ADD-ON WALKTHROUGH: COMPUTER AGE OF MYTHOLOGY THE BEST PC GAMING MAG ө Reviews! Including Shadowbane, Vietcong, CSI, IGI 2, and the worst game in 20 years! WORLD PREMIERE! SIMS Birth. School. Work. Death. Maxis gets real. Killer Previews! HALO: Hands-On V am * Multiplayer Action! : wtf > \ The Hulk, Tron 2.0, | : йе. Hidden & Dangerous 2, “ғ” o Republic, Breed, 4 «АУА \ ava 11 Trinity, and more! We test the fastest PCs from Falcon and Dell z PLUS: Nvidia's new NV35 Кылт | | est ? TT Z5 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA L | GREAT TECH GEAR Є | T: af} + et por К ЕД ЖА GSROZENO THRONE m M— бы 5 —— € Dragonhawks con enshroud enemy fortifications in dense clouds of mist. - The Warden's shadowy powers help her hunt down her evil prey. Can yow? Spellbreakers steal enemy enchantments қ and bestow them upon their comrades. - The Blood Mage is quick to take vengeance upon any who threaten his brethren. blizzard.com Violence [= 3 The battle rages on. Join now. de ? ë Т Violence кү n dics is SS Io ntm oe у CHALLENGE EVERYTHING à “TO TEST A MAN'S CHARACTER GIVE HIM POWER BUILD A NATIONWIDE FACTION POWERFUL ENOUGH TO OUST THE PRESIDENT AND ENFORCE Я NEW REPUBLIC...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY RISE TO POWER THROUGH THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE, CRIME, BUSINESS, POLITICS OR RELIGION | PERSURDE HEY PUBLIC FIGURES TH 00 үпү mt USING COMPASSION OR RUTHLESS AGGRESSION | HARNESS THE POWER OF PROPAGANDA ТП GENERATE RABID SUPPORTERS AND INFLUENCE THE GENERAL POPULACE EXPLORE LIVING AND BREATHING bitie нін THOUSANDS OF CITIZENS MATURE SEXUAL THEMES VIOLENCE TOP T PICH ПЕ Z003 - COMPUTER GAMING WORLD СОВЕТЕ ТОЕ СОЕ 008 ЕБ. under license by Eidos Interactive Inc. 2003. Republic: The Revolution and Elixir Studios are "— v P ЕОС ЕНЕ ШІ. госу, Inc. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Associ igi = Win eT OE The Sims 2 Maxis turns The Sims into SimBegetting by putting the emphasis on families. We thought we played games to escape our families. 6 Computer Gaming World COMPUTER July 2003 issue #228 12 16 24 28 64 92 101 116 WORLD Editorial Jeff explains why it's a good month to play last month's games. Letters You hate us, you hate us not. We don't care. We love you anyway. = Loading... This month's shots are brought to you by the letter "H." Space cases should be happy to see more of Homeworld 2 and MMORPG hard cases will dig what's in store for Horizons. Read Me Since nobody reads Tech anymore, Will's worming his way into Read Me. This month he stinks up the joint with reports on the new Nvidia NV35, an Activision shooter called Trinity, and the latest PDA for gaming: the Palm Zire 71. Plus, we take another look at Tron 2.0 and show you Max Payne's new kung fu. Meanwhile, Jeff Green learns how to throw pies at cartoon characters in Toontown (pg 30). Columns 34 Homebrew Behind the Game: Halo Intrepid newshound George Jones ventures deep into Texas this month to see how Gearbox Software is coming along with the long-overdue PC port to Bungie's Halo. Did he get the story? Or did he just go to strip clubs instead? Tech Falcon sends much love to the troops with their patriotic Mach V, while Dell gives the Dimension a gaming makeover. Also, Cracked Case, Tech Medics, a new Power Rig, and Wil Power. Gamer's Edge Tom and Bruce's dogfighting tips for the IL-2 expansion, a guide to Roman Empire domination for Praetorians, and a walkthrough for The Golden Gift, the free Age of Mythology expansion included on this month's CGW demo disc. Also, be the envy of all your geek friends with a guide to setting up LAN parties. Scorched Earth Mr. Aggressive meets Mr. Passive Aggressive. ^ m" f THE HULK #7 Everyone's favorite green-skinned character is moving to the world of button-mashing. Previews 44 46 4 48 Ғагсгу d М 50 The Hulk я % Vect 52 Republic: The Revolution. =. 54 Pure Pinball Ах i 54 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Obl SHADOWBAME 54 Massive Assault Reviews ТО Shadowbane READ ME 72 ІСІ 2: Covert Strike ^ The NV35 is coming to get you. 74 Devastation 76 Vietcong 78 Line of Sight: Vietnam 80 Tropico 2: Pirate Cove 82 A Tale іп the Desert 83 Grom 84 Enclave 85 BloodRayne 86 Pro Race Driver 87 Championship Manager 4 88 New World Order yd, 1 89 Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc ме m ZI WE 2 зә Casino Inc. 92 TECH Оо VIETCONG 90 Postal 2 The fastest machine ever-God bless America. www.computergaming.com 7 THE RATTLE HAS FOR LAND. AUST BEGUN." FOR POWER. Enlist at wwwvw.planetside.com FOREVER." Enlist today! Align with the Vanu Sovereignty, Terran Republic or New Conglomerate and wage war with thousands of players in the first ever massively multiplayer online first-person battle! Join squads, command troops and pilot air, hover or land vehicles in your pursuit of total domination. Which side are you an? PC TEEN { cD { Violence SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESRB PlanetSide, the slogan For Land. For Power. Forever, and all other PlanetSide slogans and are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment Inc, SOE and the SOE logo аге п demarks of Sony Online 8 Entertainment Inc. The Way It's Meant To Be Played logo is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation. © 2003 Sony Online Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Inte igital Software OL Ма Association. All rights reserved. All other trademarks or trad ire properties of their respective owners. ange Uuring Uniine Flay. DIMENSION" XPS Ultimate Gaming PC * Intel? Pentium* 4 P г at 2.80GHz with 800MHz Front Side Bus and HT Technology % 512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz • 120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM) * 19" (18.0" vi.s., .24dp) M992 Monitor e ATI's Latest RADEON" 9800 PRO Graphics Card with 128MB DDR Memory, TV-Output, and DVI Support * 16x DVD-ROM Drive W Drive * Sound Blaster? Audigy"2 Sound Card with DVD Audio © Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 * Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition * WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken* New Us IMENSION" XPS TECHNOLOGY Power Supply and Thermals: Dell XPS PCs play full е, supporting powerful Intel® processors, graphic cards id more. They're loaded with the power to stay cool nd keep the games running hot. sy Open Chassis: XPS systems are easy to crack pen and upgrade because they come with a highly ipandable "tool-less" entry chassis. Of course, with егпа! and external bay options, there's ample room to grade, adjust and add on. hest Attention to Quality: Every XPS system is * 6 Months of America Online? Membership Included" e 2-Yr in Warranty” with XPS Support, 2 tom built with high quality parts by skilled technicians. у'ге built with a minimum of touching and handling so parts are clean and ready for blast off. S Gaming Service and Support: The Dell XPS TAKE IT UP A LEVEL QN. Add more cutting-edge technology to your XPS system. M " e Intel® P 0 GHz with 800MHz Front Se Side Bu: >>Call 1-800-433-7857 Get in the game with ATI's 3D graphics technology, inside every great Dell gaming PC. Enabling advanced graphics, we make the demons more 3D, the aliens more life-like and the action fierce. www.ati.com *America Online: New members only. Must register for America Online dial-up service within 30 days of date of invoice. To avoid paying monthly membership fees, cancel during the 6-month promotional period. Even during promo period, telephone access charges on your phone bill (call your phone company for details) and surcharges for premium services and 800-number access may apply, including in members with major credit card or checking account only. Limited time offer. America Online, AOL, the Triangle design and AOL Instant Messenger service are registered trademarks of America Online, Inc. ol cifications, availability and terms of offers may change without notice. Taxes and shipping charges а га, and vary. Valid for U.S. Dell Home Systems Co. new purchases only. Dell cannot be graphy or photography. Gigabit Ethernet: This term indicates compliance with IEEE standard 802.3ab for Gigabit Ethernet, and does not connote actual operating speed of 1 GB/sec. For high speed bit Ethernet server and network infrastructure is required. Software: Software, documentation or packaging may differ from retail versions. Limited Warranty: You can get a copy of our limited introducing The Dell Gaming PC: A machine that redefines the term adrenaline rush. Unreal 11°: The Awakening Unleash the full power of your games with the Dell XPS Gaming PC. A machine custom built just the way you M ane anan want it. A machine that makes serious gaming more affordable. A machine that fears no droid, Be en no alien, and no undead. A machine built with some of the latest technology to blur the line between game and reality. Go online or call now and get a machine that brings to life an enemy. A machine that lets you hear what lurks in the darkness. A machine that's been pushed to the limits of testing — both.inside and out — to perform in the real world, and the world that consumes your mind. XPS gaming service and support is available 24/7/365. But the nightmares you get from the games are your own problem. Intense Gaming. Easy as DOLL Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP warranties and guarantees by writing Dell USA LP, Attn: Warranties, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682. To purchase warranty only or for information on other service options please call 1-800-915-3355 or visit dell4me.com/service. Service: At-Home service provided via third-party contract with customer. Technician will be dispatched, if necessary, following phone-based troubleshooting. Availability varies. Other conditions apply. DVD+ RW Drives: Discs burned with this drive may not be compatible with some existing drives and players; using DVD+R media provides maximum compatibility, PURCHASE PLAN: Dell Preferred Account: Offered by CIT Bank to qualified US. residents with approved credit. Taxes and shipping charges are extra and vary. Trademarks/Copyright Notices: Intel, Intel Inside, Pentium and Celeron are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Mit 'osoft Corporation. ATI, RADEON and "Get іп the GAME” are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies, Inc. Unreal is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. ©2003 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. EDITORIAL The truth is, you're screwed. боту about that. Stank-tastic! We play crap games so you don't have to it may be a great time to be a computer gamer, here in 2003, but it sure as heck isn't obvious from this month's Reviews lineup. Yeeesh. What a load of stink. | actually wanted to put that phrase-"a load of stink"-on the cover, but was convinced by my bosses that that might not be the best way to sell magazines. Like 1 care about that! But if you're reading these words, then you've obviously bought or stolen the magazine already, so you people can hear the truth. The truth is, you're screwed. Sorry about that. What we have here, in this month's Reviews section, is the most 1.5-star games we've had in one issue in 20 years, plus our very first zero-star game. If it's any consolation, just know that we're the ones who actually had to play all those lousy games. You just have to read about 'em. Still, | don't want you to be all bummed out now and put the magazine down. If | knew it would cheer you up, I'd swallow some goldfish or maybe do my Jerry Lewis impersonation, which is always good for a laugh or two. But since you're way over there and l'm way over here and you can't see me anyway, let's just move on. Instead, let's focus on the positive. For starters, we have the cover story, The Sims 2. Hey-stop rolling your eyes. It's not another expansion. Having conquered the world with what is now the best-selling PC game of all time, Maxis is doing what any good developer would do: taking chances and upping the ante. The Sims 2 is not more of the same, and it's doing a few things-like letting Sims age and die-that will surprise and maybe even piss off its most loyal fans. That can only be good. Elsewhere, we have an update on Halo for PC, if you can believe it, plus an interview with Gearbox, the developer "porting" it to the platform it was meant to be on in the first place. (Not that we're still bitter about that.) Also, take a look at the preview for Breed, a shooter from a small development house in England that may upstage Halo at its own game. Strategy fans should check out the preview of Republic, a long-delayed game that is finally starting to look like a reality. Finally, because he never gets any respect around here and because he slipped me five dollars, let me direct your attention to Wil O'Neal's Tech section, where this month he puts down the MP3 players for the fastest gaming PC we've ever tested. You want to know what it is? Hah-now you have to read his section. OK? So it's not all bad news this month. Don't even dare bring up the old "PC gaming is dying" thing, or I'll be forced to hit you. You just wait. This year will be more amazing than ever. Really. We just can't prove it this month. Jeff Green Editor-in-Chief SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES For service questions, address changes, or to order, please contact us. Web: service.computergamingworld.com (for customer service) or sub- scribe.computergamingworld.com (to order). Phone: U.S. or Canada (800) 827-4450 or (850) 682-1624; elsewhere (303) 604-1445. MAIL: Computer Gaming World, P.0. Box 57167, Boulder, CO 80322-7167. Please include your mailing label with any correspondence. Fax: U.S. and Canada (850) 683-4094; elsewhere (303) 604-0518. E-MAIL: cgw@neodata.com, Please type your full name and the address at which you subscribe; do not send attachments. Subscriptions; The one- year (12 issues) subscription rate is $19.97, or $3497 with CD-ROM. 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Box 57167, Boulder, CO 80322-7167. 12 Computer Gaming World COMPUTER EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT WORLD Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green Editor Ken Brown Managing Editor Dana Jongewaard Technical Editor William O'Neal Reviews Editor Robert Coffey Previews Editor Darren Gladstone Features Editor Thierry "Scooter" Nguyen CD Editor Di Luo CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Charles Ardai, T. Byrl Baker, Loyd Case, Tom Chick, Bruce Geryk, Jeff Lackey, Raphael Liberatore, Thomas L. McDonald, Erik Wolpaw ART DEPARTMENT Art Director Rob Schultz Associate Art Director Michael Jennings COPY DESK Copy Chief Kristen Salvatore Copy Editor Tom Edwards Copy Editor Greg Ford PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Manufacturing Director Carlos Lugo Art Production Manager Michele Kellogg- Manousos Senior Production Manager Anne Marie Miguel Production Manager Monica Brent Assistant Production Manager Teresa Newson ZIFF DAVIS GAME GROUP Editorial Director John Davison Creative Director Simon Cox Business Director Cathy Bendoff HOW TO CONTACT THE EDITORS To contact any member of the staff: firstname lastnameGziffdavis.com Address nonsubscription-related questions and feedback to CGW Editorial, 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Or you may con- tact us via e-mail: cgwlettersGziffdavis.com; phone: (415) 357-4900; or editorial fax: (415) 357-4977. 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Founder Russell Sipe * An epic role-playing game on sea and land ^ Kee 4 Cou ° Gorgeous graphics and realistic weather effects MEM ae Е * Open-ended gameplay set in exotic locales 3 г — E. uu сар ыш ° Exciting bigh seas battles and thrilling duels Ls Ax UM. ө » Inspired Py the feature film 222 с July 9th ж Le ee ALL SCREENSHOTS FROM XBOX VERSION E RATING PENDING Bethesda 523 Jew _ p" ах а pue Media company БҰРҒЫ 1C COMPANY EL © 2003 б. Softworks LLC, а ZeniMax Media company. Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax are registered trademarks or trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox Logos are either _ registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. Audio/Visual elements © Disney. Other product and company names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. CONTRIBUTORS Tom ended his career as a filmmaker when he found himself in a dingy Alphabet City apartment, sleeping in a for his lifelong passion or living in the about things like this amazing new game called Eye of the Beholder would have sweated the decision. Tom dropped the broom and left. He's never seen another rat. ROBERT COFFEY It's hard to believe that it's been almost five years since Robert (shown here with one of his two kids) infected, er, came aboard the good ship CGW. Time sure flies when you're dispensing hate. It seems like just yesterday he was living in a damp basement apartment that was crawling with slugs he would kill with his bare feet in the dark. The final score from three months in the basement: Robert-37, 51095-0. But deep down, aren't we all the real winners? KRISTEN SALVATORE Our beloved copy chief Kristen Salvatore is currently batting .349 with a career-high on-base percentage of 412. She’ best known for pioneering the famed NY Yankees pitching program wl fatasses like David Wells are motivated to take the field by being told there's a pepperoni pizza anda six-pack of Schlitz buried under the mou SUPERCORN Unable to fully evolve, Supercorn continues to fashion a world of his own arrested development-a high-gloss world of social dysfunction, populated by hoards of barely clothed bondage loving, big breasted cheerleaders. His illustrations are 13-year- old sexual frustration incarnate-with all the frenzy, excitement, and emotional impediment that comes with such a distinction. See an example in this month's Tech Medics. 14 Computer Gaming World ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA Chairman & CEO Robert F. Callahan Chief Operating Officer & CFO Bart W. Catalane Senior Executive Vice President, Publishing Operations Tom McGrade Executive Vice President & Editorial Director Michael J. Miller Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary Gregory Barton Senior Vice Presidents Jasmine Alexander (Technology & Sales Operations) Derek Irwin (Finance) Charles Mast (Circulation) Sloan Seymour (Enterprise Group) Dale Strang (Game Group) Jason Young (Internet) Vice Presidents Ken Beach (Corporate Sales) Tim Castelli (PC Magazine Group) Charles Lee (Integrated Media) Aimee D. Levine (Corporate Communications) Jim Louderback (Editor-in-Chief, Internet) Eric Lundquist (Editor-in-Chief, eWEEK) Bill Machrone (Editorial Development) David Mullen (Controller) Beth Repeta (Human Resources) Tom Steinert-Threlkeld (Editor-in-Chief, Baseline) Stephen Sutton (Internet Audience Development) Stephen Veith (Publisher, CIO Insight) Senior Director, Manufacturing Carlos Lugo Director, International Christin Lawson Contact anyone on this masthead via e-mail using first name last nameGziffdavis.com PERMISSIONS COPYRIGHT © 2003 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIB- ITED. FOR PERMISSION TO REUSE MATERIAL IN THIS PUBLICATION (OR ON THIS WEBSITE) OR TO USE OUR LOGO, CONTACT ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA'S RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS MANAGER, OLGA GONOPOLSKY, ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA INC., 28 EAST 28TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10016; TEL: 212-503-5438; FAX: 212-503-5420; E-MAIL: OLGA_GONOPOLSKY@ZIFFDAVIS.COM. FOR REPRINTS, CONTACT REPRINT MANAGEMENT SERVICES AT 800-290-5460. Audit Bureau of RY Circulations Member | ABC AUDITED ы And'a mailbox. And three fire hydrants. And а mime. And a pedestrian mall. And anything else that gets іп your way. Because with Midtown Madness 3° you set the course. If grass seems faster, hy all means drive on grass. If the sidewalk's to your liking, you definitely have the right of way, Race through Washington, DC, and Paris and leave your impression on both, Just remember, there's no right way to get there, as long as you get there first. gamexGtudias- п ed / 2 s Violence К 2 р С | < www.xbox.com/midtownmadness3 ONLY ок! WEITER 4 6 XBOX XBOX LTV € ONLINE ENABLED Letters Give it away give it away give it away now at cgwletters@ziffdavis.com The Real Slim Shady About your May 2003 issue: Is it just me, or does that look like Eminem with boobs on the cover? Andrew Schran Actually, yeah, it's Eminem with boobs. Sales of his last CD, The Eminem Show, weren't as high as expected, so Marshall decided to supplement his income by getting some implants and posing for magazine covers. Okay, now that's what we call “a joke.” Marshall, put the bat down and tell your lawyers to calm down. Girls! Girls! Girls! A few months back, a subscriber asked that you put more porn in this magazine. You declined his offer. Last month [May 2003] you had a picture of a woman in a very revealing “shirt,” if you would call it that. You also had a very large picture of Dawn, the NVidia GeForce FX spokes- nymph in her birthday suit. | must admit, it was a very happy birthday, but it was not entirely appreciated. | am not sure you thought of this, but you are basically going against your word. I'm not gay, but | get tired of opening any magazine (even a computer gaming magazine) and seeing real/fake pictures of scantily clad women. Clean up your mag and tell anyone who wants porn they should buy a porn magazine, not a computer gaming magazine. Adam Collins We still have no intention of putting "porn" in the magazine. But, come on, the occasional cheesecake Shot? We work hard here. We don't want to look at spaceships and orcs all the time. Is that so wrong? Open-ended gameplay | just read your awards for Games of the Year [April 2003]. | do agree that Grand Theft Auto Ill deserves Game of the Year. But you also gave a nod to open-ended gameplay, specifically GTA3. You said that 2002 was the year for open-ended gameplay. But what about Fallout and Fallout 2? Those have been the most interactive games | have ever played. You could go in so many different direc- tions that 1 had to beat those games three times each before they got repeti- tive. You could be the savior of the wasteland, or devil spawn. You could do everything in these games that you could do in GTA3. I think these games deserve a nod. Justin Yann We loved the Fallout games too, but really, those games were still about following a story line, no matter how much you could customize your Character and affect the outcome. What a game like GTA3 offers is hundreds and hundreds of hours of extra gameplay-races, mini-games, and other challenges-on top of the main story. That's what we're talking about here. “What's with all the new ANY work?” 16 Computer Gaming World Sea Dogs goes Hol Somebody needs to get fired. What genius at Bethesda decided that they should change the name of their upcom- ing RPG from Sea Dogs 2 to Pirates of the Caribbean? The name Sea Dogs has a good reputation with gamers, and the Wal-Mart crowd is going to be very disap- pointed to discover the game has nothing to do with the movie. (The girls especial- ly-no Johnny Depp, no Orlando Bloom!) | suppose there is the odd chance that name association will attract some new gamers to the genre, but more likely, the movie will flop, and the game will be dragged down with it. Akella deserves better. Nate It's not just the girls who will be disappointed that Orlando Bloom isn't in the game. Jeff Green has been crying like a little girl ever since he found out. Hypocrites R Us | have been using a burned Half-Life CD for years, just not registering the game, and now that | want to play Counter- Strike with it | have to either get a code. generator or a new CD. This vexes me quite a bit, because as | see it | should be able to illegally play Internet Half-Life like | can illegally play single-player Half- Life. While I'm at it, what's with all the new contributors? Are you editors doing ANY work? Maybe you should. Just а thought. Have a nice day now! With loving kindness, Sam Allison Sam, Sam, Sam: what have we told you people about burning game CDs? Not good. Remember, the more you burn game CDs, the less NGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED eR ТУШЬ Y You've got enough weapons 3i B a small country — and you'll need every last one. i oct to cry like Кыр Or send "ет all to Hades in a hand basket? Obliterate mythological be e the mayhem im six bloodthirsty gladiators exploding multipl: gods. up to eight play Frag, melt, petrify, inflate, and torch modes for enemies with destructive powers beyond your wildest dreams. wicked Gree Ubi Soll Entertainment, Inc. 625 Third Street, Third Floor, San. СА 90107 SABER INTERACTIVE/UBI SOFT ENTERTAINMENT. А! зі. 9 eloped by Saber logo, the S ег Engine logo a Blood and Gore ss and/or oth м in nl U.S. and/or other countries 5. Violence by Zomba Melodiés Inc.) 'oduced under license 2003 ATI Technolagies, schnologies Inc ‘li Ali Get in the GAME TE Play It On ЕЕ "Шот E өші www.will-rock.com www.ubi.com LETTERS money the game industry makes, and the more likely it is that we will eventually lose our easy jobs here. So cut it out. Just keep burning music CDs like us-now that's cool. When CGW reviewed Silent Hill 2, it didn't get such a good score [April 2003]. It's obvious to me that since the game is so perfect, the reviewer must have been playing it wrong; | have tips for getting the most from your Silent Hill 2 experience. 1) You must play with all the lights off, otherwise the glare on the screen can really make the game less enjoyable not to mention harder to play. 2) Make sure you have the music and sound on. The sound is essential and the music adds to the game. 3) Unless you're really paying 18 Computer Gaming World attention, you can ignore most of the plot with little consequence. These tips should make the game more enjoyable. And if they don't...then it's a personality fault and the game is still perfect. Paul Ware | want to congratulate you on your latest CGW editorial on racism [Scorched Earth, June 2003]. I've seen these racist stereotypes slip unheeded into games and newsgroups over the years. I'm glad you spoke up. Jim Cobb I think Thierry Nguyen fell off his scooter and cracked his head open on the pavement, bringing his intelligence to the level of Wil O'Neal-but hold that thought for half a sec. In your August 2002 issue, a reader named Jeff Massie wrote in that there were five Jedi. (He said you had left out Oobiedoobi Bloobidoobi Bladoobi). Well, it seems that both CGW and Scooter must re-read their scriptbooks, because there were only three Jedi in the Star Wars trilogy: Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan, and Yoda. Darth Vader was a Sith (Jedi hunter), and Emperor Palapatine was a corrupted politician (gee, THAT'S never happened before). Remember, Mr. Anakin Skywalker never completed his Jedi training. Both Mr. Nguyen and Jeff Massie should be thrown into the starlacc pit, and while your at it, put Wil O'Neal in there for that extra level of annoyance. The Plastic Lightsaber Jacob Meyer P.S. | love the magazine and tolerate the audio, | mean Tech section Just reading through your April 2003 magazine when | noticed that in your Star Wars Galaxies update feature, you referred to the walkers in the images as AT-ATs. Those are AT-STs. AT-ATs are the four-legged behemoths in The Empire Strikes Back. AT-STs are the little "chicken walkers" also seen Empire Strikes Back, but are more well-known for their role in Return of the Jedi. Not that I'm nitpicking. | just don't want to have those who play SWG who have never seen a Star Wars film to be ridiculed by hardcore fans because they mistook an AT-AT for an AT-ST..which subsequently got them killed minutes later. Keep up the good work! Ryan McGechaen Actually, we don't call the AT-ST in that shot an AT-AT, so in the words of our defensive news editor Ken Brown, “You can kiss our keister." VEHICLES, WEAPONS, IMPLANT COURAGE NOT INCLUDED. y EFEEFEEEEEFEFFEET 9 / AE 1 You play Logan, a mercenary turned bounty hunter, shooting your way through 14+ action-packed missions jammed with futuristic vehicles, dangerous enemies, fierce weapons and ability enhancing implants. 2 MATURE (Om НГ Y 4 З K Blood Cos = WWW.STRATEG RET. a KA : 4 at pn iolence Strategy First Inc. All rights reserved. Chrome is а табе ў зве‏ 2003© کس techland trademarks and copyrights are the properties of their respectivé ownej c Strategy First MUSAE NAA CS AZINE pr OLLI а о NOW AVAILABLE ON PC ANM. Violence 3 EPIC E Strong Language У Blood and боге CD ROM Еттщ Strong Sexual Content ESRB R © 2003 Rockstar Games, Inc. The R, logo is a registered trademark of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. "Epic" and G=> Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Marca Registrada./© 2003 Sony Music Entertainment Inc. АП other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. ACTUAL PC SCREENSHOT WWW.ROCKSTARGAMES.COM/VICECITY SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON EPIC RECORDS WWW.VICECITYRADIO.COM Note: Rockstar will be following IDSA guidelines for M rated games in the marketing of this game. This game contains violent language and behavior and may not be appropriate for persons under the age of 17. It is a comic interpretation of gangster activity and the story, names and incidents portrayed herein are fictitious, No identification or similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is intended or should be inferred. Any resemblance is coincidental. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone or encourage this kind of behavior. PlayStation.2 If you bought all these games, it would cost about fo п ев Why not try them all f PlayStation.2 irst in the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine for less than $10? ОРМ DEMO DISC Wb aL NS PlayStation. . MLB 2004 NBA STREET VOL. 2 DYNASTY WARRIORS 4 FREAKY FLYERS GUNGRAVE WWE SMACKDOWN! SHUT YOUR MOUTH SLY COOPER AND THE THIEVIUS RACCOONUS STAR WARS CLONE WARS TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2003 TERMINATOR: DAWN OF FATE MINORITY REPORT INSIDE THE GAME DOWNHILL DOMINATION LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER- ANGEL OF DARKNESS WAKEBOARDING UNLEASHED FEATURING SHAUN MURRAY DEV 101: GAME DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS SYPHON FILTER: THE OMEGA STRAIN FINDING NEMO GLADIUS HUNTER: THE RECKONING- WAYWARD LOOK FOR DISK 70 IN THE JULY 2003 ISSUE OF OFFICIAL U.S. PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE ON SALE NOW! DISC 70 PRESENTED BY OFFICIAL U.S. PL. TION MAGAZINE AND PLAYSTATION UNDERGROUND doxe PlayStation ity and terms of offers may change without notice. Taxes and stems Co. new purchases only. Dell cannot be responsible for r P i of our limited warranties and guarantees ІЗ (ее 8682. To purchase warranty only or for 00-915-3355 or vis ў sit dell4me.com/service. DVD+RW Drives: Y DVD+some existing drives and players; using DVD+R media *Pricing/Availabili shipping oth Discs burned with provides maximum С VD: 0 Its reserved. Trademarks/Copyright Notices: Intel and Pentium are trademarks jon or its subsidiaries in the | United States and other countries. Microsoft and ell, the Dell Logo and ‘Inspiron are registered trademarks of the EA SPORTS logo, EA GAMES, the EA GAMES logo and marks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Nightfire, JAMES BOND, 007, James Bond биг ae PGA TOUR and Tiger Woods and all other trademarks are trademarks or ~ registered trademarks. of their respective owners and used with permis: 2002 Digital Illusions CE AB. Battlefield 1942 is a trademark of. Digital Illusions CE AB. PORTS" and EA GAMES" EM flection Arts" brands. All rights reserved. or registered trademarks of Windows are registered | trademarks Dell Computer Corporation. © ; 2002 Need for Speed are trademarks or rec ` Loading... The hottest shots of the best new games Edited by Darren Gladstone Space: 1999. Homeworld blew up on the scene with killer graphics and a great 3D spin on RTS space combat. How could you not love the Battlestar Galactica overtones or the mas- sive melees that had dozens-if not hundreds-of tiny units zipping around each other onscreen? As good as it was (we gave Homeworld 41/2 stars), the original still had some prob- lems. The sequel, due out in July, looks to address most of the first game's control issues. More important, though, Homeworld 2 is looking good. Check out this shot for a taste. 