Cream of the Crop 22/Cream of the Crop 22.iso/games/csmag51.zip/INSTALL.DAT/2EVIEW02.TXT

Text File | 1996-07-14 | 16KB | 332 lines

~Eight Game Reviews

This compilation of reviews obtained off the Internet.  A little
old but I'm sure most of these games are available on budget label
now.

Oh, please note the author of these reviews is oviously American.

`                      ┌──────────────────────────┐
`Vol2.                 │     Software Review      │
`                      │ by Gabor G. Laufer, M.D. │
`                      └──────────────────────────┘

During the last couple of years the software market is being flooded
by CD based programs. I find it hard to keep track, so I read as
many reviews as I can before buying a game. Unfortunately the
"professional" reviewers seldom get to test a game in depth, thus
even the magazine reviews sometimes "miss". I buy many games, I play
many games, I play a lot and I decided to share some of my
experiences with you.


Games reviewed here:

Noctropolis, Cyberia, Cyberrace, Megarace, Lost in Time, FIFA
International Soccer, Under a Killing Moon, Sherlock Holmes


~┌─────────────┐
~│ Noctropolis │
~└─────────────┘

Weird is the best way to describe this game. If you are a cartoon
freak, this game is for you (too bad I am not). Seriously, the game
has it's moments, good still graphics are intermixed with stamp size
videos (the one they promise will be banned by FDA, DEA and all
government agencies....just kiddin'

Again, if you have the "thing" for weird, this game is weird as it
comes. Now, you better have good eyes, because while the graphics are
very high-res, well detailed, the programmers made a point of making
things tiny and as invisible as possible on the screen what you
supposed to find. It is one of the "challenge" to find what is on
the screen.

I don't like this type of challenge, but you may.

Music is so so, sound is acceptable but far from great.

If you are bored of traditional adventure games, buy this. But if
you don't have Under a Killing Moon....well....you may want to
postpone it.


~┌─────────┐
~│ Cyberia │
~└─────────┘

CD-ROM based game by Interplay.
Advertised as "better than Rebel Assault and 7th Guest"

Opinion:
No, it isn't.

Cyberia is an interesting mismatch between various parts of the game.
There is a "Rebel Assault" type flying-shooting sequence, which is
indeed spectacular. It is high speed, photo-realistic, exciting,
great voice/sound, almost as if you were there, sitting in a fighter
plane, looking out the real world on a mission. It is quite playable
because at the beginning of the game the "arcade difficulty level"
can be set, so everybody can match his or her own skill. This part
of the game is indeed better than I have seen, yes it is even better
than Rebel Assault. Unfortunately this sequence is only a relatively
short part of the game.

The rest is a dumb adventure game with some moments of equally dumb
shooting. The puzzles are far cry from 7th Guest, or almost any of in
this class. The greatest "puzzle" is to figure out which key does
what.  The authors of the game may have intended an "intelligent
interface", but something totally different came out of it. The keys
function depending of the situation. If, for example, the "hero" of
the game can go only forward and backward, the left and right arrow
flips the character 180 degrees. If there is three way intersection,
the arrow keys will flip the character 120 degrees. The up arrow
sometimes acts as a "go forward", sometimes acts as a "look at the
puzzle" key. Even that would be okay, if there wouldn't be scenes
where it is time-critical to know which key will do what. For
example, there is a scene where there is only 1.2 seconds to shoot
three characters. Even if you succeed, and you even figure out that
the down arrow will "hide" your character, seconds later you get
blown away by additional characters who show up.

You are supposed to shoot them too, but from the angle of your
character and the others, it is impossible to logically figure out
which key will do exactly what. And you have only fractions of
seconds before you die and reload, just to go through the same
aggravation again.

I was sitting and wondering: just exactly what type of challenge am I
facing? Logic? Hardly. Skill? Not by a long shot, only pure luck can
lead to get all the characters on the screen. Other puzzles are only
slightly better. In other words, the adventure part of Cyberia is
plain lousy. If Interplay wants to create a great seller, they
should expand upon the flying scene and make a full blown arcade
game out of it.

The characters are futuristic looking human size "puppets".
Or whatever they really are, they don't look human.

