PC Reviews
Armoured Fist
Iron Cross
Fortress of Dr Radiaki
Allan Border's Cricket
Inherit The Earth
Descent
NBA Live '95
1942 Pacific Air War
Air Warrior
Retribution


Armoured Fist

Price: $99.95
System: PC CD-ROM
Supplier: Sega-Ozisoft
Graphics: Blocky
Sound: Brilliant speech
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
    WOULDN'T it be great to own a tank. No more traffic or parking problems.

    Armoured Fist gives you the chance to be behind the snout of the latest American and Russian tanks in a wide range of campaigns and battles.

    The game plays extremely well. It is predominantly an action game, but the strategic elements enhance its long term appeal.

    A first-person turret view is used, complete with cockpit controls and displays. The graphics engine is a little disappointing, anything far away looks extremely realistic, but any close objects look horribly blocky. On the positive side, the atmosphere created by the smoke from burning tanks and the realistic craters and landscapes makes the action very involving.

    The action is divided into a series of scenarios which you can play in any order and which contain around 10 missions each. Battles are loosely based on current world conflicts.

    In most missions after a short joyride to the battle zone the action becomes extremely frantic. A map screen shows the terrain, as well as the position of the enemy.

    Take the wrong route to the enemy and you can quickly find yourself surrounded by enemy tanks and helicopter gunships. Luckily, if you're in real trouble you can call in an airstrike to wreak havoc, or jump into another vehicle.

    Often success or failure seems to rely more on luck than anything else. Sometimes you suddenly and unexpectedly die as a result of hitting a land mine or an unseen enemy, while other times you can waltz through battle zones without a scratch.

    Controls are relatively simple, although it is sometimes a little confusing looking one way while travelling another. Using your firepower is simply a matter of choosing your preferred ammunition, swinging the barrel around to your target and firing away. It is extremely satisfying watching your enemies explode and burn after sneaking up behind them.

    Armoured Fist is one of the best tank simulations yet seen.


Iron Cross

Price: $89.95
System: PC
Supplier: Directsoft
Graphics: Great SVGA
Sound: Atmospheric
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
    IRON Cross is a real-time World War II war game. It features a dozen scenarios to play, or you can design your own using a scenario builder.

    Some of the scenarios are short and the game is quite simplistic, making it ideal for the novice war gamer who usually avoids turgid simulations with campaigns that last for days.

    At the start of the scenario, you receive a number of points with which to buy units. You can choose from artillery, tanks or foot soldiers with various kinds of weaponry.

    The game is relatively easy to get into. The manual is good, and moving your units is as simple as clicking on a destination. Your units can be ordered to fire en route or just move.

    The aim is to defend or attack a specific area on the map. Victory is determined by how many causalities you have suffered.

    Tactically, the game is too simplistic and unrealistic to keep harden war gamers happy. There is so much happening in the large area map that it becomes impossible to issue specific orders to each unit. Because of this, and the fact that you cannot instruct a unit to stay put and defend, your units often suffer unnecessarily high casualties.

    The gameplay is all the more disappointing given the quality of the graphics and presentation. The Super VGA graphics are excellent, the animation good, and there is WWII newsreel video footage throughout the game which adds a lot of atmosphere.

    Iron Cross is enjoyable enough for a while, but its simplistic gameplay and lack of a two player option have held the game back considerably. Watch out for a review of another WWII strategy game, Panzer General, soon.


Fortress of Dr Radiaki

Price: $89.95
System: PC and PC CD-ROM
Supplier: Directsoft
Graphics: Brilliantly bizarre
Sound: Amusing
Rating: 3 out of 5
    FORTRESS is another Doom clone, with more sense of humor and better graphics than most.

    The plot is that an anonymous madman is demanding one billion dollars or else he will unleash his home-made nuclear weapons. Authorities suspect the madman is Japanese electronics wizard, Dr Radiaki. You are thrust upon the Doc's secret island, armed only with a baseball bat, and must hunt him down.

    The object: kill everything that moves using whatever implements of destruction you can lay your hands on, from swords to flame throwers to machine guns.

    Your enemies range from sword wielding samurai, ninja warriors, robots with toasters for heads and huge mutant alligators. Your opponents get weirder as the game progresses, and many emit very strange sounds.

    The first person perspective graphics are superlative. While the backgrounds aren't quite up to Doom standard, the quality of the animation on the creatures is incredible, with amazing detail even when you are very close-up.

