ре? 5 E p' TO KILL | зп ISNT MOA "avg 381 ONY 0009 IHL wa "| 152"TIv2'008'L ШОН 0107 ыш у УЗШШ а o) ав-ав "IVO гамин V aaan ISIA 40 21015 |18391 [B90] под Je ојцеелу 19 Шоу} asu thoa зәшебуй дим alemyos 9AH2818)U] 19 ў ayng мо sat шозд#әяпи-әхпр:лллллл Gem 24} uo sn из SqHY0934 алиәунаїт азн NO 318VIIVAV AƏVYLANNOS е a v8 OG N3HN wu NO ATNO У р "s WL п acon REA. "Na aaTivo мушу. jew 5 ари ну ке — ""Hsvul NINY 1п0 ONDIVE 7 “ANWIL HONOYHL DNEISAVH.L запишу 40 тоа а у at й iłeəy snones Бшзэра song - Лелле шә, моја 10 "ша, 35814 “шә, wng jepninje eng jo ѕәмпіәә є - Јәлелз oum pue 5риб ‘Sung Departments " о Letter from the Editor In A Galaxy Far, Far Away... Dear Game Informer GI readers from across the &lobe interact with Game Informer. Envelope Art You can't win if you don't enter GI's Monthly Envelope Art Contest. GI News Nintendo unveils Donkey Kong 64, GI uncovers actors for the upcoming Resident Evil movie, PlayStation comes to Macintosh, and tons-o-fun with Name That Game}, Trivia, and Gl’s Top Ten. Game Informer PC The Burrito gets buried in fan- tasy games this month, exam- ining Baldur's Gate, Heretic Il, Return to Krondor, and more. Arcade Brigade A preview of Capcom's new fighter, Power Stone, and a review of Sega's Star Wars Trilogy. Secret Access Tips from our readers and the infamous Game Shark Swap Shop. Classic GI GI looks at classic games on the NES, Genesis, and replays some codes from the vault. Game Informer Magazine” (ISSN 1067-8392) s published monthly ata шого price of $19.98 per year, or fve trial issues for $9.98 by Sunrise Publications", 10120 West 78th Street, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, (612) 46-7245 or FAX (612) 948-8155. For subsoripiions, hack issues, or customer seníce inquies (612} 946-7266. Periodicals postage paid at Hopkins, MN, and ай опа! mailing ойе. SUBSCRIBERS/POSTMASTER: Send addas changes to Game Informer Magazine" 10120 West 76 Street, Eden Prairie, MN 55344:3728. Foreign or Canadian orders musi be prepaid in U.S, dolars and must include S20 year additional postage. Game (оте does nol claim any copyightin the screenshots herein: Copyright in all screenshots contained within this pubicašon are owned by the respective companies. Entre contents copyright 1999. Game Informer Magazine". AI rights reserved; reproduction in whol or in part without permission is ромео, Game Informer” is a trademark of FUNCO, Inc Products name in these pages are trade names, or trademarks, of their respective companies. е Game Informer • March "99. Pg 43 Cover Story: Syphon Filter Looking for something to do this March? While this might be the down part of the video game year, 989 Studios has a treat in the form of Syphon Filter. And of course, Game Informer is here to help you defeat this espionage monster with a full strategy guide complete with maps and walkthroughs. Feature: An Interview With Martin Edmondson Reflections’ upcoming title, Driver, is being billed as the next big thing to hit the PlayStation library. We have all played racing games before, but you may be pleasantly surprised with what Driver has in store. Read all about it in Game Informer's exclusive interview with Martin Edmondson, the managing director at Reflections. Feature: Game Informer's Top 25 PlayStation Games Here at Gl, we just love lists. And top 25 lists are even better as they almost always cause some kind of fight. So if you own a PlayStation (and you probably do), check this out and make sure to get angry that we put some crappy game that you hate on the list, or left out your favorite. Nintendo 64 Castlevania, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, Mario Party PlayStation Akuji the Heartless, Alien: Resurrection, Civilization Il, Ehrgeiz, Legend of Legaia, NCAA Final Four ‘99, Samurai Legend, Triple Play 2000, Warzone 2100, Rampage 2: Universal Tour :) Dreamcast | Evolution, Grandia Il, Incoming, Shen Mue, Sonic Adventure Blast Radius, Bomberman Fantasy Race, Centipede, Destrega, Eliminator, Fisherman's Bait, Freestyle Boardin' '99, NBA In the Zone *99, NCAA March Madness 99, Shadow Madness, Tiny Toon Adventures: The Great Beanstalk Nintendo 64 Quake 11, Triple Play 2000 Dreamcast 7th Cross, Climax Landers, Tetris 4D Game Boy Gex: Enter the Gecko, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Men In Black: The Series, Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle, Quest for Camelot 6661 чолем Sonny "prese! subi |у 'uoperoossv asemyos (еба әлде; әш jo ешеред з si uoo! sBuyes eu, боо yosorolyy Jo змешеред рогојабә e | 56 @smopul ешијеџејиз запашоо 4005 jo шеш -әред рәләјәјбә exe обо uoners/ei4 eui pue uoneiseld 'diusieuyed рейшгі /6 934 рие diusieuued pewur 93d 9661 Ф "Ш ето Ка реп энешәред резвівібві e зі © SO. " Ад padojenaq "эц suodsiojow Of 8661 © "Gseuieo OSY 10 жшешәрел. е 8 абиогы SX Guopioo цег "uomreodioo SHOMYOS меоџешу 8661. © 'Uolreodioo SYIOMYOS игорешу јо ўлешеред рејејобе! e si gseueo OSY шоо'биовазкиоріобуегммм e шоз'5ошебозе ` MMM ‘SLINIT ІПОНШМ 33VH 9 моделе E «== WOU-09 24 || 56 @SMOpUIM ха азаолалза “Every generation has a legend. Every journey has a first step. Every saga has a beginning.” Every Game Informer has a letter | from the editor. While | know that it isn't as · exciting as the trailer for Star Wars: The | Phantom Menace, it is a very important part of each issue. And this month, it's going to be more exciting than ever (І hope you're | sensing the sarcasm). | Believe it or not, the outtake from the Star | Wars trailer is actually here for a reason, not < just my own personal joy. It is referring to the | recent birth of Sega's Dreamcast, and how we | need to keep a close eye on this young Sega sprout as it grows and gets ready to take on the world. Which is the reason why this | issue is filled with import Dreamcast games, | even though most won't find their way to the States. | Following the Dreamcast's saga is an March Issue 1999 Volume IX • Number З • Issue #71 Richard A. Cihak Publisher Andrew McNamara Editor Paul Anderson Andrew Reiner Senior Associate Editors Paul Bergren Robert Stoute Jay Р “Associate Editors: Thomas Blustin Art Director Curtis Fung Production Diac WebvGraphic Design Rachel Gilles Production Assistant Ryan MacDonald West Coast Correspondent Chet Barber рап Correspondent Jason Everson intem, Gabrielle Dane Copy Editor Advertising Sales Kimberley Thompson-Benike National Advertising Sales Director 10120 W. 76h Steet Eden Prairie, MN 55344-3728 (612) 946-8159 Fax (612) 946-8155 Vicky Valley Bandleader Andy with (L to В): Robert Customer Service Department For change of address ‘or subscription inquiry only: (612) 0467266 Fax (612) 946-8155 ог send correspondance to: 10120 W. 76th Street Eden Prairie, MN 55344-3728 Attn: CIS Dept Manufactured and printed in the United States of America. is a trademark of FUNCO, Inc Products named in these pages are ade names, or кабетай, of inei respective companies. PUBLISHER LIABILITY FOR ERROR The publisher shall not be liable for sight changes or 'ypogabfical errors that do not ! republicaton of. the advertisement in any quent issue or the refund of апу monies paid for the advertisement. proprietary rig fesuling from n. Audit Bureau of Circulations Member Andy, The Game Hombre ir com “Agghh, another issue bites the dust. Luckily, we now have a new staff member to ridicule and take out all our frustrations on. Great timing as well, since l'm still quite mad at the Vikings for blowing it against Atlanta. Meatheads!!! On the gaming front, Syphon Filter is a great опе, and well...that's about it for right now. Back to the torture...new guy, get me my slippers!” Paul, The Game Professor ^ Reiner, The Raging Gamer paul@gameinformer.com reiner@gameinformer.com “This has been a great month. | thought there would be a serious lull in quality titles this time of the year, but Syphon Filter turned out to be excellent, as did Civilization І. On the horizon, | am already getting tuned up for Gran Turismo 11, News of this game should start appearing in Japan very soon. | hope they get in tons of American and European cars. Mario Golf is another title I'm looking forward to playing. The N64 might have a legitimate golf game after all. Lastly, | got a brief look a Sonic Adventure and it's looking good." "Who's the luckiest bastitch alive? Me, that's who. On January 22, my life changed forever. | was the first person outside of LucasArts/LucasFilm to play the new Star Wars: Episode 1 titles. And yes, | saw more than that...much more. I'd love to tell you all about it, but | signed my life away and cannot whisper a word until April 1. I'll explain all (and hopefully show all) in the May issue. Don't miss it!!! You won't believe what you see!!!” | | | 4 Game Informer • March 99 — In A Galaxy Far, Far Away... BY ANDREW McNAMARA important one, as it could quite possibly change the face of gaming as we know it. Or not. But as you'll soon see and read, Sonic Adventure is probably the first title to show what the Dreamcast is capable of doing. Unfortunately, a number of the recent releases in Japan are still sub-par at this point; however, Sega has a lot of time before the U.S. release. Hopefully, as the year goes forward, the games will get better, and Sega's saga will turn into a glorious tale. Of course, we'll try to keep you updated on the Dreamcast story as it unfolds in Japan. For a final and closing thought, | would like to ask for some response to our recent preview cover. | have already received some hate mail for our choice of going with a preview game, but | would love to hear what everyone else thinks. Bergren, The Game Burrito | Robert, The Game Casanova bergren@gameinformer.com robert@gameinformer.com “Finally. The wait is over. It's not a surprise release of FFVIII, but the beginning of the NBA season. Yeah, they're still all a bunch of greedy punks, but | just can't stay away from the game 1 love. However, | have new worries brewing in my mind. As | write this, the future of Stephon Marbury and Tom Gugliotta with my beloved Timberwolves is still in limbo. At least the Wolves can afford them both with the new labor agreement. At $85 million a piece, it's quite a bargain." Chaos creatures, that is." “Ahh, Sonic. | just love that little blue guy. We are in for a super- duper treat come September when this game hits the States. | sit at home and play with my little critter, then | load him up and make him race his fellow Chaos people. This game is excellent. Well, | do have one complaint. "The camera sucks. Really bad. But | got over it. Hopefully I'll have the whole thing completed shortly. Anybody want to mate? 7th Cross. Akuji The Heartless . "Alien: Ressurection . Baldur's Gate Blast Radius Blood Il: The Chosen. Bomberman Fantasy Race . Castlevania 64 . Centipede Civilization ЇЇ. Climax Landers. Dark Vengeance Destrega . Driver . Duke Nuke Ehrgeiz Eliminator Eternal Champions Evolution Fisherman's Bait . Freestyle Boardii Gangsters Gex: Enter The Gecko. Grandia Il Heretic Il. . Heroes Of Might & Magic Ill Incoming . . Legend of Legaia . The Legend of Zeld. Link's Awakening Mario Party. Men In Black: The Series Metal Fatigue NBA In The Zone ‘99 Zero Hour F NCAA Final Four “99. NCAA March Madness 99 NES Open . Pitfall: Beyond The Jungle. Power Ston Quake II. Quest For Camelot | Rampage 2: Universal Tour Return to Krondor Rollcage”... Samurai Legend Shadow Madness | ShenMue ... Sonic Adventure Star Wars Trilogy " Super Dodge Ball Syphon Filter Tetris 4D Tiny Toon Adventure The Great Beanstalk . Triple Play 2000 (N64) Triple Play 2000 (PSX) Vigilance .. Warzone 2100: Jay, The Gonzo Gamer Jay@gameintormer.com "| made it! No more brain numbing temp jobs for me. Instead of staring at a computer screen all day, now | stare at a television all day Viva la difference! My only worry is getting through the Gl hazing rituals. On a side note, make sure and check out Syphon Filter. The game's so involving | had to stay late watching Andy and Reiner play just to know how the story ended. Uh oh, time to receive my hourly paddling.” “everything the previous game was and more... an ge CEN 3 “Exoddus easily вап a jii Bis oc eid . among the PlayStation's = нш Й delight all the old fans and the ` countless new ones ~ Abe gets all emotional! More pani More talking! More pleading! Flesh-eating Fleeches! Undead - |. Mudombies! Bone-grinding Greeters! .