after the full-motion video presentation of Gabriel Knight 2, but my, how graphics have improved since GK1.

Tim Curry is back as the voice of our hero, who this time has arrived in a remote French village to find a kidnapped child.

As he explores the 3D world of Rennes-le-Chateau he becomes more and more deeply embroiled in a dark and sinister mystery.

Writer Jane Jensen, who has already won a mantelpiece-full of awards for GKs 1 and 2, has this time written a scholarly tale not only sprinkled with blood, but also full of mythical and historical references, so it takes a while to get going.

If you are after fast and furious action from the opening minutes, you might be disappointed.

But if you are happy with depth rather than instant gratification, this is a cracker.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 10, 2000

Take your fantasies to new heights

So what does the man (or woman) who has everything do with those vouchers still burning a hole in their pocket since Christmas?

A copy of Flight Simulator 2000 should be top of the list.

With the usual proud boast on the box of “As real as it gets”, Microsoft’s latest version of this evergreen software - now in its 17th year - even gives you the chance to fly Concorde.

The biggest ever upgrade to the title has new worldwide scenery, including six high-res cityscapes, including London, Paris and New York.

There is accurate data enabling you to track your way around 20,000 of the world’s airports. No, I didn’t know there were that many either.

There is even a Professional Edition available - costing an extra £20 at £69.99 - which is aimed at real pilots and serious aviators.

This has extra planes and high-res cities, flight dynamics and instrument panel editors.

As well as choosing your plane - there are even a helicopter and a seaplane available - and whereabouts you want to fly, you can also pick the time of day or night and the weather conditions.

And if you are that serious, you can even get Flight Simulator 2000 to download the realtime weather conditions from the Web.

If I have a criticism, perhaps it is just the overbearing seriousness of the whole package.

But such is the quality of this simulation, you do get the notion, once you’ve taken off, flown and landed successfully, that you could do this for real.

Particularly if you start off with the smaller planes and leave the big stuff until later.

Don’t be like me and leap straight from Cessna to Concorde. The results can be embarrassing.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 3, 2000

The Devil gets the best tunes

As computer games go, Faust: The Seven Games Of The Soul is a must for music lovers.

Soundtracks don’t come much better this - though whether I am showing my age or my sophistication I will leave up to you.

Published by Cryo Interactive, Faust includes tracks from Marvin Gaye, Stan Getz, John Lee Hooker and Sarah Vaughan.

In the game you find yourself in a world of horror, humour and fantasy, in the atmospheric setting of a disused Mississippi funfair in varying periods from the Twenties to the Sixties.

There you must “delve into the past” to help Mephistopheles himself decide whether the former fairground inhabitants deserve to go to heaven - or rot in hell.

Quite a weight on your shoulders, when all you wanted to do was play a game!

It fills four CD-Roms, so there is plenty of gameplay for your money.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, February 3, 2000

The magical history tour

I approached this game expecting disappointment, especially after recently playing the excellent Theme Park World.

I expected that watching the history of the world unfolding before my eyes would be rather dull - computer games and history lessons surely don’t mix, I thought.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I soon engaged with my sims, setting them off on various tasks, such as foraging for food, building homes and hunting deer. The animation involved, and the way the sims carry on doing their jobs even while you are off exploring another part of the landscape, really draws you into the game.

There is a very helpful tutorial section, where you learn the various tools needed for survival in a real time strategy game and progressing from the Dark to the Imperial ages - things like gathering food, protecting your territory and conquering others.

A word of warning - if you use the tutorial you will be treated to the worst Scots accent you have ever heard. You would think they would have got someone in who could do it without lapsing into a curious Irish Polish hybrid every now and then.

Perhaps I am showing my ignorance - perhaps that is how “old Scottish” sounded. Or perhaps I’ve hit the nail on the head and they got a duff actor in to do the commentary.

If Eidos can afford to get David Bowie involved with their projects, and Sierra can get Tim Curry back for another performance as Gabriel Knight, I should have thought that Microsoft would have enough clout to interest Sir Sean in a couple of days’ work.

But never mind - once you know how to play the game you can leave all that behind you and get down to the real task of watching civilization grow around you. It’s a bit like sitting atop the London Eye - except this works.

PC on your PC

An interesting, politically correct but highly unrealistic perspective on the history of mankind has been taken in Age Of Empires II by treating men and women as equal - by which I mean that men and women sims alike are as happy to mine for gold or chop down trees as forage for berries.

Unfortunately, I feel a twinge of awkwardness if I give the women “women’s work”.

Call me old-fashioned, but I feel exactly the same, though for different treasons, if I swap their roles - or just chuck them all in together.

Looks like the modern man can’t win.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, January 20, 2000

All the fun of the fair

If you are a fan of PC games such as Sim City, but are fed up with watching the sims walk the streets between home, work and the shops, and want to find them something to do on their day off, here is the answer.

In Theme Park World, from Electronic Arts, you control just that - a theme park where sims walk around buying ice creams, enjoying rides and having a grand day out.

It’s a highly entertaining way of learning how to balance your income and expenditure, while making sure your customers and staff are happy - and you can have a go on the rides as well.

Keep an eye on the visitors, as their little thought bubbles show whether they are in need of food - quick, open a burger bar! - or new attractions.

An optional but very useful in-game tutorial gives you advice on what everything means and what to do next, and warns you if a ride is about to break down or the toilets need cleaning. All highly realistic, as you can see.

As you play, and successfully develop your park, other themes are made available to you, so the whole thing can become quite a complex operation.

It’s highly addictive - largely because it’s so difficult to bring yourself to close the park gates, and stop all that merry-making.

Perhaps the most useful thing about Theme Park World is that it can be played and enjoyed by all the family, both as sheer amusement or with a view to becoming another Sir Richard Branson.

You might even say it has all the fun of the fair.

This article first appeared in the Surrey Herald, January 13, 2000