About the Free Preview Edition: This edition of Inside Mac Games is a free "demo" version uploaded each month to America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, the Internet, and bulletin boards around the world. The following items do not appear in this free version but are available in the subscription edition:
• Nine color screen shots
• Review of Jewelbox 2.0
• Review of Minotaur
• Review of Bloodsuckers
• Hints, Tips, & Tricks
• Fifty Ways to Kill Your Monsters
• and a whole bunch more.
If you are interested in getting the FULL version of IMG, please refer to “Subscriptions” in Chapter 2.
Contest Winners!
In last month’s contest, Nancy Thaut of Sumner, Washington [hey, that's my home state! –BT] won a free copy of Eightball Deluxe. In our game poll contest, Hamish Mogan of Victoria, Australia, won a free copy of Spectre Supreme. Congratulations! Prizes compliments of Amtex Software and Velocity Development.
How To Enter This Month’s Contests.
This month you can win a free copy of Spectre Supreme by sending in your IMG Game Poll. Also, by subscribing to IMG, you can win a copy of Pax Imperia. See this month's “IMG Game Poll” and “Subscription Order Form" sections for more information. Prizes compliments of Velocity Development and Changeling Software.
New Mac Games at CES
by Tuncer Deniz
Being a native of Chicago, I recently had the opportunity to go to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) held June 3 – 6 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Held twice a year, this is where most electronic manufacturers and developers show off their hot new techno-gadgets and software. Here's the Inside Mac Games scoop.
Flight Simulations
So you thought Electronics Arts had giving up on the Mac? Well, so did I, but hold on to your seats because — Electronic Arts is back! This September EA will be shipping Chuck Yeager's Air Combat for the Macintosh. The game lets you experience air combat in three historical periods (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam), and fly 50 historically accurate missions. There are six different planes to fly, from the prop-driven P-51 to jet aircraft like the F-4 and MiG21. Accurate flight dynamics include everything from G-force induced blackouts to realistic stalls. You can even create your own missions and match up planes from different eras. A VCR-style replay screen records footage of your entire mission so you can review it from different angles or view a tactical model of the action. Mac-specific features of CYAC include full high-resolution support for 13", 12", and 9" monitors in 256 colors or B&W, head-to-head play over AppleTalk networks, multiple monitor support, the ability to make clips of your missions into QuickTime movies, and full online help (including balloon help explaining the instruments in each airplane's cockpit).
And there's more good news for flight simulation fans. In August, the Thrustmaster joystick (Flight Control System) for the Macintosh will be released. The Thrustmaster will plug into the Mac's ADB port, features eight independent buttons, and is modeled after the flight control stick in the F4 Phantom jet. Also in development is the Weapons Control System (throttle), which has seven independent buttons, and a Rudder Control System (Rudder Pedals).
CD-ROM Mania
It seems everyone these days is jumping into the CD-ROM game market. Virgin Games announced that it would be releasing a Mac version of the 7th Guest (CD-ROM) in mid-July. The game involves solving puzzles in each of the 22 fully-realized 3D rooms in a haunted mansion. Shipping on two CD-ROMs, this interactive drama will feature over 90 minutes of full-motion video, synthesized music, and speech. A look at the PC version revealed nothing short of spectacular full-screen graphics and animation. This looks like a winner.
Warner New Media is set to release Hellcab in July. This interactive epic adventure is a journey in the Devil's time machine. Join Raul for an exciting ride through history's most infamous periods. You'll walk with the dinosaurs, fight to death with Roman gladiators, and witness infantry attacks in the WWI trenches of Verdun. Featuring live characters with video, life-like sound effects, and rich 3D graphics, Hellcab had the crowd at CES speechless, including myself.
In time for Christmas, New World Computing expects to ship its first Macintosh CD-ROM title, tentatively titled Rivers of Dawn. Rumor has it that the acclaimed artist Pepe Moreno will be working on the project after his work in Warner New Media's Hellcab is done.
Pop Rocket announced Total Distortion, the first "Music Video Adventure Game" on CD-ROM. In the game, you are a music video producer. Travel to the "Distortion Dimension" in search of fresh material for our 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. Total Distortion will be released in July for the Macintosh.