    There are over 15 levels before the final confrontation with Dr Radiaki, and each level must be completed by finding the access tube. A good feature is being able to re-enter previously completed levels to scour them for more goodies and weapons.

    Handy objects to collect include grenades, ammo crates, syringes which restore health, keys and napalm.

    The game moves along at a cracking speed, and there's often little respite between fierce battles. The gameplay is perhaps a little more simplistic than Doom - the puzzles don't seem as taxing - but the humor throughout and frantic action keeps the interest up.

    For CD-ROM owners, the CD version features more speech, extra levels and enhanced sound effects.

    If you have completed Doom 1 and 2 and are still hungry for more action, Fortress is a lot of fun.


Allan Border's Cricket

Price:
System: PC
Supplier: Home Entertainment Suppliers
Graphics: OK
Sound: Average
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
    CRICKET is a tough game to translate onto the computer screen, but AB's Cricket is a lot of fun.

    You can play as Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies or any of the Sheffield Shield teams. Games range from a 20-over one day game to a fair dinkum 5-day test.

    You can pick your team from the squads provided, or create your own team using the editor included. There are three skill settings, with world class mode fairly difficult. You can choose to play in whites or colored outfits.

    Bowling is a very simple. Once you've picked your bowler, you guide a square to where you want to pitch the ball and then waggle the joystick like mad for pace, swing or spin.

    No matter how much you waggle, the bowler is limited by his own ability. Shane Warne will spin the ball more when bowling leg spin rather than off, while Steve Waugh will be able to swing the ball a lot more than David Boon.

    Fielding is automatic, which means bowling can get a bit dull at times, but you can change the fielding positions and customise the fields for different bowlers.

    Batting is more fun, but difficult. You have to move your batsman around the crease, pick which shot to play and get the exact timing of the shot. Pulling off a sweet coverdrive and watching the umpire signal four is very satisfying.

    The range of shots to play is good, including defence strokes, hooks, drives and cut shots.

    After you've played your shot your worries aren't over because you also have to run. Run outs seem to be the most common form of dismissal because it's often difficult to judge a single.

    AB's cricket is one of those games that isn't technically superb but is a lot of fun, especially for two players. You tend to forgive the poor animation and just enjoy the game.

    Grab a friend and play an AB tribute match.


Inherit The Earth

Price: $79.95
System: PC
Supplier: Directsoft
Graphics: Appealing
Sound: Very good
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
    MANKIND has finished botching up the earth and has finally died out with a whimper. Left to inherit the earth are morphs - genetically enhanced animals.

    The animals have advanced to a technology similar to the human's medieval era - they can speak and have developed primitive tools. But occasionally the morphs stumble across a relic of the old human era, and one such find is the Orb of Storms.

    The Orb is a gadget in demand, it can be used to predict when rain will come. Boars are especially passionate about the Orb because they use it to know when to prepare their mud baths.

    On the day of the fair, the community is shocked by the announcement that the Orb has been stolen. As usual, poor old Rif the Fox has been blamed for the disappearance, and has been given just until the next new moon to recover the orb and prove his innocence.

    You control Rif, who is always accompanied by a lieutenant buck called Eeah and a dim-witted boar called Okk.

    The game is a point-and-click puzzle solving graphic adventure. There's no great laughs or fast-paced action, just a well crafted story and an enjoyable quest. It's the kind of game the whole family could enjoy together.

    The game comes on both floppy and CD-ROM, but the CD version is recommended because it features full speech. All the critters are well animated and the speech rounds off their personality wonderfully.

    Inherit the Earth is a great game to get lost in. It's fun meandering around the rustic landscape and having a chat with the odd mule or rat.


Descent

Price: $89.95
System: PC
Supplier: Sega-Ozisoft
Graphics: Exceptional 3D
Sound: Energetic
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
    DESCENT takes the non-stop action of Doom and adds another dimension. This is a true 3D blaster.

    You are a pilot mercenary employed to flush out a series of mines inhabited by machinery gone berserk. Each mine is a maze-like series of twists and turns and full of deadly droids. Your task is to rescue prisoners, destroy the central reactor in each mine and escape before it explodes.

    Initially the game is both bewildering and wonderful. You have freedom to fly anywhere and view objects from any angle. You plunge into upside-down passageways and feel genuinely sick from the sensation of height, speed and depth. Unfortunately, for most of the first few hours of play, you're left fumbling with the complex controls and totally disorientated.

    But once you've mastered the controls, learned to use the map and begin to concentrate on your surroundings, you'll really start to enjoy this fantastic game.