— Available at your local ге! PlayStation [o] PC ~ вом = parents pi to cal L 5 fien tone phones. only. Oddworld: ће векови“ о 1998 Oddworld Inhabitaits,IncA Rights Reserved. Created by Oddworld. Publish d ТТМ айе that wil и „ever better - and odder -than the original.” =. - Official Playstation Magazine: JS “combines stunning graphies апі Desa gameplay.” CD) 0) WORLD RASTA www.oddworld.com GT Interactive oftware ~: www.gtgames.com Ју PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment nc. ‘Oddworld inhabitants Logo із а trademark of Oddworld ‘Inhabitants, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. = —1 Our Here's a Question The Dreamcast is supposed to come with a VMU on the controller; do you think Nintendo will make a similar one to plug into the N64 controller? Ben Bojda #11 via gte.net The VMU (Virtual Memory Unit) is an accessory much like the N64 Controller Pak, but the VMU has small control buttons and a LCD screen. To some extent Nintendo already has a device A 128-Bit What? Have you heard anything about a 128-bit Sony PlayStation coming out in May? Richard Burton Sam Houston State University - shsu.edu The 200+ MHz PlayStation will come out in mid to late 2000. Forget about bits and think RAM and MHz. Unfair for Kids I've read your mag a lot, and | found out about the female gamers out there, and l've noticed that there are no letters in Dear Gl from kids! Either I'm the first kid to send a letter to you or you guys are forgetting us! There are kid gamers that shall make the future of gaming. l'm a kid speaking for other kids that we should be noticed. Games like Rascal are not the type of games a kid will like! Brian Tsukerman via erols.com It's very hard for a company to design and market games toward "kids" that is even better than the VMU called the Game Boy. There has yet to be a device to use the Game Boy along with [E the N64. However, Nintendo has already released a GB Pak that works with | Pokémon Stadium. The GB Pak allows you to plug in a Pokémon cart from Game Boy and use the data to fight Pokémon on the N64.Who knows what else Nintendo has up its sleeve? Dear GI Correction In the January 1999 issue, you listed the pronunciation of Chocobo as cho- ka-bo, whereas a dissection of the Kanji would say that it would be cho-ko-bo, with all long “О”. Also, you listed the star of Metroid's name as Justin Bailey. After you woke up, you probably remembered that her name was Samus Aran, and that Justin Bailey was merely the code you put in Metroid (NES) to play as her in a swimsuit. Besides, you probably used that code enough to memorize it anyway. via flash.net We received a bunch of letters concerning the Metroid fiasco. We indeed know of Samus, but Paul, in his infinite wisdom (and crazy logic), devised some allegory that Justin Bailey was an alter-ego thing like Superman and Clark Kent. She's a babe nonetheless. Thanks for both corrections, but we have adopted a new backwoods pronunciation "cho- kay-bo.” It works best in a sentence like: | been ‘temptin’ to breed me one of "ет gold cho-kay-bos all week. Chris Horn || Gi Shouldn't Be Polite | have never written to you guys before, but | was reading your latest issue and | just had to say a couple of things about one of your letters (СІ #69, GI Should Be Polite). First please attitude. Honestly it’s the first part | turn to when | get an issue. Some of your replies have had me laughing all day. (I'm not kissing butt, they really are hilarious.) We readers can take it and letters would just be boring if all you guys did was suck up to us. And finally, a comment to the author of that article, wherever you аге. | agree with you that we are not in grade school anymore..so stop whining like a two year old. Thanks for your time guys. Keep up the great work. Joe Hackett via hotmail.com PS. Say something rude to me just to prove a point. You are the most pathetic Virtual Boy-playin', Pepsi One-drinkin’, Star Trelcis-better-than-Star-Wars-thinkin" excuse for a gamer we have ever had the displeasure of corresponding with. But we are glad you see the sometimes humorous side of Dear Gl. The World is Coming to an End! Stop! Drop! Run! Die! Hide your Né4s (but not Sony PlayStations and Saturns) and get into a bomb shelter! Because of the new Dual Shock analog control, the world is so lame that the N64 god is going to go crazy and will kill us all! Run Andy and hide Paul! The world is coming to an end! But before it does, what TV shows do you want to see as video games? Chef John Boniké via aol.com We already have а gamma-shielded bunker in the works and you can come over and cook for us. Plenty of mac and cheese for Andy and a heapin’ helpin’ of grilled food for the rest of us.As far as TV shows to games,VIP starring Pamela Lee wouldn’t be bad. At least it may have good comedic value, as would don’t EVER stop replying with a hint of The Reason Why Га Wait In all of your strategy guides you always are the first ones to print it in $ the first issue you can cram it in, but you miss little things.A person can think to himself," Why the hell do | follow this guide? l'd be better off just buying a guide for $10. Screw this.” Bob Kaczynski via hotmail.com What are you thinking? That is some seriously messed up logic for a couple of reasons. First, just think how much you would miss if we didn’t “cram it" into one issue. What a mess it would be paging through three or four issues for a guide on one game. Second and most importantly, this magazine is less than $ $1.75 per issue when you subscribe — | nearly 10 times less than the cheapest strategy guide. Do you have unlimited funds to buy strategy guides? Most gamers we know would rather spend money on games. You can wait for the $ more expensive guides while the rest of the Gl-faithful laugh all the way to the bank. Adjust Your Attitude People in November & December had attitude problems. Your mag is the best. If they want a mag with advertisements on every page and about four words about gaming per | page they can switch, but | like your | mag.Your reviews are great and | always || know when games are gonna come out before anyone else. As for the former mag subscriber Cody Miller, what's the point in having a game if all your going to do is follow instructions on how to beat it? | recently played FF4 with a guide, and | knew everything that was gonna happen. | never got the thrill of finding things out for myself and saying, “I wonder what this does?" Tommy Smith Henryville, IN Good point. We think the proper use Celebrity Deathmatch. The only problem is you would have to have ап extensive character edit menu. All || those stars would get ticked if a game company used their names without paying. Other than that, Jerry Springer || Vs. the World has a good ring to it. of a guide is to read it only when you're stuck. Yet, some gamers get stumped more frequently or have short attention spans, so they go straight for the guide and follow it religiously. The only benefit of following a guide word-for-word would be if you had a rental and wanted to beat it before it || had to be returned. because that is a very broad term. We're sure you know a few people older than you who can't even figure out the first level of Crash or get past the Deku Tree in Zelda. We're not forgetting you, we are you. Game Informer is a big group of kids. Art March Winner Апау Madolora, Wahiawa, НІ Dreamcast Review at Tokyo Gaming Show | just want to express my gratitude to all of you guys. | bought your December issue yesterday and | was very pleased when | read your review about DC at the gaming show in Japan. So far, you are the only mag l've seen being honest about it and not praising that new console blindly. You said exactly what you thought about Sonic and | really do appreciate that. Fred Fabbri via aci.net This just goes to show you the incredible dichotomy of views we get on certain subjects. Please remember that in many parts of our magazine we are presenting opinions which can be recognized easily by the frequent use of “I think" ог “we think.” Other times | we try to disguise our | opinions as facts, as in [the case of the | Green Bay Packers: че | actually takes 2.5 | Packer teams to { beat the Vikings.” See how easy that is? You don’t have to take anything we write as the truth, 1 just had to say this after reading your [December] magazine. That's the last time || | will buy your Ё magazine! This is || the first time | read negative news about | the Dreamcast! Everyone is completely blown away by the Dreamcast, yet your || writer came away unimpressed from the show!! That means he knows 5. | about || video games! Period! That's a fact! You are really Sony-a__-lickers! Rikimaru and Ayame would make great WP guests on Love Boat: The New Wave. Think of funny and wacky situations they could get into. Guido Janssen via hotmail.com | | we are just trying to present enough | information (both facts and opinions) to help you enjoy video games just as much | as we do. Lonnie Vs. Ninja? We'd have to say the next question 64 Lonnie will be ae asking himself f. is how the heck is he going to get his boot You'd think that Nintendo would pay the little "feller" better. Piracy on the Net | While checking out various games for | my beloved PlayStation on Ebay.com, an online auction service, | noticed several people selling their "backup" CD-R (rewritable) versions of popular games. | Now, we all know software piracy is illegal. However, | tried going to the game | publishers' websites to alert them via | email, and went into a loop of confusion. | Why do game publishers make it so | difficult to try to HELP them? | realize | Capcom doesn’t want Lil’ Jimmy to send | them 10 comments a day on Resident p but shouldn't there be an easily reached email address to contact them? | Please do the honest gamers of the world a favor and (A) post an email | address of the top game companies, or | (B) offer some words of wisdom as only | the editors of Gl can. Name withheld upon request We checked out the site and found the Í same thing you did. It is always difficult for the public to contact a company, but most of them have public relations (PR) | departments or consumer service lines you can contact by phone. Email is ап entirely different story as you can't call directory assistance (or scan the white pages) for a number or addres: However, anyone with a brain and a mail server will set up a general email account at postmaster@“company_server”. In || your case, postmaster@capcom.com should work. It is also important to get their attention with subject lines like ATTENTION LEGAL DEPT. or PIRACY ALERT if you want to hit pay dirt A game company may get thousands of emails a $ week so it may not be the most efficient way to contact them. We hope that printing your letter will increase the odds. Spawn stands strong as the defender of all that makes McFarlane money. Yee-haw! That crazy Ken just went and shot himself off a fireball. fter a thrilling 1998, PlayStation gamers have fy |been abandoned and left out in the cold with a | killer hangover. We chug-a-lugged Metal Gear [| Solid, and slammed shots of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. We partied hard (way too hard), then arose to a barren new year. This happens each and every year. And instead of deliveri ng. DEW. with a gun, but he can think quick in a || produc the video game industry crawls i і tough situation. The action in Syphon is E || and hibernatés-u til spring. For tho: зе who. ii fantastic, with intuitive controls and —5— .. —— | their hands on га! PlayStation, ен ly i isn't levels that actually force you to use all of E E ng. ле E ich needed time Gabe's abilities. From all-out blasting Greate e 2 ide affairs to hair-pulling stealth assignments, Syphon keeps the action varied. But the best part of this game by far, is the story. | wt dow abo t what ЕЗ will b "many forthicoi ling games as possibl aming gods &i lata holiday delay шш Last year, R “When | first saw this game, | looked at Gabriel Logan and thought to myself, ‘that guy looks like Steven Seagal — weight _THE GAME HOMBRE problem and all.’ But as time went on and Concept I played this game more and more, Gabriel took on a whole new personality: One that | liked. This guy is the personification of every action hero. Not only can he kick-butt Graphics масі вна eno өн а = зобов J NE. actually read every mission briefing and watched every movie. This game isn't perfect, but it's close enough for me." “release during his dead season. re Evil ои in January. We played it until May, ie Tull. hi genere i in the same’ way ed the desert would. We're hungry, th а slightly ‹ delusional. We need new games, a steady fix, | | not thes shaft: ЖС This 5 year, our i industry has Бебі touched by an angel. And no, it's.not a fi a of our imagination. 989 Studios | has answere: owl of the hungry and has trenched into this w: land, first-aid kit in h id. Its new release, Syphon Filter, 15 a big time title. | could easily sell through the roof during the holiday seasonjand gi give the Tomb Raiders and Metal Gears : a run for their money. But instead: of rushing it out | incomplete for Christmas, ог | M zit “til summer, |-989 Studios is ; releasing “very little hype behind it about the way gamers think; mile away and spread t the ET across the internet and; in’ the schoo Filter will Р ай. hee a кы; Gs ewe software. If you foll charts -| Gear SE ill a top 10- s GoldenEye. Can you believe that? GoldenEye RR =— been out: рны 2 und it tops 5 А, charts! | Sy; hon Filter has the е eA EMO] . two еше т rtal) games м “When you first see this game in action you may think that the main character has some kind of joint dysfunction or he sat on THE GAME PROFESSOR ahorse too long. Once you start picking off Concept snipers and gunning down terrorists, you 9.25 won't care. Sure this game isn't on par with Graphics the graphic quality of Metal Gear, but the р control is awesome. The lock-on targeting 9 Blood looks good on white. is very innovative and that makes the Sound gunplay extremely entertaining. It took me a few times through the first mission to get the control down, but after that, | felt like І was kickin' butt like Stallone in Cobra. The only problem | had with the game are the maps which, on many stages, totally confused me. Syphon Filter is an excellent spy thriller that has non-stop action. If you like Metal Gear or Tomb Raider, you should love this game." OVERALL "Syphon Filter is a riot. At first, | cursed it for its little graphical flaws and different REINER controls, but | soon found myself drooling тнє RAGING GAMER more than spraying profanity. The mission Concept objectives and levels are designed very 9.25 nicely, throwing you into a Die Hard/James t—=<~___ Bond-like atmosphere. | also became Graphics completely engrossed by its use of stealth. 