The sound is so so. During the flying sequence it is good. I had the
distinct impression that the flying sequence was both designed and
programmed by different people from those who created the adventure
sequences. Of course I can be wrong.

There is a touch of class in the save-load function. Once a sequence
is completed, it is automatically saved. When loading is invoked,
small pictures on the screen indicate the beginning of the given
sequence, with the cursor a frame can be moved over the picture and
pressing ENTER quickly reloads the game. However...

Overall:

Unless you have money to burn, even the spectacular flying sequence,
the well behaving save-load doesn't quite justify the purchase of
this game.


~┌───────────┐
~│ CyberRace │
~└───────────┘

The game is a sick joke. Isn't worth reviewing it. Just don't buy it.


~┌──────────┐
~│ Megarace │
~└──────────┘

First appears mediocre, but this game can grow on you.

It is a futuristic car race, or rather it is the "TV broadcast" of a
futuristic car race. Your host, the obnoxious "King Cool" is in a way
cool. Too bad that after a few games you know what he will say, so
you will SPACE to continue. But he gives a unique framework to the
actual game. It kind of makes it FEEL realistic (opposed to LOOK).

You start the race by selecting a car. They have different
characteristics, which actually manifest during the game.
During the race you are looking your car from "behind", while at the
bottom of the screen there are some dials, indicators. Their role
however, is rather secondary. The challenge is to outrun and/or
destroy other cars on the road.

It is the "road" which makes this game unique. The "3D-like" scenario
fuses the road with it's surrounding and they all move together,
giving a very enjoyable dynamic "being there" feel. There are many
different roads, both in look and layout. The road surface contain
items you can run over and pick up, other markings which can slow
your car down, speed it up, make it swerve, slide and many other
things. As you progress from one road to another, the road surface
challenge gradually increasing in difficulty.

The controls are easy to handle, the sound is good, the game is very
playable, the graphics are "spectacular" without actually being
spectacular, they are "just right" for this game. You can save and
load a game, thus you don't have to start from the beginning if you
don't want to, even if you eventually "die".

Together with the scoring, this is a very decent arcade game.
Worth the money.


~┌──────────────┐
~│ Lost in Time │
~└──────────────┘

 20 minutes into the game I got lost in time. The game hung. I tried
 all the recommended settings by Sierra. The game hung again.
 I tried Sierra's technical support. It is automated, no humans will
 come to the phone and of course my problem was not addressed.
 I tried Sierra BBS. I left several messages, I waited over three
 weeks, nobody bothered to respond. So, I just returned the game.

 Sierra became too successful and too arrogant.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 Well, apparently I solved the "mystery", which was partially my
 fault.  Only partially. At installation time the program allows to
 pick only a drive, doesn't allow to pick the "usual directory of
 your choice".  So, I moved the entire game to the directory of my
 choice, thinking that if it inappropriate the game will not work.
 But it did. For 20 minutes. Then it hung, giving no error message
 whatsoever. Finally I put back the game to the "forced" directory.
 It did work there. Now, you can imagine I anxiously waited for the
 "real action".  Forget it. The game is lame as it can come. The
 "company" uses the same interface they used in the incredible
 Inca I (and in the pathetic Inca II). You are girl who got lost in
 time. She doesn't know where she is, and why she is there. Neither
 can the player. You aimlessly trying to solve moronic puzzles. I
 mean moronic. Listen to this. There is one scene where there is
 door you can't open. There is another scene where there is an
 elevator. Now, if you could simply go from one scene to there
 other, if they would be seemingly near to each other, I could
 understand. But they are not, at least if they are it is far from
 obvious. What you have in your inventory is a garden hose. Which as
 it happens you can screw to the faucet in the garden. But that is
 NOT what the hose is for, at least not at this stage. You have to
 figure out the following truly unlogical correlation: Tie the
 garden hose to the door know you can open. Go to that other scene
 where the elevator is. Tie the other end of the hose to the rail
 of the elevator. Press the elevator button. Supposedly the elevator
 will pull the garden hose and rip the door open. In real life? Fat
 chance.

 The moronic nature of this adventure doesn't stop here. The most
 irritating feature is, that you can use items from your inventory in
 a totally logical way, just to find out later that that was not
 their intended use. If you think you can go back and recover the
 item, you are wrong. You have to go back hours of work, reload from
 where you "misused" the item and start all over.

