The Mac Games Release List by Paul Natsch Contributors: Tuncer Deniz, Babak Gohari, Michael Rutman This is the most comprehensive and informative release list for the Macintosh gaming community. Take the release dates with an ion of salt because they are VERY tentative! In fact, some of these titles may never see daylight. Summary of titles released in June • Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Vol. 3 - SSG • G-NETIX - ISM • The Iron Helix (CD-ROM) - Drew Pictures (Explore a derelict spaceship with a probe and try to prevent a war) • Microcosm 2 - Softstream • Operation Intercept - Softstream • Super Maze Wars - Calisto (Spectre-like network game) Summary of titles released in July • Carriers at War - SSG (Naval simulation that takes full advantage of the Mac's capabilities) • DragonBlade - RJ Best (A traditional RPG which takes players into eerie dungeons on a Quest to free an imprisoned Wizard. With original graphics created by a San Francisco artist, sound effects which will keep you on the edge of your seat, and enhanced animation) • Dragon's Lair 3 - ReadySoft • Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist - Sierra (From Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry) • Hellcab (CD-ROM) (Released) - Warner New Media (An adventure in which you must travel through time and save your soul from Satan) • Zone of Avoidance (Released) - Casady & Greene (Defend a 2001-like space station from an alien attack) August • 727 Flight Simulator (Released Phase I) - Robert Dorsett (A full-function, professional-level flight and systems simulator with state-of-the-art realism and flight dynamics, worldwide navaid and approach systems database) • Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector & Yondo 2 (CD-ROM) - Sanctuary Woods (Next in series, entitled "The Dinosaur's Egg") • Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector & Yondo 3 (CD-ROM) - Sanctuary Woods (Next in series, entitled "The Hypnotic Harp") • Bridge Deluxe with Omar Sharif - MacPlay • The Classic 5 - MacPlay • Crystal Crazy (Released) - Casady & Greene (Totally new Crystal Quest type game) • Darkseed - Cyberdreams (Sci-fi/Horror adventure with artwork from H.R. Giger) • Dragon Boy - Leviathan Corporation (An action/adventure game featuring a fire-spitting boy) • Eric's Ultimate Solitaire - Delta Tao • The Even More Incredible Machine - Dynamix (Thinking game like a computer erector set) • F/A -18 Hornet - Graphic Simulations (Highly anticipated flight simulator from the makers of the very popular Hellcats over the Pacific) • Gate - Seven Hills Software (A gauntlet-type adventure featuring 256 colors, smooth animation, and great sounds) • Jeopordy - GameTek • King Arthur's Magic Castle (CD-ROM) (Released) - Orange Cherry New Media (Explore rooms and grounds of the magic castle and help King Arthur uncover the powerful secret that threatens his kingdom. Follow text word for word, illustrations and animation, extensive soundtrack) • Lexicross + - MacPlay • The Magic Death (CD-ROM) - CMC (A murder/mystery type game with multiple endings and different killers. Uses full-motion video, sound, animation) • Oh No More Lemmings! (Released) - Psygnosis (features another 100 or so levels) • Pathways Into Darkness (Released) - Bungie Software (Action/Adventure that uses a three-dimensional, continuous-motion graphics system that utilizes texture mapping) • Spaceway 2000 - (Released) Casady & Greene (Spyhunter type game set in space) • Star Trek's 25th Anniversary - MacPlay (Graphic role-playing adventure with your favorite Star Trek characters from the old Trek) • Strip Poker Professional (Released) - Artworx • Sword-Juno-Gold (Released) - Three-Sixty (Next battleset in the V for Victory series) • Take-A-Break Crosswords (Released) - Dynamix • Uninvited - ICOM (Will now run on the latest Macs under System 7) • Virtual Valerie: Director's Cut (CD-ROM) - Reactor (Virtual Valerie 1 with added video never seen before) • Windstalker - Delta Tao • Word Connection (Released) - Action Software (A word search game that challenges the minds of children and adults with a variety of puzzle configurations and a wide range of difficulty levels. Supports color or b/w, has sound, and is System 7 friendly) September • Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector & Yondo 4 (CD-ROM) - Sanctuary Woods (Next in series, entitled "The Cyberplasm Formula") • Chuck Yeager's Air Combat - Electronic Arts (Redesigned specifically for the Mac, this flight sim is loaded with features and lets you experience air combat in three historical periods, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and fly 50 historically accurate missions) • The Legend of Kyrandia (CD-ROM) - Virgin Games (Same as the disk version, but with 85 megs of added speech) • The 7th Guest (CD-ROM) - Virgin Games (This HUGE game involves solving puzzles in each of the 22 fully-realized 3D rooms in a haunted mansion. Shipping on 2 CD-ROMs, this interactive drama will feature over 90 minutes of full-motion video, synthesized music, and speech) • The Chaos Continuum (CD-ROM) - CMC (Incorporates images and special effects created in SGI workstations, using the most powerful 3D and modeling software on the market) • Victory at Sea - Three-Sixty (World War II naval warfare game) October • Chessmaster 3000 - Software Toolworks (Direct port from the DOS version with some possible added features) • Day of the Tentacle - LucasArts (Graphic cartoonish adventure. Sequel to Maniac Mansion) • Better Dead (CD-ROM) - ARTSector One Inc. (Enter a strange, ominous, breathtaking photorealistic 3D world where you seek out and implement humankinds one last, desperate hope for survival) November • 727 Flight & Systems Simulator - Rob Dorsett (System Sim plus 6 dof flight model, world database, night view, 3D display) • Dark Sun: Shattered Lands - Strategic Simulations (Completely new Mac engine that takes full advantage of the Mac) • Dracula Unleashed (CD-ROM) - ICOM Simulations • Royal Flush - Amtex Software (More pinball from the guys who gave us 8 Ball Deluxe) December • Aliens - Dark Vision (Licensed by Fox and rumored to be released by the end of 1993) • Alone in the Dark - I-Motion (This outstanding looking horror/action-adventure game features amazing 3D graphics with up to nine different camera angles, depending on your location in the room) • Crusaders of the Dark Savant - Sir-Tech (Takes full advantage of Mac's capabilities. 