 Welcome to APC's haven for games aficionados Many games have special requirements. Windows games frequently need DirectX (for help click here), so be sure to read the instructions below and any Readme files included with these games. Download the DirectX 6.1 file \gamezone\dx61eng.exe to your local drive, then run the program from the command prompt. Half Life time demo: hl_tdemo.exe |
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| Hidden & Dangerous | |||||
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Download the version for your operating system
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| Description: | I thought this would be the 3D game to pull me away from EverQuest. After playing the demo version, where a team of WW II commandos must be controlled to capture an enemy rail bridge during a storm, convinced me Hidden & Dangerous would be a classic. That's the opening mission in the full game and it still blows me away.
Level design is consistently superb throughout this strategy/action simulation, which is in the same genre as Delta Force, Spec Ops and Rainbow Six. These games are the antiQuake -- players cannot simply run around blasting everything in sight, because the level of realism is such that one shot can kill a character. Tactical planning is the key.
Hidden and Dangerous oozes atmosphere and authenticity, from the dramatic music to the detailed inventory carried by your soldiers. You control a large group of commandos carrying out missions behind enemy lines, each conducted by a team of four selected for their skills. Lose one member and you will miss him -- lose several and your task will become significantly harder.
The big flaw with this game is the graphics code. Slightly dodgy graphics and animations donÆt bother me, but this game suffers from severe clipping problems -- one moment a soldier is standing on the edge of a tower, and the next he has fallen to his death when the game suddenly changes its mind about how close he is to the edge. A soldier can be hidden behind a door, when suddenly his face and rifle poke through the wood, exposing him to enemy fire and instant death. Dying this way after struggling through a difficult mission is incredibly frustrating. I found myself saving a great deal, and being very annoyed by having to proceed through various menu screens when I wanted to reload (a Quake-style quicksave would be handy). For these reasons, I am still well and truly entrenched in EverQuest.
Hidden and Dangerous can be difficult to play. If the mission briefing says "you must have soldiers in position to storm a building after their team members create a distraction outside", you'd better believe it or everyone will end up dead. Players wanting to rush through the early missions will hit trouble. Everything you do requires serious forethought and slow progress.
But this is what makes the multiplayer game so impressive. Play this game with some like-minded friends and youÆll be able to make one character your specialty, whether it's the heavy machine gunner who provides covering fire, a sniper or an explosives expert. Tactical 3D gaming has never been so good. by Simon Vandore |
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| Licence: | Demo | ||||
| Requirements: | Pentium 200, 32M RAM, 3D accelerator, DirectX 6.1 | ||||
| Install instructions: | Download to your local drive then unzip it and run the EXE file. | ||||
 Links online: |
http://www.talonsoft.com/hidden_dangerous/ | ||||
| Heavy Gear II | |||||
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Download the version for your operating system
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| Description: | Heavy Gear II could almost be subtitled 'We definitely don't have the MechWarrior licence anymore' -- a result of Activision's entry into the MechWarrior-dominated large robot game category.
You control a 'Mech' (cough) sorry, a 'Gear', in a variety of combat missions. Initially these are solo missions, but eventually you'll act as part of a coordinated attack squadron. Heavy Gear II deviates from the norm in that it's actually quite fast. The average mech-style game involves huge clanking behemoths, carefully planning devastating but slow attacks. Heavy Gear's theory is that if we're bright enough to build huge mobile suits, then we can stick wheels onto the legs for greater mobility. This switches the game from primarily strategy-based to primarily action-based. Careful planning is still required, but this is more a respite from the blasting.
Graphically, Heavy Gear is quite attractive: thunderclouds release torrents of rain and reduce visibility, huge Gears crunch through the snow, and while most levels are carefully structured to a limited territory, this is generally done fairly invisibly. In any case, you're too busy trying to survive to worry about what lies over a distant hill. Control, which can be adjusted for a variety of controllers and keyboard combos, is fairly easy. Deathmatch is supported over networks in a variety of preconfigured arenas. It's also possible to test your skill against computer-controlled Gears, although these aren't always that bright. Heavy Gear II is a nice complement to the more strategy-intensive Mech-style games. It comes highly recommended. by Alex Kidman |
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| Licence: | Demo | ||||
| Requirements: | Pentium 166, 64M RAM, 450M hard disk space, 4x CD-ROM drive, 3D accelerator | ||||
| Install instructions: | Internet Explorer users just click on the file and choose Open to run the setup program straight from the CD. Netscape users download to your local drive and run the EXE file. | ||||
| Links online: |
http://www4.activision.com/games/heavygearii/ | ||||
| Midtown Madness | |||||
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Download the version for your operating system
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| Description: | Race through the streets of Chicago without sticking to a fixed track. Find the best shortcuts to get you through the city. This trial version includes three vehicles and a portion of Chicago's streets. It allows you to race in four different events. | ||||
| Licence: | Demo | ||||
| Requirements: | Pentium 200, 16M RAM, DirectX 6 | ||||
| Install instructions: | Internet Explorer users just click on the file and choose Open to run the setup program straight from the CD. Netscape users download to your local drive and run the EXE file. | ||||
| Links online: |
http://www.microsoft.com/games/midtown/ | ||||
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