24 Computer Gaming World The mothership remains the core of production, but new subsystem research adds a whole layer of customization for larger ships. Will you go for a fighter launch bay or a cloaking generator? ibulae, dust clouds, and ts will all play a part in 9 Up Space and providing а trategic impact during gameplay. You've got two unique races and fleets to choose from: the : = © Hiigarans and the 2 + > sinister Vaygr. \ «ча ' d г, س و‎ y \ 7 \ СА b x 2 \ h 4; > ) 4; 2 4 2 n 5 АС & ^ m \ 2%. PE ^ Иа 4 www.computergaming.com 25 LOADING... What is there to say about Horizons that hasn't been said already? A lot, actually. This MMORPG has lots of potential, and sadly, there isn’t enough room here to mention all of the game's interesting aspects. You'll get your bloodthirsty fill of hack-and-slash combat, but there are trade skills to develop, player-owned houses and businesses to attend to, and the ability to play as a dragon (that's right kids, a dragon), just to name a few highlights. So, will you settle for a really colorful picture with plenty of little things called out? 26 Computer Gaming World Monsters will travel in packs, giving them the ability to dynamically build their own communities, send out raiding parties, and attack players and their villages. Entire communities can be built and owned by players. Construct full-featured castles, guilds, and cities that leave a permanent mark on the world. Screw chatting, we want action. There's a big emphasis оп keeping your eyes on gameplay and out of the chat window. ead Me Sexy time! Edited by Ken Brown The GeForce That Doesn't Blow Nvidia's new GeForce FX 5900 Ultra picks up speed and leaves the "leaf blower" behind By William O'Neal S.T. A.L.K.E.R.'s Nvidia- powered graphics are outlandishly detailed. 28 Computer Gaming World Jeff finds an > online game that's more his. speed. Page 30 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost vidia is trying to kill two birds with one stone. On the high-minded side, they're on a quest to bring photorealism to games. And on the not-so high-minded side, they want to be the biggest and baddest kid on the graphics card block. The GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (NV35) is the product that they believe brings them closer to their first objective while, according to our test results, returns the performance crown back to the Santa Clara-based company. After the debacle that was the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra (NV30), referred to in many circles as the “dust buster,” “leaf blower,” and “whistle-tip,” Nvidia is hoping that the NV35 will prove to be the technological leap forward that they had expected the NV30 to be. While the original GeForce FX was plagued with delays, marketing screw-ups and technological gaffes, the NV35 is in many ways a revved up, new and improved version of the much- maligned NV30. Like the NV30, the NV35 features .13- micron architecture (smaller than the Radeon 9800 Pro's .15-micron size), which enables the chip to run a little cooler. And while Nvidia was knocked for shipping the NV30 with 128-bit DDR2 memory with a maximum throughput of 16GB/sec, the NV35 boasts an impressive 256MB of 256-bit DDR1 memory with a maximum throughput of 27.2GB/sec. This will probably be the most significant bullet point in the NV35's arsenal, as memory bandwidth handicapped the NV30's performance in several tests. And this handicap was made more conspicuous by the fact that | TRON 2.0 Scooter trips the lightcycle fantastic. Page 31 TRINITY A new FPS from the makers of Return to Wolf. Page 32 VIVENDI Homeworld 2 ipdate, Tribes news, and more. r | Page 36 (ou €: js jhe textures Abducted: The NV35 beat the crap out of the Radeon 9800 when we upped the resolution and enabled advanced graphics features. ATI's 9800 Pro shipped with 256-bit DDR1 memory, enabling the card to compete handily with the "more powerful" NV30. We tested the 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra on a 3GHz Pentium 4 against ATI's flagship 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro. While the NV35 was pretty much even with the 9800 Pro in every test with the bells and whistles turned off, it beat the crap out of the Radeon in every test once we upped the resolution and enabled features like 4x anti-aliasing and 4x anisotropic filtering. However, because our test board didn't fare so well in our NASCAR 2002 and UT2003 benchmark scores, the 1024x768 3DGameGauge numbers were strangely similar. Regardless, these results fall in line with what Nvidia has been telling us-that the NV35 was designed to run at 1600x1200x32 with everything turned on. When you crank anisotropic filtering up to something like 8x, the delta widens even more. According to Nvidia, the GeForce FX line of cards has been "architected for Next Generation games." Translation: Don't expect to see games that support all the bells and whistles that the GeForce FX cards support right away. However, Nvidia is hoping that by creating products from the top (the $499 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra) to bottom (the $79 128MB GeForce FX 5200) that support DX9 and vertex and pixel shader 2.0+, just to name a few, that developers will have a reason to develop titles that take advantage of all that power. Nvidia plans to offer the new NV35 in various flavors, including the Ultra at $499 and a "non-Ultra" version for $399. In addition, Nvidia will offer a non- Ultra 128MB version of the GeForce FX 5800 for $299. The real question is: Do you need it yet? Not until Doom I/II comes out. A At 1024x768, the two chips are surprisingly close in performance. It's at the higher resolutions with all the graphics options cranked that the new GeForce FX 5900 pulls away. 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 3DMark2003 Pro 3532 (1024x768) 3DMark2003 Pro (1600x1200) 3DGameGauge 3.0 83 (1024x768) 3DGameGauge 3.0 69 (1600x1200) 2138 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 2595 63 84 56 TEST SYSTEM: We tested both cards using Windows XP Pro on a 3GHz Pentium 4 800MHz FSB | with 168 of Kingston DDR 400 and а 24068 Seagate SATA RAID configuration. The test results shown were all at 32-bit, with 4x anti-aliasing and 4x anisotropic filtering turned on. www.computergaming.com 29 READ ME Kung Fu Maxter New Max Payne mod lets you fight like a Hong Kong action hero By Jon M. Gibson t's like Max Payne took the red pill and wound up in The Matrix. Now he twists through the air, runs up walls, and kicks enemies in the head-even in Bullet Time. Something tells us the game's creators never imagined this. "As long as | can remember, I've always wanted to be Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan," explains Kenneth Yeung, the young mod-maker responsible for Payne's new martial arts skills. "To me, watching those masters in motion is the most beautiful, ass- whomp symphony there could ever be." It took Yeung 18 months of programming in his free time, but the game now offers a wild display of martial arts moves, including combat with a staff. Players earn "style" points for quick kicks and punches, thrusting them up the ranks to the highest kung fu level-but only in hand-to-hand-combat. (You can still shoot, but you don't get any points for using weapons in combat.) Players can pull off complicated wall jumps, flying takedowns, mid-air body juggling, and a variety of other moves that defy gravity and description. In the immortal words of Neo, “Whoa!” Go to kungfu.maxpayneheadquarters.com to download it now. FIRST LOOK Disney's EQ for Kids Toontown prepares the next generation for addiction By Jeff Green ile this under games that sound terrible but actually may rock. Disney's Toontown Online is an MMORPG aimed squarely at the pre-teen crowd (and their parents)- and, wait, don't skip to the next article just yet. VR Studios, the developers, have clearly done their 30 Computer Gaming World homework. Toontown Online lets kids do what their deadbeat parents do-assume online personas and level up by bashing things-but in a bright, cartoony, 3D Disney world, complete with Mickey and Donald. Since Scooter was busy this month, we had my 9-year-old daughter Sarah beta test this game-and she's still hooked. Standard MMORPG gameplay has been smartly translated into kid-friendly terms. “Combat” involves using gags to reduce the "laugh points" of the game's bad guys, evil corporate suits called “cogs.” All player communication is menu- driven, so chatting is safe. Non-combat-oriented mini- games abound where kids can easily rack up jellybeans, the game's currency. And the player characters-cartoon dogs, cats, ducks, horses, and rabbits-are ridiculously cute and highly customizable. The game should launch by the time you read this. Say hi to my kid, Miss Rosie Superdoodle, and tell her to let the old man back on the PC. THE GOOD, THE THE ~ GOOD HALF- LIFE2 Okay, so, yeah: duh. This is good. What we want to single out here is the way that Valve handled the rollout of this game: Basically, they just worked hard and kept quiet and only spoke up when they had something real to show. As opposed to the industry standard of crowing for years about how great your game is and then never actually getting it done (cough, 3D Realms, cough). THE BAD LAME SAVE SYSTEMS Haven't we been over this a million times already? Developers, please, for the love of God, let us M save anywhere in our damn games. Two recent датев-/б/ 2 and Indiana Jones-have abominable limited save systems that force you to endlessly redo parts of levels you may have already completed, just because the developers think we need the challenge. Guess what? We don't. We gave you our money. Let us play the way we want to play now. THE UGLY WASHINGTON BANS "VIOLENT" GAME SALES And so it begins. In April the Washing- ton state senate passed a bill that would levy a $500 fine to retail employees who sold violent video games to minors under age 17. Here's a couple questions. Who decides what's "violent"? And how come there's no fine to sell R- rated movie tickets to kids? Or a fine for, say, HBO to show R-rated TV programs like The Sopranos? And don't even get us started on gun control laws. Welcome to the United States of Hypocrisy. 1600 Tron 2.0 zx Dare | say it, a glowing preview? By Thierry Nguyen an, even if Tron 2.0's gameplay turns out to be sub- par, one can't help but be entranced by the bold art direction where the game world is awash in glowing (literally) colors. Thankfully, after some more time with a playable build, Tron 2.0 continues to look and play impressively well. In fact, | can honestly say that after playing the first few levels in а new build, we stand behind the optimism from our January 2003 Cover story. The weapons remain the same from our previous reports for the most part. The most impressive addition is the Prankster bit, which resembles a purple missile. It'S not merely some explosive rocket; upon impact, it creates a black hole that sucks enemy programs into it. Tinkering around with the subroutines feels both flexible on-the- fly and very playable. If you feel sneaky you can load up the Fuzzy There's now a full-on и = = lightcycle circutt. Signature subroutine to mask your footsteps. Other times, just load up armor subroutines and Primitive Damage to increase melee prowess, and start brawling. Or use the newly implemented Power Block, where you use your Disc to reflect enemy shots back at them-at the "gold" state, it's capable of one-shot kills. Last time behind the wheel, the lightcycles were still being prototyped, and at this point, there’s now a full-on lightcycle circuit. Modeled after Gran Turismo, the lightcycle circuit consists of 16 different tracks that get unlocked via the single-player story, and serves as a great little diversion from the main game. The Discs of Tron multiplayer mode is also up and running. It does a good job of feeling more like a sport than a traditional deathmatch. Tactics go beyond “hit your opponent"; for example, in the default arena, you can destroy your opponent's platforms, restricting his mobility-just like in the movie. In another arena, you can hit colored switches on the walls that will make platforms of that same color disappear as well; it's possible to continually alter the landscape and force your opponent into a literal corner. My only concern at this point is the lightcycle camera, which takes some getting used to. It's either locked, which makes every turn very jarring as the camera stays behind the lightcycle, or | have it on manual control but keep on forgetting to move the camera. Those lightcycle races sure can be intimidating. In the build | played, it took me a while just to get used to playing on the practice mode. Personal driving issues aside, Tron 2.0 looks to be on track for its August release. CHECK шшк Веа!йу Сһеск | compares the C&C: Generals B B gaming press with Pere GameRankings.com, which averages all Master of Orion 3 for a particular title, Rainbow Six 3: A Raven Shield A- A : B+ B+ * www.computergaming.com 31 READ ME FIRST LOOK Activision unveils a *non-traditional' single-player shooter with shades of Deus Ex he problem with first-person shooters is that each new one is pretty much a rehash of every title that preceded it, and most attempts to create something new fall short of expectations. Gray Matter Studios is trying to break that mold. The developer behind Kingpin, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Redneck Rampage is working on a game called Trinity that the studio's creative director calls “a non-traditional FPS.” Set in New Orleans in 2013, Trinity centers on a main character known as the Night Stalker who is trying to solve the mystery behind a plague that has infected the city. Gray Matter seems hell-bent on giving gamers WHOA an awesome story-based game, which is why Trinity will have no multiplayer modes. Gray Matter's creative director Drew Markham says Night Stalker has been "bio-augmented," which explains his super-human strengths, unique abilities, and a base level of health that starts at 170 as opposed to the standard 100. The Night Stalker won't find health power-ups throughout the levels but will heal himself with stem cells, the catch being that he can't heal himself while simultaneously fighting. The game lool ritty and urban and brings to mind titles like Kingpin and Requiem: Avenging Angel. We'll keep you posted as more details become available before the game's next year release. Matrix Contest Enter the Matrix...and win lots of cool stuff! Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly, along with our sponsors-Nintendo, A re you the One? In celebration of the upcoming Matrix movies and game, Computer Sony Computer Entertainment, Infogrames, and Warner Home Video-challenge you to follow the white rabbit through our magazines this month and find out the truth! Just find all five (5) rabbits hidden on the pages of each magazine and submit your answers at gamers.com/feature/matrix/. All correct entries will be entered in a random drawing for a chance to win one of the following great prizes: Sony PlayStation 2 Nintendo GameCube Microsoft Xbox Infogrames' Enter the Matrix game for PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox 30 Animatrix DVDs 20 The Matrix Special Edition DVDs 10 The Matrix DVDs (regular version) 20 1-year subscriptions to Computer Gaming World 20 1-year subscriptions to Electronic Gaming Monthly 32 Computer Gaming World The June issues of CGW and EGM will each have five white rabbits hidden on five different pages. To enter, you need to: Find the five pages with white rabbits in CGW. Find the five pages with white rabbits in EGM. Log on to the contest page at gamers.com /feature/matrix/. Enter the five white rabbit page numbers for CGW in sequential order from lowest to highest. Enter the five white rabbit page numbers for EGM in sequential order from lowest to highest. Correct entries received by July 1, 2003, will be entered into a drawing for the prizes. Only one entry per person is accepted. And, oh yeah, the rabbit on this page-it counts! It's a freebie. Now go find the four (4) others...and good luck! Be sure to come back next month for another chance to enter! Full legal rules available on page 115 or at gamers.com/feature/matrix/. AGE ОЕ 27 [314,392 Only one Tlie "«' thing mattered five glorious years ago and no, we're not talking about the Mad Catz Panther XL ad featuring John Romero all dolled up like King friggin’ Vitamin. No, five years ago we were consumed with StarCraft, which landed a glowing five-star review extolling its “artfully balanced play, imaginative story line, and strategic depth.” We liked it so much we started a 3 million installment strategy guide in the same issue. The Encyclopedia StarCraftica should be done sometime in 2115. A two-page ad on pages 52 and 53 touted one of 1993's must-haves: Quarterdeck's QEMM-386, a $99.95 memory management program that lets you make the most of your memory “whether you have one megabyte or eight.” Apparently, DOS wasn’t so great after all. What was great? How about a sneak preview of a little something we like to call DOOM? We said it would need a “muscular 386" to run well but we were confident that once it was released we'd love it. Damn straight. Okay, one guy isa certified gaming legend, the other a bestselling author who has lent his name to a number of outstanding games. But still, c'mon. Doesn't this photo of Sid Meier, Tom Clancy, et al look more like some kind of Russian mafia merger or Wall Street drug deal? All it needs is John DeLorean and one of those brick-sized Іаќе-'805 cell phones and it would be perfect. з ENGAGE IN EPIC CONFLICT against a horde of alien invaders and NTO. FIRE AT WILL with weapoi other foes in the single player campaign. Deathmatch-style i i - i including the Gatling Gun, Multiplayer gameplay modes include Holomatch, Capture space stations, volcanic р [ i deadly Quantum Burst. Ii the Flag, Elimination, Action Hero and many more. treacherous swamps а! 5 with the experimental Radiatic For PC CD-ROM and Ма Blood and Gore Violence ен калған ENTERTAINMENT АС SION в ® TW, 6,8 © 2008 Paramount Pictures. I rights reserved Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. This product contains software technology licensed from Id Software, Inc. 1d Technology © 1999-2003 1d Software, 522 Inc. Game code © 2003 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. МІ rights reserved. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Developed by Ritual Entertainment. activision.com Mac and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple, Inc. The ratings icon fs a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association NI other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. do something with yo оғ rye > Areal college degree, focused on advancing technology. Available online or on-campus. GAME DESIGN VIDEO PRODUCTION DIGITAL ANIMATION NETWORK SECURITY E-COMMERCE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT MULTIMEDIA WEB DESIGN DATABASE MANAGEMENT vanci Куш А www.uat.edu or 800.658.5744 READ ME HANDHELDS DeZire Slick new Palm is better for gaming, and loaded with extras By William O'Neal t's no coincidence people refer to them as "toys" since that's what we're using them for- entertainment. According to Palm, as much as 80 percent of the apps people are downloading for their PDAs are games. Why else would company reps drop by CGW's offices and give me a loaner? The new blue Zire 71 (5299) is a sleek device targeted at consumers. In addition to having all the usual Palm features, it has a nice color screen, a digital camera that takes pictures at 640x480, a built in MP3 player, and the ability to play video files in several formats. It ships with 16MB of internal memory but you can always boost that if need be. What's interesting about the Zire 71 is how Palm has redesigned it for gaming. Whereas the previous model had buttons for scrolling through menus (yawn), the 71 has a better layout and a little joystick-style button that is ideal for gaming. On top of that, users won't be required to download games anymore. Sega, PopCap, and UbiSoft take advantage of the SD expansion slot by offering memory cards called PalmPak Game Cards ($29.95). We tested out a few of the Game Cards and it was a snap: \ 0 Lame With Trish, 2:00 Brendan's хоссе 3:90 Prepare slides tor market мерае slides for marketing Ç 400 | 6:00 Dinner at Lise! TA isa's house Dropping the card into the slot takes you straight to a launch screen requiring only a couple of taps to be up and gaming. Expect to see boxed copies of Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Shinobi, as well as Ubi Soft's Rayman and a five game puzzle-pack from PopCap with. Bejeweled, Mummy Maze, Seven Seas, Alchemy, and Atomica. GBA SP, you're cool, but you're not this cool. —— ыы. RE OF "capture the Flag оп, жасасан steroids." ран чсате net "пенадоп LOOKS to. 63 ‘this year's smash TU. BIg т еч BIG prizes. ше loue it.” х Gamespy i i 5 7% UU "ROCHh'em ѕоскет Robots meets american Gladiators." сотая "Tune in tonight... IF you, can stomach it.” TU net guide Watch Nexagon Deathmatch, a gladiator arena set in the 44th Century, where convicts have squads who fight for their freedom in a completely destructible 3D environment for the entertainment of billions of viewers. y^ 2 [| та airs summer 2003" "P^ 12 ! ў pick ир your Home version today! 7 IOS 5 CONTENT RATED BY Strategy First ESRB 2003 Strategy First li Nexagon Deathmatch is a Strategy First Inc, All rights rese Il other trademarks and соруп і коша та Тарас кө итине Е ee шшш. NEXAGON VOEATHMATCH. com READ ME FIELD TRIP Homeworld 2 Homeworld Bound ivendi might not be a household name, but most gamers know who Blizzard Entertainment is. Vivendi owns Blizzard- along with Sierra Entertainment, Fox Interactive, and a slew of others-and Vivendi's future is in question right now while the parent company attempts to sell its gaming division. Rumor has it that Microsoft and Electronic Arts are not interested in buying it, which is actually good for PC gamers, because it's less likely that Blizzard would become the next Bungie (and all of № Blizzard's games would only ship on Xbox). Although Vivendi's future is uncertain, the company's line of games continues to grow. In addition to the upcoming Homeworld 2, Vivendi recently announced Tribes: Vengeance, Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring, The Hobbit, Lords of the Realm III, and more. Wil O'Neal and I had a chance to check out a few of the titles at the company's pre-E3 event, so here's what | learned while Wil flirted with Vivendi's PR ladies. 36 Computer orld The creators of Battle Realms are working on Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring, the first RTS based on the Tolkien saga. Players choose either the forces of good and fight for the One Ring's destruction, or play as the forces of evil to claim control over Middle-earth. The game will introduce locations and characters not featured in the films, single-player and multiplayer campaigns, special abilities for the heroes, magic, and more. Homeworld 2 is taking dramatic shape and is rapidly approaching its fall release. The game looks like an evolutionary improvement on the original space-based strategy game, with better graphics, lighting, and much more detail. Mother ships are now customizable to let different players pursue different tactics. Fighters will no longer be useless against capital ships, because they can Vivendi's lineup expands with Tribes: Vengeance, The Hobbit, War of the Ring, and more By Ken Brown target the larger ships' subsystems such as engines or weapon turrets. "Now you can target the engine subsystems and that is enough to potentially cripple the ship," says producer Alex Rodberg. But the big news was Vivendi's signing with Irrational Entertainment (System Shock 2, Freedom Force) to create the next Tribes games. Tribes Vengeance, scheduled for late next year, will reportedly feature a story-driven single- player campaign in addition to its trademark multiplayer action. Irrational seems to be setting the bar pretty high in terms of graphics quality, with realistic facial expressions, vehicles that kick up dust, and stunning weapon effects- powered by a modified version of the Unreal engine. It should be one to watch, so next month we'll bring you a special in-depth scoop on what this game has in store. Check it out! Although Vivendi's future is uncertain, the company's line of games continues to grow. DAY or DEFEAT World War П Online Action From the Makers of Counter-Strike! Blood Violence Connect with voice support... Battle with authentic artillery. Play WWII's greatest battles. ‘Valve LC: Day of Defeat, the Day of Defeat 1000; Valve; the Valve Togo and Counter-Strike are trademarks or feglstered trademarks of Vale, LC, Published. f ahd distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is а registered trademark of Activision, Inc. and Its affiliates: A rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered i І disdemark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Al other trademarks and trade (mes ore the properties oftheir respective owners. * THIS MONTH'S TOP 5 THIS MONTH’ 5 ТОР 5 The Sims Superstar (Electronic Arts) In this expansion pack for The Sims, players can realize their fantasies of fame and fortune as they pursue the dream of being a rock star, a movie star, or a supermodel and live the lifestyle of a celebrity. This is your all-access pass to the world of superstardom. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar Games) Released for the PS2 last October, GTA: VC became the best-selling video game of 2002. The game's Miami Vice look, hit soundtrack, well-told crimi- nal story, and open-ended gameplay made VC a hit with gamers and makes its foray onto the PC. Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (LucasArts) A mas- sively multiplayer online role-playing game that lets Wars you assume the role of GALAXIES nearly any type of character 4 in the Star Wars universe. Interact with thousands of other players, as well as established characters from the movies. Warcraft 1 Expansion: The Frozen Throne (Blizzard Entertainment) Following in the tradition of previous Blizzard expansion sets, this game provides gamers with a vast new chapter in the epic Warcraft saga. Revisit the war-torn world of Azeroth where a new threat has arisen throughout the land. Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide Expansion Pack (Infogrames) NWN's first official expansion pack includes a new 40-hour single player campaign plus game features new to Neverwinter Nights, such as additional D&D skills, feats, classes, monsters, weapons and spells. Enter the Matrix (infogrames) Features awesome gunplay and spectacular martial arts that bend the rules of the Matrix. This game is an integral part of the experi- ence, with a story that weaves in and out of The Matrix Reloaded, the sequel to the Academy Award-winning film. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (Eidos Interactive) Lara Croft returns in Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. Accused of the murder of her one time mentor Von Croy and pursued by the police, Lara is drawn into a dark world of blood, betrayal and vengeance. Rise of Nations (Microsoft) Combines the sweeping Scope of epic historical turn-based strategy games with the quick decision- making of real-time games. You can move through the entire sweep of human culture quickly and have a satisfying game experience without playing for hours! Medal of Honor Allied Assault Deluxe Edition (Electronic Arts) Features the hit title MOH Allied Assault and the MOH Allied Assault Spearhead expansion pack, plus strat- egy guides for both games. Also includes a bonus disc with a behind-the-scenes sneak preview of the mak- ing of the next MOH title. Homeworld 2 (Sierra) Combining elements of real-time strategy and space combat, this game is the next evolutionary step in gameplay and tech- nology. Cinematic-quality graphics, special effects, and an innovative interface create an immersive 3-D space combat experience. АП available now at the Computer & Video Games store at amazon.com. “= Get thousands of game titles at amazon.com/videogames Amazon.com is a registered trademark of Amazon.com. Inc. READ ME CGW Top 20 The best PC games, as voted by gamers # = Bs d Road to Rome: 10 tons of run- The art of war: Carnage is Old 47 has some staying and-gun. beautiful in Generals. power in Hitman 2. Battlefield 1942: Road to Rome kikki (EA) Command & Conquer: Generals ЖАК (ЕА) Hitman 2 жу; (Eidos) Medal of Honor: Spearhead роо оке (ЕА) Unreal 11: The Awakening ЖЖЖ (Infogrames) SimCity 4 жу: (ЕА) Егее!