8-bit color) • El-fish - Maxis (Breed your own fish) • Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Sierra (The next game in Al Lowe's "Adult" orientated adventure series following the adventures of Larry Laffer) • Oxyd 2 - Inline (Commercial version of the popular shareware game) • Pirates GOLD - Microprose (A 256-color much improved version of the original classic strategy/adventure game) • Police Quest 4 - Sierra (The fourth installment of the realistic Police Quest series. Police Quest 2 & 3 were never made for the Mac. Will use photorealistic graphics) • SimCity 2000 - Maxis (This new version will include an impressive 3D view and have 256 color graphics plus many other new and unique features such as the ability to dig underground tunnels and subways and lay pipe for transporting water) • Star Trek's 25th Anniversary (CD-ROM) - MacPlay (Graphic role-playing adventure with your favorite Star Trek characters from the old Trek. Same as disk version, but with added speech supplied by William Shatner and Leanord Nimoy) • Strategic Conquest 4.0 - Delta Tao (Update to the classic wargame. Two new units, new algorithms) • Third Reich - SSG (WWII strategy game) • Virtual Valerie 2 (CD-ROM) - Reactor (New graphics and sophisticated 3D modeling, animation, digitzed sound effects, and an original music score) 4th Quarter • Air Warrior - GameTek/Kesmai Corporation (Will support stand-alone play, head-to-head and the GEnie multi-player option. Includes all new ground graphics and 3D shading models) • Carriers at War 2 - SSG (The second, much more advanced chapter of the WWII Naval Strategy game) • Castles 2 - MacPlay (The original Castles was cancelled for the Mac, but Castles 2 is much improved and will feature a great Mac interface) • Empire Master 3.0 - Chris Elliot (Full color, totally configurable redo of the classic strategy game) • F117A Stealth Fighter - Microprose (Port is being done by the same team that brought Civilization to the Mac) • In Search of the Fabulous Fuzzbox (CD-ROM) - MacPlay (A Macromind Director comic-book like CD-ROM game) • Jump Raven (CD-ROM) - Cyberflix (Combat Flight Simulator in a futuristic setting that uses tons of weapons, full dither, smoke screens, flaming shrapnel, etc.) • The Lost Admiral - OOP (Strategic war game that is very popular on MS-DOS platforms right now) • MacArthur's War - SSG (Island hopping in the Pacific) • MYST - Broderbund (A non-linear HC-based full animation game. It has awesome graphics and sounds. In Beta test) • Rivers of Dawn (CD-ROM) - New World Computing (a Multimedia RPG title that gives the player FULL control over full motion, 30fps, video characters. Rod Roddenberry, the late Gene Roddenberry's son, has been tapped to play the lead role in Rivers of Dawn. This game is also said to contain a high level of playability not found in other CD-ROM games. Acclaimed artist Pepe Moreno of Hell Cab fame will design the graphics for this game) • Total Distortion (CD-ROM) - Pop Rocket (Billed as the first "Music Video Adventure Game" in which the player travels to the "Distortion Dimension" in search of fresh material for music videos. Mingle with virtual rock stars and make your own music videos. The game is filled with interactive 3D animation, challenging games, talking characters, and creative activities) • U-233 - Deadly Games (Type VII German U-boat in the North Atlantic) • Valkyrie - GameTek (A helicopter simulation designed by Donald Hill Jr., who is previously known for P-51 Mustang) • Warlords 2 - SSG (Much more advanced than the original Warlords, with more monsters, changing map, and more units) 1st Quarter 1994 (January-February-March) • A-10 Attack - ParSoft Publishing (Designed by Eric Parker who designed the award-winning Hellcats over the Pacific. A-10 is supposedly used by real simulation pilots and still runs on a Mac at super high fps. It is rumored that this flight sim contains some really advanced breakthroughs never seen before) • CyberRace - Cyberdreams (Revolutionary 3D combat and racing sim that uses ultra-fast voxel landscapes, ray-traced racing vehicles that you can customize, cinematic 256-color, between race sequences, hundreds of plot variations, digitized actors and dialogue, stunning sound effects, and a outstanding musical score by a Emmy award-winning composer) • Empire Deluxe - New World Computing (A world conquest game) • Fun House - Amtex Software (More pinball from the guys who gave us 8 Ball Deluxe) • Might & Magic: Arena - New World Computing (Described as a cross between Wolfenstein 3D and Ultima, Arena will reportably feature continuous motion graphics and a scenario editing feature) • Predator - Dark Vision (Licensed by Fox and will be released after Dark Vision's Aliens game) • Prince of Persia 2 - Broderbund (Will have better graphics and more enemies) • Return of the Phantom - Microprose (Graphic adventure) • Screaming Metal (CD-ROM) - Reactor • Spaceship Warlock 2 (CD-ROM) - Reactor • Stalingrad - Three-Sixty (Next battleset in the V for Victory series) Keep in mind that if you're in the industry or "in-the-know" about certain upcoming releases, YOU can contribute GREATLY to this listing. Please e-mail me at the addresses below if you have additional information that you see may be useful to this list. I'm basically looking for HARD FACTS or GOOD rumors. (Corrections also appreciated) Paul Natsch America Online -PaulN24 Prodigy - JBFM05A