 Now, that is a structural error which should never happen in any
 worthwhile adventure game, and it happens in this one several times.
 After having had to restart again, after 2 hours of work, I just
 threw back this program to the pile never to be touched again.


~┌────────────────────────────┐
~│ FIFA International Soccer  │
~└────────────────────────────┘

This game got some good reviews. It certainly wasn't checked by
people who knew soccer real well.

If you are familiar with soccer, the greatest aggravation is waiting
for you. This game is the most irritating mismatch between "looks,
sound" and the actual game value, gaming enjoyment. As you open and
install the game, the first sight and sound is pretty. The movement
of the players are very realistic, the sound (the digitized crowd
noise and actual voice broadcast) makes it sound like you would be
really there, the different options to play (exhibition, kind of
round robin and world cup type tournament) are well designed and you
have the impression that you have one of the best game in your hands.
Not so. One thing you can learn from this game is how to rig a soccer
match. Because clearly, that is what's happening. After a few games
it becomes more and more clear that your actions, skill has little
if any influence on the outcome.  It becomes more and more clear that
if the program "decides" that you will score, believe me you will.
Even if it is a ridiculous shot from 63 meters, it will be a goal.
But far more often when the program "decides" that you won't score,
believe me you won't. Not even if you come up with the most amazing
combinations, shots from as close as 5 meter, not even if you end up
bombarding the computer opponent's goal keeper as many as 40-50
times. I don't know why the programmers did that, but it is likely
so the game will LOOK exciting. The level of "rigging" is to the
point where I actually learned to predict which team will score next.
If it is not "your turn" to score, the ball will bounce toward your
territory sometimes against all known laws of physics, and when you
get more than one free kick against your team within 30 seconds,
might as well go and eat your dinner, you are doomed to get a goal.
So, no matter how realistic this game looks and sounds, if you are
familiar with soccer, this game is pure aggravation, because the
score depends on some warped "plan" of the programmers and not your
skill.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For all fairness: I got some feedback from other users. They think
FIFA soccer is great. Well, I guess you can enjoy this game, if you
don't REALLY know the game of soccer.


~┌──────────────────────┐
~│ Under a Killing Moon │
~└──────────────────────┘

A truly spectacular production. It comes on 4 CDs and it is one of
the best, if not the best multimedia adventure game I have ever
played.  I am very critical, but I couldn't come up with any fault.
The story line is very well written excellent science fiction novel.
The game has "atmosphere". You not only play the role of Tex Murphy
P.I., you do feel like Tex. He is funny and his "P.I. humor"
permeates the entire game.

The adventure game features are thoroughly logical, not too
difficult, but not too easy either, just right. The music/sounds are
appropriate to the given situation, pleasant, and part of the
"atmosphere".

The graphics are great. You hear a lot of claims about "virtual
reality" (which of course is not possible without stereoscopic 3D
vision), but if there was one game which got real near to the effect,
this is it. In this game the "virtual reality like" effect is not
only parts of the game, but the entire game happens in moving 3D-like
surrounding.

There is a complete built in help system, so if you get stuck you
don't have to order hint books, you don't have to call BBSs for help
files, you just have to click and it is all there. Even the help
system was perfectly designed, you can't get a hint you don't want
to see.

If you like multimedia type adventure games, interactive movies, good
music, good story line, appropriate humor, 3D-like environment, the
type of program which makes you feel "to be there", UKM is probably
the best of it's kind today on the market. Extremely highly
recommended.


~┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
~│ Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective I II III  │
~└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

This game is almost history. But you may have missed it and you
shouldn't. It was one of the first multimedia game with full motion
video. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it is authentic, you DO feel like you
are Sherlock Holmes, the stories and the puzzles are perfectly
logical, no nonsense clues, everything fits together if you have the
mind for it.

Each CD has three independent case to be solved.

The voices are NOT choppy even on a slow 386. The video is fluid and
the synchron is perfect. Several games came after this one with
terrible video and sound and I was always wondering how come they
didn't follow the technology this company used.

The gaming value is tremendous.

These were selling for $55 each. Now I have seen them all three for
$19.95 I don't think you can buy that much good game for that little,
perhaps ever. Very highly recommended.