8.25 Sneaking through caverns and applying a Sound headshot to a target is just as addictive and useful as slitting throats in Tenchu. 7.15 And yes, you can sneak through levels Playability unnoticed, removing the brains of every 9 enemy along the way. Syphon Filter doesn’t really offer up too much in means of replay Enterta value and the ending and last boss are 8.5 very anti-climatic, but as a whole, it's an admirable release that fans of the action genre won't want to miss. | found it just as enthralling as Metal Gear.” e | " ud | б V B. Game informer » Maron 99 aor ay P PlayStation. Cover Story * Size: 1 CD-ROM * Style: 1-Player Action * Special Features: Auto & Manual Targeting; Zoom & Heat-Sensitive Sniping; Sneak Button; Objective-Based Levels; Allies; Danger Meter; Radar, Memory Card, Analog & Dual Shock Compatible • Replay Value: Moderate * Created by: Eidetic for 989 Studios * Available: Now for PlayStation [Bottom Line: 9 GoldenEye here апа а little Metal Gear there. But mostly, it throws a ton of innovation in your face. Stealth. If you know what this-word means to the current video game scene, then you've probably quit reáding this article and are tap dancing your way across the floor, out the door, into your car, and off to the closest video game retailer. Last year, stealth played an enormous | које in the action genre, and catapulted lesser-known ames (like Tenchu). into the spotlight..Sneaking up оп | enemies and slitting’ their throats or choking them to death is quite invigorating - and even more so – addictive as all heck. In Syphon Filter, stealth is used from beginning to end, but quite differently than we're used to. Gabriel Logan, the main. char- acter, doesn't like to get too close to the opposition. He wants them dead, quick and painless, from a safe distance: So instead of approaching, you duck out of the way and observe from afar. Gabe comes packed with many tools for the upcoming job. He's/most fond of the Silenced 9mm. But he also relies heavily upon a Sniper Rifle and Nightvision Rifle. So from a secure locale, Gabe must document his prey’s movements ‘and’ surroundings.’ If another individual is nearby, he must wait and simply watch. Or if a gas tank is in the vicinity, he must calculate thé angle of his shot. Because if he fires and misses, the alarms will sound or he may end up indirectly blowing himself away as well. When the enemy is alone, Gabe will need to be quick, leaning around a corner (just like in GoldenEye) and applying- a swift head shot. On the other hand, stealth cannot Бе used in some scenarios. During these sequences, you'll need to run with M-16 in hand, lock-on to the enemy, shoot over the shoulder, drop and roll through a glass door, then reload for the next opponent. | As it sounds, the- gamer will have to have the dexterity and hand/eye coordination of a god. Syphon Filter's controls are complex, but allow the player to be exact in'his or her. ‘movements. In such, the duck and sneak and tuck and roll maneuvers will need to be mastered if successyis desired. Firing a weapon is just as difficult. Gabe can locion to a specific enemy, target оп his own, and even zoom down to a stationary first-person perspective for-even better targeting. At first; the controls seem to be a serious problem and too much of a hassle to handle. But if you haven't heard it before, only through time, will you find they are nearly perfect. Sometimes, the enemy isn’t the only concern or target. Gabe will also-have to complete-objectives on each level before -heading onto the next. Seek and destroy, assassinations, rescue missions, and detective work are all involved. Some of the levels are a breeze and easily navigated, but others make you fall on your knees and rejoice after each and every hard to reach checkpoint is crossed. » Syphon Filter is a great looking game. From the tracer bullets to the blazing infernos to simple changes in lighting, the graphics will blow you away.As will the story. Ifyou want to be a part of а good drama that is heavy on action and mystery, then give Syphon Filter a whirl. After each mission the’ story is brought to life with introductory briefings and lengthy ЕМУ cuts: Even if they beg for mercy, let them have it between the eyes. If you're gonna end his life, do it in style. All hail the head shot. Game Informer * March `99 This guide reveals elements of the game you may want to discover by yourself, thereby possibly reducing your enjoyment of the 102m USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! The head shot is crucial to success. Use it often, иј | especial у on Flak Jacket-clad opponents, but don't overuse it. ШОГА а f Гај С D FA Га There are times when the standard targeting із very efficient. But when using the head shot make sure you line-up beforehand, as it \ | | | I І = ze will put the cursor closer to your target. Pay attention to the size of A Hd HU) | ||| the cursor as well, since it will indicate when you have honed in on the enemy. - Not only will the sneak button give you pin-point control, but it will also allow you to move around in silence. * Eliminate Kravitch and destroy comm. array * Protect CBDC bomb squad | * Turn off power to terminal security doors || * Tag bomb in terminal | * Eliminate Rhoemer • Don’t eliminate CBDC agents Z > Avoid damaging viral delivery system or bombs Head west past the burning police car and enter The Place. Work your way back through the winding hallway and stop at the wooden | crate. Make а note of the terrorist located in the small room | (Reference 1). Ignore the room for now, and continue to the back of the | bar. Before you enter the last room, peek around the corner and use the Sniper Rifle (Sniper Point) to head shot Kravitch for an easy kill. Also in E Cal this room, you'll find the Communications Array. Blast it to Kingdom come and you'll be awarded with a checkpoint. After this brief gun fight, leave The Place and head 5 east о the vacant bank. Once inside, protect the CBDC а= LEVEL 1: SUBWAY LI agent by blasting anyone not fitted with funky yellow | duds. When the bomb is disarmed, exit the bank and y | hightail itto the subway. Damn, it's blocked! The elevator | Flak Jacket паці that Xing is referring to is behind The Place. To getthere | Comm. Array | go to Reference Point 1 (See Map) and break the glass || pem inthe small room. Exit through the window and turn right toward the "No Trespassing" sign. Shoot the lock on ће || E Elevator gate (all hail GoldenEye!), then smack the Elevator Call || ~ : 5 Switch to, well...summon the vertical moving beast. Descend on the elevator to the = Sniper Point 1 upper terminal (yes you could have done this before, but the level would unfold in a Eug SUBWAY strange fashion). With your flashlight on, turn to the right, and flip the Power Switch. ENTRANCE Now run like a madman to the subway and this time the door will be open. Once in the Upper Terminal, maneuver to the bomb just to your left. (Note: wait for the subway train to pass before crossing the tracks.) Tag the bomb and head to the .. Elevator Call Switch in the SW corner of the map. Take the newly raised elevator down to the Lower Terminal. At the far end of the platform, you "ll find the final bomb. Oh пећ am ст] Shotgun Shells | CBDC Agent requesting Cover PlayStation | Change Weapons (Start Button) in Tight Spots - A good tactic in this game is to change weapons with the Start button menus when you are under heavy fire or in a timed situation. This may just mean the difference between over 0 ry life and death. Check the Map for Items - Since we don't know your inventory, this guide will not lead you to every item; however you will find them listed on your map. Grab whatever weaponry you need, and use it wisely. Reload- Reloading your weapon should be a common practice as there is nothing worse than reloading during a heated battle. Drop Down - Gabe's a great action hero, but he can't fall from heights of ten feet or more. So make sure you hang off a ledge before you drop by holding the X button as you approach a ledge. € BJECTIVES minate Rhoemer Locate explosive cache Bi ct CBDC UPPER ded passage to street and prote TERMINAL PARAMETERS None | LOWER Bolt past the flames and cross over the tracks. | Eliminate the unfortunate victim that emerges from the left (or simply let him die), then continue along the lit path : і $ | am " Reference 1. Hop up on the subway train and drop off the Bi If РЕЈ | pposite end. Be careful. There's an annoying grenadier | " п ће platform to the right. Snipe him. Turn on your lashlight and you'll find the C4 Explosives on the track. low, trek to the other side of the center isle and change our focus to the south and Reference 2. Ascend the | IHK " | platforms then shimmy across the pipe to the Upper || i 1 erminal. Take your first left and cross the center isle to the far wall. Shut down the Gas Mains, turn, and head to he Blocked Passage (see Map). Plant the C4 and immediately run to the bomb located behind you and to he right. Fight off the terrorists, then casually glide to eference 3. Follow the train cars to the end, but don't let our guard down. Beware the burning тап!!! Flak Jacket C4 Explosives | OBJECTIVES * Eliminate Aramov | PARAMETERS WEST * Do not use grenades or train lines may be damaged МЕ Wait for the train to pass then follow it to the center gaps. Don't be fraid to cross over and climb up on the medians as well. If you don't stop each time, the trains will smear your brains for miles. Timing is ical (if you master it, you'll simply zig zag from track to track). At the UT end (just before Columbia Heights) snipe Aramov right GEORGIA between the eyes. Can you AVE. X. say, "Murder she wrote"? тшт» Шш Flak Jacket | ELM шо Ha hall! -— _ Mapas COLUMBIA HEIGHTS: | LEVEL 3: MAIN SUBWAY LINE OBJECTIVES SERI TOUR * Locate and disarm 4 viral bombs MEMORIAL — 38 * Rescue CBDC hostages Sniper Point 3 * Secure terrorist comm. array * Eliminate trigger man Marcos J Flak Jacket * Reach Freedom Memorial PARAMETERS * Do not kill any member of the strike team вад • Do not damage any bomb * All bombs must be defused in under 20 minutes NI- COUR Step soft and keep an eye on your radar for terrorist E n activity. Situate yourself at Bomb 1 and protect the CBDC at rl all costs. The enemy will swarm from both sides, so keep your eyes peeled. Now, head to Bomb 2 (at the Statue). Again, hold off the dogs. To the west of the Statue is a small corridor. Head through it. Now, head to Bomb 3 (next to the men's rest room) and protect the man in the yellow radiation 8118 suit. Ап М-16 awaits atop the women’s bathroom. From here, head east toward the Tennis Courts. Along the way к you'll run into Bomb 4. Protect your buddy, then continue on ] Flak Vacker (at a more casual pace, since the timer is now gone). The entrance to the Tennis Court is on the east side. Don't enter yet. From the doorway, use the Nightvision Rifle (Sniper Point 1) to take out the terrorist in the middle (the guy with the gun). At the edge of the grass (edge of the yellow flower bed), two baddies can be picked off from a great distance with the Nightvision Rifle (Sniper Point 2). Now, it's platform time. At < the mammoth art structure climb to the top (accessed from the south). Access the communications array, then return to the ground. * (Warning! — falling will kill you.) After this, enter the hedge maze further to the north. You'll find Marcos roving about in the maze. Add some lead to his diet then exit through the north. This next segment is cool. Sneak (using €) down the path to the left all the way to і Freedom Memorial. Then, just as soon as the terrain begins to rise, stop. Pull out the Nightvision Rifle (Sniper Point 3) and go to town. | Ifyou alert them, good luck surviving. All the enemies here are wearing Flak Jackets. When the action ends, walk up to the Memorial's door to close this case. Grenades Bomb 4 OBJECTIVES K3G4 * Find Security Card Key | Kes | * Capture Aramov and Phagan alive | PARAMETERS * Do not allow Phagan to die * Do not kill Aramov Find a secure hiding spot (facing the doors to the right of the lockers) and prepare for a nasty gun fight. All of the enemies that barge in are wearing Flak Jackets so shoot for their eyes. Keep an eye. @ іо the right for an approaching guard. With the room cleared, search | the lockers for goods, then head through the open door. Run through V the hallway and open the next door. Now “improvise” — jump and grab : | the pole. Shimmy across and drop through the glass (keep pressing 2 down to find the drop zone). After dropping to the floor, gunfire will swarm in all directions, so move quickly and don't be afraid to rail