апсег ооо ок (Microsoft) No One Lives Forever 2 Akiki: (Sierra) Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Ak (EA) Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield toto: (Ubi Soft) Madden NFL 2003 (EA) RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 (Infogrames) Delta Force 3: Black Hawk Down жох (NovaLogic) MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Akiki (Microsoft) FIFA Soccer 2003 ЖАО (EA) Civilization 1: Play the World 0965 (Infogrames) Medieval: Total War (Activision) Vietcong KKK (GODGames) Praetorians ССС (Eidos) ЖАСА Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (LucasArts) The Top 20 is obtained from a survey of 1,000 readers' favorite games from the last six months. To vote, visit our website at www.computergaming.com. www.computergaming.com 39 _ GREAT DEALS ON Features awesome gunplay and spectac- ular martial arts that bend the rules of the Matrix. This game is an integral part of the experience, with a story that weaves in and out of The Matrix Reloaded, the sequel to the Academy Award*-winning film. (Microsoft) * Game script written and directed by the Go to Wachowski Brothers www.amazon.com/matrix for * Nearly one full hour of exclusive, never- before-seen Matrix footage using the film's actors. The unflinching vio- lence, adult themes, and heart-pounding crime simulations made GTA: Vice City a hit with the media and politicians. Love it or denied that this game represents the pinna- cle of game design- as measured by both sales and fun factor. * improved graphics and sound * additional PC controls * several options for players to customize the game. (Rockstar Games) Pursue the dream of being a Rock Star, Movie Star or a Supermodel г nd live the lifestyle cf a celebrity. * All new gameplay centered around a new fame score in the game Ui * Build skills and win famous Sim friends to advance through ten levels of fame * All new "Studio Buy The Sims Deluxe Town" location with and The Sims Superstar three distinct and get themes: movies, music, and fashion (Electronic Arts) Check Out More Great Deals Online at amazon.com. PIPELINE Ship dates and slip dates for games in the channel By Di Luo A note on the dates: The system by which we list games divides the year into quarters with January through March being Q1, April through June being Q2, and so on. We can only give you approximate dates here because the companies are often uncertain about the exact release dates. SECRET WEAPONS OVER NORMANDY: Larry Holland-the brains behind TIE Fighter and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe- is finally back with Secret Weapons Over Normandy. Slated for September, the recently announced title is a third-person flight sim that revolves around a “secret squad of pilots dedicated to thwarting the Third Reich." You'll get to fly more than 20 WWII- era planes in 30 missions. The game will take place in the skies of 15 unique theaters stretching from Europe to Burma. Age of Mythology: Microsoft 03 2003 The Titans Age of Wonder: Gathering 03 2003 Shadow Magic American McGee's 02 Carbon 6 Q2 2004 Anarchy Online: Funcom 04 2003 Shadowlands Aquanox 2 JoWood 03 2003 Armed and Dangerous LucasArts 04 2003 Battlefield 1942: ЕА June 2003 Secret Weapons of WWII Black & White 2 EA 04 2003 Breed CDV Sept. 2003 Call of Duty Activision 04 2003 Chrome Strategy First 02 2003 City of Heroes NCsoft Q2 2004 Commandos 3 Eidos Q2 2003 Cossacks 2: CDV 01 2004 Napoleonic Wars Counter-Strike: Sierra Q2 2003 Condition Zero Crouching Tiger Ubi Soft August 2003 Hidden Dragon Dark Age of Camelot: Mythic Unknown Trials of Atlantis Defender of the Crown Cinemaware 03 2003 Deus Ex 2 Eidos 04 2003 Doom Ш Activision 04 2003 Dragon Empires Codemasters Q3 2003 Driver 3 Infogrames 04 2003 Empire of Magic Summitsoft 02 2003 Etherlords 11 Strategy First 03 2003 EverQuest H Sony Online 04 2003 Entertainment Freedom: Battle for ҒА 03 2003 Liberty Island Farcry Ubi Soft Q3 2003 Flashpoint Germany Matrix Games 03 2003 40 Computer Gaming World AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: THE TITANS: Microsoft and Ensemble Studios recently announced Age of Mythology: The Titans. The expansion will include a fourth culture, the Atlanteans, іп a 12-mission single-player campaign. The Atlanteans will also feature 18 new human and 10 new myth units. Though Microsoft hasn't revealed too many details, one power that sets the Atlanteans apart seems to be their ability to upgrade normal humans to hero units. Look for the expansion some time in the fall. Four Horsemen of 300 042003 the Apocalypse Full Throttle 2: Hell LucasArts 04 2003 on Wheels Ghost Recon 2 Ubi Soft Unknown Ground Control 2 Sierra Q3 2003 Hannibal Arxel Tribe 03 2002 Half-Life 2 Sierra Sept. 2003 Halo Microsoft Q3 2003 Harpoon 4 Ubi Soft 03 2003 Hidden & Dangerous ll. Gathering Q3 2003 The Hobbit Vivendi 03 2003 Homeworld 2 Sierra Q3 2003 Lineage 1 NCSoft 03 2003 Lionheart Interplay 03 2003 Lock-On Ubi Soft 03 2003 Lord of the Rings: ҒА 04 2003 Return of the King Lord of the Rings: Vivendi 01 2004 The War of the Ring Lords of EverQuest Sony 04 2003 Lords of the Realm Ili Sierra 04 2003 Madden NFL 2004 ҒА 03 2003 Max Payne II Rockstar Q4 2003 Medal of Honor: EA 01 2004 Pacific Assault Men of Valor: Vietnam Sierra 2004 The Movies Activision Unknown Neverwinter Nights: Infogrames June 2003 Shadows of Undrentide No Man's Land CDV 03 2003 Operation Flashpoint 2 Codemasters Unknown, Pirates of the Caribbean Bethesda July 2003 Prince of Persia: Ubi Soft 04 2003 Sands of Time Quake 4 Activision Unknown Railroad Tycoon 3 Gathering 03 2003 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Wannabe buccaneers visiting the Sea Dogs 2 website меге іп for a surprise-you're automatically transferred to a site for Pirates of the Caribbean. Apparently, Bethesda spotted a profitable movie tie-in and decided it would get more name recognition. What's changed? Not much. It's still being developed by Akella; ship combat, RPG-like character development, and swordplay are all in place. Since changes seem cosmetic, the company shouldn't have trouble hitting the July release date. Republic: Eidos 02 2003 The Revolution Rome: Total War Activision 04 2003 Sam and Max 2 LucasArts 012004 Savage iGames June 2003 Secret Weapons LucasArts 03 2003 Over Normandy Splinter Cell: Ubi Soft Unkown Shadow Strike Star Trek: Activision 02 2003 Elite Force Il Star Wars Galaxies LucasArts 03 2003 Star Wars Jedi Knight: LucasArts 04 2003 Jedi Academy Star Wars Knights of LucasArts 03 2003 the Old Republic ST.A.L.K.E.R.: GSC 04 2003 Oblivion Lost Team Fortress 2 Sierra Unknown They Came Octopus Motor 032003 From Hollywood Thief III Eidos 04 2003 Tomb Raider: Eidos Q3 2003 Angel of Darkness. Total Annihilation 2 Infogrames 04 2003 Tribes: Vengeance Sierra 04 2004 Trinity Activision Q2 2004 Tron 2.0 Buena Vista August 2003 Games Uru: Ages Ubi Soft 04 2003 Beyond Myst WarCraft Ill: Blizzard 03 2003 The Frozen Throne Warlords IV Ubi Soft 04 2003 Will Rock Ubi Soft June 2003 World of WarCraft Blizzard Unknown World War It Codemasters Q1 2004 хи Ubi Soft 04 2003 | LIE UPDATE EVERYONE Mild Violence © 2003 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved. Rock ‘N Roll Racing US. andlor ather countries. Nintendo, Game Boy, and Game Boy Adv r е Blizzard classie. Now on | ЕЖ ? intendo Game Boy? Advance. trademark and Blizzard Entertainment is a trademark or registered trademark of Blizzard Entertain ve trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. All other trademarks are property of their respective STAKE YOUR CINM ITS wobaT you bave BEEN pic фек: Always Evolving. Constantly Growing. Ап online word at grows richer and more vibrant each day. Dark Age of Gamelot quickly became the most critically atclaiff€d MMORPG of the year and has continued the quest to reign supreme over the lands. Since then, adventurers in our lands have seen the addition of hundreds of new monsters ravaging, scores of new quests to complete, have discovered ways to create magical items and epic new areas, fraught with perils and rewards, to explore. Last winter saw the release of the first expansion pack, Shrouded Isles, revealing three new continents, six new races, six new classes, and a graphic engine that made Dark Age of Camelot the envy of its competitors. Now we’re introducing the most robust player housing found in any MMORPG. If you haven't visited our world before, it is time to discover the magic of our Realms; if you are someone whose absence from Camelot has been sorely missed, it is time to come home again, to the challenge, danger and enchantment of the Dark Age of Camelot. AY Т] ET) www.darkageofcamelot.com [SOFTWARE] s reserved, Mythic Entertainment, the Mythic Entertainment logo, "Dark Age of Camelot", the Dark Age of Camelot logo. and stylized Celtic knot are trademarks of Mythic Entertainment, Inc. Entertainment and the Abandon Entertainment logo are trademarks of Abandon Entertainment, Inc. All other trademarks property of their respective owners. nah dk | x Violence М Соруп © 2003 Mythic Entertainment, Inc Abana: Controlling this A.l. guy is'a 5 matter of using the F-keys for" сү A commands like “Regroup,” ES “Fire at will," and “Cover те," LS БЕ Fighter jets are light, nimble, and fun to shoot other fighters with. Mt. Breed tanks can also be used, given you only kill the pilot while leaving the tank intact. BAY, You and your USC buddies can hop in and use different parts of the tank. This tinhead dancing a jig is actually a Breed soldier. 44. Computer Gaming World ears and years ago, the idea of a game that melded vehicular combat (both in space and on land) with first-person shootery was nigh-impossible to imagine. In fact, we saw a game eons ago (1998) called Rock that planned to do just that, but alas, the developer went under. With games like Battlefield 1942 and Operation Flashpoint proving that vehicles and foot soldiers can play together, the next logical step is to create the sci-fi combat game that couldn't be done in '98. Enter Breed. LICENSED TO DRIVE Breed is all about action. Sure, there's a backstory, but all you need to know about it is, “Breed conquered Earth, and we're taking it back,” or so says producer Sven Schmidt. Over the course of 20 missions, you'll take your squad of United Space Corps minions to battle Breed aliens on missions that ask you to retrieve a data disk, assault and occupy an enemy base, or rescue space POWs. This shooter's hook falls somewhere between Halo and Battle- field 1942. Not only can you drive around all sorts of vehicles and have a ragtag band of brothers tearing up the landscape, but some of those vehicles can seamlessly fly from the mothership in Earth's orbit down to terra firma-and without a loading screen that interrupts you midway through. Like in the Rainbow Six series, launcher, snipers with a sniper rifle, etc.), anyone can use any weapon; it just becomes a matter of precision. Heavy gunners have a hard time sniping, while the regular trooper has a tough time hefting a big ol’ rocket launcher everywhere he goes. So, while it's not ideal to be using a weapon you're not specialized in, it's still helpful to be able to at least use it when, say, your fellow soldiers get capped in the head. Of course, you can also use weapons dropped by the Breed, but you will experience a similar lack of precision when you use their hardware. Besides traditional Deathmatch and Capture-the-Flag multiplayer modes, Breed also features co-op and Assault modes. The co-op campaign supports With proper AL tweaking and weapon bal Breed could easily be called Battlefield 2642. players can easily switch between different squad members by pressing a key. By default, you'll usually be jumping between members of a four- man squad, but you can also directly control the dropship pilot, the dropship gunner, and even a turret gunner on the USC Darwin (the human mother- ship). The 20 vehicles range from jeeps to APCs to flying scouts, and they all use the same WSAD interface. You'll need these vehicles to run across the vast landscapes, some of which take up a whopping 200 square kilometers of game space. BREED SHOOTING Similar to tactical shooters and Halo, Breed only lets you carry two weapons: your standard assault rifle and one specialized weapon, whether it be a rocket launcher, sniper rifle, or minigun. While there are specific classes with specialties (i.e., heavy gunners get outfitted with a rocket up to four players and is unlocked after successfully finishing the single-player campaign yourself. The easiest way to describe Assault is to imagine the Battle of Endor from Return of the Jedi. The USC and the Breed each have а mothership, and Earth lies in the middle. The Breed mothership is protected by a shield which, conveniently, is powered by a shield generator on Earth. Both Breed and USC players can engage in outer-space dogfights in fighter craft, while a small contingent of USC soldiers can land on Earth and attack the shield generator. Once the shield generator is deactivated, USC fighter ships can swoop in, clear the Breed ship, and have a dropship deploy troops inside it to take it down. With some proper A.I. tweaking and weapon/vehicle balancing, Breed can easily be called Battlefield 2642, and it might possibly outdo that shining Halo on the horizon come summer. PREVIEWS @2 =, There aren't too many buildings that can withstand multiple hits from a tank cannon. зо It's not fair for a fighter jet to shoot up an unarmed convoy, but hey, it's war. [came stars |] ‘PUBLISHER: CDV DEVELOPER: BRAT DESIGNS GENRE: FIRST-PERSON TINHEAD SHOOTER. You can mess around їп a dropship RELEASE ONE SEPTEMBER. instead of fighting on the ground. 2003 www.computergaming.com 45 Coordinate plans with your squad and get ready to strike. Just make sure the guy with the bazooka has a clear shot. A Nazi stooges а whole lot smarter than those Trust us, they will try to flank you. Here we see scientists verkin ona formula for the perfect Pilsner-or on some devious method of killing people. a: ENS As you can tell, there's a variety of climates to fight through. Here, you'll be tangling with the Desert Fox. Wow, grass fields. A farm. Exciting. Seriously, though, the detail looks nice. Tun H&D2 is taking full advantage of Mafia's graphics engine. Can you tell which is the real house and which is the game- modeled version? first game. | HIDDEN AND DAN Serving up World War Il action with a touch of British class By John Marrin 46 Computer Gaming World eleased in 1999, Hidden and Dangerous got high marks for its realistic portrayal of World War 11. That was then. These days, you've got to do something exceptional to stand out from the quickly bloating bunch of action wargames. Illusion Softworks, the gang behind the Tommy- gun-and-meatballs title Mafia, may have found a way to distinguish itself with Hidden and Dangerous 11-50 long as it can ditch the notorious bug issues that riddled the original game. The sequel chronicles covert missions of British SAS commandos in various World War ІІ campaigns. While most games are based in the European theater, H&D2 goes further afield, with seven sorties in locations such as Africa and Burma. This gives gamers a more varied taste of battle in open there's a bit of variety. As in the previous H&D, you're able to commandeer assorted vehicles such.as tanks and trucks, and to use various mounted guns, which adds a bit of diversity tothe gameplay. And when you're looking for a subtle way to come in through the back door, you can swipe a Nazi uniform and infiltrate the enemy-so long as you don't attract any attention from the computer- controlled opposition. MILITARY INTELLIGENCE Illusion has also given the А.І. a kick in the pants. Enemies now take into account their comrades’ actions, so if you snipe a soldier, you can expect any others nearby to come looking for you and to attack in a coordinated fashion. As for your side of things, team members build their skills from mission H's possible to play the entire game in the Tactical mode as a real-time or even a turn-based strategy game. desert and thick jungle scenarios. Tasked with stealthy ops such as hostage rescue, infiltration, and search and destroy, you've got to plan in order to be successful here. A DIFFERENT PLAN OF ATTACK A new Tactical mode is one of the most striking differences from the first game. Designed to replace the planning map, Tactical mode essentially lets you give very detailed orders to your team. It makes it possible, for example, to tell your sniper to use a particular clump of brush as cover. Your squad members can be given orders for stance, behavior (aggressive, defensive, or passive), and formation, and you can define the specific path they take. In fact, though H&D2 wasn't designed specifically for this, it's possible to play the entire game in the Tactical mode as a real-time or even a turn- based strategy game, by using the Pause feature. While most of your fighting is on foot, to mission, so keeping your team alive can help you to stay alive further down the road. How does the game look? Ah, fahgedaboutit! H&D2 uses a refined version of Mafia's graphics engine. Most of the time, you'll be sneaking through the woods and fields rather than mowing down mobsters on the asphalt streets, but you can still see the positive results in these screenshots. And aside from the environment graphics, human move- ments have been motion-captured, for” added realism. The single-player campaign is fairly deep, with several modes. Lone Wolf tests your skill by having you play missions without teammates. In Carnage, you have to eliminate all enemies in the level to win. For those who dig teamwork, the GameSpy- supported multiplayer modes are also in good shape. Go for a straight-up Deathmatch or opt for Occupation, which has teams fighting for territory control. Skirmish mode pits teams against each other with competing PREVIEWS It gets a little cold out here, so why not shoot a few bullets at krauts to get the ol’ blood flowing? “Franz do this, Franz do that...I never see him loading der cannon.” Pom objectives-for instance, one team is charged with defending a bunker while the other side is supposed to destroy it. As of this writing, Illusion figures to ship 10 missions for each multiplayer mode. A map editor won't ship with the game, but the team at Illusion has said that it won't close any doors. If the add-on packs for the first Hidden and Dangerous are any indication, fans can expect that and more. came stars | | R TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE DEVELOPER: ILLUSION SOFTWORKS GENRE: THIRD-PERSON ACTION/ADVENTURE, TURN- BASED/REALTIME (WHEW!) GAME RELEASE DATE: 04 2003 47 usn n2] ЕП inen. "неу guys, I just felt something ‘Ce "ў E E ummm, guys?” I 1552 This sneaky sucker is Y $ : Ri setting up an ambush for = F. й КМ me on the far side of the that pose юға” т bridge, since he saw те id say ‘cheese.’ ё coming across. FARCRY Make a game engine and they will come By Darren Gladstone 48 Computer Gaming World ELECTRONIC GAMING —— MONTHLY E The biggest independent magazine in the electronic gaming industry announces an even bigger rate base. 600,000 paid readers starting with its September 2003 issue. We think that's a big deal. GAME GROUP Delivering more core gamers on every key platform. bi i а as in humong @ us Ше | enorm @us mamm @ th tremend е US col К ech-demo-cum-videogame, Farcry has a lot going for it. Originally conceived as eye candy to show what Crytek's 3D engine can do (the game developer geeks did, in fact, come to check it out at this year's Game Developer's Conference), Farcry is evolving into a bona fide game to watch. The question becomes, then, how to make a title that'll stand apart in the overly crowded FPS genre. But, this first-person shooter has a new game engine that shows a lot of promise-and a lot of detail. SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE BEAR The 2-kilometer-scaled maps shown off in the demo have some pretty impressive scenes. | could wax poetic about the neat-looking environments and slick-looking character models, but the pictures on this page are worth more than a few measly words. Producer Christopher Natsuume took the helm for a guided tour of the island on which our hero is stranded. With a powerful sniper scope, Natsuume Sighted enemies and rocket-launcher- created craters clear across the deformable map. "See that guy over there?” Natsuume asked, pointing to soldiers in the middle of a clearing. “We spent a lot of time working on the А.І. so that it operates on senses, not scripted routines.” That is, each A.l.-controlled baddie has radius ranges. Each can hear and see only so far, but if one catches you, he'll smartly use cover to get to where the last noise came from, or where you were spotted. Obviously, there is still a lot of tweaking to be done, but in my three attempts to take a hill, the computer-controlled troopers cut off my advance every time. The A.l. is already smart enough to outflank you and send runners to call for backup. In keeping with the big emphasis on randomness and unpredictability, there are several movie-like elements often missing from games. How often do you get sniped by some ludicrously accurate A.l. and-bang-you're dead? To that end, Natsuume wants to add some dramatic tension. The accurate shots will be registered, of course, but there will also be a bunch of near misses. “Imagine you're running through the jungle and all of a sudden, a hail of fire erupts around you. You've got seconds to dive for cover.” Sounds. a whole lot less frustrating than simply walking into a deathtrap, doesn't it? HERE'S A STORY OF А GUY NAMED.... The details оп the actual plot still need hashing out, but there will be some PREVIEWS The AL is already smart enough to outflank you and send runners to call for backup. story-driven emphasis to push things КА along. You're flying a nosy reporter over some nameless tropical island, only to be shot down; you've got to figure out how to get off the island. The nine missions are allegedly seamless levels split up by cut-scenes that play while the next mission loads. In Natsuume's opinion (and we definitely agree with him), nothing's more annoying than being pulled out of the game by some Loading screen. As it stands right now, there will be roughly nine weapons (all the A bunch of soldiers just caught - 7 traditional fare) and as many as six me trying to sneak by. х : 2 vehicles at your disposal. While details on the multiplayer modes need to be fleshed out, it looks like some of the dinghies, Humvees, and beach buggies you'll drive in the single-player campaign will also be in multiplayer. The really good news here is for the development and modding communities: It looks pretty simple to pick up the tools and design your own levels, so whatever the folks at Crytek decide to omit, you'll be able to create on your own. According to Natsuume, the in-game tool lets you see the level as it unfolds, and it is five to six times quicker than the tool for building a al 1 Nu. Counter-Strike map. EE SU \ FM What we saw firsthand in the office Mmmm, sexy developer screen. This is the design tool in action. ran as smooth as silk, even though the | САМЕ stars | | game isn't due out until this winter. All Wet UES we need now is a good story and 8 bali engaging level design. Stay tuned for ти п details оп this new shooter-we'll keep ИМЕ 3D ENGINE TECH- you posted as we learn more in the DEMO SHOOTER coming months. RELEASE DATE: WINTER 2003 www.computergaming.com 49 PREVIEWS on Tanks aren't much of a When you land from a iroblem when you're big, Hulkalicious jump, you fo f 0ж 3 green, and can о high tend to flatten both ж ^ that people “ш - d the ground and апу... nearby goons. P THE HULK Scooter smash! By Thierry Nguyen 50 Computer Gaming World he Hulk is probably the easiest game idea to pitch. Just scream “HULK SMASH!" and be done with it. In fact, it's almost wrong to call this a game. How about a cross- promotional movie tie-in? Whatever the case, the Hulk game is shaping up as an interesting combination of beat-em- up smasher and Metal Gear Solid. It helps that Spider-Man single- handedly made comic-book properties the latest Hollywood in thing, and Freedom Force bolstered the idea that good superhero games can be done on PC. Besides, the PC is ripe for some good old-fashioned romping and stomping. PRETTY AS A PICTURE The game takes place a year after the film's story line, with Bruce Banner trying to un-Hulkify himself. A nefarious fellow named Crawford (replete with evil beard and hairstyle-bwah-ha-ha) says he can help. Chaos ensues, and you spend the rest of the game smashing and screaming, just as you would expect in a Hulk game. All of this shouting and wrecking ultimately has you going after the Leader (that silly Hulk villain whose head resembles a massive pair of, shall we Say, cajones), who's making а massive army of gamma-radiated soldiers. Along the way, you fight other Hulk villains, like Half-Life, Flux, Madman (all from the comics), and even the Hulk-dogs from the movie. Most comic book-inspired games tend Же E Green Hulk tries to stop Orange Hu-er, Madman, from making some other Hulk-derivative. The interface is pretty simplistic, but jeez, how complicated do you need to get when it comes to smash or grab? to emulate the look and feel of their counterparts. Hulk is going for a uniquely stylized cel-shaded look. While most cel-shaded games look like cartoon wannabes, Hulk adds some embossing and bump-mapping effects that give the characters’ faces a very distinct gloss. Gameplay is pretty much straight beat-em-up when you're the big green guy. The interface is simplistic, but then, how complicated do you need to get when it comes to smash or grab? The Hulk has a large variety of moves (45 in all), which you can apply to both your enemies and the environment. So, in addition to flinging the game's hapless goons around, you can also grab things like tanks, cars, and telephone poles to wield as weapons. Heck, you can even punch rockets in midflight. Radical Entertain- ment (the + developer) worked hard to generate а «а game world with loads of useable and destructible items lying about. Finally, there's the requisite Rage mode, where Hulk gets angry (think Robert Coffey in the throes of berating Postal 2) and starts taking it out on everyone. Rage has its own on- screen meter (like a health meter) that is raised by getting hit or collecting special Rage Orbs. COMIC CHAOS Unlike most superhero games where you're always the superhero and not the mild-mannered alter ego, Hulk lets players banter around as, well, Banner. What did Half-Life do before becoming a Hulk villain? He was an English teacher. Yes, English degrees are worth it! Hulk kicking up a ruckus in the desert turns out to be nothing more than a dream. What original dramatic technique! While your Hulk persona is fine and dandy for smashing your way with reckless abandon through Hulk-dogs and soldiers, you'll need Banner to be smart and sneaky. Banner's levels usually involve sneaking around a base, solving puzzles, and grabbing informa- GAME 5ТАТ5 | | PUBLISHER: VIVENDI. UNIVERSAL/BLACK LABEL tion. The game split is about 70 IC percent Hulk and 30 percent Banner. For all the levels involving Banner, Eric 10 RADICAL Bana (who plays Banner in the movie) ENTERTAINMENT provides voice work. GENRE: THIRD-PERSON Get ready to paint the town green as ‘SMASHER the Hulk this summer. RELEASE DATE: SUMMER 2003 wwnw.computergaming.com 51 PREVIEWS Pd The action scenes take plage in real-time, and you р. & can zoom out as far as you want to view the action. | < А Your futuré'domain. ELE RY EE IE ж е етекте: Machiavelli's wet dream realized By Di Luo { 52 Computer Gaming World ortune favors the brave and ambitious in this fascist simulator. The Soviet Union has fallen, and you are determined to make the most of the opportunities spawned from the chaos. Republic: The Revolution's fictional plot unfolds in the former Soviet republic of Novistrana, which has been ruled by a ruthless dictator for decades. As an enterprising and charismatic young man, you attempt to exploit the people's dissatisfaction in order to topple the president and gain absolute power. From humble beginnings with few resources and followers, you seek to win the hearts and minds of your people by any means necessary. GOT POWER? If the ruthless acquisition of power is your bag, you'll love the basics behind this game-so listen up, Cheney. There is no ideology such as capitalism or socialism involved. Instead, Republic's ideology focuses on the value you place on the means of achieving power. It is represented by a triangle of counter- balancing factors-force, influence, and money-that act in a rock-paper- scissors fashion. Men of influence who can sway the opinions of the rich are this is due to the male-dominated society prevalent in former Soviet republics. Still, one wonders why all the TV stars and journalists have to be male. Perhaps Elixir Studios ran out of money to hire female voice actors? Your subordinates can perform actions ranging from leaflet campaigns to assassinations to outright military coups, with quite a bit of strategic ` depth involved in choosing among them. Most advanced actions require you to scout an area, and your success rate increases if you take the trouble to do some prep work, such as spreading disinformation or intimidating the area’s residents into silence. In order to achieve your ultimate goal, you must win control of three cities, ranging from a provincial town to the capital. Each is divided into multiple districts populated by hundreds of individually modeled people who go about their daily lives. Although somewhat free-form, you must meet specific objectives in each city before moving on. ONCE IS ENOUGH While there is a massive playground to explore, Republic may encounter a problem with replay value. Since there is no multiplayer mode and the cities If the ruthless acquisition of power | is your bag, you'll love this game. easily cowed by brute force. Thugs, on the other hand, can be bought for money. To achieve power, you can focus on any of these means, although success usually requires a good balance of the three. Gameplay concentrates on time and personnel management. In each game, you may recruit up to six people into your inner circle. Each can perform one of 70 actions in the day's three phases. Possible lieutenants all have fleshed- out backgrounds ranging from Mafia toughs to influential TV stars. These backgrounds often determine their possible actions and limitations, such as the times of day they act for you. Strangely enough, there are no women to recruit; Elixir, the developer, says and their inhabitants remain the same in every game, you only get alternate experiences by attempting different paths to power. Hopefully, the developer has included strong А.І. for your opposing factions to make it interesting. If done well, Republic's intriguing premise should lead to a great game. When we saw it at Eidos, everything looked good, but Elixir is trying to meet an ambitious schedule, as Eidos wants the game on shelves by June. This leaves those working on it less than two months to test, produce, package, and ship the game. With an expansive engine that involves three huge cities and hundreds of individual onscreen characters, this will be a formidable task for even the best testers and bug squashers. Government lackeys on patrol. Leafleting campaigns are cheap and effective ways to drum up early support. GAME STATS | | EIDOS INTERACTIVE JEVELOPER: ELIXIR STUDIOS. GENRE: FASCIST SIMULATOR RELEASE DATE: JUNE 2003 www.computergaming.com 53 PREVIEWS Big-time, highfalutin publishers spend millions in ads and press tours to promote their newest games. But what about the little guy making the next Doom in his basement? What about those great games that aren't being distributed Stateside? There are plenty of good titles you've never heard of...and that's what Outta Sight is all about. PURE PINBALL FROM: IRIDON INTERACTIVE GENRE: ARCADE AAILABIUTY: SUMMER 2003 THE PROMISE: Swedish outfit Iridon knows its arcade games, having succeeded in bringing Excessive Speed to market where Epic failed. Empire Interactive may be the next victim upstaged, as Iridon's Pure Pinball could give Empire's esteemed Pro Pinball franchise a run for its money. Pure Pinball boasts three 3D tables (Excessive Speed, World War, Runaway Train), advanced special-effects technology, and intricate ball physics. Good thing these 100,000-plus polygon tables are virtual... no quarters required means more room in your pocket for rent money. THE CATCH: Pinball is an all-but- forgotten memory in 2003. There's a reason we haven't seen many entries in this genre lately: Nobody's buying 'em. As a result, development on such products has been halted or shifted to Eastern Europe, as in Pure Pinball's known as the Zone, seeking salvageable goods, which can be pawned for upgrades. The game's deep, but also а looker-Nvidia has already used the title as a GeForce FX showpiece, even though the developer didn't have a North American publishing deal (it does now!). THE CATCH: Twofold. One, the company's last attempt at anything resembling an FPS, Codename: Outbreak, went way under the radar here in the States. Second, just because a product works wonders as a graphics demo doesn't mean it'll make a great game.../ncoming, anyone? But we've continued to keep our eyes on this one, and the good news is that every time we see it, it looks even better. We'll try not to jinx it with too much hype, but expect more coverage as the ship date nears. MASSIVE ASSAULT FRON: WARGAMING NET GENRE REALTIME STRATEGY Т THE PROMISE: War is hell. For some, it's also а game-see George W. Bush or Massive Assault. More likely these days to slam-dunk opinion polls, the latter is billed as a modern upgrade to classic tabletop titan Risk. Huge and varied environments, sparkling pyrotechnics, provisions for diplomacy, 26 total units, and striking 3D terrain are its calling cards. OUTTA SIGHT The best games you've never seen Ey Scott Steinberg case-it's developed in Hungary, hardly a hotbed of AAA product development. But with a little help from Encore, SummitSoft, or another value-minded publisher, the title could score its immigration papers. STALKER.: OBLIVION LOST FROM: GSC GAME WORLD GENRE: FPS/RPG AMALGAMATION AVAILABUTY NOVEMBER 2003 THE PROMISE: The Cold War is over, but thanks to developers like GSC (Cossacks), Russia's still keen on invading American shores. A sophisticated action game-cum- FPS/RPG hybrid, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. takes place around Chernobyl. As a hired gun, you enter a radioactive landscape Interestingly, play also features secret allies...which, coincidentally, is something else it possesses that Dubya doesn't. THE CATCH: Real-time strategy gaming from an unknown developer: a surefire recipe for disaster back in "96, We're just now recovering from Tribal Rage and The L.E.D. Wars. Still, even a jaded old bunch of grognards can admit times have changed, even if public opinion hasn't; these days, rumor has it, independents can make a splash (see Battlefront.com's Combat Mission). Inspiring further confidence, the company's website states, “All of Wargaming.net's employees have degrees in computer science, physics, or math....” Translation: They're smarter than you. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" ^r; COMMAND | Command your forces and furn the tide of Axis aggression while conquering fortress Europe using a vast amount of authentic infantry, vehicles and weaponry. *3D engine allows for advanced tactics = True 3D Line Of Sight *"Hearing" system where enemy units can be heard “Intelligent and adaptive Al reacts to your strategy = Advanced "Morale" system where "Heroic" actions can be performed "25 missions can be played either as a 12-mission "Recruil campaign or а 20-mission, non-linear "Veteran" campaign RATING PENDING WWW.STRATEGYFIRST.COM 1 Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. ©2003 Strategy First Inc. All rights reserved. World War Il: Frontline Command is a trademark of The Bitmap Brothers. