THE FUTURE WILL BE HOSTILE, and it'll be up to you to pump up enough adrenaline and display enough skill to save the day, or at least yourself. That's true if you immerse yourself in any of this month's selection of games. I'll start with Havoc, the only one with battle in the light of day. I'll follow that with two action games within movies -- Star Wars Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire and Absolute Zero. And I'll end with Zone Warrior, a fast and furious arcade-style shoot-'em-up with little plot to distract you.
Havoc
Havoc brings a new twist to the shoot-'em-up genre: the great outdoors. Whereas most point-and-shoot games take place in a dark underground labyrinth, Havoc places you in a well-lit, outdoor world of rocks, plateaus, cliffs, and hillocks.
You begin by choosing a combat vehicle (a hovercraft, a motorcycle-like machine, or a tank), each of which gives you a 360-degree view of your surroundings. Then it's off to the Badlands, the first of the increasingly difficult theaters of battle. Your overall objectives are to kill everything that moves, pick up weapons and shields, and keep your vehicle from being destroyed. Your goal at each level is to acquire three keys that let you teleport through the gateway to the next level.
This game is a lot of fun, in part because the cockpit and controls are easy to understand. It's also fun because you can play over a network, with players using not only Macs but also Windows 95 machines (via AppleTalk or TCP/IP). Among the game's advanced features is support for QuickDraw 3D accelerators, although I didn't test this feature. One drawback is that to play Havoc on a Mac, it must be PowerPC-based.
Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire
The original Rebel Assault was a low-res, ported-from-DOS bummer. With no place to go but up, Rebel Assault II gave me high hopes. LucasArts promised a cutting-edge game engine, higher-resolution graphics, better sound, new ships, and new live-action video. The result? It delivered all it promised but still ended up with a game that isn't much fun.
Rebel Assault II is mostly a movie, a cliche-ridden but new chapter in the Star Wars saga. It features such Star Wars faves as Lord Darth Vader and is what you'd expect from LucasArts -- spectacular footage.
Unfortunately, movie segments don't make a game fun to play. That task, in this case, falls to 15 interactive action sequences (called chapters), which are where the game falls apart. Even though you get to fly interesting aircraft (B-wing and X-wing fighters, a speeder bike, and even the Millennium Falcon), each has only five controls -- up, down, left, right, and shoot -- which boils down to pointing and shooting, and that's all. What's worse, the pointing and shooting feels mushy. Finally, the action in most chapters becomes repetitive -- the enemies look and act the same throughout.
If you're a big Star Wars fan, you may enjoy Rebel Assault II. If you're not, wait for Rebel Assault III. Maybe they'll get it right next time.
Absolute Zero
Here's one for you hard-core gamers -- you who boast such things as, "I finished that game in a mere 23 hours." Absolute Zero has so much going on simultaneously and so much you need to learn to complete it that either you'll get months of entertainment or you'll throw up your hands in frustration.
The premise: On the mining world Europa in a.d. 2374, you awaken a long-sleeping race of aliens, who declare war on you. You get to play seven characters who are pivotal at various points in the game for rescuing your people.
Underneath an interesting plot is the heart of the game: a shoot-'em-up that rivals the best of the genre. You get 7 vehicles and 13 weapons systems, and the controls are smooth and responsive. An unexpected surprise is a VR Helmet that lets you see through your vehicle.
I found Absolute Zero extremely challenging, maybe too much so. It took me too long to get comfortable enough with the weaponry, radar, compass, crosshair, and dozens of keyboard commands to finish a mission. If you were one of the Absolute Zero pioneers and you haven't sent in your registration card, you may not know that Domark shipped an update to make the first two levels of the game easier. But be assured that the game's upper levels still hold plenty of challenge.
Zone Warrior
Zone Warrior, unlike Absolute Zero, doesn't bother with an elaborate plot. It's a point-and-shoot arcade game and damn proud of it. Your job is to use lasers and missiles to destroy incoming projectiles, raider ships, and command ships.
Zone Warrior is easier to learn than Absolute Zero, and its action sequences have more variety than Rebel Assault's. That's because it uses a good variety of, but not too many, keyboard commands -- faster, slower, turn, fire missile, fire laser, warp, and two views.
Both Absolute Zero and Zone Warrior require Power Macs, but Zone Warrior has more-modest needs -- you can install the entire game on your hard disk, and it uses only 2 MB of disk space. Absolute Zero runs best if you install 98 MB of it on your hard disk, but you still need to insert the CD-ROM.
For those of you who prefer games you can learn in minutes instead of weeks or months, Zone Warrior is just the ticket. But don't let its apparent simplicity fool you -- it has 99 levels of fighting.
Bob LeVitus is a MacUser contributing editor and Power Computing's director of evangelism.
Game Point
Havoc is an excellent cross-platform battle arcade game for one or more players. Absolute Zero has an interesting plot and responsive controls, but it takes many hours to get good at it. If you're looking for something easier but full of action, check out Zone Warrior. Rebel Assault II is for only the hardest of hard-core Star Wars fans.
Company: LucasArts Entertainment, San Rafael, CA; 800-985-8227 or 415-472-3400.
Reader Service: Circle #421.
Absolute Zero
Rating: Very Good (4 of 5 mice)
Price: $50 (estimated street).
Company: Domark Software, San Mateo, CA; 800-695-4263 or 415-513-8929.
Reader Service: Circle #422.
Zone Warrior
Rating: Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice)
Price: $30 (estimated street).
Company: Casady & Greene, Salinas, CA; 800-359-4920 or 408-484-9228.
Reader Service: Circle #423.
The Tip-Off
Havoc
Faster is usually not better. When you're hurrying, you may not realize what a beating your shields are taking. In this game, it's best to take your time so you can watch your shields.
