One of the delights of so many computer games is the opportunities they provide to act out our fantasies. Whether you dream of being a race car driver, an Olympic gold-medal winner, an astronaut or a big winner at the gambling tables, there's a computer game for you.
"Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf" ($29.95. Accolade: (408) 985-1700) lets you tee off with the legendary Nicklaus. Play on holes from Pebble Beach, Saint Andrews, and some of the world's other great courses. Contend with wind, rolling hills, fast greens, and random pin placement. There are two levels of difficulty, beginner and expert, and three choices of tees: pro, mens, and ladies. Play against your friends or challenge one of eight computerized golfers incorporated in the game, each of whom has his or her own playing characteristics. Among them is a computerized Nicklaus, who possesses skills patterned directly after the real Nicklaus' game.
"Deathlord" ($29.95. Electronic Arts: (800) 245-4525; in California (800) 562-1112) is an intricate role-playing game in which you assemble a party of warriors to defeat the evil Deathlord who has descended with his minions on the Kodan Empire. There are 157 dungeon levels, 128 different kinds of monsters, 16 continents and thousands of locations, 84 magic spells to master, plus problems posed by changing climate, weather, and time of day. Among the features unusual in fantasy games is the ability to negotiate with monsters instead of automatically engaging them in combat.
If sci-fi is your thing check out "Space Station Oblivion" ($39.95. Epyx: (415) 368-3200). The game is set far in the future, when Earth has destroyed itself and generations of immigrants have found a new home on the planet Evath. Your mission: locate drilling sites on the moon Mitral, where underground accumulations of poisonous gases threaten to explode, destroying not only Mitral but also Evath and the entire solar system. You have only four Mitral hours to explore the moon and locate the drilling sites, and of course there are a variety of nasty surprises along the way.
"The Ultimate Casino Gambling Simulation" ($34.95. Intracorp: (800) 468-7226; in Florida (305) 252-9040) lets you play six of the most popular casino games: blackjack, roulette, craps, keno, video poker, and slot machines. There are varying table limits, a range of chip values and 3-D animation of the roulette wheel. An accompanying manual includes helpful tips to improve your gaming knowledge. The advantages of this type of fantasy: Losses won't ruin your bank account. On the other hand, big wins won't pay for a trip to Tahiti!
%cFor Movie Maniacs
"Ticket To Hollywood" ($29.95 from Blue Lion Software: (617) 876-2500) takes you through eight decades of movie history and thousands of facts about Hollywood and its stars. As you explore famous landmarks and follow in the footsteps of your favorite actors and actresses, you'll earn stars and solve mysteries by answering such questions as: Who was born Marion Morrison? How many movies did Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn make? Which superstar made her escort follow two paces behind her?
%cNew From Mindscape
For software retailers, the big event that begins the year is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held each January in Las Vegas. While some of us were shivering in the snowy north, retailers were rushing from exhibit to exhibit, previewing new programs - with breaks to enjoy the warmth and sunshine. Many of the programs that will soon be appearing on your retailers' shelves were introduced at CES. Among them, five new action games from Mindscape ((800) 221-9884), each retailing for $29.95:
"International Team Sports" lets you coach and compete against athletes from 31 other nations in volleyball, water polo, soccer, swimming, and track. As coach, choose the best seven athletes to represent your country, and determine when to replace them with younger, more agile competitors. As a player, test your athletic prowess. The program is designed for one or two person play.
In "Hostage," you control a six-member special forces team assigned to rescue a group of hostages. Sharp graphics allow you to view the action from overhead and from both inside and outside the embassy where the hostages are held captive by terrorists.
"Combat Course" gives you a taste of the rigors of military combat training. Start at a beginner's level, then advance to three other, increasingly challenging skill levels. There's also an option to build you own obstacle course.
"Sgt. Slaughter's Mat Wars" lets you wrestle your way from dingy dives to the main arena. Four wrestling rings of varying difficulty plus action-packed moves and animation are featured. (Sgt. Slaughter, by the bye, is a former World Wrestling Federation superstar.)
"Aussie Games" features six "Made in Australia" sports designed to give you a bonza ("really great") time: the beer-bottle shoot, dry-river boat race, belly-whack competition, boomerang toss, beach football game, and marlin fishing.
Mindscape also recently introduced "Aussie Joker Poker" ($29.95), a computerized card game developed by Joker Software International and popular "down under." The computer acts as dealer and croupier, and distributes the winnings at the end of each game. Up to 90 players can compete against one another! And the game allows you to tailor deck sizes and rounds per player.
Note: As usual, prices given in this column are suggested retail prices for Commodore 64/128 programs; versions for other computers may be priced differently.
%cComputer Viruses
The biggest computer story of the past year was the phenomenon of computer viruses. Just as biological viruses run rampant through the human population, their electronic counterparts have spread amongst computers. These bits of computer code are generally disseminated via computer networks and bulletin boards, but they have also found their way into commercial and public domain software. Some are minor nuisances. Others are capable of wreaking incredible destruction.
Two new books offer lots of practical info on the subject. "Computer Viruses - A High-Tech Disease" ($18.95 from Abacus: (616) 698-0330), originally published in West Germany, was written by systems engineer Ralf Burger. It explains what a virus is, how it can quietly take hold of a PC, and what can be done to protect a system against attack. There also are several rudimentary programs that demonstrate some of the ways in which a virus infects a PC. An understanding of programming is advisable if you want to tackle this book.
Geared more toward the layperson is "Computer Viruses" ($14.95. Computer! Books: (919) 275-9809) by Ralph Roberts, author of several other computer books. Here, too, is a historical review of viruses, how they work, and how to fight viruses. The title of the book's final chapter says it all: "The Only Good Virus Is a Dead Virus."