off some ammo. Ducking into the alcoves near the gates is a great technique. Just don't sit still too long. From here you can pick off the guys on the far side. After they're gone, go to the other side of the center structure and then pick off the guy blasting from above. Kill the shotgun man on the ledge above and then grab the booty and Card Key 1 off his corpse. Now, head south to the dinosaur exhibit. Pass by the T-Rex (Sniper Point 1), and = Shoot the guard behind the gate. Swipe the Card through the Gate Control Panel, then tum around and wax the unexpected enemy on the move. Now, cruise through the gate and add two more to the death list. Blast your way through the windows on the wall-mounted | fish exhibit. Then, sneak to the aptosaur (brontosaur) display. Shoot the gun out of Aramov's hand, then jump up on the tail of the thunder lizard. Careful! Several enemies are on the move; eliminate their threat before advancing any further. Then once the | || commotion dies down, run to the center of the lizard's back (just before the neck) and leap to the pole above. Now, slide to the right | through the window and drop down to Aramov's stunned body. ares я T 1m PlaySta OBJECTIVES Cover Story * Shadow Phagan to secret meeting і * Capture Phagan alive PARAMETERS [Ee | • Find Security Key Cards A] | * Do not allow yourself to be spotted until you reach the | Ieeung Gate Control * Do not shoot Phagan Panel 3 | з M | You have to stay a good 20 feet behind Phagan, and not once be | spotted by him or any of the guards. To start оці, hop up on the ledges | (tothe left or right) and wait for the guard to walk down the ramp. Do what | | you must to put а bullet through his head without being spotted. Stay ої Reference 1 fas | | to the side and ascend the next platform. Peer through the pillars to snipe | the next enemy, then sneak to the entryway. Lean around the corner to | | кс: | У the left and silence the guard. Continue sneaking. In Stonehenge, lean — | around one of the rocks and plug the guard at ће next entrance. The AER % — nextstop is the Egyptian ек. Again, lean around the corner to snipe N E z the roaming guard. Carefully maneuver through Egypt. Before you leave, a guard will appear as soon as you round a corner. Flee before being spotted and line up a clean shot. Another guard awaits around the next corner. Now, enter the next room. A cutscene leads to the next portion of the level. The first goal here is to blast Benton. Don't worry — you can be spotted. A stealthy head shot is still the best technique. Grab the Key Card from his corpse and cautiously walk to the west. Shoot the guard behind the gate and access the Gate Control Panel. Kick in the doors labeled “Museum Staff Only.” Quickly back out of the room and lean around the corner to take out the two guards on the catwalk. Next, jump on the box (with the protruding blue object) and jump up to the catwalk. Shoot the lock on the door leading to the fan tunnel. Follow the tunnel, then shoot the lock at the other end. In the next room, pick off the guards on the left and right (don't slide down the ramp). From here, blow away the guards on the lower level. Now, slide down the ramp (or descend the blocks). One of the guards dropped a Card Key. Snatch it up, then walk around the pillars and shoot the three guards that appear. Now, ascend 1o where you just were. More guards are waiting below, kill ‘em all. Now, enter the Card Key into the Gate Control Panel. From here, move as fast as you can. Slide down the ramp and run around the corner to the right, then quickly cut to the left under the gate before it closes. Around the corner, three guards await, another one is hiding out up above. Snipe them if you can, then grab Card Key 3 from one of the corpses. Input the Key into the Gate Control Panel (in the same room) and exit past the gate. Cautiously walk to the next corner and add a slug to the guards diet (another enemy awaits below). Maneuver across the room and plug the next group of enemies, call the elevator (Reference 1) but don't descend just yet. Stand on the elevator and shoot the sparking call panel up above. This will launch you to the upper level. Follow the path, eliminating all enemies along the way (keep an eye out for the snipers beyond the windows). At the end of the hall, Card Key 4 sits. Now head back to the elevator and descend to the lowest level. Kick in the door and blast the patrols. Search the lockers, then kick in another set | of doors. Enemies аге everywhere! Take cover! Kill ‘em (4 total). Use the Key Card and enter into the Apollo exhibit. Climb | # | оп Apollo and leap to the catwalk. Kick in the door and exit. аге, OBJECTIVES * Kill Girdeux PARAMETERS * Do not use grenades or Girdeux’s bomb may be damaged Logan's a stud, but he'll have to cower for a second for this battle. Stay behind Girdeux (from a safe distance) and shoot his backpack. Immediately after he goes up in flames, run away. One hit from Girdeux will kill ya. Don't get stuck on the pillars and keep your distance from the fires. Extra ammo (M-16, Shotgun) and a Flak Jacket are on the outer rim. Girdeux will perish after a few hits. Євпе оте "Маслов 13 OBJECTIVES * Plant C4 Charges at 5 fuel tanks * Eliminate Gabrek and collect Card Key * Disable power to motion sensors * Reach missile bunker PARAMETERS * Do not damage the explosive charges First off, a decision must be made. The. two enemies to the immediate left can either be eliminated (using the Gas Grenades located in the bunker directly ahead), or you can simply run by the baddies. Whatever you do, don't shoot them, or the base will be on alert. This level can be finished once you've been spotted, but it'll be much more of a hassle (and not nearly as cool). So stay Out of the spotlights (shoot them out if you like) and snipe the bridge guard. Fuel Tank 1 is straight ahead. There's also a guard approaching from the left. Shoot him, then plug the guard above the truck to the right. Now, approach the Fuel Tank (don't place the charge yet). Take out the Sniper Rifle and head shot the pacing guard to the left. Immediately after this, watch for a guard to the left (hidden behind the wall). From here, shoot the spotlight directly above and annihilate the guard to the south. Return to the Fuel Tank and plant the first explosive. Fuel Tanks 3 Fuel Tank 4 Nightvision Rifle киш и ons] Fuel Tank 1 COMMUNI EUILOI the patrol took. When you get to the trench, begin sneaking. Take your first right and you'll run into Fuel Tank 3. Avoid it for now (unless you really want the checkpoint). Sneak to the left so that the two guards (right in front of you) line up into one form. At this point (Sniper Point 1), rail off two or three quick shots, killing both guards (nice trick huh?). The guards on the wall and the spotlight also deserve death. Give it to ‘em. From here, you can plant the C4. Continue west to the next trench. Drop into the trench and sneak. Pass by the guard and shoot him when you come to the end of the trench (peek your head over to see him). For the two guards on the other side of the wall, align the М targeting cross-hair in-between them, then toss a Gas Grenade their way. Choke on this!!! With the enemy down, place the explosives at Fuel Tank 4. Now, head to Fuel Tank 5 (watch for the guard on the left behind the fence). At the Tank, plant the СА, then take out Gabrek in stride. Use the Card Key he drops to open | Switch 1. Head through the streets to Switch 2. Throw it and head through the gate to the bunker. Enter it. | Now head south down the street о the power plant. Along the way there are | plenty of enemies to remove — so keep your eyes peeled for white movement. Straight ahead awaits Fuel Tank 2, Plant the C4, then blow the lock off the gate to the power plant areas; there, in the back corner you will find the Motion Sensor Power. Press it. Now, head north, up onto the ramp and over the bridge. Sneak ; down the other side, letting the two guards pass by. When they leave the area, # | take out the stationed guard and the spotlight to the left. Now, follow the route Gas Grenades "C NEM Shotgun Computer Terminal Nightvision ГИЙ] | Rifle fa г; Sniper Rifle Flak Jacket - Missiles (4) Missiles (х4) TER ГЕ Flak Jacket Flak Jacket OBJECTIVES * Disable radar tracking * Shoot down attack helicopter PARAMETERS None Along the perimeter two boxes contain Flak Jackets and two others hold PK 102s. The first thing to do here is hit the Radar Tracking Override (located on the tower). As soon as you do this, the attack chopper will appear. Avoid its machine gun fire, and attack (with any firearm) when it retreats for another pass. Hold L1 to stay locked onto the chopper and reload when it begins to turn back toward you. After you unload a few rounds (okay, maybe tons), additional enemies will drop from the chopper. The heli will also unload a ton of rounds on you. Hide behind the tower, then remove the ground troops with the Combat Shotgun (for quick removal). Simply repeat this process until the chopper is defeated. OBJECTIVES | * Catalog 10 enemy missiles | * Reach comm. building roof PARAMETERS * Do not damage the missiles (duh!) The trick to this level is to lean around each corner and snipe the enemies that appear. Also, target the switches on the wall to remove the lasers (revealing your path). Whenever you hit a switch, expect someone to jump out and open fire. After all ten missiles are catalogued (you have to touch each individual missile), head past the last series of lasers (Reference 1) and turn around. Two enemies are trailing behind you; peek around the corner and plug them. Enter the room with the windows and access the computer terminal. This will open the door across the hall. Enter this room and blow away the enemy in the shadow. Quick reflexes are needed for this feat. Backing out of the room and sniping from | a distance works well. After the fight, search this room for tons of ; ammunition. You'll need it for the next boss. Now, head to the ; elevator. Missiles (x2) OBJECTIVES * Escape through main gate PARAMETERS * Do not damage the explosive charges * Do not damage the missiles ses PlayStation Cover Story Right off the bat, a Flak Jacket awaits behind you. The Combat Shotgun is a great weapon for this level. Just run and plug. Don't worry about slaying every enemy, if you can get away safely, then don't waste the ammo. Simply follow the line on the map, and you'll be free in no time. About the only trouble is the guard at the gate. He's wearing a Flak Jacket. Just start shooting from a distance and he'll be dog food by the time you get there. COM ТИЦ BUILDING | OBJECTIVES | * Eliminate Rhoemer's 10 scientists * Administer antigen to 6 test subjects | * Find Security Card Keys * Find entrance to catacombs PARAMETERS | * Do not kill any human test subjects Move to the eastside (right) of the rooftop and drop to the flat ledge below. This ledge is actually a handy waikway. When you veer around the corner, a terrorist will shoot through a stained-glass window. Blow a hole in him and enter into the window. Take the hallway to the right and shoot the scientist. From the hall, take the first right and save the two test subjects by administering the antigen. Leave the room and continue down the hall. Around the corner (next to the boxes), shoot the monk hiding in an alcove. Pass by the Door Lock and sneak to the edge of the next corner. Shoot the monk and then plug the scientist as well. In this kind of situation, always shoot the monk first. Save the scientist for whatever sadistic torture you fancy. Now, head into the first lab and save Lab Rat 3. Continue down the hall to the next lab. Be cautious, the jawas with guns are everywhere. Use the crates for cover, then enter the second lab. Administer the agent on Test Subject 4 (the one that's moving), then continue down to the next lab. Eliminate the scientists and grab the Key Card. Now, return down the hall from the direction you came. Be warned, more jawas have entered the vicinity. At the end of the hall, swipe the Card Key through the Door Lock. Kick in the large wooden doors and ascend the wood crates. Snipe the angry jawa on the other side of the room. Maneuver to the dead jawa's position and exit through the window. As you step out blow away the three jawas in the nearby area. Kill the scientist in the window to the left. Shatter the next window and enter. Blow away the monk around the corner (drop the chandelier on his head if you like) and stay on the trail. Say some prayers for the next scientist, then enter the lab (see Map). The second you enter this room two frenzied jawas approach, so spin and annihilate them. Save Test Subject 5, then step onto the path once again. At the end of the hall (Sniper Point 1), send a speedy death to the two Flak Jacket-wearing monks, then assassinate the scientist (who's the bad guy here?). Steal the Card Key from the scientist, then | use it to open the door. і As soon as you open the doors, hide, and seek out the jawas. You know what to do. Next, ascend the crate at the end of the library. Climb up to the next || floor and work your way around to the other side. Use the box to reach the Door Lock Flak Jacket | Scientist | || || 5 ot soon] Sniper Rifle Flak Jacket | Е l ; Door Lock ра = ШЕ Sniper Rifle | ` ШЕТШЕ ШЕШШ ==н library's highest point. Break the window and kill all who step in your line of sight. Run across the path and enter the window straight ahead. Kill the monk on the lower level, then drop down. Take immediate cover and shoot the monk located on the other side of the window. Enter into the lab and administer the antigen into the last test subject. Now, descend the ramps (destroying all who challenge you). Grab the Card Key from the scientist. Now sit tight. Before climbing over the crates, shoot the chandelier down onto a monk. Destroy the others, then repeat the chandelier tactic. From here, plug the scientist and head up the ramp. The enemies swarm from everywhere up here, so move fast and take ‘em all out. After this, run down the ramp, use the Card Key, and kill the monk to the right. Blow open the window and drop down. Jump up to the bridge leading to a stained-glass window. Smash it and waste the enemy on the crates. Plug any other annoyances and step on the elevator to finish the stage. 