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights are the properties of their respective owners. ING THE BEST- SELLING PC GAME OF ALL TIME 56 Computer Gaming World N3ANON AUMMFIHL AG °` мы (Уз <5 5 DEVELOPER: MAXIS GENRE: ARCHITECTURE/EUGENICS. RELEASE DATE: Q1 2004: _ ий: QM | d i PUBLISHER: EA ith The Sims' unprecedented success, was there any doubt there'd be a sequel? After selling more than 20 million copies in the franchise (dwarfing sales of Half-Life and even GTA3), the real question is, how do you improve on a runaway hit? Sure, you could make the leap to 3D and add tons of objects and interactions, but putting window dressing on the same game is hardly the stamp of a Will Wright/Maxis product. It certainly wouldn't be enough to compel another 20 million sales. No, what Maxis needed was to wrap legions of new players in a more powerful emulation of life, to steep them in something more meaningful than the daily grind. What did they come up with? Digital DNA. In a massive antithesis to the Human Genome Project, Maxis invented the genetic codes of an entire species of simulated people. With that, the next generation of The Sims portrays life, death, and procreation-and the myriad triumphs and tribulations involved in seeing Sims sail through the seasons. In short, Maxis changed The Sims from a daily sitcom to a multigenerational saga. Now more than ever, art will simulate life: Birth. School. Work. Death. Good-bye Groundhog Day, hello reality. IN SHORT, MAXIS CHANGED THE SIMS FROM A DAILY SITCOM INTO A MULTIGENERATIONAL SAGA. SIMULATION 58 Computer Gaming World THE QUICK TOUR The process of creating your Sim begins much like in the first game, but there are some dramatic changes. Thanks to the fancy new 3D engine, you have much more flexibility in cus- tomizing your Sim, including the ability to create your own face (see "Facial Makeover," page 62). If you don't have time to craft that perfect Scott Baio visage, you can hit the Random Face button to generate a new, totally unique little Sim. After crafting your Sim, you pop into a game world that, at first glance, looks a whole lot like the previous game: same isometric view, same little green diamond hovering over your Sim's head, and the same weird Simlish spouting from their little mouths. The only difference is that the graphics look a lot cleaner than those in the original game. It's when you click on the Rotate Camera arrow that the new 3D engine suddenly kicks in. Rather than being locked into four You too can partake in the "formula versus breast-feeding" debate, thanks to The Sims 2's added child rearing. Li distinct camera angles, you can now rotate the camera smoothly around each scene. Hitting Zoom puts you in a lulling focus shot, rather than a jarring jump cut into your Sim's face. But the new engine offers more than just smooth moves. Every object is now fully 3D, which allows for more animations to help make the Sim world feel more real. When your Sim works out on a weight machine, for example, you can see how many weights are actually being used. And you'll watch as he adds more. Recliners will now kick back, and cheap beds will brea’ m the wear and tear of too much "play." DON'T FORGET TO BEGET Let's talk about making babies. The original Sims was about a single Sim forging relationships with other Sims, while The Sims Online made those other Sims into actual people. With The Sims 2, not only do you produce children, but you raise them into adulthood. Those children will go out on their own, find other Sims, and create their own children-and so the cycle continues. The game will keep track of all the Sims and their children, mak- ing a vast family tree retrievable with the click of the mouse. Within the context of raising an entire family, the team added the Life score, a new scoring mechanism driven not only by money, but also by how well your Sim is living life and in what kind of environment, both physical and emotional. While your Sims are still rabidly acquisitive, possession of items is no longer the sole metric that gamers use to evaluate themselves. The Life score essentially reports on how well you're living your life; it factors in all your Life Moments and provides a numerical value that summarizes your Sim's lot in life-finally, a poor Sim can be happy. Not only will The Si Sim across an entire fife, but the bodies will experience appropriate wear and tear. Pregnancies, beer guts-all the shapes of mankind rendered in 3D glory. sufficiently advanced, will be indistinguishable from magic.” We recently got a behind-the- scenes look at the technology and genius behind the magic that is The Sims at an object design meeting. Five designers locked in a small conference room hammer out the details of a single usable object. The meeting starts with an innocuous, “Let's talk about the polygraph machine.” This is followed by a giant display filled with numbers, check boxes, text boxes, and a single image of the polygraph. Designers give a flurry of responses: "It's a reward object for the criminal path." "It'll improve a skill." "It'll zap you if you get a question wrong." A pause. "It's going to zap you?" The designers launch into a five-minute discussion on the concept of electrocuting the player and how it affects the player and the game overall. Then they move on to discuss the teaching value of the polygraph and the difficulty level of implementing the object, i.e., animating it, deciding on how many options it would have when the player clicks on it, etc. Finally, they sign off and move on to the next object. This process happens for each and every object, so think about that the next time you click on the freakin’ moose head. Ae C. Clarke once noted, "Any technology, LEFT: A snazzy new shower besmirched by the grime of humanity. ABOVE: A telescope to both stargaze and engage in voyeurism with. www.computergaming.com 59 mor There more ‘The awareness engine and the. than 500 facial expressions mean that these objects, as rowdy fellows will enjoy and;egg on opposed to The ШИТІ luzzah F tor drunk sorority chicks! Sims’ original 125. Not every object from the expansions will be included, but a select few from each were chosen. -There are now 18 career paths, with 10 levels each -Teenagers and elders have seven career paths, with three levels each. -The neighbor- hood will be like The Sims: Unleashed, with 50 lots total. -There are weekends now. While there are no specific dates, time is referred to by the weekly calendar, i.e., “Your kid's birthday is next Monday.” -Time passes for your currently selected family only; other Sims in the world are frozen in time. -There are three new motives: Thirst, Mind, and Family. (Family is a different type of Social; the old Social is now called Friends.) -NPCs (such as the maid, the pizza deliverer, etc.) are now actual Sims who can join your family. There are no pets. -Elders, upon retirement, receive a pension and basically become free Sims who help out their family. E YOUR SIMS 2 CHEAT SHEET Life Moments are key events, both big and small, created by the choices you make for your Sims. The major firsts of life (first kiss, first child, first words) are Big Life Moments and will obviously impact your Sims, but it may be the Small Life Moments that have a bigger effect. Since there will be far more of these, their influence on your Life score and, more impor- tant, your Sim, will be enormous. For example, a parent playing with a toddler may seem subtle, but it can have a profound effect: A happy kid grows up into a happy adult, and happy adults tend to succeed. Each Life Moment is recorded in your easily accessible Story Album. Imagine an entire familial histo- ry filled with childhood, marriage, procreation, senility, and loss-all recorded for you to see. THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY The Sims 2 designers have made the Sims' gameplay more complex in possibilities, yet much easier to manage. For exam- ple, consider nested interactions. Remember how sleeping or reading or watching television was something you were locked into? In order to take a short break to do anything else, you had to cancel that activity, do what you wanted to do, and then manually reselect the bed/couch/reading chair. Nested interac- tions let you perform a new action without manually interrupt- ing any consistent action; for example, if you're already watch- ing television on your couch, you just select the fridge to get your snack. The game automatically knows to get you up, Wright isn't directly involved in the day-to-day work of The Sims 2. "I've been dividing ир ту time between TSO, Sims 2, and stepping right into my next project.” Yikes, Wright is already working on his next big game, but all he can say is, | nterestingly enough, Will “It's huge." This überproject won't be announced until 2004, and any attempt to hurt, too. 60 Computer Gaming World discern its nature is greeted with Wright's best impression of a shifty fellow. The closest we can come up with is that years ago, when answering the question “What game would you most like to make?” he started talking about the philosophical ideas of Hermann Hesse and human knowledge i: general. Yeah, it makes our brains Even though he doesn't sit at his The exact same room, but with different furniture textures, walls, and floors to illustrate how different one room can be, thanks to the new 3D engine. retrieve your popcorn, and then sit your lazy self back down, munching on popcorn while boob-tubing out. The Sims are also eerily aware of their surroundings. Senior producer Tim LeTourneau noted, “One of the things we've been working on the most is the awareness engine.” For example, Sims grow particularly attached to their posses- sions and will notice if something in the house is broken or missing. In the case of something being missing, they actually think about it and yearn for it to be back. They also notice interactions between other Sims. If a Sim is watching televi- sion and he looks over to see his best friend and his wife making out, he'll actually throw a fit and possibly start a fight. Or, if a dirty old man starts peeking through his tele- scope at his neighbors, the neighbors might eventually notice him and call him on it. desk pounding on The Sims 2 design document, he's still very much involved with the sequel. He plays it for hours on end, like every other person on the project, and gives a lot of creative input, whether by attending design meetings or just tapping on a designer's shoulder and giving a suggestion. Like Sid Meier, Wright may not be in the trenches, but he’s very much a part of Тһе Sims 2 development process. 11. LAM live tne Renters Zi | а Ергапѕік gets back to the Ф... "roots of gaming." m" de o Online Gaming Magazine Опе Month » Free! Dransik is a massively multiplayer online role playing game. RATING PENDING ™ sulu msoft Internet connection required. Asylumsoft and Dransik are trademarks or registered trademarks of Asylumsoft, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. © With such a flexible Q character-driven environment, > Maxis made sure ч several things (2) were impossible, no matter what. © These include: -No incest. Not 2 only for the moral reason, but also because the genetics engine can't handle what to do if a brother and a sister try to create a child That and the graphics engine is incapable of rendering cyclopean babies. -No teenage pregnancies Teenagers can "play" all they want, but nothing will come out of it. Literally. -No underage affairs Teenagers can have romantic relation- ships only with other teens. If one becomes an adult, the other has to age up before resuming their romantic relationship-no 16- year-old paramours for older men. Interestingly enough, while it's impossible to re-enact Lolita, one can re-enact The Graduate, because Benjamin Braddock was a college grad before Mrs. Robinson seduced him. helps your Life sc could only get dad away fi his book learnin". IT'S A WONDERFUL (TWISTED) LIFE Accompanying these moments of storytelling and gameplay are the Sims themselves, drawing from a staggering array of character animations. Sims express love, anger, deceit, lust, despondence, and contentment with their faces. Whether it's the “come hither” expression on the French maid's face or the shifty, furtive look of the voyeuristic old man, these expres- sions make the Sims feel more like people, which then makes their stories more evocative. Here's just one example of the spontaneous storytelling emerging from the Sims, their awareness, and their new expressions: Imagine a college-age girl with a twin sister and a hot boyfriend. At the twins' home, the boyfriend "accidentally" starts making out with the wrong twin. The sisters have a heat- ed argument, while he stands amused at the sidelines. At some point, the mother comes home, and what happens next? While the twins keep arguing, the boyfriend raises his eyebrows at the mom, and the two of them hook up. Even the hired help (NPCs) are fair game. Your randy grand- pa can eye his comely French maid, woo her into bed, have a heart attack, and die. Later, surviving kin squabble over his inheritance at his deathbed, with a lawyer present. Tiny touches, like a face filled with surprise or mischief, are subtle, yet they profoundly affect the overall experience. Screaming toddlers, sullen teens, deadbeat dads: It's real life in all its glory. That's what The Sims 2 is aiming to be. Not just а sequel, but a glimpse into a true digital family. Get ready to create your own family dramas in 2004. tweaked for usability and aesthetics, but we were shown just how insanely detailed face creation is. Most games are content with templated facial characteristics like big blue eyes and a goatee for players to mix and match-ultimately \ creating a character that looks pretty generic. In The Sims 2, Maxis is going for a multitiered structure that allows for different options at every level. After selecting a facial archetype followed by standard features (nose, Т: interface is still being 62 Computer Gaming World etc.), you then dive into the I modifiers. At press time, they're an arcane set of dials and sliders that do everything from modify the circumference of the eyes to the depth of the philtrum. Maxis showed us replicas of both Michael Jackson (complete with freakishly small nose and bleached skin) and a young Rasta-like Richard Nixon. You can truly re- create anyone, even yourself, into the gam Before you give yourself a freakish nose and Andy Rooney eyebrows, be aware that all of your traits will be passed down to your progeny. “We have a genetics model running underneath the game that tracks all the different recessive and dominant genes of every character,” says LeTourneau. So every kid does have appropriate traits carried from the parents. Consequently, traits like the Jackson nose and skin will also be passed down to children. Ick. ABSÓ Ultimate PCs with the Intel® Pentium® Processor with Hyper-Threading Technology Ultimate:G ABS? Ultimate X3 Antec PlusView1000AMG Case w/Acrylic Windows 400-Watt PS & Neon Light New Intel 875P Chipset Motherboard w/800MHz FSB & USB 2.0 Kingston 512MB PC3200 Dual-Channel DDR SDRAM Memory 120GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive w/8MB Cache Pioneer 16X DVD Player and Mitsumi 1.44MB Floppy Drive Lite-On 52X24X52 SMART-BURN? 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BEHIND THE GAME Computer Gaming World 11 3 71 СЕОВСЕ JONES wwWw.computergaming.com 65 Randy Pitchford: 'rofessi, " Gearbox president otessional prestidigitator, t, and Halo addict, Here, riding shotgun f " a | So much for a fair fight as this on a whole new meaning. guy gets quadruple-teamed. WHAT ТООК SO LONG? THE HALO EXPERIENCE Word of ice: move! Space-age `j chicken fights. E xi WP. 2 Y) Planetside Sony Massively Multiplayer Gaming takes on a new face in PlanetSide, where thousands of players wage war in a battle of planetary proportions. A newly designed 3D engine drives PlanetSide's first-person player-to-player combat and vehicular warfare across ten continents. Tomb Raider 6: Angel of Darkness Eidos s y) Less cost, more fun. WarCraft Ш: Frozen Throne Blizzard Warcraft Ill: The Frozen Throne provides gamers with a vast new chapter in the epic WarCraft saga. In the single-player campaign, players revisit the war-torn world of Azeroth. Several months have passed since Archimonde and the Burning Legion were defeated at the battle of Mount Hyjal, yet a new threat has arisen throughout the land... Harpoon 4 Ubi Sott S4955 Star Wars Galaxies Lucas Arts It is the height of the Galactic Civil War. Live in the Star Wars universes, alongside thousands of other players online as you define your role within the galactic community. Explore exotic worlds, battle dangerous enemies, and encounter well known Star Wars characters: The role you take will impact the Star Wars uni- verse forever...it is your destiny. Grand Theft Auto Vice City Rock Star Games PO Box 234% Dept. 11410 • 2520 VT Rte. 100N • Rochester, VT 05767 INT'L 802.767.3033 е FAX 802.767.3382 * US 800.699.GAME (4263) Source Code 11417 Reviews We love games, we hate games Edited by Robert Coffey pope swearing — INSIDE 70 Shadowbane 72 1612: Covert Strike 74 Devastation 76 Vietcong 78 Line of Sight: Vietnam 80 Tropico 2: Pirate Cove 82 A Tale in the Desert 83 Grom 84 Enclave 85 BloodRayne 86 Pro Race Driver 87 Championship Manager 4 88 New World Order 89 Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc 8 0 i 89 Casino Inc. TROPICO 2 90 Postal2 www.computergaming.com 69 REVIEWS The beginnings of a player-built city in the desert. Citybuilding is Shadowbane's strongest feature. Shadowbane Have fun raiding the castle BY MARK ASHER The lack of dungeons means you'll $ your time above ground fighting. / 2 Bor. pend a lot of | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: UBI SOFT DEVELOPER: WOLFPACK STUDIOS. GENRE: MMORPG ESRB RATING: TEEN; BLOOD, VIOLENCE PRICE: $39.99. PURCHASE, $12.99 MONTHLY FEE REQUIREMENTS; PENTIUM ІІ 700, 128MB RAM, 1.368 HARD DRIVE SPACE, 56K INTERNET CONNECTION RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4, 256MB RAM, HIGH-SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION MULTIPLAYER, SUPPORT: MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER hadowbane will change the way you think of massively multiplayer online games. It's a game centered on conflict but policed by its players. It's a game that rewards players who band together to build rather than to destroy. And it's a game unlike any we ever expected from developer Wolfpack Studios. These are, after all, the folks who said, "I don't play to bake bread, | play to crush!" Ironically, it's the bread-baking part of the game-players' options to build cities and nations-that makes Shadowbane a winner. If you've played EverQuest or Dark Age of Camelot, a lot of Shadowbane will be familiar to you: You create a character, venture into the game world, and knock monsters in the head until they're dead, for which you get experience points and loot. Form groups with other players to kill tougher monsters. Kill enough monsters and you advance a level. Keep repeating this process until you hit the level cap, which in Shadowbane is 60. 70 Computer Gaming World Fast-tracking The difference is that, in EverQuest and Camelot, this level-advancement process takes several hundred hours. In Shadowbane, it's accelerated dramatically. In three weeks of play and 60-plus hours of leveling, I've hit Level 49 with my main character. Shadowbane's player-friendly grouping rules encourage large groups and fast leveling. As a veteran of these kinds of games, | can't emphasize how pleasant it is to be able to level quickly. You won't want to go back to the agonizing pace of the other games after playing this one. A game like EverQuest makes the argument that it's the journey, not the destination, that's important. In Shadowbane, the destination is everything. It's designed around player- versus-player conflict, but expands that theme to guild-versus-guild conflict, and eventually to nation-versus-nation strife. While this "play to crush" design seems like it would invoke chaos and destruction, it has actually created a fascinating game world of guild alliances and secret alliances, of politics and betrayal, and of city creation and nation building. Already, my guild has been attacked, retaliated, negotiated a truce, seen that truce broken, declared war, and finally negotiated another uneasy truce. Who knows what next week will bring? We built this city Players' ability to build cities and stock them with merchants, trainers, and quards-all of which can be destroyed by other players-is unlike anything in any other MMORPG. Once you experience it, you won't want to settle for anything less. Building a city is prohibitively expensive and beyond the means of one player; only a group of dedicated players in the form of a guild can afford one, and upgrading and maintaining the city is an ongoing process and expense. Once а guild creates a second city, it forms a nation. The ability to create cities and nations gives players an immense sense of empowerment, ownership, and pride. Cities protected by a Tree of Life are riai 3 > мараи У ЛЕТТІ майсал тета т It takes а village to tear one down-here, a bunch of players gather before laying siege to a city. Mangonel Launch a war on a city and уой деї to use siege engines. invulnerable, so gangs can't just run in and attempt to tear them down. To wage war on a city requires that a group of players cast a bane circle (not easy or cheap to get) on it. Once the bane circle is cast, the defenders get to set the time the war begins. Dark shadows Shadowbane isn't without problems. The graphics engine is dated and would've looked dated two years ago (I like the art direction, though). The game suffers from lag at times, and is prone to crashing (though | experienced only A city burns as it's being attacked. Graphically, Shadowbane can't compete with recent titles like Asheron's Call 2. like the point-and-click movement system. Finally, as a cautionary note, no one knows how the player-nation politics will pan out: If one nation arises and dominates, that could drive players from the game if the underdogs don't rally. Still, Shadowbane has jolted much- Shadowbane has jolted much-needed new life into the massively multiplayer genre. Character development in Shadowbane is also a strong suit. There are 18 classes that can be specialized by finding discipline runes, which grant new powers. The Black Mask rune, for example, gives assassin-like powers such as Backstab to non-assassin classes. Characters can be further distinguished by the way training points are spent on skills such as Axe-Wielding, Sorcery, and Sneak, letting you approach a class like warlock from either the fighter or mage side of character development. a few crashes). There have been some server rollbacks and more server downtime than | find acceptable. The leveling process, while fast, doesn't bring anything new to the genre. And there are no dungeons in the game-none! At times, the game can brutal-when you die, everything you carried that wasn't equipped falls into your "grave," which anyone can loot. The invisible thief class can pick your pocket. Any passerby can loot the corpse of the monster you just killed. The interface will be confusing at first, and you may never needed new life into the massively multiplayer genre-a genre that was showing every sign of being drowned in a flood of derivative games. It's a brave attempt at something new, and it succeeds. Play to crush if you want, but you'll get more satisfaction from playing to create an empire. VERDICT cook Rather than kill monsters over and over again, build cities and an empire. www.computergaming.com 71 REVIEWS IGI 2: Covert Strike Take me out, please! | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: CODEMASTERS DEVELOPER: INNERLOOP GENRE: IDIOT SAS COMMANDO ‘SIMULATOR ESRB RATING: MATURE; BLOOD, VIOLENCE PRICE: $39.99. REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM III 100, 128MB RAM, 1.968 HARD DRIVE SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4 1.2 GHZ, 512MB. RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: LAN, INTERNET (2-16 PLAYERS) BY THIERRY NGUYEN raditionally, people watch movies or play games about super-spies or Special Forces agents because, well, the agents are badasses. The fact that ex- SAS/current-IGl-agent David Jones gets constantly surprised by third-rate terrorists and inscrutable Chinese troops goes beyond suspending disbelief, and is just one of the litany of annoyances that plague IGI 2: Covert Strike. To say the А.І. is inconsistent is ап understatement; the more apt description would be "sharpshooting idiots." In IGI 2's world, terrorist training camps crank out minions who have amazing pitching arms, eagle eyes, and walnut-sized brains. How else could one explain how these guys can throw the perfect grenade toss, no matter the distance? Or shoot you in the head five times with an AK-47 from 200 meters away? These amazing shooters and throwers also tend to do things like throw grenades from inside a building when they hear you outside, ignoring the fact that they're in while you're out. Or run single-file into a room, even when seeing a buddy gunned down in front. Or have a hard time aiming at you when you're lying prone at their feet. The enemies aren't the only fellows who failed school. Apparently, Innerloop missed the game design memo that informed people "Yanking all the weapons away from the player is now clichéd, don't do it anymore," because that situation happens twice: once in a limp-wristed Behind Enemy Lines imitation, and again when you're in a prison. And there are missions where you have to protect friendly A.l. idiots from getting shot over and over again. Several times, you're advised about the value of stealth, but really, you're much better off running and gunning (except in missions where My punishment for having a Creative soundcard is having the game crash whenever that far-off APC starts moving. 72 Computer Gaming World up on those oh-so-quiet metal catwalks. David Jones is such an amazing agent that he doesn’t notice the Chinese troops sneaking The А.І. can hit me from this far, but they have to be bright enough to look up. Until then, 1 can keep on racking up the bodies. This soldier must be farsighted, because he can hit me from across the room, but not when I'm under him. In IGI 2's world, terrorist training camps crank out minions who have amazing pitching arms, eagle eyes, and walnut-sized brains. pulling an alarm is instant failure). The save system is pretty atrocious. On Normal difficulty, you get a whopping three saves, for mission areas that can easily take up to an hour or so each. Here's a summary of each mission on Normal: run around for five minutes figuring out what to do. Die. Then run around for five minutes again, and when you get into minute six and think you're safe, save. Then shoot more dorks, and get killed again. Reload your first save, complete some objectives, and then save again, thinking that you're safe. Find out you're wrong when a guy hits you from across a hallway with a shotgun, and realize that the second save is useless because you set yourself up to be killed every time, and there are no medical syringes until you get to something like mission number nine. Redo everything you had to do since save one all over again, and spend the rest of the level being paranoid because you don't want to waste a save game. Nineteen missions become 19-plus hours of tedious task repetition over and over and over due to the save system. IGI 2 is an example of mediocrity dragged much further downward by sheer ineptitude. It could have been another so-so tactical stealth shooter, but the saves, the idiots, the clichés, and the crashes shove it into coaster territory. Originally, instead of "Institute for Geotactical Intelligence," IGI stood for “I'm Going In." No, this time, you must stay out at all costs. VERDICT КЖ This tactical stealth shooter is more special ed than Special Forces. Тре Вазе f o В... I ті COMING 19 КАЛ 22 @2003 52 Games, “LDCS iGames is a trademark of Е Е Savage is a trademark Internet Game Меме ге й 5 of б: Games, LLC. Publishing, LLC. REVIEWS Devastation: Resistance Breeds Revolution In a postapocalyptic world, only the bugs survive BY T. BYRL BAKER PUBLISHER: ARUSH ENTERTAINMENT AND GROOVE GAMES DEVELOPER: DIGITALO STUDIOS GENRE FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER ESRB RATING: MATURE; BLOOD AND GORE, VIOLENCE PRICE $39.99 ‘REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM ІІ 700, 256MB RAM, 1GB HARD DRIVE SPACE, 32MB 3D CARD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM Ill 1GHZ, 512MB RAM, 64MB 3D CARD MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT; INTERNET, LAN (2-16 PLAYERS) the penultimate mission. here did things go wrong? From the moment the first level of this FPS loads, you know Devastation should be something special. Sure, it's set in some clichéd corporate-run future where years of revolution and neglect have left the entire world coated in rust and dust, but that theme has never been taken so far visually. Each level looks like an actual working environment, coated with photorealistic textures and loaded with hundreds of 3D objects that can be picked up, thrown, or blasted to bits. Surely, if the developers lavished that much attention on the graphics and level layouts, the rest of the game must be imbued with the same magic. Unfortunately, enthusiasm for the single-player game doesn't survive first contact with the enemy. Kamikazes must have been the expert consultants for the advertised "next-generation" A.l., as scores of opposing soldiers seem content to rush blindly into the business end of a player's weapons, so combat quickly becomes more tedious than exciting. Ironically, the decent A.I. of your teammates makes the game even duller. When not killing themselves by repeatedly running into electric fences, your little buddies busy themselves with mowing down the enemy, many times leaving you with very little to do. This has to be the first shooter that gets easier as it progresses. First, you get ass-kicking companions; then you get the ability to respawn endlessly during missions, and when that happens, all tension drains away as the game turns into the equivalent of a deathmatch against sheep. Even the end boss is anticlimactic- assuming you fight your way through all the crash bugs to make it to the last level. The single-player game is stable at 74 Computer Gaming World € Unreal-engine-powered graphics offer detailed environments but don't do diddly for gameplay. All tension drains away as the game turns into the equivalent of a deathmatch against sheep. the beginning, but as things progress, increasingly severe (and random) crashes occur until it becomes a minor miracle that the game loads at all. Even when it's running, players must contend with other flaws, like an encumbrance system that doesn't work and A.l. teammates who refuse to perform scripted tasks, making it impossible to complete a mission. For a game that touts its physics engine and environmental interactivity, neither is implemented well. Who cares if you can pick up nearly any object and fling it at someone, if doing so has no impact on the gameplay? It's also difficult to suspend disbelief when the game uses a crazy frictionless Martian gravity model that lets players punt oil drums like footballs. There are dozens of weapons to play with, ranging from swords to chain guns, but this is another category in which the game doesn't live up to its potential. Most firearms have all the power of a BB gun, with sound effects to match. The innovative remote-controlled rat drone is a nice surprise when it first becomes The P*Laser is the most devastating weapon in Devastation. Too bad it shows up late to the party. available, but it can't make up for the overall mediocrity of the weapons set. All of the A.I. and crash flaws could almost be forgiven if Devastation offered a decent multiplayer experience, but once again, it falls flat. It's difficult to pick a server, since the in-game server browser lists all ping times at zero. In the few smooth matches I did manage to find, the anemic weapons, lackluster level designs, and dearth of game modes proved that this game has absolutely nothing new to offer online thrill seekers. VERDICT СС Too big to be a mod, too bad to be a full retail release Pe History changes’ ES IN THE MAKING. xove: mor soft BF Nations, a new real-time stri gami M Brian Reynolds, lead designer of Civilization II. Experience turn-based strategy games aban RTS piê through 6,000 years of history and 18 ancient civilizations intense RTS of its kind. Think fast. Fight faster. Defend, defeat, bargain, befriend, plot and plunder. Do gun with zero margin for erfor. Nothin} is historically impossible and only the quick and the brazen sti А ШЕТІНЕ От” Blood апа Gore ха Ет violence Micresoft POWERED BY ЕШ» TIT IDEM Е spy www.riseofnations.com REVIEWS Vietcong Vietnam action games finally begin to come of age BY THOMAS L. MCDONALD |_| САМЕ STATS | PUBLISHER: GATHERING OF DEVELOPERS DEVELOPER: PTERODON ESRB RATING: TEEN; BLOOD, MILD LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE GENRE: ACTION PRICE: $49.99. REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM ІІ 700, 256MB RAM, 1.86B HARD DRIVE SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4 16HZ, 512MB RAM, 64MB 3D CARD MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT. LAN, INTERNET (2-6 PLAYERS) In place of rabid ietnam never quite caught on as a subject for gaming. Perhaps it's freighted with too much emotional baggage, and certainly the graphics technology chokes on the dense jungle environments needed to convey the tight, sharp combat of Vietnam. Because of its unique place in American history, Vietnam requires a careful touch. Medal of Honor could work from the Saving Private