Reviews: The Bottom Shelf
What is The Bottom Shelf? It's where the older Mac games are usually found at your local software store. The games reviewed in this section have been released for some time now but are still selling, so you should get the Inside (Mac Games) scoop. 


Mini-Review: Space Quest 1 Enhanced
By Paul Natsch

Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Pros: 256-color graphics, price, great sound and music.
Cons: Long wait for screen changes, graphics real jagged in larger windows.
Requires: Mac LC or greater, system 6.07 or greater, 8-bit color, 2 MB RAM.
Reviewed on: A Performa 600 with 5 megs of RAM
IMG Rating:  √√√√

Roger Wilco is back again in this spiffed-up remake of the original Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter. The evil Sariens have stolen the Star Generator from the space station Arcada and killed the scientists that created it. You, as Roger Wilco, are working on Arcada as a lowly janitor when the Sarien’s attack the station. Fortunately, you are taking a nap in a storage closet while on duty when the attack occurs so you are not discovered. But when you wake up you find all Arcada personnel killed and the Star Generator gone. Realizing that the Sariens will use the Star Generator as a weapon of mass destruction, you decide that it is your duty to find the Star Generator and disable it so the Sariens can’t use it for their evil purposes. This enhanced version of Space Quest 1 is almost identical to the original except for the much improved graphics, sound, and music. It is also very much like Sierra’s other recent titles (King’s Quest 5, Space Quest 4) in that it uses those three screen sizes, has the mouse-driven icon interface, and those dreaded long waits between screen changes. But it is a funny, semi-challenging game and most importantly, it can be purchased for about twenty bucks. So, if you never played the original Space Quest 1, I would highly recommend this game; if you have, save your money for a new game.  


Mini Review: Spaceship Warlock
by Greg Koenig

Publisher: Reactor Inc.
Retail Price: $99.95
Mail Order: $69.95
Requires: Color Mac, 3.5 megs of free RAM, CD-ROM drive.
IMG Rating: √√√√

Spaceship Warlock was the first PG rated game on CD-ROM from the folks at Reactor Inc., the fast growing makers of Creepy Castle, Mac Playmate, Virtual Valerie and the upcoming Screaming Metal. Spaceship Warlock (hereafter SS Warlock) is 124 megabytes of quasi-virtual reality set sometime in the way future. You are, well, you.  You control what goes on in this futuristic world, though you may not have quite as much as advertised. You start the game in the streets of Stambul, a city once run by humans before the galaxy was conquered by vicious, impersonal aliens.  You run into 10,000 credits in an event that I shall not disclose, and decide to board the space-liner Belshazzar bound for the Crolien Nebula when your lovely ship is suddenly attacked by what appear to be space pirates.  You end up becoming part of attacking crew, conquering the galaxy and getting the woman of your dreams. 

All of this may sound like a science-fiction movie, and in a way, it is. Reactor decided to not call SS Warlock a game, but rather an interactive movie. Now, this sounds all well & good, but it is not as interactive as you might think. Certain convenient circumstances prevent your character from exploring beyond the database limits. Take the streets of Stambul, sure you might want to explore the city in great depth, but you cannot because of “Police roadblocks” that happen to appear just as you try to go down that mysterious street. Unfortunately this type of limitation, seems to occour too often in SS Warlock. You just paid $70 for a maximum of three hours of play. The problem is that once you play the game, you probably won’t want to play it again except to show it off to your friends. Now, don’t get me wrong, those three hours are enjoyable, but they simple fly by too fast.  

Overall, SS Warlock is a fun game that has revolutionized the Mac CD-ROM market. Its superb graphics, great stereo sound and simple interface put SS Warlock in the top 10 Mac games, but it is just too simple. However, I must give SS Warlock 4 checks because of its revolutionary concept, stunning 3-D graphics, stereo sound and simple interface.