1» э, 1 Game Informer • March '99 OBJECTIVES [ = * Eliminate Rhoemer's 9 scientists | : | * Administer antigen to 4 test subjects * Find Security Card Keys * Find entran PARAM се to catacombs ETERS А Flak Jacket й! * Do not kill any human test subjects mami Down the ramp there is а hoodless јама (that looks an awful lot E ; | like Ben Kenobi). Run around the corner to your left and shoot out | rly PK-102 the first window on your right. Kill the monk. Save the test subject. ERE b FE Head down the other hall. Cleanse the room of monks and the. magis mur й scientist. Go down the stairs and head to the labs, but don’t save, ог d NF | approach, the test subject in the hallway between the labs. Head up | into the first lab. Kill the scientist and then climb the boxes to a window that leads to the adjoining lab. Administer the antigen. Go up the boxes and through the window to the next lab. Kill the monks H oe below, then pass the scientist on to his next life. Save the test Jacket subject. Run back to the large chamber, then down the skinny hallway to the west. Once in the larger room, shoot the chandelier to AB on the bridge. Climb over the boxes in the corner crush the moni and then head down the hall with ti | e test subject. Work your way around the courtyard by the front gate, mulching any monks you : cross. At the end of the path, climb t Ignore the Flak in the middle о! е boxes to the balcony above. ~ Scientist Jacket and scientist on the balcony above for now = and head into the building. Once inside, you must cross the bridge T the room to the far balcony. Ventilate the scientist in the lab, grab the Card Key, and head back outside. Now go to the upper balcony, kill the scientist, and unlock the door. Take a left once you get through the double doors and head to the lab. Waste the two scientists, grab the Card Key, and then watch out for monks coming up from | the doors and fire at will on the scienti in front of the large stained glass. You know what to do. Drop to ti lower level). Head down into the catacombs. behind (one has a grenade). Leave the lab and head down the hall to the door lock. Kick open ist and monks hanging around. Enter the Rose Chapel, blast monks, and walk onto the catwalk | he ground and follow the series of passageways that lead to the cemetery. Remember to check | around every corner. Also be very careful of the monks above, and the grenadier to your right once you reach the gravestones. After the gravestones, head down | | the hallway and kill the scientist. Work your way through the lower level (and the monks), and you will find yourself back at the Rose Chapel (but this time on the | OBJECTIVES Find Phagan PARAMETERS * Do not be spotted until the scientist has opened Phagan's cell * Do not leave Phagan unguarded or allow him to die First pick off the monk who appears at the bottom of the ramp. Go down the ramp and take a left (the direction the scientist went). Let the scientist pass by the next guard, and then take him down. At the next junction you'll see two guards in the distance. Don't try to kill them. Instead, sneak toward them and then take the passage on the right (follow the orange line on the map for assistance). Follow it around (being wary of a guard) and you'll come out in the room beyond the guards (you'll notice the ramp going up). Continue to follow the scientist, and at the next bend, wait for the guard to come out into the passage. Waste him, and then hurry up to the scientist. After the plot thickens, just follow Phagan through the catacombs. Patience and excellent aim are the keys to this area. Also be on the lookout for monks coming up from behind. A checkpoint and a lot of frustration later, you'll reach the next step in the plot. Once again, it's follow the leader. Use the PK-102 to bust some heads and get yourself back to the beginning. A | | * Cover St z те OBJECTIVES 5 «Від а итоге Erikson LEVEL 13: PHARCOM WAREHOUSES | • Turn off power to electric fences * Locate and tag 3 viral carriers * Get to warehouse PARAMETERS REH Se ЗБ * Do not kill Erikson before you've wa BH gotten the computer codes Flak Jacket ory Exit out of the alley and run straight Grenades ahead. Angle slightly to the right and 5 climb into the building (via the windows). Inside, Erikson awaits. Pull yourself up and in and have a little chat with the lad. B In the corner sits the Viral Scanner. Take ) — Капа head to Warehouse 23 (by running з П | straight down the street). Inside, you won't find any viral agents, but rather a | [5 kickin’ new weapon. Now, run back 13 Ц halfway between Erikson’s place and - е Warehouse 23 and climb up into the window next to the mural. Use the Viral каша Scanner (L1) and you'll find a virus. Jacket, run to Warehouse 70 (straight ahead). Otherwise, run around to the left Climb up to the box holding the viral carrier and side of Warehouse 69 and climb into the window. Pull out the Viral Scanner and plant a beacon(s). Now, look out the window and - tag the body. wait for them to start fighting. Jump out of the After this, run past the electric fence and back into the tunnel. Go to the } window, curl to the right, and kick in the doors. electric fence on the far side of the tunnel. Kick її іп and ascend to the surface. | Head to the alley, then to Warehouse 36. Blow up Right in front of you is a small shack on the side of Warehouse 38. Climb up, the barrels, then drop into the hole. then enter the warehouse through the window. Viral scan and then mark the You're now in the underground tunnels. Follow carrier. Shoot the explosive barrels by the doors and head back down into the | the path. If you need ammo, а K3G4 awaits (take tunnel. Таке an immediate left. Kick in this fence as well, then continue on.Afew | #71 your first right). Then further down the path, shoot the barrels to destroy the clicks in, two terrorists in white will run down the tunnel. Sneak behind them and | cluster of enemies. When you exit the tunnel, climb up onto the boxes and then join in the action. Exit out and climb into the building’s window to finish this level. 4 up onto the building. Shimmy across the pipe (blasting all of the enemies) to the LE. Power Supply. Shut it down. Drop down and kick in the fence. If you need a Flak nee. Ne с Viral Carrier —- OBJECTIVES * Locate and tag 3 viral carriers * Get to Warehouse 76 PARAMETERS WAREHOUSE 36 None LT Via carer | Drop down into the pink tunnel. Run across the battlefield to Warehouse 85. Exit through the У | orange tunnel. Don’t pass by the burning oil E | drum. Instead, hop up on the crates and pull up -L = onto the roof. ane ihe guards from the window, L Е then drop into the building. As expected, a viral carrier is hidden in the box the guards were protecting. Set a beacon and exit through the door of Warehouse 82. Veer to the left and go to the back corner with the BIZ-2 ammo and second viral carrier. Place the beacon and then head to the central building (to the left as you exit Warehouse 74). Climb up to the loft, then use the crate stack to reach the roof. Shimmy across the wooden pole to the other rooftop. TEE From here, drop down on the far side. Run to the right, then drop on B - y Scale it, to the ground. Surprise! Surprise! The last viral carrier awaits па the grenades, and maneuvering around the fuel tanks to ihe exit nearby crate. Mark it, and proceed down into the tunnel. Several іп Warehouse 76. 1 enemies lurk below, so tread carefully. Take the first left, and stay mc Game Informer + March "99 Get to freight elevator | E | Flak Jacket | * Get out before the building collapses | Start Here in 15 minutes FREIGHT | Simply follow the path through the level, ELEVATOR pem | making special note of Reference 1. Неге you | must roll to get through the fire alive. Or if you want to take the longer, slightly more exciting route, you can roll through the vent at Reference 2 and then follow the path around. Obviously you have to kill guys along the way, but make sure you notice the vent at | Reference 3. And finally, use your gun to shoot Reference 1 | the call switch to bring up the freight elevator. | (05 шо le йге, Run forward and hide behind the crate. From this sweet position, eliminate the vermin in your path, then continue on. * * Reroute power to elevator | When you see a set of lasers (directly ahead), turn to the right and hop up to the cavern. Follow the cavern to the steel * Shut down power room bridge. Instead of crossing it, drop down below it. Run through the tunnel and snipe the enemies along the way (à la Tenchu * Find missile silo tactics, stick to the walls). At the end of the tunnel, peg the grenadiers that are dropping death from a floor above. After this, - scale the crates to reach higher ground. Now (on the other side of the lasers — Map B) run across the bridge and over to the Elevator Call Panel. After your pariner contacts you, head to the Power Relays (via jumping on crates). Turn them on and return to the Elevator Call Panel. Be wary, a ton of enemies await your arrival. Take care of the grenadier and friends from the high vantage point, then drop down to the cavern floor. Access the Call Panel and jump on the elevator. Here, another tunnel is the challenge (Map C). Eliminate the baddies and pass by the first elevator. Head right and avoid your next left (Reference 1); you'll be crushed by a boulder if you're too curious. Stay to the right, cross over the bridge, and | you'll make it to the Power Room. Access all three Control Panels and this level will come to a close. 1 None Crates Elevator Control Panels Flak Jacket | z Start Here Sawa — B + | БЕ di LEVEL 16: MAP Г А г OG. —e і ші Баз Ызаа с OBJECTIVES * Find missile silo PARAMETERS None | Drop down into the elevator shaft and use your | | flashlight to see the girders. At the bottom, grab the | | Nightvision Rifle and head down the passage. Take out | the guards as necessary, and when you reach the end, | climb up the shaft. At the top, follow the passage to the | | right, and then drop down to the series of bridges. Watch out for the guy to the left on the third bridge, and the rest | is easy. Euge У НОО vts esit OBJECTIVES * Retrieve missile-destruct codes * Access missile command computer PARAMETERS 5 EL = * Do not shoot at the missile 2 7 • Destruct codes must be retrieved before the missile launches * Command computer must be accessed within 3 minutes after launch TO MISSILE SILO MISSION CONTRO =i] AINFRAME [=з E You gotta be quick on this one, people. If not, bad things. Bad bad. things. Run straight for the missile and veer around to the elevator behind it. Drop down to level 3. Run to the other side of the platform and lower ће | elevator (but don't take it). From here, scale the missile's arms to reach the Missile ШЗ] Destruct Codes. Now, quickly roll under the door to the right. After the missile launches, Жинн наан use the elevator you dropped to reach Missile Control. Blow away the two scientists (or just one if you get the Card Key first), then proceed on to the mainframe room. Take out as many guards as you can (on the perimeter) | before time expires. Make sure you have enough time left to insert the Card Key into the Command Computer (see Мар). | After doing this the true villain will attack. Avoid his bomb attacks and retaliate with Gas Grenades. Where do you get ‘em? In the alcove above with the Gas | Grenades. Chuck ‘em from here and the baddie will surely die. Informer • March 79: REFLECTIONS INTERACTIVE ractive recently purchas game developer Reflections so it could get its hands on Reflections’ upcoming game, Driver. A unique game to say the least, but it seems there is more to Driver than meets the eye. GI Interactive is positive this one is going to be a hit, and whenever we hear that word we start to investigate. Driver is more than it seems, and to get the whole story we went to Martin Edmondson. Martin is the managing director of Reflections and the man behind the concept of Driver. Who’s Driving Driver? Am Interviews With Martin Edmondson Game Informer: What games have you guys worked on? Martin Edmondson: Reflections was set up 14 years ago and after a couple of years writing games for a machine called the BBC Micro (which was only available in the UK), we started working with Psygnosis