Ryan template to convey the hard-bitten action of war, but there is no Saving Private Ryan for Vietnam. So it was a surprise to find that Pterodon-a developer from the Czech Republic-has done a pretty admirable job of keeping a steady, inoffensive tone throughout most of Vietcong. In place of rabid gung-ho Robert Duvall-style napalm-sniffers, we get mostly professional military focused on their missions. The elements likely to get knees a-jerkin'-such as the pidgin English of Vietnamese characters-may grate on PC sensibilities, but frankly, they're not far off the mark. The enemy is treated as, well, the enemy. Vietcong are there to be killed. South Vietnamese are there to be protected or act as point men. While Pterodon got the design elements right, it fumbled the graphical side. Instead of taking the simple and reasonable road of licensing an engine, it used its own scratch-built technology. The gung-ho Robert Duvall-style napalm- sniffers, we get mostly professional military focused on nen missions. The weapons are real-world models of the period and do a good job of replicating the unique properties of each. 76 Computer Gaming World Striking scripted events add a lot of punch to the game's action. engine seems to have been designed to push a lot of polys around in order to make up the ambitious leafy environment of the jungle without a lot of advanced shading features, but there are problems. First, it doesn't push those polys particularly well. Perhaps sensing the engine was not making the grade, the designers have an autodetect that downscales the graphics settings even for a top-of-the-line system. Even with this, the framerate takes the express elevator to the basement, which is generally unhelpful during the quick bursts of action that define this game; however, this is mostly due to the copy-protection, and an illicit no-CD hack does wonders for said framerate. Second, the engine doesn't really look good up close, and up close is how you see it when taking cover behind leaves seemingly made of Mega-Blocks. Clipping is elevated to high art here, with enemies-and your character-getting lodged in the landscape. That said, it handles the long view quite well, and the lighting is decent. Models are adequate to good, and some of the in-game scripting-such as gunships swooping in to support a firefight-are striking. Since the campaign game is dedicated to U.S. Special Forces rather than standard infantry, the missions become more complex, resulting in a largely satisfying sequence of multitiered missions. While you enter the action with a squad (composed of a point man to act as guide, a medic, and a radioman), control over them is fairly limited. They Between missions, you return to base camp, where you can wander around, review mission files, talk to people, change weapons, and otherwise hack around. act on their own initiative with consistently good A.l., using blocking terrain and covering fire. The game strikes an effective balance between pure action and a tac sim: You can take two, maybe three bullets, but not many more. All this ties together to create a consistently enjoyable and challenging action-game experience compromised only by technical limitations. Vietnam may be far enough in the past to become acceptable fodder for gaming, and games like Line of Sight and the forthcoming Men of Valor certainly point to a mini- trend. These are difficult games to do well, making it a small miracle that Vietcong is as enjoyable as it is. VERDICT cook While it delivers a much better Vietnam combat experience than you might expect, the graphics can be problematic. The Elder Scrol E ІП “М orrowind ue nsfon n Pack | Am ce stand E them? do pup Su а Will уди) join them? b "ҰМ КЭ ELEC MEAS x е na the ee caves, 2 10 snow-covered wastelarids. of the: n КАШ, ^ 5% Ste - ier tase S 5 s ‚ван new AME tutes including | bears, | 8 wolves, ice minions, ; and spriggans. ا 1 M жс A. e Direct the construction n a mining colony and face the threat of хада Werewolves. е Become a werewolf and indulge yous thirst for the hunt: 5; = ‘The New Expansion for,Morrowind pau anc Сате of ШЕ сап GameSpy, PC RPG of the Year RPG Vault, Game of the Year XGR, Best RPG of the Year Telefragged, PC Game of the Year Telefragged, Best PC RPG Game : Shack News, Reader's Choice RPG of the Year RPG Vault, RPG of the Year GameSpot, Best Xbox RPG of the Year Xbox Evolved, Game of the Year RPGDot, Best Single Player RPG Xbox Magazine, Best Role-playing Game IGN, Best Xbox RPG Game қ [| d ™ ethesda il i © 2003 Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company. The Elder Scrolls, Morrowind, Bloodmoon, Bethesda Softworks, ES company ZeniMax and their respective logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. REVIEWS Line of Sight: Vietnam Keep this out of your sight BY THIERRY NGUYEN | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: INFOGRAMES. INTERACTIVE GENRE: FIRST- ESRB RATING: MATURE; BLOOD, VIOLENCE PRICE: $29.99. REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM II 550, 128MB RAM, 200MB HARD DRIVE SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM ІШ 1GHZ, 256MB RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT. GAME PATCHES М DEVELOPER: NFUSION PERSON SHOOTER LAN, INTERNET (2-32 PLAYERS) y mission is to assassinate a local Vietcong officer. A help- ful Vietnamese peasant girl is supposed to lead me down the tricky pathways and point out the officer, but the moment | start, she bolts off. After awkwardly running to catch up with her, I look back to see my spotter/partner stuck in a log. Switching over to him, | get unstuck, switch back, and then haul ass to again follow the girl, only to see that she’s way down the path, not caring about me being lost. Thankfully, my compass points me toward my mission objective (so why did | need to follow her?), but as I'm walking, | get pegged in the head by a VC. After a reload, | shoot him and proceed to belly-crawl, hiding behind bush thick and thin the rest of the way. However, VC soldiers, despite being behind an even thicker bush, manage to zero in on my head while I’m silently behind cover. A reload later, | crawl forward, firing my gun at random intervals; the noise triggers an aggressive reaction within the VC that reveals their position. Thankfully, this mission is in daylight: My Funny how the VC, having no night vision, can still see my camouflaged, prone body. Caution! A tricky Vietnamese force-field prevents you from going down this path in the middle of the map. night vision goggles only put a green camouflaged, prone body.) middle of all this, doing absolutely Revisionist History C&C: Generals, Black Hawk Down, SimCity 4 By Thomas L. McDonald ommand & Conquer: Generals is up to version 1.5 with mostly C. minor bugs on the squish list. Online stat recording has been fixed so that disconnecting players are tracked and wins/losses correctly tabulated, and the online lobbies no longer list players in the wrong place. The number of Rangers appearing after destruction of a U.S. barracks is now lower, since it was being used as an exploit. Another exploit hole, this one allowing multiple workers to speed structure build times, is closed. Missile tracking, which was getting wonky after rocket-buggy upgrades, now works properly, and both rocket buggies and comanches reload reliably. A number of balancing issues have made heir way into the past few patches. Upgraded napalm does less damage than it did. GLA bomb-truck health, worker health, tunnel-network gun damage, marauder hit points, and stealth-fighter hit points are all increased; while scorpion tank, tunnel 78 Computer Gaming World network, and GLA arms dealer build times are tweaked. Overall, no huge problem has reared its ugly head, which is as it should be for a game so thoroughly tested before release. жжж Delta Force: Black Hawk Down version 1.1.0 has a tiny slate of fixes for its initial patch. On the multiplayer side, claymores now acknowledge the friendly-fire option, while claymores at spawn points no longer crash the servers. Flag respawn and zone color issues have been resolved across the board. On the single-player end of things, there are some waypoint fixes for mission Diplomatic Immunity and minor goal fixes for mission Radio Aidid. filter over the land, becoming less-than- absolutely-useless. (Funny how the VC, having no night vision, can still see my | stumble onto a fortified position, with three or so VC shooting down on me. As I'm frantically running around, trading fire with them, the peasant girl stands in the nothing. | guess she's magically shielded from all the bullets. She finally leads me to the officer, who | promptly snipe with my Snazzy, immersive environments can't overcome badly designed maps and cheating A.l. rifle, leaving her to stand in the wilderness alone, doing and saying nothing. | have trouble leaving because | somehow keep running into invisible force-fields that prevent me from going down perfectly open paths. After haphazardly meandering around, baby-sitting my spotter and making sure | save frequently, | make it to the exit point. That's one of the 12 missions in Line of Sight: Vietnam. Ugh. VERDICT kc The VC are dirty cheaters in this lush but restrictive and nonsensical portrayal of sniper life in the Vietnam War. Version 1.0.272.0 of SimCity 4 has tackled the zoom and rotation issues, resulting in faster switching for both. A number of other performance improvements, such as better framerates, more effective management of the memory cache, and new settings options, all go a long way to improving the enjoyableness of this game. Several dozen other fixes address everything from graphical glitches to gameplay elements, such as neighbor deals and graphs. CONQUER THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATIO EN i p А b ty Empires fought for water, resources and arable land. Play as the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Nubians, or the Assyrians and develop your 7 country by producing and selling commodities to your, neighbors. Raise glorious armies \ and wage wars of conquest. p! over the plains and = victory in Chariots of War! Li d ۴ If you like Chariots of War check out these other strategy games 62003 Strategy First Inc. All right reserved. Chariots of War, Legion Gold and Europa қ Universalis: Crown of the North are trademarks E of Paradox Entertainment AB. All rights p S reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights paradox —strotegy First SUTHERINE _afe the properties of their respective owners, REVIEWS Wenches, pirates, and gold Bv D! Luo | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: THE GATHERING DEVELOPER: FROG CITY GENRE: STRATEGY ESRB RATING: TEEN; ‘SUGGESTIVE THEMES, VIOLENCE PRICE: $39.99 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM ІШ 500, 64MB RAM, 1.868 HARD DRIVE SPACE, 16MB. 3D CARD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM ІІ 800, 128MB RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: NONE. ropico 2: Pirate Cove is a dissertation on Marxist economic theory disguised as a game. You, my bourgeois friend, play the role of a pirate king with dictatorial powers over a small Caribbean island. Your sole goal is profit, without any thought about the welfare or happiness of your subjects. Class warfare The economic model of Tropico 2 revolves around the struggle of the ruling and working classes. The working class of oppressed proletariats consists of slave labor kidnapped by the ruling class, or "donated" to your service by friendly imperialist powers such as France, Britain, or Spain. The production that results from their endless toil keeps the island fed and supplied with the war materials necessary for the accumu- lation of power and money. Instead of bettering their lives, the product of the proletariat's labor is used to increase the happiness of the ruling elite, in this case the pirates. As they 80 Computer Gaming World increase in power and experience, pirates demand more and more entertainment, including cigars, rum, wenches, and fruit pastries. Lacking Such services, they soon become disgruntled and will desert or even launch mutinies. If you manage to keep the pirates fed and happy, they can then be used to plunder the trade lanes to fill your coffers. Though the buccaneers will demand a good portion of the loot, you can siphon quite a bit for your retire- ment fund, and this accumulation of wealth is the focus of most of Tropico 2's scenarios. Balancing the needs of the two classes provides the meat of the gameplay. If you fail to keep the workers resigned to their fate (you can build gallows to intimidate and churches to pacify) or the pirates happy, you'll be subjected to slave rebellions or pirate coups. While this provides a decent amount of strategic depth to the game initially, it really limits the number of ways to play the game. Fresh-o! pirates Unlike the original, which offered a choice between being a benign ruler or an oppressive one, only oppression works in Tropico 2, and you'll find yourself performing random executions in no time. Economies are also based solely on lumber gathering, with a small side show for iron mining and weapon production. In any scenario, the same buildings must be built, the same edicts must be issued, and you must pretty much repeat the same steps or face certain defeat. Wars of profit Your pirates may have to pay for some of their entertainment on the island, but real profit, like any good industrialist knows, is made through war. Once your ships are properly supplied with the tools of destruction, you can send them out for death, destruction, and plunder. Their success is determined by their experience level, the armament of their ship, and the traffic of the areas that your ships prey upon. You may even attempt to foster wars or seek patrons Y данаға Chipped Bounty at destination, a Spanish Briga: This exciting log is all that you see of your swashbuckling exploits on the high seas. The morbid joy of torturing hapless captives makes you forget, briefly, the unfulfilled promise of the game. amongst the Imperialist powers to increase your opportunities. In theory, this would be the most exciting part of the game, but in practice, it quickly becomes tedious. There is no control of your ships while they're on patrol. Instead, you can only give them vague rules of engagement such as boarding enemy ships to increase plunder, or harassing them from afar to reduce risk to your pirates. Other than cruises for profit, ships can be sent on kidnapping missions to find both skilled and unskilled labor. The kidnapping missions are crucial but ultimately tiresome. The interface also has some strange omissions that add to the tedium. It often takes too many clicks and menus to do anything. Ransoming captives for example, requires navigating three different menus for each one, and finding specific information about multiple people on your island is nearly as complicated as filling out a tax form. Yo-ho-ho-hum Tropico 2's novel setting, chirpy music, and lighthearted presentation, like good propaganda, helps mask many of the system's inherent deficiencies. The morbid joy of torturing your hapless captives (who provide you with news reports about increases in shoe production) makes you forget, briefly, the unfulfilled promises of the game. Even with all its faults, the game never really gets bad, and the most generic scenario retains some inexplicable charm. With a campaign game of 15 linked missions, a handful of stand-alone scenarios, and a flexible sandbox mode, there is a lot of gameplay here. Still only the sandbox mode, which allows you to customize your pirate king's abilities and set your victory conditions, is truly worthwhile as the campaign game is little more than a bunch of stand-alone scenarios linked with the veneer of a story. Developer Frog City should be commended for trying to make Tropico 2 different from the original. Unfortunately, some of the new features just aren't all that fun despite the appeal of creating a swashbuckling pirate empire. VERDICT cook A competently done city building game with nothing to set it apart from the crowd. www.computergaming.com 81 REVIEWS sculptures is both a blessing and a curse. A Tale in the Desert i The ability to mark the land with custom-built A refreshing change of pace for the combat-weary EverQuest-er BY ARCADIAN DEL SOL | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: EGENESIS DEVELOPER: EGENESIS. GENRE: MMORPG ESRB RATING: N/A. PRICE: FREE DOWNLOAD WITH 24-HOUR REVIEW PERIOD, $13.95 PER MONTH THEREAFTER REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM II 400, 128MB RAM, 100MB HARD DRIVE SPACE, INTERNET CONNECTION RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM Il 700, 256MB RAM, 64MB 3D CARD MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER Tale in the Desert is not a game in which legends are born on the point of a spear. You don't slay the grizzled beast for its magical monocle. Instead, you gather grasses by the fistful and dry them in the sun. You mix them with clay to make bricks. The bricks are used to build better tools, or are traded to acquire new skills. It can all be done by your lonesome, but joining an established guild is clearly the way to go. Every online game boasts a built-in mechanism for community support, but A Tale in the Desert is the only one I've played that can back that boast up with its design. When you join a guild, you get a built-in resource pool for growth and bartering, as well as eager participants for your various discipline tasks. Your accomplishments here are not measured by gold, but by your contributions. development of advanced beekeeping. But not everything is devoted to the greater community-some things you can do for yourself. Sorted into seven disciplines, your individual progress is measured by the completion of chores in each knowledge path, most of which require the direct participation of other players to be completed. Community interaction is somewhat forced upon you, but most players are happy to help those that help them in return. To advance in leadership, you need 20 fellow Egyptians to sign a petition. Your next task requires you to be honored with 10 3t Having a closely knit community is an asset to any online game, but sometimes, you just want to do your own thing. Knowledge is not only your own personal gain, but can advance the culture forward technologically. So, while the 200 bricks you've just baked might be useful for building yourself a new urn or a rock sculpture, you can also drop them off at the local university. I contributed my produce toward the 82 Computer Gaming World shrines built for you by new players to whom you have served as mentor, teaching them the basics. While most tasks are well designed, a few need further consideration. Missing a 20- minute deadline to foot across North Africa because you miscalculated something is just wrong. No game This saw was perfect for turning wood grade boards. Now all 1 need is a lawnmower to find them. This is your Wood Plane ‘You bulit it 33 seconds ago. tility. — Ovimership... 5% К into construction- should punish you by wasting your time. While | found the game a refreshing diversion from the usual slash-and-loot online fare I've become a little worn out on after years of play, | did find the heavy focus on interaction with other players to be too much of a good thing. Having a closely knit community is an asset to any online game, but sometimes, you just want to do your own thing and be left alone for a few hours. A Tale in the Desert will cost you a monthly access fee but offers a 24-hour test drive, which is not long enough to acquire a taste for it. If you give it enough time, it could grow on you. VERDICT cook This odd little game is perfect for the social gamer exhausted by conflict-based gaming. E Le К. The radial interface is handy enough, but too involved for a game with so few rewards. Every bridge is a bridge too far in Grom. To live and die (and die some more) in Tibet BY CHARLES ARDAI PUBLISHER: CDV SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: REBELMIND ESRB RATING: TEEN; MILD. LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE GENRE: ACTION-ADVENTURE PRICE: $45.99 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 11 350, 128MB RAM, 32MB 3D CARD, 920MB HARD DRIVE SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM Ill, 64MB 3D CARD MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: NONE o one likes a good Indiana ГЕ Jones-style adventure game more than | do. | even have a certain amount of patience for mediocre ones. But there comes a point at which love of old-fashioned adventure just can't overcome the pain of playing a game that's flat-out awful. Grom means well, and "flat-out awful" feels like too cruel a description for a game that's so earnest and eager to please. For heaven's sake, who can hate a game full of yetis and yaks? But the fact is that Grom is so poorly designed that it's basically impossible to play, and it's so poorly written and drawn that you have very little incentive to try anyway. The game's story plops you down in the middle of Tibet in 1942, on the trail of a dozen ancient superweapons the Nazis want to use in their quest for world domination. (You can just imagine to do a lot of cat herding: Pause the game; select a weapon, a physical stance, an A.I. strategy, and a movement plan for each of your characters; set the game in motion again; see at least one of your characters get killed, immediately ending the game; reload your last saved game; try again. A single battle can require you to save and reload a dozen times. Clicking on an enemy fires your weapon at him (if you've chosen a projectile weapon), but clicking next to an enemy makes you walk to the spot you clicked on-so you'll spend a lot of time walking into danger when what you meant to do was fire your gun. One Ark of the Covenant? That's nothing! the design meeting: "One Ark of the Covenant? That's nothing! We'll have our guy search for twelve") Initially, you control the rugged, mustachioed Colonel Grom and his sidekick Petr. As the game progresses, other characters join your party. And that's where the trouble starts. Instead of having you manage the affairs of a single character, Grom requires you We'll have our guy search for twelve! Characters set on autopilot generally behave correctly, but the one under your control does nothing unless you tell him to; in a crowded fight scene, you can lose track of which character this is until you notice, too late, that one guy is just standing there, passively getting shot or stabbed. It's a mess. In between battle scenes, you're treated to overly long dialogue sequences (poorly This is what passes for a thrilling fistfight. translated from the original German), clunky minigames (drop to your knees 50 times in three minutes to win some gold- no snickering, now), and a bizarre rock- paper-scissors-style card game that allows you to haggle over price when buying or selling goods. Is any of this fun? I'm afraid not. Meanwhile, the graphics look like something out of a 1994 sidescroller, and a typical example of the script's sense of humor is having a character named “Stinking Milk of Yak.” Maybe you'd put up with the painful interface if, in return, you got a great story and amazing visuals, but for this bottom-of-the-barrel stuff? Thank you, no. VERDICT ck Poorly designed controls make this pallid Indiana Jones clone unplayable. www.computergaming.com 83 REVIEWS Enclave is pretty all right. But i about as much fun as a Apply rock to head. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat BY ROBERT COFFEY | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: VIVENDI nclave is precisely the sort of game fated barely to register in the consciousness of UNIVERSAL/BLACK LABEL Gamers before being entirely forgotten- GAMES ШИНЕ unless you're one of the unfortunate few CONSPIRACY who actually played the heaping pile of ENTERTAINMENT awful that is this Xbox port. For those sorry sad-sacks, nothing short of death is likely to scrub the excruciating memory of this exercise in tedium and bone- headed design from their minds. | wish | could offer some sort of succor to you, but I'm all too aware of how futile an endeavor that is. You see, | too have played through Enclave, and life shall never seem sweet again. This graphically rich but gameplay bankrupt third-person action game lets you guide a variety of character classes through beautifully lit yet horribly designed levels until blood pours out of your eyes like tears. There's some GENRE: HACKCAND-SLASH ACTION ESRB RATING: MATURE; BLOOD, VIOLENCE PRICE $39.99 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 11 700, 128MB RAM, 2.568 HARD DRIVE SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4 1.7GHZ, 253MB RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: NONE. The muster up the will to keep playing instead of sticking your head in the oven. Before each misbegotten mission you can select and equip whatever class of character you want. This isn't as unrelentingly hideous as most of the game. Not being locked into a single class is a kind of Cool idea-you can jump from a knight to an archer to a druid and more. The drawback is that they all pretty much stink like a big gooey pile of decaying roadkill since the combat is so shallow that all the classes boil down to (a) ranged combat where you die when the enemies get near you, or (b) hand-to- hand combat where you die even faster. Enclave seems to be going for quick- paced brutal fighting, but the vulnerability of your characters coupled only real drawback to the character classes is they all pretty much stink like a big gooey pile of decaying roadkilL claptrap plot, which makes something less than absolutely no sense at all, but. all you really need to know is that the Forces of Light are fighting the Creatures of Darkness. You have to complete the Light campaign to unlock the Darkness campaign, which is ostensibly much harder, if only because you have to 84 Computer Gaming World with the viciousness of enemies and moronic paucity of healing potions makes every combat a long, protracted, and mind-bogglingly unrewarding affair. Ratcheting this up to new levels of aggravation is the save system. There isn't one. Oh, there are maybe one or two checkpoints scattered along the way, but pes Because if you're not fighting skeletons in a fiery lava- drenched underworld, you're just not playing a game. these don't save your game, they're merely respawn points for if you should die during a level. Should you need to stop for any reason, like the game crashing for the seventh straight time in the exact same damn spot no matter what you do, well, you're out of luck, my friend. Let's see, what else absolutely sucks about Enclave? I've got one-you find items during a mission and can use them, but suddenly have to purchase them to use them for the next mission. Your precious healing potions vanish mission to mission, that's pretty lousy. You have to buy everything, but you can't sell anything you pick up. The camera complicates combat needlessly. There's more, believe me, but the bottom line is this: Run, don't walk, away from Enclave. VERDICT с Twenty to 30 hours of gameplay, and not a single one of them worth a damn. BloodRayne Occult artifacts, super Nazis, and a sexy vampire-and it's boring BY RON DULIN action game that borrows о SEE MAJESCO, its best elements from other аи sources: Blade, Max Payne, and Raiders E GU AD COTE, of the Lost Ark are only the most BAIE ЕМСЕ. Боце, inspirations. You're a scantily STRONG LANGUAGE, SORS n clad half-vampire fighting against an VIOLENCE PRICE $39.99. : БИЕШ. army of super Nazis who are, of course, cmd 0 ў searching for some generic occult relic. алии Along the way, the game misses no DRIVE SPACE, 64MB 3D 2 D " opportunity to be "edgy." Buckets of CARD RECOMMENDED REOUIRENENTS d сасу п blood, flying viscera, bouncing breasts, pct ee and the occasional lamely interjected Mi Su E swear word all band together to make ИПИНЕ — tre ESRB's Mature rating seem all the more ironic. The first third of BloodRayne isn't promising. You begin in a swampy Louisiana town where most of the inhabitants are mutating into zombie- like creatures. Featuring boring level design and equally boring goals, the tedium of the first few missions makes them difficult to complete. Making things worse is the fact that in the vampire mythos of the game, water causes damage to our hero. The earlier | | GAME STATS FH loodRayne is a third-person Rayne has some stylish moves. You're a scantily clad half-vampire against an army of super Nazis who are, of course, searching for some generic occult relic. Believe it or not, this guy's blood is good for you, You can use the harpoon knife to reel in enemies for the kill. swamp levels are, obviously, full of water, and the game's unresponsive controls make it challenging in the least enjoyable way. Character animations are good, but unfortunately, they also make controlling Rayne difficult, as you must wait for whatever action she's performing to finish before you can begin the next one. Things get considerably better in the second chapter, which requires you to infiltrate a Nazi base and assassinate a group of elite officers. At this point, the game becomes more of a traditional shooter, relying less on jumping from place to place and more on collecting weapons and causing mayhem. At this point, you begin gaining new powers, such as the ability to slow down time à la Max Payne; the introduction of these talents gives the otherwise straightforward game some novel twists. You use both melee weapons and a wide array of guns, and you can switch easily between gunplay and close-up slicing. The latter fills your Blood Rage meter, eventually allowing you to perform some more devastating moves. Rayne flips and spins and attacks with her swords, and it looks pretty good with the slow-motion effect. The combat is also chaotic-you'll face dozens of enemies, hacking arms and heads away and leaving every level looking like the floor of a drainage-challenged slaughterhouse. The game generally looks decent, but the quality of the textures is notably impressive; Rayne's patent-leather bondage outfit shines and wrinkles, though you'll probably wonder where she bought patent- leather bondage gear during World War Il. Likewise, the mutants in the first chapter have rotting heads and diseased skin, making them look like waxy half-eaten apples. BloodRayne was originally a console game, and its roots show. You can only save at the beginning of a level, which is an obvious attempt to add longevity to an otherwise short game. And it is short, which unfortunately means that the terrible opening is a good portion of the game. If you can get past the unresponsive controls and don't mind the overall tasteless but campless tone, BloodRayne still offers only a few hours of moderately entertaining carnage. VERDICT cock Mildly distracting, fairly generic, and thoroughly tasteless. www.computergaming.com 85 REVIEWS The damage model visually simulates damage realistically, Бі еуеп major, damage won't рну) 11325 VOU саг Pro Race Driver Days of blunder BY WADE HERMES | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER CODEMASTERS: DEVELOPER: CODEMASTERS GENRE RACING/RPG ESRB RATING: TEEN, PRICE: $39.99. REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 111 700, 128MB RAM, RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4 2GHZ, 512MB RAM, 1.568 HARD DRIVE SPACE MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: LAN, INTERNET (2-8 PLAYERS) hether simulation or arcade, racing games have one common theme: Win every race. Each trip to the winner's circle lets you progress to more tracks and higher divisions through the accumulation of points or money. Once the overall championship has been won, though, you never feel any real association or attachment to the driver. Codemasters' Pro Race Driver attempts to break that mold by including a story line and classifying it as a "Car PG." Here, the player competes as fictitious rookie race-car driver Ryan McKane, who must prove himself and earn his way to the world championship by racing against 42 authentic licensed cars in 13 championship divisions on 38 different tracks. The question is, does this game truly live up to the term "Car PG"? I think not. The introduction sets up the Days of Thunder-cloned story, with rough and tumble NASCAR-style racing causing the Story line aside, you can't even call this a finely tuned racing game, due to its seemingly unfinished content. 