    Your opponents include drones, maintenance robots, powerful hulks and spider robots. Most are pretty smart and powerfully equipped, some even with homing missiles. And remember the battles are in 3D - they can be firing at you from above, below, left, right, in front or behind. It's not easy.

    Luckily you have plenty of weaponry at your disposal, including an assortment of lasers, canons and missiles. Bombs are really fun and can be laid as mines or shot at your enemies.

    As with Doom, there are keys to find, doors to open and stacks of things to collect. Collecting the hostages is made a little simpler by the fact they are able to transmit their position, but unfortunately not details about how to get there.

    When you have managed to find the core, the atmosphere really starts to pump. The guards put up a very tough fight, and you need to get plenty of hits into the core before you cook it. Score enough hits and a robotic female voice will start to countdown the seconds before the place explores - just like an Alien movie.

    The adrenalin rush when heading towards the exit is incredible. With sweaty palms you manage to find the exit just before the countdown ends, returning to the surface of the planet as the mine explodes beneath you.

    The sensation of zooming through corridors and tunnels is amazing - the graphics provide incredible speed, depth and detail. However, you need at least a DX2 to get the most out of the game.

    Descent has 30 levels and like Doom, there are plenty of multiplayer options to ensure further longevity. On a network, this is a game that will stop everyone in the office working.

    But is it better than Doom? Hmmm.....as close as any game has yet come. A lot of Doom's popularity stems from the fact that it is so easy to pick up and play, and it's on this point that Descent just falls short.

    But it's magnificent all the same. Buy it.


NBA Live '95

Price: Around $100
System: PC CD-ROM
Supplier: Electronic Arts
Graphics: Good animation
Sound: Hip music and speech
Rating: 4 out of 5
    NBA Live '95 is the best basketball game to hit the PC. It's five-on-five basketball action at its best.

    Using a FIFA-style isometric view, NBA Live is a realistic, fast and fun representation of the popular game.

    Players are wonderfully animated, with dunks, alleyoops and overheads galore. Court and crowd detail is excellent, and the television-style off-court presentation is superlative, complete with spoken commentary and full-motion video.

    Two views are available - a normal view and a wide angle high-resolution view which shows almost all of the court in much crisper detail.

    The pace of the game is very good. Once you have sussed the controls you'll be able to get a lightening-fast passing game going and get have your players making fast breaks everywhere.

    Shooting is very realistic with a range of shots and true-to-life scoring percentages. There are 46 different offensive plays to set up.

    As with most EA titles, there is statistics overload. Every player is modelled on their real stats, and the stats are updated and saved after each game you play. Information available includes points, rebounds, assists and blocks, and all the players in each team's starting line-up have high-resolution photos included.

    The game also features loads of options, with three difficulty levels, three play modes and a mammoth 82-game season based on the 1994-95 NBA schedule to play through.

    You can choose to play any of the 27 NBA teams, or one of two all-star teams or four custom teams. Throughout the season, a "general manager" feature allows you to trade players with other teams.

    Up to four players can take part at once for frantic four-player fun. You'll never get tired of playing as long as you have plenty of mates around.

    NBA Live '95 has set new standards. It's an incredibly realistic and fun experience.


1942 Pacific Air War

Price: $99.95
System: PC
Supplier: Sega-Ozisoft
Graphics: Fast
Sound: OK
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
    1942: Pacific Air War is one of those games that sneaks up behind you and grabs you. Initially, I thought MicroProse had botched it up, but after a few hours you realise that the game is quite special.

    1942 is a World War II flight sim where you get to fight for either the Japanese or the Yanks. Despite the title, the game actually features the entire American involvement in the war.

    You can choose to fly one of 10 planes. The game is more than the usual dogfighting faire, you can also take part in bombings and torpedo runs, as well as being able to jump in the rear gunners seat.

    1942 is essentially two games in one. There is the strategy game which you play from a scrolling map, zooming in and out, issuing orders, inspecting ships, sending out spotter aircraft, etc. Then when you send out a strike, you get the option of joining in and jumping into the cockpit for the flight simulator action.

    There are the usual options of being able to fly single missions or a whole career. Single missions take you instantly airborne and about to engage in a dogfight.

    The realistic flight mode is excellent, with all the planes having their own feel and authentic stalls and effects. If you're carrying a bomb you can feel the drag. Enemy intelligence is also very good.

    The realism makes the game even more exhilarating, especially when you're dive bombing with your tail on fire.