and produced Ballistix, Shadow of the Beast series, AWESOME, and the Destruction Derby series amongst others. GI: What have you guys been up to since Thunder Truck Rally? It seemed like you fell off the face of the Earth. ME: We've spent the last two years working on three games — Driver, Steam, and another racing game which shall remain nameless for now! Driver has-been in develop- ment for almost two years and the reason it has taken such a long time, compared to Destruction Derby, is its complexity and size. There are four cities in Driver and each one has 20 to 30 miles of roads, and around 150,000 buildings/objects. Steam is a departure for us, being a game which is best imagined as a cross between Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, and Unreal. Very different in terms of its graphic design. Gl: How much of the crew is left from the origi- nal Destruction Derby team? ME: All of the design team, three 2D artists, all the 3D people, three programmers, and one musi- cian. A total of nine out of the original twelve are still at Reflections. Gl: How long has this game design been in the works, and were you influenced at all by Grand Theft Auto? Other influences? ME: The basic concept of a game involving chasing on real streets sprung into life during the development of Destruction Derby about three years ago. This happened when playing the cross roads track and thinking it would be great to have traffic lights and allow the player to drive anywhere. The game style was very much influenced by the classic car chase movies and TV shows of the seventies: Bullitt, Starsky and Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey and the Bandit, and many others. Driver started development well before GTA was announced. The game has been played by a number of people now and this Driver/@TA comparison has disappeared: since those who have played it agree the games are not at all similar. | must admit however, that when | read the first press release about GTA some time ago, we were deep into development of Driver and | was worried by the apparent similarity until! actually saw and played it. | hope people remember Driveras being like watching their own car chase on TV. Gl: Racing is a common genre on the PlayStation (or N64 for that matter), so what separates Driver from the rest of the pack? ME: There are plenty of racing games around, but Driver is пої а nor- mal racing game. Driver is the first to actually simulate a film car chase. At Reflections we have always tried to be a bit different in Our approach to game design and not simply go head to head with other games. There are several features of the game which we are pleased with and feel are different trom other racing games. The car dynamics and the way cars slide, smash into each other, bounce on their suspension, make them look like real cars. The freedom of the city which allows. players to drive anywhere; across junctions, down alleyways, through parks, over pavements and so on. The real traffic environment, pedestrians, and other cars drive around obeying speed limits, and stopping at red lights. Sometimes it's interesting just to pull over and watch the world go by. The-Film Director mode in this allows the player to make a car chase film with complete control of camera type, position, lens, and point of interest. GI: Obviously, the graphics in Driver look fantastic, but what can you tell us about the play mechanics? ME: Driver is а car chase game set on the streets of four real American. cities, in which you are free to drive anywhere you choose, in any direction and at any speed — down busy high streets, across junctions, over pavements, through car parks with parked cars to smash into, down alleys stacked with garbage and 50. on. Meanwhile the city surrounds you with other law abiding cit- izens who stick to speed limits, stop: at red lights, queue in traffic jams, etc. Plus there are many other things you would expect to find in a real city. Driver lets you loose in this environment as а high speed get-a-way driver carrying out missions for the local bad guys. Then, once the mission is complete, you can view a film of 7 your car chase and play the part of film direc- tor, as you choose dramatic camera angles and 3 positions. In the press release we got, it sounds ike setting up the cameras to recreate your chase scene is almost as fun as play- ing the game itself. We believe the quote is, "They're as fun to create as they are to watch." What's your take? Is it just as fun? ME: The replay is a purely optional ‘sub game’ allowing players to create their own car chases sequences. The chase is automatically filmed, and then as it is replayed you are able to stop and insert, or edit cameras. These can be fixed position, moving, focus-change, locked-to-cars, in-car, fixed, or mov- ing-point of interest - basically anything you've seen іп a film like low level shots down the back alley, ‘Starsky and Hutch’ style. If you can't be bothered to set cameras on some of the shots you can ask it to suggest one, or auto direct the entire chase. The idea for the Film Director mode seemed like a nat- ural extension for a game which was conceived as а simulation of TV car chases. It's very easy to use, so with very little effort you can create some Stunning results. GI: How many missions (or levels) are in Driver, and could you give us a couple of examples in how they differ from one another? ME: In total there are around 40 missions. Some are simple getaway jobs — arrive at the bank at 12 noon; on the dot, pick up the robbers, then the chase is-on. With cops on your tail you must deliver them to the drop off point. In another mission the mob have asked you to tail someone who works for them to find out where he goes and who he’s doing business with. You pull up out- side his house and wait for him to drive away. Your job is to tail-him, not too close ог he will notice you, but don't lose him. In another mission the mob is owed money Бу а local restaurant owner. Your job is to visit every one of his establishments and smash through the plate glass window. Shards of glass, tables and chairs fly everywhere. € GI: How many and what kinds of cars are іп the game? МЕ: At the moment there are 10 to 14 planned. They are based on classic American muscle cars, but are not officially licensed; since the manufactur- ers will not agree to have their cars used in criminal activity, the destruction of property, or smashed up themselves. That pretty much sums up Driver! fs Gl: Is there is a story to Driver? ME: You play the part of Tanner, ап undercover cop, who, using his driving skills as a getaway driver, enters into the confidence of local gangsters. As. Tanner's reputation improves as a getaway driver, he is hired on bigger and more important jobs, leading him to tread a fine line between the right and (= wrong side of the law as he tries to uncover the truth about the “big job: that is planned. Inevitably some of the jobs take him well and truly onto the $ wrong side of the law. Gl: Nowadays, programmers are reaching into the stratosphere of what the PlayStation is capable of. How much of the PlayStation potential do you feel Driver is tapping into, and secondly what has been lost or changed from the PC version? ME: At the end of DD we thought we had pushed the machine. At the end of DD2 we though we had really pushed the machine. | do know that Driver is pushing the PlayStation-harder than either of our Destruction Derby games by quite some margin..|.am quite sure that it can be pushed further, but-it Gi: Ideally, after Driver is done, what game would you like to work on next? Game Informer Feature really does become: dimin- ishing returns as the con- sole’s lifespan is pushed out: On the other hand, the devel- opment tools have improved Substantially so this has _ allowed further gains. Almost nothing has been lost com- pared to the PC version. Obviously the resolution is lower and the PlayStation hardware does not allow smooth texture filtering as does PC accelerator hard- ware. The models are the same, the cities, the mis- sions, a lot of the code and same dynamics engine and physics. model for example. During the development of the game we have had a number of people re-writ- ing routines that were unsuitable for PlayStation and optimizing to get the best out of the machine. Many things can be taken for granted on the PC, but the programmers have had to be very careful on the PlayStation to make sure that everything is as efficient as possible. The sequel or something else? ME: There were many ideas in the Driver concept which we were not able to include: | think we would like to take the Driver concept further, but would appreciate a more powerful machine! GI: What games are your current favorites? ME: | don't really have time to play games for fun, but if pushed, | would say Gran Turismo because it looks beautiful, achieves a lot in 30 frames per second, and has the best car lighting effects around. Oh yeah, and it’s а great game. Also great іп the visual department are Metal Gear Solid and Zelda оп №64. 61: Was money the only factor іп Reflections signing up with GT Interactive or were there other forces at work? ME: GT has massive marketing and distribution presence and this is what is needed these days for a game to be really successful. We were very keen to retain our autonomy and creative freedom, and GT seems to understand and agree with this approach. Also we want to raise the profile of Reflections and under а normal publishing agreement there is very little incentive for a publisher to help do this. In fact they often try to suppress it: They also have a very good reputation in dealing with developers and there are certainly quite a few publishers which don't! 81 There are massive amounts of game titles for the PlayStation. Tracking down a worthwhile game can be a difficult process, but we hope to help you pick the best (and avoid the worst) with our lists of the finest and most disgusting games for the system. Note: The top 25 list contains a number of titles that are part of a series. In this case, we chose to pick the best game from the series of games. For example, we believe that Tomb Raider 2 epitomizes the Tomb Raider series of three games. However, when it comes to sports titles the line is a little more blurred. We all agreed that playing the current sports games (with their updated rosters) is almost always the best. rash Bandicoot: — з · GranTurismo | ames. зате | Tenchu: | 0 0 00 : ' Stealth Assassins ~ | Eee ES · Metal Gear Soli i s | iet ima апа hi 22 “ сате informer e March '99 - Game Informer Feature — == == Resident Evil 2 rigin fole Is. You can ага get behind TI] = È N t 1 ИП == Ж т j ?:== Ridge Racer Revolution д ver found, challenge Cool Boarders senes a 4 E Lus s ни Shots Golf Hopefully, none of these games ring a bell. А more wretched list of PlayStation games cannot and never will exist. In Creating the Top 25 games, we looked closely at each PlayStation game, and while many put a smile on our face, a fair share made us dry heave, and on occasion, some of the really bad games forced our lunch to Spill from our mouth and onto our clothes. So if your stomach feels queasy, or if your head feels dizzy, then read at your own risk. THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS The movie blew and so does this game. However, to its benefit, the ‘stick in the butt’ character animation is funny. TIME COMMANDO This is one of those games that made us hurl (chunky style). If you want to punish yourself and play it anyway, at least do it on an empty stomach. FLOATING RUNNER To quote our review, “Well at least the title is appropriate, since this game won't flush.” STAR WINDER Similar to the drippy watery-like sub- stance that comes out moments before child birth. THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS 2: RESURRECTION Hey! Rise 2’s box makes it sound kind of cool. Let's see how it is. Mmm...what?...No!!! Oh God!!! It’s hideous!!! No... SLAMSCAPE If it were possible, this is the kind of game that would come to life and attack you while you sleep. It’s pure evil, baby. CHRONICLES OF THE SWORD Aterrible game that tarnishes everything good about video games. If you want to convince somebody that video games can be a form of art, this title won't help your argument. DRAGON HEART; FIRE & STEEL / s „=. Щщ Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde complex. BustA-Move 2 p. ЖЕ = is Gro Fantasy ТАЕП 79 Acclaim puts out some great games, but it Б also has a knack for crap. Dragon Heart was one that brewed in the bowels far too long. CREATURE SHOCK If you really want to mess up your child...or yourself, then try playing this game all of the way through. It'll drive even the strongest of wills to the brink of insanity! Popcorn is green!!! Ha ha!! Smell the toe!!! Smell the toe!!! SPICE WORLD Five attractive women...always dancing... and moving...and bobbing...how in the world did Psygnosis mess this one up? 7 x Wr ч. NK GB camenay senes "и i [continued on ра. 25) T 24 CC-C wach сы Feature [continued from pg. 24] DEFCON 5 While playing this you cant help but cry out for a nuclear explosion eliminating you, the game, and your memory of playing it. NINJA: SHADOW OF DARKNESS We'd rather smother