86 Computer Gaming World REM X1000) death of the main character's father. The first cut-scene loosely follows the movie, but this is where the continuity and interest level of the story ends. Cut-scenes from this point on don't do much to progress the story, with some scenes showing brief images of crew members jumping over a wall or beautiful cyber babes just standing there doing nothing. Even your character's bad attitude and hatred of his older brother go unexplained. Story line aside, you can't even call this a finely tuned racing game, due to its seemingly unfinished content. The A.l. is so bad that opponents will blatantly ram into you when you're driving in their programmed groove, as if you aren't even on the track. Also, they slow down too much in the turns and drive at speeds too fast on the straights. This problem is magnified in the free- time single-race events, resulting in making this feature totally unplayable. On a PC with a Hercules Game Theater XP soundcard, sound was plagued with crackling noises, and at times, some voice-overs appear out of sync with the characters' speech. Graphically, the game is above average, but it's too cartoonlike for my taste. Additionally, if The main menu area is supposed to help draw you into the atmosphere of the story. It doesn't. This is the first cut-scene, and the only one that really sets up your character. Too bad there aren't more like this to draw you into the so-called story. Driving into that turn up ahead will be hard to judge in this view because the cludgy game engine makes it feels like you're driving 20mph, not 65mph. you're the type of gamer who likes to simulate more realistic driving with the in-car view, you won't get that experience here. The sense of speed is severely diminished in this view, almost to the point of slow motion. This in turn degrades your sense of distance, hampering your ability to successfully negotiate turns. On the plus side, there is some enjoy- ment in racing the various tracks and trying to finish first in the point standings for all divisions. This is the game's only real challenge, but with a poorly implemented story and no real character or skill development to validate the whole Car PG concept, Pro Race Driver is just another tier-progression-style racing game, and not a very good one at that. VERDICT ОЖЖ Lame story, lame racing, lame A.l.-lame game. The new 2 Dag & Red —Ó—— 2D EDITORS’ (CHOICE SPORTS INTERACTIVE SPORTS LAN, INTERNET ER! Yeovil ch engine pri } hampionship Manager 4 is hardly a normal game. Its dynamic and immer- sive world is a standard to which all other sports games can only aspire. СМ4 pulls you into a gaming universe in which you, as the manager of a league team from one of 39 countries, deal with temperamental players, an aggressive media, fickle fans, a demanding board of directors, and much more. Who would've thought a career-based soccer management game could be so addictive? Even people who weren't soccer fans have found themselves ensnared in the Championship Ma er series, where managing people interactions is at least as important as managing team finances, where kicking recalci- trant players in the butt is as neces- sary as kicking the ball into the goal. The Championship Manager line has been one of the top-selling franchises in Europe for years and, since CM4 is a complete rewrite of the engine, a lot of fans have been afraid that something would be screwed up in the pr They can relax-a few bugs have crept in, some minor and some more serious, such as one in which match scores may randomly change. SI Games has acknowledged the bugs and has committed to fixing them (most likely by the time you read this). But the improvements accomplish what many thought impossible: CM4 is significantly better than its predecessors. The most noticeable change is the 2D animated view of the match. Previous incarnations have described the match-play verbally, as if one were listening to a radio broadcast. As simple as it appears, it's surprising how much player information and game-day ambiance the 2D match engine conveys, with little touches such as injured players heading to the tunnel and after-goal celebra- tions. CM4 is packed with a bevy of enhancements, including assistant coaches who take a much more active role in helping you manage your squad, a new in-depth training module, more control over the details of your tactics, and much more. Atmosphere has always been the heart and soul of this franchise, and it's taken to even higher levels with increased media a ty and players with much more personality. Don't be thrown off by the fact that this is soccer; if you're a sports fan, are high that the world of ill suck you in. Who would have thought a soccer management game could be so addictive? www.computergaming.com З by Full Sail Student Brian Germain 44 jos Real World Education Game Design Computer Animation Digital Media Film Audio Show Production www. fullsail.com 3300 University Boulevard Winter Park, FL 32792 ©2001 Full Sail, Inc. All rights reserved. The terms “Full Sail,” “Full Sail Real World Education,” and the Full Sail logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Full Sail, Inc. REVIEWS 1 shot this turkey three times іп the head. His noggin must be made out of the same titanium and ceramic alloys as the U.S. M1 Abrams tank. But it looks like he's finally dying now. New World Orde This new world should have remained undiscovered BY RAPHAEL LIBERATORE Finally! A game that makes sniper rifles useless! Another bulletproof bad guy does the bad- framerate lurch toward me. If I'm lucky, the game will crash again and I'll be spared the embarrassment of dying. | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: STRATEGY FIRST/PROJECT 3D DEVELOPER: TERMITE GAMES GENRE: SHOOTER. ESRB RATING: MATURE; VIOLENCE, BLOOD PRICE: $29.95 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM II 1GHZ, 256MB RAM, 1.4GB HARD DRIVE SPACE, 64MB 3D CARD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 4 1.4GHZ, 512MB. RAM, 128MB 3D CARD. MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: LAN, INTERNET (2-32 PLAYERS) aming 101: Bad code begets СЕ bad gaming. Whether you're restarting New World Order because of crashes or watching your nails grow as you sit through lengthy mission reloads, it's a major downer. Just when you think it can't get any worse, you encounter the unforgiving lag and choppiness that comes with reacting to enemy actions. You're trapped in a time warp watching your reticule crawl millimeter by millimeter across the screen as countless enemies converge on your position. To your horror and frustration, your character turns into an almost lifeless target. Getting stuck on the map and enduring clipping problems are minor blemishes in comparison. To top it off, New World Order's premise is just plain silly. You play John Dobbs, an ex-Navy SEAL and newly recruited operative for the highly elite GAT-an organization dedicated to eradicating the Syndicate-a group of worldwide terrorists doing the usual bad things. Yawn. Dobbs, unlike the well- trained Navy SEAL he's supposed to represent, is forced into a ludicrous scoring system that limits his access to useful weapons. It's like making a surgeon to operate with a pocket knife. Fortunately, you're allowed to pick up АК-475 and shotguns from fallen enemy soldiers. Unfortunately, picking them up is no easy task: Dobbs has to crouch in just the right spot before grabbing the weapon. It's a pain in the ass. Ballistic effects are nonexistent. All weapons do pretty much the same damage, from 9mm pistols and M4s to shotguns and miniguns. No matter what you use, killing bad guys at point-blank range still consumes lots of ammo. Toss a frag grenade into a room full of Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. 88 Computer Gaming World baddies, and you'll be lucky if you kill one of them. The only noticeable damage is a lack of area lighting. And adding to the pyrotechnic snafu, flashbangs that store more energy than the typical nuclear power plant are also worthless. Head shots don't matter either, so don't bother picking up a sniper rifle. Silenced weapons are also pointless since the seemingly psychic bad guys react anyway. New World Order offers a variety of multiplayer games, but multiplayer is pretty much worthless if you can't find anyone to play with, right? The servers | jumped on were devoid of activity. Bottom line: New World Order is a prime candidate for Coaster of the Year. You'll have more fun lobbing old potatoes at the squirrels in your yard than playing this mess. VERDICT ck Only Postal 2 keeps New World Order from claiming the title World's Lamest Shooter. Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc Thrice as nice BY DENICE COOK шип PUBLISHER: UBI SOFT DEVELOPER: UBI SOFT GENRE: PLATFORMER/ARCADE ESRB RATING: EVERYONE; COMIC MISCHIEF, VIOLENCE PRICE $19.99 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM IIl 600, 128MB RAM, 800MB HARD DRIVE SPACE, 32MB 3D CARD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM III 1GHZ, 256MB RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT. NONE. hat's a limbless, helicopter- haired hero to do when his pal Globox inhales a buglike Black Lum? Besides fighting nimble hordes of other outraged Black Lums, hero Rayman must guide his buddy Globox through nine gorgeous, flamboyantly colorful lands to the doctor (apparently, the ingested Lum won't allow nature to take its course). Various adversaries hinder Rayman's travels, courtesy of responsive А.І. that challenges his fighting fists: A glowing bog harbors a spell-casting witch; a comical mansion reveals a gun-wielding stalker; an antique ship floats amidst cannonball-firing fish. Bonus arcade games are unlocked with points earned from combat and the obligatory platformer gem-collecting. The most exhilarating arcade challenges are in the main game, though, and they break up the fight scenes nicely. Rayman must skateboard across speeding light rays, then catch his runaway sneaker in a bumper-car-like chase and later pilot a stolen rocket, just to name a few. Platform jumps are much simpler than The most annoying battles are had with the game's camera system. Casino Inc. Where everything is craps BY JOHN FLETCHER | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: KONAMI CORPORATION DEVELOPER: HOTHOUSE CREATIONS ESRB RATING: MATURE; VIOLENCE, SUGGESTIVE THEMES, GAMBLING REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 11 450, 64MB RAM, IGB HARD DRIVE ‘SPACE RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM II 600, 128MB RAM MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: NONE. PRICE: $29.99 must be uncool not to like a tycoon game with hookers, hit men and professional card cheats, right? At its core, Casino Inc. is an average little tycoon game where you buy gear, place it around an empty interior, hire staff, and watch the money roll in. But they added a twist to separate it from the tycoon pack: “mature content,” including heavies, hookers, and white trash walking around with bras or beefcake bubbles over their heads to show they're horny. Unfortunately, none of it is particularly compelling and adds only marginally to gameplay. While it's kind of fun, once, to have a bouncer take some poor stiff downstairs for some discipline, it's hardly the kind of blockbuster material you build a game around. Then there's Casino Inc.'s The best benefit of having no limbs? Firing your unattached fists at baddies. those of PS2 console cousins Maximo and Sly Cooper, but Rayman's power suits add pizzazz when he's traveling from scene to scene. Although Rayman 3 eschews Rayman 2's emphasis on story and exploration to focus more heavily on combat, the most annoying battles are had with the game's camera system. Response is sluggish, and target lock-on swings the camera behind Rayman only in wider scenes. In the quirky gamepad department, certain fights quickly devolve into Rayman versus the Rumblepad, whether you're using a directional pad or thumb stick. There's nothing like trying to dodge the Hoodstomper boss while the camera drunkenly sways overhead and then withdraws through the wall of the fight arena on its own, halting on the outside. Staring at a black wall, you then blindly fascination with puking patrons. The folks at Hothouse don't hold their liquor well- the second I set the drink strength at my bars to medium the casino floor suddenly looked like I'd just served a buffet of three-week-old shrimp at a Legionnaire's convention. The net result was that I needed to hire another janitor. | thought I'd have the freedom to build, say, a biker casino with lots of strippers and heavy metal music. Instead, | got stuck meeting pedestrian objectives like "Increase your gambling share by 20 percent." The game teases you with the dark side of casinos, then sticks you in micromanagement hell. There's no chance to enjoy watching card cheats and juvenile delinquents disrupt your competitors when the voice-over guide is continually whining, "The staff is mash buttons while Rayman dies inside. Turning the game's screenshot grabber on and off temporarily rights the camera, but similar Rumblepad issues blemished several other Rayman 3 scenes on both my WinMe/DX8.1 and WinXP/DX9 PCs, so beware, unless a patch for current v4.20 software becomes available. Microsoft Sidewinder and Logitech Wingman Extreme gamepads (as well as mouse and keyboard controls) worked acceptably, though. And despite a lethargic camera whatever the controller, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is still worth a platform gamer's hard-earned gems. VERDICT ook If only the camera system were half as responsive as the bad guys are. Knocking sense into clientele-even if they're girls in sailor suits-is all part of the business plan. asking for a raaaaise.” Constantly hiring and firing staff while monitoring smiley face morale markers hardly qualifies as Tarentino-esque adult fun. So maybe I'm uncool, maybe not, but I'm old enough to recognize a bad game with a weak hook and no heart. VERDICT co Been there, done that business sim with hookers. www.computergaming.com 89 REVIEWS Postal 2 Return to sender BY ROBERT COFFEY | | GAME STATS PUBLISHER: WHIPTAIL INTERACTIVE DEVELOPER: RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. GENRE SHOOTER ESRB RATING: MATURE; INTENSE VIOLENCE, MATURE HUMOR, ADULT LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS, BLOOD AND GORE PRICE: $49.95 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM III 733, 128MB RAM, 1.2GB HARD DRIVE SPACE, 32MB VIDEOCARD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM Ill 1.3GHZ, 512MB RAM, 64MB VIDEOCARD MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: NONE £ e caught a lot of flak a few years ago for using a naughty word in a preview for Majestic, and we pretty much resolved against using it again. Until we got Postal 2. So turn away if you're under 18 or weak of heart, because the only honest response we can make is this: Copulate this game. You might argue that such a profane reaction debases us, that by saying this we only sink to Postal 2's level, and to that | can only say that this herpetic accretion of digitized hate and social retardation would have the pope swearing like the most guttermouthed drunken Tourette's sufferer. It's a relentlessly idiotic, ill-conceived, hateful, humorless romp through an infected colon. All you really need to know about Postal 2 is “Fag Hunter.” That's the title of an arcade game in the Running With Scissors offices in the game, and it pretty much sums up what passes for humor in Postal 2. RWS has turned decrying political correctness into a personal crusade, but this is simply offensive by even the most primitive metric. Everything in this product is shot through with the pathetic mewling and puking of self-pitying crybaby dilettantes so consumed with pointing out how they're being crucified they fail to notice that they're the half-wits pounding the nails in. Antiviolence protesters storm the RWS offices! Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. In a weird way, your heart almost breaks from the concerted, energetic, woefully misdirected attempts at “edgy” humor limping throughout this dispiriting exercise in godawfulness-it's just so overwhelmingly pathetic. From the screaming Osama Arabs to the cat- and-dog-munching Asians to the lighthearted japes about Waco, everything in this shooter is pulled from A map of the town shows you where you need to go to complete each day's errands. 90 Computer Gaming World Pissing on a dead terrorist's neck stump in church. Now that's gameplay. Everything in this shooter is pulled from the "Look I made a doody!" school of humor. Jesus gives you the finger! Sheer comedic genius! the "Look | made a doody!" school of humor-only less subtle. References, politically incorrect and otherwise, are constantly made yet never put into any sort of context and therefore are about as effective and funny as a sock full of liver. Postal 2 has hanging chad jokes for crying out loud; even Jay Leno stopped making those a year ago. But just in case you're the kind of person who's pissing on yourself with excitement at this idiocy, there are plenty of other reasons to avoid Postal 2. Excruciatingly long load times in excess of a full minute, often within moments of each other, make wandering through the graphically mediocre sprawl of the town a case study of stupidity. The alleged location-based damage model is a lie, as it takes repeated shotgun blasts at point-blank range to Another graphically rich interior in Postal 2. drop an unarmored foe. The game is built around five fun-filled days of running errands that feature real-time waiting in line and devolve into the same "some wacky politically untouchable or oversensitive group storms the building" style of mayhem. You have to escape a burning building at least twice. The voice acting sucks, the framerate drops when things get hectic, the interiors are little more than boxes with an occasional desk inside, and more. Until someone boxes up syphilis and tries to sell it at retail, Postal 2 is the worst product ever foisted upon consumers. VERDICT ЖЖЖЖ No. REVIEWINDEX CGW capsules of recent reviews. Game names in indicate an Editor's Choice game. CG RECOMMEN S бАМЕ ISSUE VERDICT SCORE 1503 A.D.: Тһе New World 6/03 Тһе game's depth keeps things interesting, if not addicting American Conquest 5/03 Impossible to control, impossible to play Archangel 4/03 All that's missing is fun and competent game design-an action/adventure nightmare Asheron's Call 2: 3/03 This next-gen MMORPG is going to need killer monthly Fallen Kings episodes to justify the fees. Astonia III 3/03 Deeper and better thought-out than many prettier MMORPGs f 3 l- Ф- 5/03 Great new maps and weapons enhance an already-classic M multiplayer shooter Delta Е 3 "m 5 ена Force 3: 6/03 More addictive than crack and better for your brain, too | Een Black Hawk Down Chemicus: Journey to 5/03 Puts the "bore" in "boron" Joco the Other Side DOKN NovaLogic whips up a challenging, mission-based game that wisely eschews the tac-sim route in favor of delivering a thrilling variety of intense, nonstop action. And the multiplayer game via the NovaWorld servers is top- Dragon's Lair 3D: 3/03 Р Buggy, poorly designed, and disappointing, it's still better thins notch, to boot. Return to the Lair than the arcade version Cossacks: Back to War 4/03 Too many units, too much micromanagement, not enough fun Dark Age of Camelot: 4/03 Plenty of new stuff for the serious DAOC addict Shrouded Isles Deadly Dozen: 3/03 Budget price with better-than-average gameplay Pacific Theater Europa 1400: The Guild 5/03 There are three or four games lurking here, all of them enjoyable EverQuest: The Legacy 6/03 It's about time for Sony to ease up on the constant EQ expansions of Ykesha 5/03 Тһе finest space sim since FreeSpace 2 and Privateer Frogger: The Great Quest 4/03 Тһе only thing great about this quest is finally being done with it The Gladiators: 6/03 — Run-of-the-mill blood sport Galactic Circus Games Harbinger 6/03 This sci-fi Diablo clone is tepid at best High Heat 2004 6/03 А great franchise goes іп the wrong direction 5 NV x Highland Warriors 5/03 — Better than haggis, but not by much Laser Squad Nemesis IL-2 Sturmovik: 6/03 Тһе paragon of WWII flight sims 0.09.07 Forgotten Battles A play-by-e-mail strategy game тау Impossible Creatures 4/03 All style, no substance, this routine RTS is a huge missed opportunity sound disconcertingly like chess, but LSN is the baby of the brains behind CGW Hall-of-Famer X-Com, and the depth and addictiveness of this nifty Indiana Jones and the 6/03 І may look a little funky, but it's definitely worth the effort Emperor's Tomb Jurassic Park: 6/03 А decent take on the tycoon genre with the bonus of T-Rexes a s Я Operation Genesis eating people little time-eater reflects that pedigree. Master of Orion 3 5/03 This disappointment demands too much and provides far too little үза fast download ue ARE EES Eu nemesis.com, and a six-month MVP Baseball 2003 6/03 This is the PC baseball game to buy this year subscription is a bargain at $25. NASCAR Racing 2003 Season 5/03 Papyrus’ last NASCAR game goes out with a whimper Neocron 4/03 This sci-fi MMORPG doesn't have what it takes to beat Anarchy Online Platoon 3/03 Every bit as bad as you'd expect it to be Post-Mortem 6/03 Five-star story undone by two-star dialog Praetorians 5/03 This rewarding game eases the pain of waiting for Rome: Total War PureSim Baseball 2003 5/03 If you're looking for a good text-based baseball GM sim, this is the game for you 6/03 Surpasses the earlier R6 games in every way to become the definitive tac-sim Restaurant Empire 6/03 Forget those champagne wishes and caviar dreams- this is closer to Denny's Galactic Civilizations Revolution 6/03 Хои say you want a revolution? Not this one you don't. hp Keren ark, Robin Hood: 3/03 А fresh, deep squad-based game in the Commandos vein Still tormented by the bitter The Legend of Sherwood aftertaste of Master of Orion 3? Silent Hill 2 4/03 ІНІ bore you...to death Then grab a copy of Galactic SimCity 4 3/03 A fresh, gorgeous take on a classic, but you'll need a beefy civilizations aS tast 88: уонгсап, and computer to run it all that unhappiness will wash away. The Sims Online 4/03 Моге chat room than game, this is the first blemish on the Sims empire This зрасеграѕе 4x game succeeds in pretty much every place that МООЗ fell on its Ғасе-а solid diplomacy system, real strategic depth, lifelike A.l., a workable interface, and more. An essential for any grand strategy fan. 3/03 Better than Links the way Tiger is better than you 3/03 Опе of the best stealth-action games ever comes to the РС Unreal Il: The Awakening 4/03 — Only the early parts of this FPS match the outstanding graphics-sagginess ensues World of Outlaws: 6/03 There's a whole lot more to this racer than “rednecks turning left" Sprint Cars www.computergaming.com 91 The best ways to spend your hard-earned money Falcon's Mach V Canter- wood machine is a force to be reckoned with hen this system landed at CGW, ! had to carry it around the editorial offices to show off the awesome paint job. While reactions to the patriotic theme covered the gamut from “Gimme a friggin’ break" to Т hats hella dope!” one thing was clear: This was Stem live ever tested. And of course, if nin d тоге toward the left, you with a nice put on e С LS \ te By William О'Меа Pit TECH If the Dell Dimension XPS system I reviewed this month is the PC equivalent of a Lamborghini Diablo VT decked out with all the amenities, Falcon's latest Mach V-a Canterwood (B00MHz FSB)- based screamer that rocks with a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor-is more like a NASCAR machine. The Mach V may not have seat warmers or 20-inch spinner rims, but it's so fast that anyone who appreciates speed won't mind. This machine is raw. Built around Intel's D875PBZ (Canterwood) motherboard (the same motherboard that's in my Power Rig), it's powerful yet simple. Intel's 3GHz Pentium 4 (800МН2 FSB) processor, 1GB of Kingston KVH3200 HyperX DDR, and ATI's 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro give this beast the brunt of its power. It scored 18766 in 3DMark2001 SE at 1024x768x32 with AA and AF turned off, and 7572 at 1600x1200x32 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on. The Mach V achieved similarly impressive numbers in 3DMark2003 at 1024x768x32 with AA and AF turned off (5783), and at 1600x1200x32 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on (1383). BY THE NUMBERS MANUFACTURER Price Operating system Processor (CPU) Case Power supply Motherboard Memory Hard drive Graphics processor DVD-ROM drive CD-RW drive Monitor Speakers Keyboard Mouse BENCHMARKS 3DMark2003 Pro (1024x768x32; no AA, AF) 3DMark2003 Pro (1024x768x32; 4x AA, AF) 3DMark2003 Pro (1600x1200x32; no AA, AF) 3DMark2003 Pro (1600x1200x32; 4x AA, AF) 3DMark2001 SE Pro (1024x768x32; no AA, AF) FALCON DELL NORTHWEST MACH V DIMENSION XPS $4,597 53,999 Windows XP Home Windows XP Home 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 (800MHz FSB) (800MHz FSB) АТС-110 Exotix American Flag N/A Enermax 365 Watt Dell 460 Watt Intel D875PBZ (Canterwood) Dell Intel 875P-based 16B Kingston HyperX DDR 16B DDR 400 T26B Western Digital SATA 240GB RAID configuration RAID configuration 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 16x DVD-ROM drive DVD+RW/+R drive Toshiba 16x DVD-ROM drive Sony DVD-/+RW drive N/A 18" flat panel LCD. N/A Logitech 2-680 Logitech Elite PS2 Enhanced Multimedia Logitech MX700 Cordless Logitech MX500 5783 5466 2619 2564 3302 3230 1383 1355 18766 17909 94 Computer Gaming World Speed like this doesn't come cheap, though. Falcon did include some killer components with the Mach V-Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Audigy 2 EX Platinum, a Sony DVD-/*RW drive (in addition to a 16x Toshiba DVD-ROM drive), Logitech's MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse, that awesome paint job, and Dual 36GB Western Digital WD360 SATA hard drives in an 72GB RAID configuration. But о = о N N MI а. >< >= о = E Б т = = = [=] *1024x168x32, 4x АА and АҒ the company typically goes completely balls to the wall with its rigs, so | expected nothing less than two 120GB drives in that RAID configuration. Furthermore, unlike the Dell machine | reviewed this month, the Falcon showed up sans monitor and speakers. Of course, when you're dropping four large on a computer, | guess an additional $800 on speakers and a monitor isn't too big a deal. Hmm... But enough about that-back to the games. Anyone who's played around with Novalogic's Comanche 4 benchmark knows how difficult it is to squeeze any additional frames per second out of it. The Mach V's score of 40.07fps at 1600x1200x32 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on is nothing less than amazing. And this machine's UT2003 Botmatch score of 52.38fps at the same resolution is likewise impressive. When it comes down to it, Falcon makes rigs that aren't for the faint of heart. At more than $4,000, it takes a discerning palate to know exactly how to appreciate the subtleties the Mach V brings to the table. Subtleties aside, however, the fact remains that the Canterwood-based Mach V | tested here is hands down the fastest machine I've tried thus far. If pure speed is what you want, you'll be hard-pressed to outdo this machine. VERDICT 55: About as expensive as they get, but no one ever said raw speed was cheap. THE TECH race oic — ТЕРОВТ OceanoocTiov 5 RECOMMENDED ( We believe that greatness speaks for itself. ) Presenting the Award-Winning TruePower Power Supply Series* from Antec Gaming enthusiasts and PC reviewers agree: TruePower is one of the world's most advanced lines of PC power supplies, with over 25 worldwide Editor's Choice or “Best Buy " awards and counting. With Dedicated Output Circuitry for maximum performance under any load combination, Voltage Feedback to maintain accurate voltage for top system stability, and Antec Low Noise Technology so you can hear your game's every audio detail, TruePower is the Worldwide Leader in Silence and Performance. But don't just believe us, visit http://www.antec-inc.com/true awards.html and see for yourself. Get Top Antec 3 rhe Mower of Mou Score performance. Get the Power of You. * Includes 330W 380W 430W 480W, and 550W models as well as our TrueBlue 480 and "IrueControl 550. ет uz UR) ws б compusa OW) TECH Dell Does Its Homework Dell's new Dimension XPS takes aim at the gaming PC market WILLIAM O'NEAL TECH STATS MANUFACTURER: DELL PRICE: $3,999. ore than simply an 8300 M with a facelift, the XPS is Dell's answer to custom gaming rigs designed by Voodoo PC, Falcon Northwest, and Alienware. While the Dimension XPS stands as an enormous step forward, hardcore gamers who want upgradability along with raw power will be frustrated by Dell's continued use of proprietary products. People buy a top-of-the-line beast so they can open the box, set the machine up, and get to playing. And this is exactly where the Dimension XPS shines. Designed for the so-called "intense gamer," the XPS is essentially a Dimension 8300 with aesthetic touches. This rig has everything: a Canterwood motherboard built around Intel's 875P chipset, dual-channel DDR 400 memory, eight USB 2.0 ports (two in front), two FireWire ports (one in front), Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Audigy 2 soundcard, 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card, a 460-watt power supply, dual 120GB 7200 RPM hard drives іп a 240GB RAID configuration, and an 18-inch flat- panel LCD. Considering the list of components in the XPS, | wasn't at all surprised at how well it performed. It scored 5466 in 3DMark2003 at 1024x768x32 with 96 Computer Gaming World AA and AF turned off, and 2564 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on at the same resolution. Compare that to Falcon Northwest's 3DMark2003 scores of 5783 and 2619 with the same settings. In specific game tests, the XPS scored 81fps іп 3DGameGauge at 1024x768x32 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on; that's only three frames per second less than the Falcon rig. More specifically, the XPS achieved Unreal Tournament 2003 Botmatch scores of 76 and 47 with 4x AA and 4x AF turned on at 1024x768x32 and 1600x1200x32. Gamers have consistently dissed Dell's cases for being difficult to open. In order to open last year's model, you had to lay the chassis on its side and simultaneously release buttons on the top and bottom. With the XPS, however, there's a latch on the left- hand side of the chassis that opens the entire left side; all the drives (hard drives and optical drives) are connected to the open door and are easily accessible. While | still prefer a more standard panel that you simply remove, other editors seemed to like this design. Once the XPS is open, it's easy to see everything Dell packed into it. But hey, where's the power supply? In a move likely to earn the ire of many hardcore types, Dell placed its proprietary 460x power supply in the bottom of the chassis-a move it claims aids in keeping the entire system cool. Fine, but if the power supply goes on the fritz, don't think you'll be heading to the local Best Buy to replace it. On the tech-support side, Dell has created a specific division trained to deal with the gaming-specific questions it expects XPS customers to have. Also, the online configurator for assembling XPS machines will be designed for gamers' needs; it will focus, for instance, on graphics cards, CPUs, and, hopefully, peripherals like Logitech Z- 680 and Klipsch ProMedia speakers. When all is said and done, the XPS is a formidable rig boasting excellent performance and touches that will appeal to gamers. But those who want more upgradability may continue to be frustrated with the machine's use of proprietary products. VERDICT жж Gamers will love the new XPS, but hardcore types will balk at the lack of upgradability. One-Trick Clydesdale If you own a 6.1-capable soundcard, Creative Labs’ MegaWorks THX 61 6505 are tough to beat BY T. BYRL BAKER COMPUTER «Dus |01СЕ TECH STATS MANUFACTURER: CREATIVE LABS: PRICE: $400 hen Creative launched the W Audigy 2 and hyped the soundcard's 6.1 surround- sound capabilities, we were pumped. But then Creative went and messed every- thing up by providing the inexpensive but anemic Inspire 6600 as the only speaker set that could take advantage of the new technology. Finally, with the release of the Creative MegaWorks 650, Audigy 2 owners get the speaker set they've been waiting for. This surround solution eschews fancy digital connections and external surround decoding and focuses instead on being the best possible analog speakers by putting 600 watts of raw power on tap to drive its six satellites and hefty down- firing subwoofer. Unlike systems such as Logitech's Z-680s and Klipsch's ProMedia GMX 515, which both offer coaxial digital and optical connections, the MegaWorks’ strict adherence to analog connections proves its PC pedigree. DVDs with DTS-ES and Dolby Digital EX soundtracks get