    Graphics are pretty good although the cockpit window is a little small for my liking. The good news is that the pace of the action is reasonably fast even on a low-end 486.

    One of the best features of the game is the mission builder which effectively allows you to make endless extra missions - great value considering most publishers charge around $40 for extra mission disks.

    The film editor is also excellent and allows you to view all camera angles and cockpit instrumentation. You can also jump into the action at any point, so if you stuff up a mission you can jump in just before disaster struck.

    1942 is an excellent release that serious flight sim fans will adore. It's a little hard to get into, but the rewards come thick and fast.


Air Warrior

Price: $89.95
Systems: PC, Macintosh, Amiga
Supplier: Metro Games: Tel. 321 3842
Graphics: Super VGA excellence
Sound: Rat-a-tat
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
    THE era of huge multiplayer gaming is upon us. Over 150 players from around Australia and the world can now play the excellent flight sim Air Warrior at once. There is huge interest in Air Warrior, it was one of the most popular attractions at last week's Home Computer Show.

    Playing human opponents in any game is always loads better than taking on the computer. Computers might be smart, but they are predictable and don't throw a wobbly when you beat them.

    Battling human opponents gives games an extra dimension, and makes them heaps more fun and satisfying. After a few hours playing Air Warrior battling a squadron of real players, you will be seriously hooked.

    As a stand-alone product, Air Warrior is a very good battle simulator. It accurately represents the nature of early dogfights, and features all the realistic effects of flight such as G effects, buffeting and stalling without overly complex controls. There are over 20 World War I and II aircraft to choose from, and each has authentic cockpits and different handling. Alternatively you can jump into a jeep or tank.

    You can easily start 'er up and be in the skies straight away, but before you're shooting down the on-line aces you'll have turned many planes into scrap metal.

    Before taking to the skies you need a computer, modem and a copy of Air Warrior. The On-line service is through Oz-Email. There are currently about 150 lines across Australia, including 32 in Melbourne. Most nights there are also overseas players on-line, from as far away as the US, Japan and even Finland!

    The biggest on-line nights are Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The action is frantic and you'll need your best flying skills to survive. Tuesday night is a training night to help beginners learn basic manoeuvres and tactics. Beginners will find the action pretty rough at first, but after some practice your skill level rises fast.

    Weekly scenarios are organised and held at 3pm Sundays. Rather than the usual no-holds barred slug-fest, each participant in the scenario is given a specific role to play in taking on the enemy.

    Registration to play on-line costs $25. Players receive a user ID, password and five hours of on-line time. After registration, playing time is $5 an hour, regardless of when you call. Tally ho!


Retribution

Price: $99.95
System: PC CD-ROM
Supplier: Hotpoint
Graphics: 3D action
Sound: Good
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
    NEVER trust an alien.

    In Retribution, a battered Earth on its last legs is saved by the Krellans, an advanced alien race which will supposedly bring about peace, share the cure for Cancer, and rid Earth of game shows and soapies forever.

    But just as everyone on Earth thinks the Krellans are the best thing since the X Files, government bean counters notice that the population on certain colonies is dropping at an alarming rate.

    Yes, the ol' Krellans have a penchant for humans as their Sunday roast. Now it's war.

    Retribution is the latest cinematic shoot-'em-up epic, with massive production costs, years in the making and a team of designers, actors and script writers.

    The game is a 3D thinking man's blaster where shrewd tactics are as important as quick reflexes. There are 11 varied campaigns to slog through, with a thoughtful learning curve that makes each mission a little tricker as the game progresses.

    Missions include everything from blowing up things like Krellan factories, to salvaging artefacts or saving stranded scientists. As has become standard in this type of game, there's plenty of crew members to offer advice, and before every mission you can receive detailed briefings.

    The atmosphere created by the cut scenes and briefings is good, and generally the plot and action is well combined. When you finally dive into the action, you'll find the controls offer outstanding control of your fighter.

    Retribution is as authentic and complex as you want it to be. You can play it as a standard "shoot everything that moves" blaster, or study in detail every aspect of Krellan behaviour. The attention to detail is amazing, with everything from weapon details to training performance charts recorded for the thrill of pedants.

    The graphics in the cut scenes and the thick of the action are both very good, although recent games such as Wing Commander 3 and Magic Carpet are far superior. But while Retribution might not be a game to wow your friends, with the huge number of missions the challenge is immense. It will keep you playing for a long time.

    Retribution is a polished game that has impressive gameplay and presentation. It's not quite as good as its competition, but it's still an awful lot of fun.


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