our face in German shepherd doo before we play this game again. KILLING ZONE The worst 30 seconds of fighting to hit the PlayStation. If you play any longer, then you obviously have some issues you need to work out. SPAWN: THE ETERNAL - It truly is hell on earth. Even crazy cults that use such words as: damnation, Lucifer, _ 666, and anti-Christ should stay away. PRO 18 WORLD TOUR GOLF If not for Jesper Parnevik, Pro 18 would have received a score of -2. CYBERIA Should we play Cyberia for: а good hour? Or sit in a padded cell for ten years with Davey Jones cranking out non-stop? IRON MAN/X-O MANOWAR zu We wish the folks at Acclaim no ill will, but come on, this game epitomizes bore- dom. Not even Iron Man could save it. FANTASTIC FOUR The Fantastic Four finally met their match. Dr. Doom...Galactus...none of them are more evil than the development team that pieced this pile together. FOX HUNT And now we know why Obi-Wan let down his guard. He was thinking of this game. _ PSYCHIC DETECTIVE Quite possibly the most pathetic FMV. game ever. Seriously, you haven't seen bad until you play this one. THE INCREDIBLE HULK: ~~ THE PANTHEON SAGA What's worse? The intelligent Hulk? (barf) Or this game? (bart..barf) Two barfs is a winner!!! COURIERICRISIS Man has made several mistakes, but Courier Crisis is probably one of the worst yet. CRITICOM Vic Tokai? Isn't he that famous Japanese lounge singer? Well, if he's not, maybe he Should consider a career change because this game won't get him any promotions. HI-OCTANE The title Hi-Octane doesn't do this game justice. Hi-Mundane is more like it. ROSCOE MCQUEEN ' The concept of running around and putting out fires is bad enough, but to make it look like he does it with urine is the icing on the cake. "loto. isn't autiful таву 3 utm " Wipeout XL ет са ДЮ Eg зм == Syphon Filter E NHL Series lassic. Editors’ Top Ten Games for March Ф Tenchu - PS-X © Civilzation Il - PS-X © Sonic Adventure - DC @ Rogue Squadron - N64 © Rollcage - PS-X © Pokemon - GB © Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - N64 © Street Fighter Alpha 3 - PS-X © The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – N64 @ Syphon Filter - PS-X Readers’ Top Ten Games March Ф Knockout Kings - PS-X © Spyro the Dragon - PS-X € Crash Bandicoot Warped - PS-X @ Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - N64 © Tomb Raider 3: Adventures of Lara Croft – PS-X @ WCW/NWO Revenge - N64 © Rogue Trip - PS-X © Metal Gear Solid - PS-X € Pokemon - GB © The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — N64 Top Ten Reasons Clinton Doesn't Want to Resign as President €» The presidential arcade. © Ronald Reagan's complete Atari library. Ө The oval office is equipped with a PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and a Japanese Dreamcast. @ Monica has finally begun to challenge him in their private White House Tekken 3 tournaments, © He can play games in the presidential theatre anytime he wants. € Air Force 1 is equipped with a PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and a Japanese Dreamcast. © Secret service agents will stop letting him win at Madden once he's out entered іп а drawing to win a GI Secret ‘Access T-Shirt! So get writing! о Game Informer є March '99 of office. © Once out of office, he might have to get @ Enjoys consulting Command & Conquer for best strategy against Iraqi military forces. © Foreign game companies not only contributed to his campaign, but offered him free games as long he stays in office. Game Informer is looking for your Top Ten favorite games. Please send your Top Tens to: Game Informer Magazine Attn: Top Ten 10120 West 76th Street Eden Prairie, MN 55344 Everyone that enters every month will be a real job that cuts into his gaming time. IVIA * NAME THAT GAME! • WHAT’ Nintendo Unveils Donkey Kong 64 Expect to see classic elements and from the Super NES games, but in actual playcontrol ae Knowing fo Ns О New N64 Star Wars Game То Release With Film Star Wars fans take note: As reported in January, Nintendo and LucasArts will release three titles based on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The first Nintendo 64 Star Wars game will have a release to coincide with the Star Wars Episode | film debut on May 21. The first game will be called Pod Racer and players will take the role of Anakin Skywalker. feedback device in future Game Boy titles are in the works. Another Bond Title For Nintendo have been secured by Nintendo. which is a plus. Stay tuned secret agents...we’ll keep you up to date on the latest news. Conker’s Quest Gets Revamped It is hard to believe that Rare’s Conker’s Quest was introduced at the E3 almost two years ago. It also had a strong presence in the Nintendo booth last May and, at the time, most believed that the game would be | released by the end of 1998. Obviously, 1998 came and went with no sign of Conker. Now, word from inside Nintendo is that the game has | been reworked over the last seven months. Game Informer learned 4 that Rare and Nintendo have focused on Conker having less of a ^ P | “cutesy feel” and redesigning the game's multi-player modes. Р. d Exact details were not disclosed, but the world will see the reinvented Conker's Quest at the upcoming ЕЗ show in May. Nintendo has finally unveiled a game that has been in the works for quite some time. A picture of the long-awaited Donkey Kong 64 (working title) has surfaced and the game itself will be on shelves this fall. Like the blockbuster Donkey Kong Country titles for the Super NES, DK 64 is currently in development at Rare - the same company that brought us Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie, and Diddy Kong Racing. setting. What remains to be seen is how the layout will be accomplished. Rare Nintendo, N64 gamers sa have a lot to "Ws tot Rumblings From Game Boy Game Boy games will soon be shaking as Nintendo of Japan has leaked plans to include a The rumble device will be part of each game's cartridge so there will be no need to purchase an extra accessory. In Japan, Pokemon Pinball will be the first cart to utilize the rumble feature. More characters a new 3D and game and look is year. cartridges. The video game rights for the next James Bond film, titled The World Is Not Enough, are rumored to Now if that news isn't enough to make all you Goldeneye fans freak the flying eyeball, then get a load of this. It was also reported that the game will be one of the first titles for Nintendo's next console. No, not the N64 but the NEXT console. What this means we do not know as there's no information yet on Nintendo's new hardware. However, we were told that Rare will once again develop the Bond software ON NASHUN OMIC WATCH NET — —-—- + TOP TEN + TRIVIA + Nintendo Takes Ken Griffey Jr. Hi-Res Nintendo is taking Ken Griffey Jr. through some spring training and hopes to have a new Nintendo 64 baseball game on the shelves in May. Tentatively entitled Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball 2, the game boasts new animation and Expansion Pak compatibility for hires graphics. Nintendo's new baseball game will also get a badly needed Player Create mode. Nintendo's Lineup Looks Bright for 1999 Nintendo's game lineup for 1999 is quickly coming into focus. Take a look at the list below and look for more information on these titles in this and future issues. First Half *99 (Jan - May) Second Half ‘99 (Jun - Dec) • Mario Party N64 * Starcraft N64 * Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball 2 N64, GB * Ogre Battle 3 N64 * Jet Force Gemini N64 * Conker's Quest N64 * Pokemon Yellow GB * Perfect Dark N64 * Tetris - Biosphere N64 * Donkey Kong 64 N64 • Star Wars: Episode І N64 * Smash Brothers N64 * Pokemon Stadium N64 The Primary Colors of Pokemon Not to be confused with the political satire film starring John Travolta, the primary colors of Pokemon are naturally red, blue, and yellow. That's right, the popular Game Boy game will have a new version wrapped in a spankin' yellow cartridge (Pikachu yellow, of course). With a new version (and color) also comes the inevitable craze of discovering the new monsters to collect, trade, and train. At this point Nintendo has not given details as to what, if any, new Pokemons will appear, but Nintendo did disclose that Pokemon Yellow will start players with Pikachu. In addition Nintendo stated that Pokemon Yellow would be designed for the standard Game Boy, but will still work with the Game Boy Color. Look for Pokemon Yellow for Game Boy later this year. In related news, Magic: The Gathering creators, Wizards of the Coast, have developed a similar card game featuring Pokemon. The cards can be purchased in full two-player battle sets, pre-made theme decks, and small booster packs that will enhance your deck. As with all collectible card games, there are some common and some not so common cards in every pack. Some of the cards М T are considered ultrarare, and are even \ holographic. Look for the Pokemon Trading Card game all over the place. It'll be everywhere, with two-player starter kits retailing for the miserly sum of $7.99. by Jay Fitzloff How Did You Manage That? After | tell people about my new position on the editorial staff at Game Informer, the question that always comes up in one form or another is, *How in the world did you get that job?" From what | understand, it's a fairly common query around these parts. The actual answer is that Andy, The Game Hombre, has brain cancer and the tumor affects his judgment. Since he may someday have a moment of clarity, however, l'd better provide a cover story should that dreaded time come. It all comes down to three key points in my life: (1) When | was six, my dad bought me the Odyssey 2, starting me down the trail that leads to glazed over eyes and that glamorous pasty-white look that's all the rage with the kids these days. (2) More importantly, in high School, my mom made me take typing class instead of acting. (3) Most important of all, | know how to swim. Say What? Swimming and typing are vital skills for working at this magazine, even more essential than gaming omniscience? Obviously. If | hadn't taken swimming lessons, l'd have drowned in a lake. There's over 10,000 of ‘em here in Minnesota, thanks to that pesky lum- berjack Paul Bunyon. Man, you can't even walk two blocks in this state without almost falling in a lake. As for the typing lessons; thanks to those | could get things down on paper faster. Since | was writing more, my skills improved until | was getting published in little publications here and there. In college, | naturally gravitated towards the school paper, learning how to meet dead- lines, and edit other's work. All through and after college, | kept writing and writing, and whenever | had some spare time, | would write. GI must have thought all this was important. Or was it my other nerd hobbies? Did being a miniature painting, comic collecting, record hoarding, wrestling watching GameMaster with 18 Charisma get me the job? It might have. It could also have had something to do with me responding to the ad in the newspaper. See how simple it is? All you have to do is dabble in a little bit of everything, peruse print media, resist ennui, and have a little chutzpah. Oh, and listen to your parents once in a rare, rare while. Without them, I'd be a drowned, out of work actor that had never plugged a cart into a console — and you can't work here if you're dead. Game Informer • March "99. © WT У S" WHAT'S HOT + TECH TALK + MUTA ———— NM —— BÀ— OT + TECH TALK + MUTATION NASHLI COMIC WATCH + TOP TEN + TRIVIA + NAME THAT GAME! - GT Buys Reflections, Announces First Game GT Interactive, publishers of many a well- known game (like the Oddworld Series), announced it has acquired Reflections Interactive Ltd. — developers of Destruction Derby - for 2.28 million shares of common stock. Reflections is the sixth internal studio at GT. Also, GT Interactive has announced the first game from Reflections under the GT moniker, which will be called Driver (see pg. 20). "With nearly 15 years experience creating hit games on several platforms, Reflections is one of the most formidable developers in the industry," said Ron Chaimowitz, chairman and CEO of GT Interactive. "They have an unquestion- able ability to create global brands with successful sequels, as demonstrated by their multimillion- unit selling Destruction Derby franchise. Reflections joins GT Interactive's growing stable of software developers, which includes Bootprint Entertainment, Cavedog Entertainment, Humongous Entertainment, SingleTrac апа Oddworld Inhabitants.” Titus Guns Down Top Gun License Titus, makers of the upcoming Superman game for the Nintendo 64, has announced that it has secured an agreement with Viacom Consumer Products to develop and publish video game titles based on the hit movie Top Gun, from Paramount Pictures. Beginning January 1, 2000, the agreement gives Titus the rights to release Top Gun games across multiple platforms, including PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and PC. The first of these games is expected to hit store shelves in the fall of 2000. The Top Gun license has already seen its fair share of success in the gaming industry, with Top Dude! VW Beetle Is Coming To N64 Electronic Arts and Paradigm have