added punch in the rear surround mix from the extra speaker. Flicks like Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition, which has a DTS-ES Discrete Surround soundtrack, take on an entirely new sonic quality. Unfortunately, soundtracks encoded to use that standard are few and far between (Beastmaster, anyone?). As for games, the speakers pumped out sparkling, smooth-panning audio in all the EAX-enabled games we tested, and the satellites maintained their clarity all the way up to their ear- splitting maximum volume. The sub is capable of incredibly loud, deep bass, although it sometimes rattles when certain frequencies are played at high volume. The entire system is controlled by a tiny remote. Disappointingly, it's wired, but that configuration at least allows for an integrated headphone jack-much more convenient than having it in one of the speakers. The only thing more massive than this unit's sound is its price. People who drop $400 on computer speakers are proba- bly looking for a bit more in terms of features and controls, but for those with an Audigy 2 who are looking for the best mix of 6.1 sound quality and power, the MegaWorks 6505 are currently unbeat- able. Now, if we could just get more games that use EAX Advanced HD.... VERDICT жж: She don't look like much, but wait'll you hear her sing. Sound Off hat's the deal with Klipsch's GMX D-51 speakers and Sound Blaster soundcards? Plenty of you have written me about getting the GMXs to "work" with a Sound Blaster soundcard, so here's the deal, as far as I've been able to figure things out. The GMXs can decode a true Dolby Digital signal when it's output from a Dolby- capable soundcard and it's received through either the GMX module's optical or coaxial port. If you're using an nForce2-based soundcard that's spitting out a Dolby Digital signal, for instance, the GMX receives that signal and you're cold chillin’ in discrete 5.1 audio Nirvana. The problem with the Audigy 2 is that it isn't spitting out a true Dolby Digital signal; it's spitting out a PCM signal and the GMX doesn't necessarily know what to do with that. In gaming and non-DVD movie scenarios, you get 5-channel stereo audio. Klipsch claims that by using this method you get discrete 5.1 audio in DVDs, but we haven't been able to confirm or deny this. It is extremely important to buy speakers and soundcards that either speak the same language or combination of languages. The mistake | made when reviewing the GMXs was testing them on two PCs (one using an Audigy 2 and the other using onboard Nforce2 audio) and an Xbox using the GMX's optical port. Because not many PC games take advantage of multichannel audio, 5-channel stereo audio wasn't that big of a deal on the PC, and DVD movies sounded OK. Furthermore, when using the GMXs with an Xbox, 1 was in fact cold chillin' in discrete 5.1 audio Nirvana. I was initially under the impression that the GMXs were true multiplatform speakers similar to Logitech's 72-6805. They're not. While the Z-680s work perfectly well with PCs with onboard nForce2 audio and Sound Blaster sound- cards, they're also awesome for consoles like the PS2 or the Xbox. In other words, the audio scene is about as complicated as the graphics scene. www.computergaming.com 97 TECH Cracked Case The perfect display By Loyd Case he number and types of displays b available to gamers have exploded in the past few years. Not long ago, you had one choice: a good color CRT. Now you have CRTs, flat-screen CRTs, LCD displays, and HDTV displays using plasma monitors or front projectors if you have the bucks and the space. So, what's the best display for gamers? Let's look at the possibilities. First, we'll review the key parameters necessary for a good gaming display, and then we'll take a quick look at each of the key technologies. Response time The name of the game is framerate, particularly for most 3D games. A framerate of 60fps, which is the minimum needed for fast-action games, requires a response time of 16.67 milliseconds to avoid visual anomalies such as image ghosting. CRTs often have much faster response times than LCDs, and you don't often see animation ghosting or smearing on a half-decent CRT. Color fidelity No display on the market can actually show all the possible colors the human eye can detect. Monitors advertising the ability to display 16.7 million colors often can't really display that many. It becomes even more problematic with LCDs, since many LCD flat panels on the market today can't resolve more than 6 visible and distracting faint gray line across the monitor, which is the tension wire that holds the grill in place. Finally, we also like flat-screen CRTs, but they aren't perfect. Cheap natural- flat tubes often have visible geometry or convergence distortion, particularly at the corners. Flat CRTs are made with a piece of glass that's actually curved on the inside and flat on the outside. If the curved-glass quality is lacking, then you can see distortion in the display. The number and types of displays available to gamers have exploded in the past few years. bits per pixel, which translates to about 256,000 colors. At first blush, 256,000 sounds like a lot, but you can often see noticeable and distracting color banding in games that support 32-bit color. Also, local color gradations, even on 16-bit color games, can often result in color banding on 6-bit LCDs. Other issues A few years back, dot pitch was a major issue on CRTs: The smaller the dot pitch, the better the image quality. These days, most CRTs have a dot pitch well under 0.28mm, so that's not often an issue. Some people, myself included, prefer Trinitron-style (aperture grill) displays. However, these displays often have a 98 Computer Gaming World With these thoughts in mind, let's take a look at what's available. Old school: the CRT Most gamers still use CRTs, since they're cheap, have a fast response time, and can have terrific image quality. They also suck power, generate heat, and are heavy. Here in the Case basement, the temperature can rise substantially when we turn on eight CRTs. Still, the CRT is the best solution for most gamers. You can shop less carefully than you must for LCDs, and the overall quality of CRTs has improved. You can still buy crap, but the good stuff has come down dramatically in price. A decent 19-inch CRT capable of running at 1600x1200x32 at 85Hz can be had for well under $500. CRTs are even evolving when it comes to technology. Recently, PC Magazine's Nick Stam wrote an interesting piece on how some companies are still working to improve the CRT: Check out www .extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,98515 8,00.asp. New school: LCD flat panels LCD flat-panel prices have dropped dramatically in the past few years. You can pick up an 18-inch flat panel that can handle 1280x1024 resolution for under $600. Be wary of cheaper displays, though-most have pixel response times of greater than 20 milliseconds, and you'll likely see significant ghosting or other image issues. They are also mostly 6 bits per pixel. Newer LCDs-such as the Hitachi CML174 reviewed іп CGW #225-have а much better response time and can look very good, but they also tend to cost more. Another downside is that if you want a flat panel that can handle 1600x1200, be prepared to shell out well over $1,000. The exotic Of course, if you want a really huge image, you can always go with a front projector. As soon as you enter this realm, though, you're talking really big bucks. A projector capable of 1280x1024 is easily over $4,000. A good DLP projector that can do 1024x768 is well over $2,000. ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN HERSEY z $ 8 ۳ È = > & 2 © ч č Tech Medics You've got questions; everyone loves redheads! By William O'Neal When (not necessarily) good APIs go bad І recently purchased a PC with the Nvidia GeForce4 MX 440 installed. | then went out and purchased Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. After the installation I tried to play the game, but a prompt came up saying that the 3D hardware was not DirectX 8.1b compatible. But it works fine with Medal of Honor: Spearhead. My question is, is this graphics card compatible with DirectX of any kind? TJ From what 1 can gather, that card supports everything up to DirectX 8, and it appears that Raven Shield is a DirectX 8.1 title. Spearhead only requires DirectX 8. In other words, you might be out of luck. Mnum...Dana! I'd just like to point out that Dana is hot-redheads are the bomb. | saw her on CNN Headline News hawking the new issue. Stay sexy, Dana. Shawn You think she looked good on TV, imagine what it's like to have to see her in person every day. Now, if only we can figure out how to get rid of that pesky husband of hers. CanIset up a LAN through a USB? І recently got a refurbished laptop and, being the cheapskate | am, | didn't shell out a few extra dollars for a NIC. Can | get on a LAN game through some fancy USB setup, or do | have to buy a NIC? Also, is it possible to create a LAN (or at least a direct link for playing games) between two computers using only a USB cable? I've seen cables like that at Radio Shack, but they're advertised as link cables. Сһірро125 You сап buy а ЗСОМ PCMCIA LAN card from a place like Pricegrabber.com for $20. That said, any "fancy USB setup" is likely to cost more than $20. I haven't tried to create a gaming- capable network with a USB cable, but | have done it with a FireWire cable; Windows XP sees 1394 FireWire devices as network adapters. However, judging from the fact that you're a cheapskate, | doubt your laptop has a FireWire port. The solution? If you want to play games over a standard Ethernet LAN, buying a PCMCIA LAN card for $20 should solve your problems. If, however, you want to connect two computers, I'd suggest getting a PCMCIA 1394 FireWire card and connecting the two machines via FireWire. Not only will it be easy enough to set up, but the FireWire card will also come in handy if you decide to pick up an MP3 player or do any video editing. As for the "link cable" thing, | used to play Doom II between two computers using a null-modem cable, but that was back in 1996. Bite the bullet, step into the 21st century, and buy a NIC or a FireWire adapter. More power! | have а 1.4GHz processor with a 40GB hard drive and two CD-ROM drives running Windows ME. | recently installed a 350-watt power supply, along with an Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 card. Everything was smooth and seamless. In the weeks following, | installed an additional 120GB hard drive with a two-fan hard drive cooler. When I boot up, I'm at 80 percent system resources. When | start running an application or two, it drops to between 50 and 65 percent (depending on what I'm doing), and the system begins to run a bit sluggishly. When I close out of everything but stay connected to the Internet and run Soldier of Fortune ІІ multiplayer, the cursor movement is very choppy. If | restart the system and go back to SOF2, it runs fine. So, after my longwinded description, do you think | need an even higher wattage power supply or could it be something completely different? | highly respect your opinion and advice. Jeff Hmm...the fact that you highly respect my opinion says a lot about you-all of it bad. Anyway, based on what you've told me, I'm inclined to place the blame on your power supply. The first thing I'd do is remove the new hard drive and that dual-fan hard-drive cooler. Next, I'd run a benchmark app like 3DMark2003 to get a base number. Then I'd add the hard drive and run 3DMark2003 again. If your system performs at or near your base number, you can assume your power supply has enough juice to run your system as it is. Next, I'd plug in that dual-fan hard-drive cooler and run 3DMark2003 again. | get the feeling your system won't perform as well. If that happens, you can assume your current power supply doesn't have enough juice for the hard-drive cooler. www.computergaming.com 99 TECH Killer Rigs Intel's new motherboard has Loyd and Wil giggling like schoolgirls By William O'Neal As Intel continues to create technology for technology's sake, the chasm between its top-of- the-line piece and AMD's grows ever wider. My Power Rig is now running Intel's latest beast: a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor with an 800MHz frontside bus. When compared to the Athlon XP 3000+ machines in my mid-range PC roundup а coupla months ago, that's like the Lakers taking on the Sparks...sort of. That said, I'm still a fan of AMD processors, if for no other reason than that | really like nForce2 motherboards like the ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe. But enough about that. Power Rig This month's Power Rig is easily the fastest machine I've ever built, and it boasts an impressive list of stuff: a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor (800МН2 FSB), 1GB of Kingston PC3500 HyperX DDR memory, Intel's DB75PBZ (Canterwood) motherboard, dual 120GB Seagate Barracuda SATA hard drives in a 240GB RAID configuration, and a Nvidia's new 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. This motherboard and CPU combo is something else. Tests that stress the CPU alone don't show an appreciable speed Lean Machine difference between the 800MHz processor and a 3.06GHz 533MHz Compared to the Power Rig, my Lean Machine looks, well, pretty lean. Pentium 4. But in tests that take advantage of its dual-channel DDRAOO Then again, it costs more than $2,500 1е55-! guess you have to decide capabilities, the 800МН2 chip smokes. how much those improved numbers are really worth to you. For the Other amenities in the machine include support for serial ATA with RAID money, the Lean Machine is a fantastic gaming rig. And if you were to support, eight USB 2.0 ports, and GigaBit Ethernet. Other than those not- throw in a faster graphics card, | have no doubt you'd be able to play any so-subtle changes, everything else on the Power Rig is the same. game released in the near future. 3GHZ PENTIUM 4 POWER RIG ATHLON XP 2200+ LEAN MACHINE COMPONENT MANUFACTURER PRICE COMPONENT MANUFACTURER PRICE Operating system Windows XP Professional Edition $300 © Operating system Windows XP Home Edition $200 Processor (CPU) 3GHz Pentium 4 (800MHz FSB) $700 о Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon XP 2200+ $125 Case Antec PlusView 1000AMG $100 A Case Antec Lanboy (300 Watt SmartBlue $100 Power supply Antec True Blue 480 (480 watts) $100 power SHERI ICY Motherboard Intel D875PBZ 875P chipset (Canterwood) 5180 Powersupply NA NA Memory 16B Kingston HyperX PC3500 DDR $350 a Motherboard ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe (nForce2) $140 Hard drive Dual 12068 Seagate Barracuda SATA — 54000 - 5 Mert dus cue SD hard drives in a 240GB RAID configuration N Hard drive 40GB IBM DeskStar 7200RPM $80 Graphics processor 256МВ GeForce FX 5900 $500 Graphics processor 128MB Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra $80 Soundcard Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 2 $100 Soundcard Onboard nForce2 5.1 Audio N/A 9 DVD/CD-RW drive Plextor PlexCombo DVD/CD-RW combo 5150 ы DVD/CD-RW drive 16х Sony DVD-ROM Drive $40 8 Monitor 22" NEC MultiSync ҒЕ21115В $600 e us Monitor 19" ViewSonic E90fb. $225 8 = 2 Speakers Cambridge MegaWorks 6100 $300 E = Speakers Creative Inspire 2.12500 $45 = Б Keyboard Microsoft Internet keyboard $25 E = Keyboard Microsoft Internet keyboard $25 = Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 $55 E E Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Optical $45 5 TOTAL 3,860 TOTAL ; © "D NO AA, AF 1255 100 Computer Gaming World IL-2 Sturmovik: » ti Y J Forgotten Battles Ж ОН we go into the > wild blue yonder PAGE 102 we 1 E A m 52 e e e © ЕН \ E 1 Congratulations, lan! You've won yourself a copy of Freelancer. If you'd like to win your own free copy of Freelancer, send an e-mail with your dirty trick for а recent game to cgwietters@ziffdavis.com with а sub- ject line of “Dirty Trick.” wnww.computergaming.com 101 GAMER'S EDGE 102 Computer Gaming World Game 1: Interceptor duel Bruce will be flying Bf-109G-10 Messerschmitts. The G ("Gustav") models were late-war upgrades to the famous series, although they were tricky to fly and their performances lagged behind those of the FW-190 models. Tom will be in the MiG-3, which was fast and maneuverable at high altitudes. Although most MiG-3s were poorly armed, Tom will be using the MiG-3U, the Usilenniy ("strengthened") variant with an improved cannon, a model that never actually went into production. Tom: My normal routine when | see Bruce's planes will be to hit TAB, 2, 3, TAB, 1, 1. This orders my flight to attack the enemy fighters, and then orders my wingman to cover me. Bruce pulls up when our two flights meet each other, and | take a few shots at him. As I roll over to find him, | see Red 3 hot on his trail and they're diving furiously. I'd rather keep the fight up high, but this opportunity is too good to pass up. So | join Red 3 in the pursuit only to realize that Bruce isn't diving, he's crashing. Once | pull up to rejoin the fight, | see the wreckage from one of my MiGs that had just exploded, and Red 4 is hot on another guy's tail. As I'm climbing up to join him, my wingman shrieks that he's been hit. | open the throttle to 110 percent, nose over into a slight dive, and start running from whoever shot down my wingman. Once | get some distance, | see Bruce's wingman and manage to pounce on him for a second kill. In the process, however, | get the last two Messerschmitts on my tail. We start doing head-on passes when | realize I've been hit and my engine is overheating, plus I'm out of ammo. Luckily, they peel off and we all three go our separate ways. My engine dies on the way back, but | manage to barely glide onto the airfield without cratering. Bruce: Tom's MiG-3 planes were designed for high-altitude combat, so I'd like to keep the combat down low, which fits well with the Messerschmitt's performance profile. | spot Tom when I'm just about at 5,000 feet, with him slightly below me. Perfect. Tom's plane turns to climb into me at a high- deflection angle of attack, nearly head-on. Looks like a perfect opportunity to "boom and zoom"-dive into Tom, let ‘er rip, and then climb away to gain altitude and separation. We trade shots with him ripping up my rudder and putting some holes in my windscreen-until my gun jams. Instead of climbing, | decide to continue my dive to get some separation...and right into the sights of the leader of the second MiG-3 flight. My wingman gets on his six but can't peel him off Fried MiG. Splash one Chick. before he shreds my plane and down | go. Seconds later, he pulls out of the dive and loses airspeed, my wingman finishes him off in а climbing turn, and then nearly gets killed himself by that MiG's wingman. That's an excellent example of why you never leave your wingman. My wingman notches another kill before going down to Tom's guns. | win, but it's nothing to be proud of. Game 2: The West Front moves east Bruce's FW-190A-9s were an advanced variant of the ubiquitous FW-190, powered by a 2,000hp supercharged BMW 801 engine. Tom's P-47 Thunderbolt (affectionately known as the "Jug") was provided to the Soviets in small numbers, for whom it demonstrated its qualities of outstanding dive rate, poor climb, ruggedness, www.computergaming.com 103 and tremendous firepower. Tom will be flying the late war "D" variant. Tom: My planes pack a big wallop with their eight .50 caliber guns, but those Focke-Wulfs have really heavy cannons in their noses. However, since these jugs can soak up a lot more damage than those sissy German planes, | go head-to-head every chance I get. For instance, at one point, | tagged the rear end of a Focke-Wulf, chewing up his rudder. | didn't realize it at the time, but it put the frail little guy into a fatal spin and | got a kill. Eventually, it looks like the Germans are trying to run. There's no sign of Bruce as me and my boys chase down one of the last two fleeing Focke-Wulfs. I've just about got him when І realize a second too late that I've strayed over Bruce's airfield. As I'm trying to get out of there, | take a fatal hit from the 85mm AA cannons. My engine burns out as I'm trying to get enough altitude to glide home and 1 have to ditch. Bruce: The FW-190 is another good "boom- and-zoomer," and I'm looking forward to using a combination of altitude, airspeed, and my powerful engine to dart in and out of Tom's formation before he can bring those nasty guns to bear. Unfortunately, Tom manages to make an initial head-on pass with me as we close, and | jam my guns while he rips up my rudder. This time | have plenty of airspeed to make my escape, so | leave my wingmen to it and just get the hell out of there. My wingmen acquit themselves fairly well, but it’s not that comforting to me-this isn't supposed to be a contest between Tom and the A.l. Game 3: Battle of the wildebeests Bruce's Buffalos will duke it out with Tom's Yaks. Although the F2A Brewster Buffalo is famous as a sitting duck in the Pacific, it served the Finnish Air Force well. Its regular adversary in the skies over Karelia was the MiG-1, which was at a disadvantage at low altitude as well as being lightly armed. Tom: These Yaks don't look so bad. As we pass over the Buffalos, | kick my plane over into a split S and rake a nice line of tracer fire right across Bruce's canopy. Even with a quick twist 104 Computer Gaming World | German engineering at its finest. to the left, I've still got altitude on those snubby little Finnish planes. My wingman and | spend what seems like half the mission trying to turn inside Bruce's third and fourth planes. Eventually, the rest of my flight joins in and we're all swirling around like we're in a blender. When the column of circling planes reaches the deck, my wingman is hit and | make a break for it. In the ensuing dogfight, | manage to chew up Bruce's number four plane before the last three of us head for home after running out of ammo. Bruce: The Yak-l is a 2. better aircraft than the - Buffalo, but | don't get to find that out for myself before Tom's first gun burst goes straight into my cockpit and kills me. Dead. The rest of the Buffaloes ight valiantly, taking down one of Tom's planes and damaging another one severely, even though they are really overmatched. Yet another example of Tom vs. the А.І. By the end my number four plane is just an inoperable mess with no controls, о which finally allows Tom to slip in behind it and bring it down. It could only turn left. n Tom's kind of plane! If you dogfight in a Stuka, you'll end up like this. Game 4: Stukas vs. Sturmoviks The famous Ju-87 "Stuka" was slow, not very maneuverable, and vulnerable when not closely escorted by fighters. The IL-2 “Sturmovik” was likewise clumsy, but able to take a tremendous beating and still stay airborne. Neither one was designed for dogfighting, but they each have a rear gunner for additional protection. Tom will be at a definite advantage with his sturdy Sturmoviks (the Type 3M variants) against Bruce's Stukas (the D-3 variants). Tom: These things are so pokey | can't even line up a shot during the head-on pass. After doing a split-S to chase what | thought was the trailing Stuka, I'm suddenly getting hit. My wingman earns his keep, as he takes down the German on my tail. | snap off a lucky cannon shot that tears the wing off a Stuka. Then, as I'm chasing Bruce's wingman (and exhausting all my ammo in the process) | start getting hit a second time. Shrugging off the damage, | twist and climb. The whole time, Red 4 has been howling for help, asking someone to clear his tail, but he's not going down. These Sturmoviks just don't know when to quit. When I'm safely above the fray and heading back to base, I'm happy to see Red 3 and Red 4 trying to catch up. We got at least two kills and three of us make it back to base. Bruce: An outrageous matchup calls for outrageous tactics. Because of the Stuka's low speed, being on Tom's six is actually not that great an idea, since it just makes me a juicy target for his rear gunner. This means | either have to go for high-deflection shots or maneuver to bring my tail-gunner to bear. Talk about ridiculous. I'm careful not to get too low or too slow, because if 1 have to climb for my life I'm basically dead. Гепа up getting in a long, slow, shallow turn with one of the A.I. aircraft, and even though I hit the plane several times, it doesn't seem to make much difference. My tail gunner even gets a few shots off when | inadvertently swing my ass around to point at one of Tom's planes. Several times | watch pieces of metal come flying off of the Sturmoviks, but it doesn't seem to bother them one bit. The Stukas, on the other hand, fall apart quite easily. | somehow manage to stay alive, but I'm the only опе on my side to make it back. в Bruce | Tom : сі : u 171 Game 5: When you're а jet... The Me-262 was an excellent performer against Allied bomber formations, as it combined superlative speed with satisfactory maneuverability. The ВІ-І, on the other hand, was essentially a "rocket plane" which made its first powered flight in 1942. Only six were built and none saw combat. That is, until today, when Tom will be flying them against Bruce Me-262s. Bruce enjoys the advantage in this match. Tom: Man, these jets are lame. Basically they can fly in a straight linecand not much else. Fortunately, they can bring some pretty hefty firepower to bear if anything manages to put itself in front of them. | shoot up easily to the assigned altitude and see Bruce below me. For a moment, | consider just making a run for my base and landing all four planes for an easy win. But I'm afraid the newer Me-262s with their twin engines can outrun these earlier experimental single-engine jets. Besides, | have the jump on him. But as I'm diving down, | realize I'm going to completely overshoot the Me-262s, so | tell everyone to rejoin and | try to turn around without blowing my altitude advantage. Which ends up blowing my altitude advantage anyway and places me directly under a flight of four hostile Me-262s. Nice move, Tom. This is why you're not a combat pilot in real life. As my guys are screaming that they're hit, 1 pull away to get some perspective. When | come back around, | see three of Bruce's planes on Red 4. | come streaking in and take a few potshots at Bruce before he handily twists away. But now someone's shooting at me, so | spiral down to the treetops, taking with me what turn out to be all four Me-262s. But as they dive down at me, | get a lucky hit on Bruce and he explodes into a shower of flame and debris! | pull straight up-these are rocket planes after all-to try to rejoin Red 4. But just as I'm hopeful that we can pull a win out of this whole messy thing, my plane disintegrates in a hail of gunfire. Fortunately, although Red 4 is mortally wounded with his guts showing through his ripped hull, he makes it home, giving me the one extra point | need to win the overall game. Bruce: |'m just as fast as Tom and can out- turn him. This should be fun. Maybe it's overconfidence, then, that makes me not see him until | notice four streaks zooming past me in near-vertical dives. | pick out a target and dive into him, being careful with the throttle as it's easy to get too much airspeed. A few bursts leave him shedding debris and trailing smoke. As he goes into a long, lazy, flat turn, | line up my lead pursuit since I know 1 can turn inside of him. Just before he flies into my sights he goes into one of those power-dives and before | know it he's under and past me. These Russian rockets sure can motor! The one way to disrupt a lead pursuit is to out-accelerate your pursuer. He makes the mistake of climbing into my turn, however, which him down on his next power dive, т allows me to follow > Е Ж Hey, where'd this American plane come from? where | once again leave him trailing debris. | notice Tom scooting across the deck chased by my wingman, and | separate to line up a pursuit angle. | wait too long, and separate too far, though, which allows him to turn into me and climb for a head-to-head shot. | miss, he hits, and | explode. I'm the only casualty оп my side. | 0 deserve to lose this match-up to Tom. And | do. www.computergaming.com 105 р PRIMA GAMES rting condi In campaign missions, the starting conditions— the number/type of troops you controlled, the number of Unit and Troop Control Points, and so on-varied with every mission. In skirmish and multiplayer games, most of these factors are fixed regardless of the scenario you choose. Other factors, such as the population of villages, are determined by the map on which you play. In campaign missions, the composition of your starting army changes from mission to mission, requiring you to adapt your strategy to fit the troops you are given at the start of each scenario. In skirmish and multiplayer games, each tribe always starts the scenario with the same assortment of troops Every skirmish/multiplayer map has plenty of villages that you can take control of and use to bolster and rebuild your army as needed. However, as was true in the single-player campaign, there is a limit to how many units and troops you can control at any given time, as determined by the number of Unit Control Points (UCPs) and Troop Control Points (TCPs) available. Whereas these numbers varied in every campaign mission, it is always the same in multiplayer games, regardless of scenario and difficulty level: 500 UCPs and 50 TCPs. New troops are recruited from the civilian population of the villages you control. In the campaign missions, population varies widely. While village population increases over time in most campaign missions, some missions have a fixed number of citizens available for recruit- ment in each village. Once those citizens are * А _ The more your opponents fight amongst them- selves, the fewer enemy troops you have to face. used up, the village becomes useless. In multiplayer games, village population always regenerates regardless of the scenario you choose. Village population varies from village to village on each map. The bigger a village's population, the more valuable it is to control. As you plan to capture villages in multiplayer games, go for the ones with the biggest populations first (when practical) to gain an advantage over your opponents. Choosing a tribe In the campaign game, you encounter all three tribes-Romans, Egyptians, and Barbarians-but you always play as the Romans. If you've played through the campaign, you are probably quite familiar with the strategies and tactics that apply to Roman troops. Although you fought against just about every enemy troop type and occasionally controlled one or two select Egyptian and Barbarian troops, non-Roman troops are probably alien to you. Because you can play as any of the three tribes in skirmish and multiplayer games, familiarize yourself with Egyptian and Barbarian troops. This is particularly important if you intend to play against others online. You might find yourself at a distinct advantage over other players in online games if you play as the Egyptians or Barbarians. Like you, your opponents are probably most familiar with Roman tactics, and know how Egyptians and Barbarians behave only when the A.I. is controlling them. General strategies In skirmish and multiplayer games, your goal is always the same: Eradicate your enemies. A player or team is eliminated from the game when all of the following are true: + They have no fighting troops remaining. + They have no siege engines remaining. Villages with large populations are the most valuable real estate to control. К 7 The “outnumbered” message means your troop production is far behind your opponent's. + They have no leaders (centurions, officials, or chieftains) remaining. This includes leaders who occupy villages. You don't have to eliminate your enemies' scouts or destroy currently unoccupied villages in the enemies' possession to win. Regardless of the skirmish/multiplayer scenario you choose, you and your opponents start off in the same situation every time: You are plopped down somewhere near the edge of the map near one or more unoccupied villages. Many of your tactics later in the battle are determined by your position relative to your opponents and the map terrain. However, your first steps always should be the same: + Take control of a village and start building troops. + Find your enemies’ starting locations. + Familiarize yourself with the terrain that lies between you and your enemies. + Organize your troops for their first duties. With these steps taken care of, you're ready to get started with your tactical planning. Attack or dig in? The first decision you face in any skirmish or multiplayer game is whether to take an aggressive stance immediately in an attempt to end the game