ICOM Simulations will be shipping in November its first interactive horror movie on CD-ROM, Dracula Unleashed. In the game, players are transported back to Victorian England, where they will travel through London gathering information, objects, and valuable contacts. The player's five-day mission is to identify and destroy Dracula before he destroys them. Dracula Unleashed features 135 scenes with multiple endings, and a total of 96 minutes of color motion video. ICOM will also be shipping, by the end of the year, Global Golf on CD-ROM. The game places players on imaginary courses amid the Earth's most awesome natural wonders. Each hole contains 200 pre-rendered "real" images that gives the game an unusual sense of realism.
More Hot Stuff!
Maxis, publisher of SimCity and all the other Sim-sims, rolled out a preview of SimCity 2000 at CES. The new version will include an impressive 3D view and 256-color graphics. You will be able to modify terrain with mountains, forests, rivers, streams, waterfalls, and bays. Instead of SimCity's top-down view, SimCity 2000's view perspective is similar to A-Train's 45 degree perspective, giving it a more realistic feel to it. You can zoom into your city at three levels of magnification, and rotate it 360 degrees. New structures include schools, universities, libraries, museums, hospitals, prisons, marinas, freeways, and more. One unique feature is the ability to dig underground tunnels and subways and lay pipe for transporting water. SimCity 2000 Macintosh version is scheduled for release in October,1993.
I•Motion will be shipping the Macintosh version of Alone In The Dark in late August. The story is set in a Louisiana mansion where evil monsters and goblins lurk. Learning how to deal with the monsters is all part of the frightful fun. Alone In The Dark features amazing 3D graphics with up to nine different camera angles, depending on your location in the room. Having had a chance to play the PC version, I can confidently say that this is the only game that has ever given me the proverbial chills down the spine. It is frightening!
Cyberdreams recently announced that the Macintosh version of CyberRace, a revolutionary 3D combat and racing simulation, would be released in March 1994. CyberRace utilizes voxels (as seen in the DOS version of Comanche: Maximum Overkill), the latest in landscape rendering technology and ray-traced vehicles. As Clay Shaw (from JFK?), you are forced to represent the Terran Empire on the cybertrack. The game simulates action and combat elements in a unique racing format. Look for Cyberdreams' other release, Darkseed, this July.
While New World Computing decides whether or not to port Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen to the Macintosh, they are nevertheless currently working on other Macintosh titles, including Rivers of Dawn (see above in CD-ROM Mania) and Might & Magic: Arena, which will be shipping at year end. Described as a cross between Wolfenstein 3D and Ultima, Arena will reportably feature continuous motion graphics and a scenario editing feature. Also in the works is Empire Deluxe, a world conquest game with a shipping date at the end of the year.
MacPlay has a slew of Macintosh titles in the pipeline. In July, MacPlay will be releasing Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, a 3D space simulator and role-playing adventure game rolled into one. As James T. Kirk, you'll come face-to-face with dozens of alien races, and hundreds of fractally generated worlds. The ever-lucrative Trekkie market alone ought to pay for the R&D on this one. Other future releases under the MacPlay label include Castles II (late '93), Bridge Deluxe with Omar Sharif (June), In Search of the Fabulous Fuzzbox CD-ROM (late '93), Checkmate, The Classic 5, Battle Chess, and Battle Chess Enhanced CD-ROM.
Special Thanks
As always, the editors of IMG would like to thanks all of our writers, Craig Fryar, Hartley Lesser, Neil Shapiro, Ross Scott Rubin, Jeffrey Rotblatt, Steven Lundin, Daniel Augustine, Rod Whitten, Bob Nordling, Mark Rubin, Trey Smith, Jeff Morgan, Gregor Whiley, Ian Klimon, Rustle Laidman, Mark Wall, M.J., the 3Peat‚Ñ¢ Bulls, software companies that support the Mac, and all of you who have given us your support.
A special thanks to Aladdin Systems for allowing us to use the StuffIt Installer.