quickly or to take the time to fortify your starting position and adopt a defensive stance. In the beginning of the scenario, before they have a chance to take control of a village and build new troops, your opponents are at their weakest. This makes launching an offensive the moment you locate your enemy a very tempting proposition. If you are successful, you can quickly achieve victory. If you decide to follow the early offensive strategy їп games where you face more than one opponent, always attack the closest opponent first. This is an excellent way to ©: remove one or more potential attackers from the scenario before there is a chance for the opposing armies to grow to unmanageable sizes. www.computergaming.com 107 GAMER'S EDGE Multiplayer games let you explore the diversity of Egyptian and Barbarian troops. An early offensive makes for a quick game, because your opponents are at their weakest at the start of the game. Plus, if your opponent adopts the same strategy, his starting village is an easy target. If you take it out early, you cut off his reinforcements. However, you are also at your weakest at the start of the game. Despite the subtle differences in troop types and performance between tribes, everyone is evenly matched at the start of the game. This means that you must dedicate all of your troops to the effort to ensure an even fight. This leaves your starting position very vulnerable. If your oppo- nent plays defensively, he will have time to dig in and fortify his starting position before your troops arrive. While you're marching to the enemy village, your opponent will probably have time to produce additional troops. When you arrive, you might be outnumbered. Even if you kill off all of the defending troops, you might not have enough troops remaining to wipe out your opponent's garrison or village in a timely manner. In scenarios where you face multiple opponents, you can mount a reasonably strong attack on only a single foe, leaving you extreme- ly vulnerable to the opponents you don't attack. Of your two possible opening moves, taking the time to build up your forces and fortify your starting position is usually the best overall course of action. While it lacks the bravado of an early raid, it usually provides the best chance of long-term survival. What you should do when taking a defensive stance is fairly self evident. Cover all of the entrances to your first village's clearing, build a couple of siege engines and a defensive tower, and pump up your army before you consider attack. A strong defensive position makes your initial village difficult to approach. Keeping troops close during the early game is the best way to thwart opponents who favor early aggression. With defenses firmly in place, you can commit a large number of attack troops to aggressive campaigns without having to worry (too müi 108 Computer Gaming World fs If you played through the single-player campaign, you ran into numerous effective ambushes set by the А.1. Replay these missions and pay attention to the ambush © methods used by the A.l., and then emulate these tricks when you set your own ambushes. Taking the time to build your defenses early on gives your opponent time to do the same. Do not neglect your expansion efforts into other villages in favor of building a huge army at your first village. The opponents in a skirmish game usually follow a somewhat defensive strategy in that they don't attack you (or each other) right away. They do, however, expand aggressively, taking as many villages as they can as fast as they can. If you don't follow their lead, you will quickly fall far behind in troop production-a situation from which it is difficult, if not impossible, to recover. The open-ended nature of multiplayer games lets you experiment with ambush tactics. about the safety of your starting village. When dealing with multiple opponents, you don't have to worry about the second opponent sweeping in and taking your village without a fight while your troops are committed to a campaign against your first opponent one. Disadvantages are that digging in at the start ensures a long, drawn-out game. This is especially true if all opponents adopt this tactic. When attacking villages with melee troops (as opposed to hitting them from a distance with siege engines and archers), attack from the 5 back of the village, on the opposite side of 5. the opening where troops exit the village. That way, if any enemy troops are produced while the village is under siege, they must walk around the village before they can engage your troops, giving you time to react. How To... SNEAK BEHIND ENEMY LINES Too lazy to work for your reward? By Chet Faliszek & Erik Wolpaw Sneaking behind the enemy's line and then capturing the rear flag creates a major headache for your opponents. Not only does it permit your team to squeeze them from two sides, the spawn areas at a map's extremities often come stocked with a generous supply of tanks, jeeps, and planes. 1 | М a J EA L| N G W ШЕ Your path behind enemy lines will often force you to clamber down hills that, if approached carelessly, will damage you. To navigate steep slopes, stand at the lip, turn sideways, and then step off. Once you start to slide, sidestep in the uphill direction to slow your descent. As long as the incline has no sharp outcroppings to toss you into space, you should arrive at the bottom unharmed. This variation on the classic human missile gambit involves the Axis two-man bomber. One player (called the launcher) ferries another play- er (the missile) to launch altitude. The launcher then lands and picks up another missile. This tactic permits one team to efficiently fire an end- less stream of soldiers at the other side of the map. With practice, this is not oniy jns Hum ER um noticeable way to get from one side of the map to the other, it's also the most satisfying, the most acrobatic, and the most likely to get you accused of cheating. First, hop in a plane. Once in the air, point the plane's nose straight up and fly in circles over safe ground as you gain altitude. After 20 or 30 seconds, you should be so high that you can no longer see the ground. Use the map to orient your plane towards your final destination. Now. jump out of the plane. Don't open your chute! Just face your eventual landing spot and keep the forward movement key pressed. After a few seconds of freefall, your character will start to scream. This is actually à signal that your plan is working. Ignore the shrieking and concentrate on spotting a good place to land. Open the chute just before you hit the ground, and you'll have launched yourself across the entire map with- out taking any damage. This is a MAN MS on the regular human missile. If, through incredible skill or-more likely-sheer luck, you find yourself freefalling right towards a tank or jeep, ignore the chute and press the "use" key just as you touch the vehicle to enter it without taking any damage. Summing up: You've catapulted yourself across the entire map, you're unhurt, and you're driving an enemy tank. If there were any justice in. the world, at this point you'd immediately win. GAMER'S EDGE How To... HOST A LAN PARTY Socializing for nerds By Joel Durham Online gaming is fine-when you can find a server with a decent ping. Even then, communicating with other players involves typing messages and hoping your intended recipients read them, or using voice-over-IP headsets which often sound like a shortwave radio coming from the bottom of a well filled with angry bees. There's a better way to engage in multiplayer gaming, a way in which you can eliminate lag, talk smack at your rivals, and see the anguished faces of your opponents as you slaughter their avatars with well placed head shots. With the right amount of prep work, you can host a fun and satisfying LAN party. No matter the scope-whether you have two or three friends over, or if you put an open invitation on the Web-LAN parties are a great way to meet dedicated gamers, enjoy a terrific mul- tiplayer gaming experience, and get the most out of the software titles for which you pay through the nose. To host a killer LAN fest, just follow these 10 easy steps. How big will it be? Are you just having a few friends over, or are you going to invite the masses? Are you going to have prizes? If so, how are you going to acquire them? If the party is big enough, you might be able to get sponsorship from major game device manufacturers like ATI, Nvidia, or Hercules. Otherwise, you might charge an entry fee to pay for prizes and offset other costs. Consider all of these factors before you make the first phone call. Decide which games you and your guests will be playing, and let the participants know. It's important to take this step early in the process so that attendees have a chance to acquire any titles they might be lacking, and, if it's a small party, to give the attendees a chance to suggest titles that they wish to play. Quake and Unreal Tournament are natch, but what about others? Tactical games like Rogue Spear are a lot of fun on a LAN. Also con- sider real-time strategy games like Command & Conquer: Generals and WarCraft Ill. 110 Computer Gaming World EQUIP Let people know what to bring. Be sure everyone brings headphones; it's impossible to hear what's going on when you get 20 sets of speakers in. the same room. Make sure everyone has a network inter- face card in their PCs, and let them know whether they need wired or wireless versions. Let everyone know how you will set up your network so that they have their computers configured properly. Even think in small details: Will you supply mouse pads, or should your guests bring them? Reserve enough space. If you're going to have a small party, you might only need one room in your house. However, if you're planning a big event, you might need to reserve a conference room at a local hotel. Indicate to the hotel staff how many people you expect to attend so they can help you decide how large a room you need. Shop around at various hotels to get the best price. 1 Secure tables and chairs. For a little intimate party, the kitchen table might do. If you're plan- ning a big event, however, you might need to rent tables 2 and chairs from a local rental company. Look іп your local Yellow Pages under Rental for party supply and equipment rental services. You'll want to rent 8-foot folding tables and folding chairs. You'll probably be able to seat six to eight partygoers per table. Get the networking and electrical equipment. You'll need enough net- Provide snacks and drinks. For a small gathering, you can ask guests to work hubs to accommodate everybody who attends. You'll also need bring soda and chips. If you're having a large gathering, make sure the necessary CAT 5 cabling (unless you're using a wireless 802.11x net: there's enough food on hand for everyone to snack on. Consider order- work), outlet strips, and extension cords. ing sheet pizza or having a catering service bring sandwich makings. Set up the equipment and the network. It's important to set up and test the network before people start coming over, so you can troubleshoot it ^ eral days, with games running until the wee hours of the morning. If you're if necessary. Have electric and network cabling running to each of the hosting a little gathering, you might offer your guests space to sleep in a seats. If you plan run the games on a dedicated server (a very good spare bedroom. For larger parties, see if you can strike a deal with the idea), make sure they're installed on the server and running properly. hotel that you're renting the space from for discounted room rates. Have fun! You've done all the prep work, all the grunt v publicity, all the phone calling, and all the schmoozing. When the party finally comes together, don't forget the reason you're having it: for nice, wholesome, high-fiber gaming! Enjoy yourself, you d e it. GAMER'S EDGE Scenario 1: Brokk's Journey An old man arrives at Brokk's village with a curious tale, prompting Brokk to pack up his camp and prepare for a long journey to the entrance to the old dwarven mines. The valley between Brokk's village and the mines once belonged to a Norse chieftan named Arngrim, but Arngrim's lands have been ravaged by a frost giant warlord named Folstag. Arngrim has retreated to a camp in the mountains northeast of Brokk's village, while Folstag's army occupies the large town in the valley. The first objective is to build four ox carts, but don't rush. You're going to need more than a few ox carts if you're going to get Brokk to the mines. Carefully explore the area around Brokk's village, put the dwarves to work collecting resources, and start training ox carts and military units. If you start running short of gold, there's plenty in the cave northwest of your town center. As you explore, you'll find cows-lots of cows. Don't eat them! You'll need those cows later, so instead, rely on farms and hunted game for food. If you start running out of huntable game, there's a stream full of fish south of the village. On the other side of the stream are the ruins of Arngrim's village, which include an unclaimed town center. There are also more cows in a pen, and one of Folstag's minions still lurks in the ruins. It's worth the resources to build a transport and send troops across the river to kill the giant, claim the town center, and recover the cows. Once you build four ox carts, your objective changes and the location of the entrance to the mines is revealed on the eastern edge of the map. Now your goal is to get Brokk and four ox carts to the cave. Just northeast of Brokk's village, you'll find a healing spring guarded by towers and a few of Folstag's minions. Kill the giants and knock down the towers. Once you control the healing spring, it's easier to fight off any attackers Folstag sends. Continue to build up your army. The walled-off mountain pass to Folstag's town is just southeast of the healing spring, but it's suicide to attempt a frontal attack. Even if you manage to batter down the walls, Folstag will cast Frost when your army moves through the pass. It's possible to force your way through, but t much easier way. If you explore the hills northeast of the will experience tougher opponents and а few joned surprises when playing on Titan difficulty. healing spring, you'll find Arngrim's camp. He's lost his land and his village, but he's more concerned about his missing cows. If you haven't found six cows yet, there are several more down the trails to the east and southeast of Arngrim's town. You'll also stumble across a path blocked by trees. If you've saved your Forest Fire god power, you can burn the trees down, opening up a path into the heart of the enemy town-but there's an even better way to get your army past Folstag's defenses. Return six cows to Arngrim (any cows will do) and he'll open up an underworld passage next to his camp. The underworld passage leads to a secret vale behind Folstag's town. You'll still have to fight your way past a couple of walls and a town center to get to the dwarven mines, but you should be able to avoid most of Folstag's forces. Clear a path to the mines with Siege weapons, then send Brokk and the ox carts through the underworld passage and to the mine entrance to win. Scenario 2: Eitri's Journey The scenario opens with the mysterious old man telling Eitri the same story he told Brokk, but with a sinister twist. Is he trying to get the brothers to fight each other? The focus in this scenario is on controlling the water, so your first objective is to build a dock. You don't have any wood, but you start with a good supply of gold, so train a few additional dwarves and put them to work on the trees near your town center. You also have a group of ragnarok heroes to protect your village. Be careful with the heroes-you can't train any more, and they're the only units in the scenario that can construct buildings. As soon as you have enough wood, build a dock. Your second objective is to get Eitri and six dwarves to the entrance to the mines at the far north end of the map. Don't worry about trying to fulfill the objective immediately; you'll have to build a strong navy before you can achieve your goal. Continue to train dwarves, gather resources, and explore the land around your village. Even with your dwarven mine god power, resources are limited, and you'll need to either complete the scenario quickly or attempt to establish a foothold on nearby islands. It's easiest to try for the fast victory and ignore the other islands. Two human towns- Rolf's Raiders (red) and Bjarnar's Brigands (yellow)-are fighting for control of the water. Don't get bogged down trying to wipe them off the map. It's possible to avoid a lot of fighting if you let their ships engage each other, then pick on the survivors. Build a strong navy-a balanced mix of drakkars, dragon ships, and longboats. You have to have enough of a fleet to safely escort a The old man's visit inspires Brokk's journey, transport full of dwarves to the shores near the mines. Don't attack the enemy towns to the west and east, but try to keep control of the center of the map. Hostile krakens and other naval myth units are lurking in the water; use a group of four or five drakkars or a kraken of your own to counter them. Send a single ship to thoroughly explore the edges of the map, but don't expect to get it back alive. Bjarnar will periodically land troops on your shores. A few well-placed towers and a wall should keep his soldiers out of your town. If he starts giving you too much trouble, train a few myth units at your temple to blunt the attacks. Once again, be careful not to lose your last few ragnarok heroes, since they're the only builders you have. Once you are fully in control of the waters near the center of the map, build a transport for Eitri and six dwarves. Fill up the transport with three ragnarok heroes for extra protection. There are three possible landing spots on the shores near the mine entrance. Rolf and Bjarnar have dropped armies on two of the beaches, but it's also possible to unload your troops on the narrow peninsula that snakes down into the middle of the map. Drop off Eitri, the ragnarok heroes, and the dwarves on the peninsula and head north up the pass, dispatching the fenris wolf that guards the trail. As the pass opens into a clearing near the mine entrance, you'll see Rolf and Bjarnar's armies moving in from the left and right. Pull Eitri's group back down the trail and let them GAMER'S EDGE fight each other. The two armies are well- matched, and any survivors should be easily mopped up by Eitri and the ragnarok heroes. Alternatively, if you've saved your Frost god power, use it to stop the two armies in their tracks and slip past them to the cave. Use your ragnarok heroes and Eitri to kill the last fenris wolf in the clearing in front of the caves, then move Eitri and six dwarves to the mine entrance. Victory! Scenario 3: Fight at the Forge You take charge of Brokk's forces as the armies of the two brothers approach the dwarven forge deep in the mines. It's time to inflict some pain on Eitri-sharpen up those axes and get ready for a tough fight! You have one objective: Capture and hold the dwarven forge long enough for Brokk to build Freyr's gift. Eitri's forces control the forge, but it will take him 15 minutes to complete the boar, so don't immediately rush Brokk's army to the center of the map. Instead, claim the nearby town center, build a couple of longhouses, start training additional troops, and use your starting jar! to explore the caves. You start with plenty of resources, but since you can only train dwarves as gatherers, your economy is very dependent on gold. Fortunately, there's lots of gold in the caves- search near the bases of the largest cave pillars for all the gold you'll ever need. Since you can't farm in the caves, you'll run out of food before long. Follow Brokk's advice and hunt bears at first, but you'll want to secure a safer food source. The underground lakes are teeming with life, but Eitri’s boats have already occupied the best fishing spots. Leave the fishing ships alone and focus on destroying the single Dock at each lake. Once you destroy the dock, the fishing ships will convert to your side. Build your own docks on the lakes, and you'll quickly be swimming in fish. After you've supplemented your starting army with fresh recruits, attack Eitri's guards at the forge. You should be able to drive off Eitri's forces without too much trouble. Now all you have to do is hold the forge until the boar is complete. Build up strong defenses around the forge-towers, walls, and a hill fort or three. Train troops near the forge too; if Eitri attacks with a large enough army, the forge might convert back, and you'd have to recapture it again and start over. If you're feeling confident, send out raiding parties to harass Eitri's town to the west. Anything you can do to slow down his economy will help you hold the forge. If you're really good, you might even be able to completely destroy Eitri's town-that'd show him! Unless you've wiped Eitri off the map, expect a strong attack just before you complete the boar. Don't panic! If the forge is well-defended and your army is balanced, you should be able to hold off anything he can throw at you. Just ride out the storm and watch the clock tick down. Scenario 4: Loki's Temples In the final scenario, Brokk and Eitri join forces and travel to Loki's mysterious mountains to recover their stolen creation. 114 Computer Gaming World You begin the scenario in the Mythic Age, but with no god powers. Several ancient temples to Loki are scattered throughout the mountains. By destroying the temples, the brothers can earn god powers from the Norse gods to help them reach the Battle Boar. After the opening cinematic, use your ballista and raiding cavalry to destroy the Loki temple just to the southwest of your starting town center. When the temple falls, you will be granted the Great Hunt god power, but don't use it just yet. This first temple is the only one that is not defended by Loki's minions-you'll have to fight for the others. Another temple can be found in a grove of trees west of your town. Be sure to bring Brokk and Eitri when you assault this second temple; it's defended by at least one Einherjar. When the second temple is destroyed, you will receive a second Great Hunt god power. Between the second temple and your town is a herd of elk. Invoke both Great Hunt god powers on the thickest concentration of elk to create a truly massive herd. Park an ox cart and a few dwarves in the middle of herd and you won't have to think about building farms for a while. Keep scouting the area with your Ulfsark while you gather resources. You should find plenty of additional elk and several good sources of gold and wood. You'll want to build up defenses and a larger army, as the walled town to the west will send attack groups against you before long. Eventually, build an assault team to destroy additional temples. The Norse gods will grant another god power-usually Flaming Weapons- whenever a temple is destroyed. Save the Flaming Weapons for later in the scenario, when you have a large army that needs an offensive boost. One of the Loki temples is on an island in the middle of a small lake. Build a dock and put a siege ship or two in the water, then take out the temple and any units defending it. Build a transport and move Brokk or Eitri past the island to the southwestern shore of the lake, where you can follow a trail to a shrine and a powerful relic. Your scouts will eventually reveal a massive wall system defending Loki's town. Destroy one or two of the temples closest to the wall to earn Undermine god powers. When your army is assembled at the enemy's gates, use Undermine to tear down the walls, then flood through in force. Keep training reinforcements to send to the fight-Loki's minions will defend the town fiercely. After destroying Loki's town, make your way to the Battle Boar's holding pen in the north. Bring Brokk, Eitri and plenty of hersirs with you, for Loki's mythic guardians protect the trails. Although walking woods are immune to the Forest Fire god power, you can still use Forest Fire to burn a shortcut to the Battle Boar if you take the right-hand path when the trail forks. The walking woods are numerous, but an army with plenty of hersirs should be able to cut them down to size. Once you have defeated the walking woods, batter down the walls of the Battle Boar's pen and move Brokk and Eitri close to their creation. Congratulations! You have reconciled two. feuding brothers, turned the tables on the trickster Loki, and recovered Freyr's gift! Dealing with Frost powers at the healing spring. What's a mine without a group of dwarves? 5 T Р igainst Lol Brokk and Eitri unite to fight a ABS Computers ABS Ultimate Game Machine Activision Day of Defeat Activision Star Trek: Elite Force 11 Amazon.com Amazon.com Top Sellers. Antec Power Supply Asylumsoft Inc. Dransik Chips & Bits www.chipsbits.com/ Creative Labs Audigy/6.1 . Dell Computer Corp. XPS Gaming System . . Earthlink Earthlink (demo) AD INDEX Eidos Interactive, Inc. Republic: The Revolution . Electronic Arts Battlefield 1942. . йз рК» Full Sail Real World Full Sail Real World Education Internet Games Distribution Savage Microsoft Midtown Madness. . Microsoft Rise of Nations . . Mythic Entertainment Dark Age of Camelot Newegg.com Best Value . Nvidia Nvidia GeForce FX .. Sony Online Entertainment Planetside Strategy First Chariots of War . 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A completed entry form must have your name, address, age, and e-mail address (if you have one) and must also identify, in sequential order, either (1) the five (5) pages of June issue of each of Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly that contain the images of white rabbits or (2) the five (5) pages of July issue of each of Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly that contain the images of white rabbits. Entries related to the June issues must be received between April 22, 2003, and 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on June 2, 2003. Entries related to the July issues must be received between June 3, 2003, and 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on July 1, 2003. Ziff Davis Media, Inc. (“Sponsor”) assumes no responsibility for lost, misdirected, or late entries, or entries containing incorrect or incomplete information. Sponsor shall select the prize winners on or about July 7, 2003, by random drawing from among all eligible entries received. 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Sponsor is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Sponsor on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in this sweepstakes. BY ENTERING, YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND ACCEPTED ALL OF THESE SWEEPSTAKES RULES. wwnw.computergaming.com 115 Scorched Earth Blood Sport The hyper-masculine world of Magic Online By Robert Coffey robert_coffey@ziffdavis.com оџа think that an online arena ү: by gamers playing an elaborate game of cards wouldn't be the roughest, toughest destination on the Internet. You'd think that with the digital medium alleviating the anxiety associated with the constant threat of the particularly life-threatening brand of paper cut that only a foil- gilded collectible trading card with elves printed on it can inflict, that having been provided this sparkling- with-pixie-dust sanctuary, the great dark lords of magic residing therein might find it within their cruel hearts to take a breath, relax, and enjoy the game and a newfound sense of camaraderie. Oh, there are a precious such few online, but the sad reality of Magic Online is that the average player is less a happy opponent and more a crybaby Lee Marvin in diapers. Let's forget for a moment that this is only a game and reflect upon the fact that this is only a game that is little more than a butch Pokémon. And not by much. It's easy to dismiss Pikachu as profoundly sissified, but it's not as if Nullmage Advocate or Seeker of Skybreak are exactly Olympic athletes (ice dancers obviously excluded). And yet I've experienced more hostility from other Magic Online players than any other. In a multiplayer contest where my teammate and | were about to lose, my cohort, through a cunning use of numerals, punctuation, and phonetic spelling ingeniously trumped the game's profanity filter to let loose a scorching screed placing the blame squarely on my head. Sadly, even the notoriously loose things we at CGW laughingly call “standards” prevent me from tran- scribing his tirade directly, but were he an Edwardian gentleman, it would sound something like this: “| daresay, good sir, that your stratagem was ill-conceived in the extreme. On the occasion of my next congress with the women from whose womb you sprung, | shall be certain to convey my great disappointment in the apparently inade- quate caliber of your education, a tragic squandering which has thusly saddled you with an ignorance so profound and all-consuming that you are only worthy of providing the most base carnal services to myself and my livestock and are wholly and entirely unfit to compete with me upon this hallowed field of glory. | shall do this whilst shaving your most beloved mater's back. Adieu." OK, so maybe we lost because I Should've saved my Confound for later in the game, but still, a little perspective, my pimply, virginal friend! And while we're handing out front-row seats to The Big Picture, I'd like to take this oppor- tunity to point out to the half-wits who feel compelled to type “fuggin aSSholl" when I cast a Counterspell that your insults are effectively neutered as completely as your physical self when you're using your own Counterspell to negate mine. Apparently, my deck-a nifty little blue number | call Denial of Service loaded with various counters and packed with Persuasions and Confiscates to kill my opponent with their own spells-is cheap. At least that's what people tell me seconds before the naughty talk starts. Somehow stealing a guy's Serra's Embrace-buffed Giant Warthog to deliver the finishing blow when I could just use my own creature is wrong. As opposed to the land-destruction decks. Or the squirrel decks. Or those damned Slivers. News flash: | didn't create these cards on my own and sneak them into the game. They're legal, they're allowed, so I'll try ae to keep my evil sniggering low enough so you don't hear it and you just start dealing with it. But an astonishing number of players can't deal with it, and so these pinheaded losers (I call them losers because they are, in fact, losing) have found a way to relive the childhood glory that came from taking the big red rubber ball home and ending the kickball game. They don't let the game finish. They suddenly lose their connection one click away from defeat. Pathetic, yes, but not as brain-bendingly wretched as the sorry bastards who don't even have the dignity to tuck tail and run, and instead sit there, not clicking OK, not allowing the game to conclude, forcing me to click Concede just to get out of the game window and back to the lobby to search for a brand new mama's boy to beat. Why some players would do this in a casual game that has no effect on their player rating is beyond even the ability of my prodigious brain to comprehend but, hey, | guess they can say they've never lost at Magic, right? At love, career, romance, sexual potency, friendship, sports, family, life, and the ability to walk down the street without provoking dog attacks and making sweet little babies cry, they've undeniably lost. But at least they're winners in Magic Online. Huzzah, to you, proud sirs, huzzah! Computer Gaming World (ISSN 0744-6667) is published monthly by Ziff Davis Media, Inc., 28 E. 28th St. New York, NY 10016. Subscription rate is 52797 for a one-year subscription (12 issues). Canada and all other countries add $16.00 for surface mail. Postmaster: Send address changes to Computer Gaming World, P.O. Вох 57167, Boulder, CO 80328-7167. Canadian GST registration number is 865286033. Canada Post International Pub's Mail Product (Canada Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 1058649. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10016 and additional mailing offices. Printed in the U.S.A. ILLUSTRATION BY JACK HORNADY -Microsoft Internet Expl 2 NewEgg.com || File Ей — View Favorites Тоз Нер || ха Back ~+ -Ə В A | @ search (31 Favorites 52 History | B 3 КУ - 3 fê d Address € http://www.newegg.com/ nline Computer Parts, Peripherals, Components, and Access 2 MEW 69g --- | SHOP BY CATEGORY | SHOP BY BRAND | TOP 10 SELLERS | NEW PRODUCTS | SPECIAL SALES | REBATE SALES| | Description (Detail View) Y| .— | € Best Value, Always! 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