teamed up to create a Nintendo 64 racing/adventure hybrid cart featuring the VW Beetle. Not only will you race the little love bug around a track, you will find power-ups and pick-ups along the many alternate routes. As far as car selection goes, it looks like your options lay between the VW Beetle and...you guessed it, the Beetle. Along with the nine different Beetles, there are several bonus cars, each with their own unique racing characteristics. Besides the varying paint jobs and body kits, however, you will be limited to the Beetle ala 1998. Sorry bugheads, you won't even be able to take control of the vintage VW Beetle we all know and love so much. Beetle Adventure Racing is set to ship sometime at the end of March. Acclaim Looks at Busy 1999 Acclaim is getting busy for 1999 early. Apparently there are quite a few titles coming down the pipe from these cats for PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Although we won't see many of these games until the 1999 E3 begins in May, we do have some information pertaining to where these games are headed. So, without further ado, here's a list of games Acclaim has in the works for 1999. * All-Star Baseball 2000 – Nintendo 64 * NFL QBC 2000 - Nintendo 64 * WWF Attitude - Nintendo 64, PlayStation * Re-Volt - Nintendo 64, PlayStation * Shadow Man - Nintendo 64 * Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 — Nintendo 64, PlayStation * NBA Jam 2000 - Nintendo 64 * Velocity - Nintendo 64, PlayStation * Armorines — Nintendo 64, PlayStation Obviously, this is one heavy lineup. Acclaim was quick to point out that other games may be released, as Turok 3 is a possibility, and Acclaim's entire Dreamcast lineup has not been announced. Considering the fact that Acclaim is one of the five “1.5” develop- ers for the DC, gamers should expect a smorgasbord of Acclaim titles to hit the new Sega machine. Gun and Top Gun 2 from Konami on the NES and Top Gun: Fire At Will from Spectrum Holobyte on the PlayStation. Zelda Takes on Hollywood The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has already garnered some interesting notations in the history books, even though it is still less than 90 days old in shelf age. For starters, Zelda made more money during the last six weeks of 1998 than any Hollywood feature film released over the same time period. The closest competitor, A Bug’s Life, was still about $36 million off the mark. Nintendo continues to brag, saying that Zelda is “the fastest selling game of all time” and the “number one selling video game of all of 1998,” and it expects Zelda to sell over 6 million units worldwide by the time the madness has settled. “The fact that a video game in the most impor- tant retail period of 1998 could outdraw any Hollywood release is nothing short of amazing,” said Peter Main, Nintendo of America executive vice president, sales and marketing. “Coupled with the phenomenal growth of online activity, we’re seeing a decided shift among consumers toward interactive entertainment. Users can now manage and control the story process and outcome, rather than simply observe the passive delivery of the same uniform message to a mass audience.” о Game Informer • March '99 Monster Truck Madness Comes to N64 Take-Two Interactive and Gathering of Developers recently announced a cooperative effort in the publication and distribution of the best selling PC title, Monster Truck Madness, for the Nintendo 64. Racing fans will be jazzed about this one, as Take-Two has secured the official licenses of Monster Truck Madness property. What does this mean? Racing fans unite! You'll be able to choose from 20 trucks, such as Bigfoot and Gravedigger. But hold on to your seat, that's not all. You'll also have the option to choose WCW themed trucks such as Hollywood Hogan and Sting. If that isn't enough to make you motorheads salivate, Monster Truck Madness offers 4-way multi-player capability, all new gameplay modes, realistic dashboard instrumentation, and commentary by Army Armstrong, the voice of monster truck racing. Developed by Edge of Reality, Monster Truck Madness is scheduled to ship sometime in July. Koei’s Win Back, a game originally to be released in March 1999, has been pushed back until winter 1999. The title’s hero, Jean-Luc Cougar (no relation to Mellencamp or Picard), was all ready to take out terrorists in this Resident Evitstyle shooter. Nintendo, however, found the storyline to be too short. Koei is now looking to expand the playing time and get the game on the shelves by | the end of the year. Win Back's Jean-Luc Cougar loyal Game Informer reader and Crash enthusiast, Matt MeKenna, has assembled а comprehensive site covering all that is the Bandicoot. If you are stuck іи any of the Crash games, look up this site. 10303. == Who is developing the new Donkey Kong | Numerals (thank God) and coined the latest version Need | game for the Nintendo 64? | For Speed: High Stakes. Yes folks, there will be a theme zz Ў "m | tothis sequel. You'll also have to face the consequences for = d 5 б ee of Turok's advisor in IS OF ЕИП? your actions, and random acts of God may have an effect on | your racing performance. | "We've added enhancements to the weather conditions," said the NFS team. "One of the coolest new additions is the random track scenes. Imagine coming around a corner | shooting for the best line and encountering a landslide that | wasn't there before. You'll have to react quickly and this Є) What former Rookie of the Year is set to endorse Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2000? Э Pokemon, the smash hit for Game Boy, will soon be transformed into a collectible card game by what company? will be a true measure of how skilled a driver you are." Look for Need For Speed: High Stakes to hit the PlayStation some- Need For Spee: High Stakes (5) What was the name of the modem released during the 1994 holiday season for Sega Genesis? [Answers on the bottom of page 32] time around the end of March. e Interplay Sports, formerly known as VR Sports, has taken many a whuppin’ in its time at the hands of EA and Sony. But now, with the renewed interest in baseball after last year’s season of nonstop homeruns, Interplay Sports is ready to try it again. The name of the game is Baseball 2000 and it should be hitting stores in late March or early April. Game Informer will have more info on this game as it develops. for the Super NES and released ін 1991. Н was а fantasy action/adventure game where the player took on the role of a famous sourcerer to battle the evil Shadow King. What game is it? [Answer on the bottom of page 32] Game Informer • March "99. Ó HATS HOT | + TECH TALK - MUTATION NASHUN + COMIC WATCH * TOP TEN + TRIVIA + NAME THAT GAME! + WHAT'S HOT + TECH TALK + = “=== = ian = E — = A ди: n — Data File: ~ = | 5) | » T nd Adrenalin interactive en that the two companies will release a sequel to Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling. The new games being developed by Adrenalin Interactive for the PlayStation and PC, should release this fall. Once again, the Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling titles will feature “state of the art technology and incorporate the sport's best known license, including Brunswick Pro Staff pro bowlers, authentic. tournaments, and equipment." трава ень Yankee’s Derek dete eter To Endorse m's All-Star Baseball 201 Acclaim Entertainment has added yet another sports celebrity to its increasing list of product endorsees - Yankee's All-Star shortstop and 1996 American League Rookie of the Year, Derek Jeter. Following in the footsteps of All-Star Baseball 99's poster boy Larry Walker, Jeter will assist the company's endorsement of All-Star Baseball 2000 for the Nintendo 64, which has once again been licensed by both the MLB and the MLBPA. All-Star Baseball 2000 will not only carry many of the fantastic features its predecessor did, such as ultra-smooth Hi-Rez graphics, all 30 MLB teams, and hundreds of players, but lots of new features like individual team playing styles and stadium updates. All-Star Baseball 2000 is scheduled to ship sometime in >» As with any company, Square Soft is | n always looking to expand its games to April for Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and PC. appeal to a larger, broader audience. Square has signed Hong Kong's num- ber one female pop star, Faye Wong, to Danidas Parsi 2 sing the title song for Final Fantasy | г i = А Resident Evil TI ne M ovie VIII. The song, entitled, “Eyes On Me,” will come in two versions in the game. One is a pop version and the other is a full orchestral version, in the tradition of Final Fantasy. These songs will play as the opening CGs appear when start- ing the game. > In what seems to be standard prac- tice for Electronic Arts, it has picked up yet another title to publish. Pro Boarder is the most recent acquisition that comes to mind, but this time around it’s Rushdown, a PlayStation extreme sports title that brings the thrills of mountain biking, kayaking, and snowboarding together in one e. Boasting ovel 5 у lamed n? LAVAR across si continents ana orga | Sammy Sosa Name EA's Coverboy French rock music (huh?), Rushdown | le P P lay 200 will hit PlayStation in March. | із | | | | The roles of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are said to be filled by two accomplished actors. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Jason Patric and Samantha Mathis will receive top billing in the Resident Evil live action film that is set to release early next year. Patric has been in a number of popular films including Speed 2 and The Lost Boys, and many may also recognize Mathis from her work with Christian Slater in Broken Arrow and Pump Up The Volume. The Resident Evil film is written and directed by Night of the Living Dead master George Romero and will be released to | coincide with the release of Resident Evil 3 for PlayStation. The exact date of release has not been determined. > Acclaim Entertainment announced | Electronic Arts announced that Chicago Cubs All-Star right fielder and 1998 that its worldwide sales of Turok 2 National League MVP, Sammy Sosa, has been named spokesman as well as have reached record levels for the com- coverboy for its upcoming baseball title Triple Play 2000. pany. This incredible demand for the Sosa, who consistently made national sports headlines last season as a кшш БАЛЕ ШЫ ЕЕ forerunner in the historical home-run race with bash brother Mark McGwire, will major retailers to re-order the cart. Н n З Not to disappoint any avid dinosaur lend his baseball expertise to EA developers in hopes to make the next hunters, Acclaim has taken the right installment of the awesome game even more spectacular. steps in keeping Turok 2 on the | With EA's reputation as a powerhouse in the sporting genre, matched with Shelves by increasing its original | Sosa's experience in Major League Baseball, you can bank on the fact that shipment of 1.4 million units world- more copies of Triple Play 2000 will be flying out of stores than balls out of wide. But ОШ be enough carnage Wrigley Field. снуд Sede of Milo me lagen Triple Play 2000 is slated to release for Nintendo 64 and PlayStation N64 launch in the history of Acclaim. in March. Despite an aggressive forecast, ship- ments still did not meet the incredible demand for the product, said Paul Diay@ atio! : Eibeler, executive vice president and Play | Plays arion Games on | Ma ac! ашо carn Connectix Corporation has announced the release of its Connectix Virtual Game Station, the anne scene in the United States, basically a PlayStation emulator for the G3-powered Macintosh. From PowerBooks to the new rage, the but also in Europe where it has become iMac, any Apple Mac that has a G3 processor in it will be able to use this software to run PlayStation games. This does not allow bootlegs or downloadable games, but simply to run existing PlayStation software on a G3-powered Mac. Currently there are over 90 games that will run on the Virtual Game Station with more to come as soon as Connectix tests each and every game for compatibility. This item is not endorsed or authorized by Sony, so take a small amount of concern in with you before purchasing. But for weirdos who refuse to buy a PlayStation, and happen to own a fairly new Mac, this is a , chance to play some of the best games around. Head on over to = www.virtualgamestation.com to check it out. one of the most desired carts of the season. According to Alex Croft, con- sole buyer for Dixons Store Group Plc, “Turok 2 was one of the most antici- pated and talked about games of 1998, and it has performed outstand- ingly on its release in the UK." © Game Informer + March '99 у БШ Action, БАТСА ЕЕ апа xi lene: mysteries await your main characters € NSOE "1 at every turn. Are you brave enough to С Де Ди | join the chase? ~ PlayStation M Here comes Davy the Chameleon again with more power and a backpack parachute for high flying aerial moves. And, oh... did | mention that his ЗЛ tongue got an overhaul too!!! eart Pounding, drenaline pumping cade shooter for the N64. NINTENDOS Visit the monster hatchery and create outrageous cyber beings in this amazing RPG adventure of wit and will. XCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTED BY: ELECTRO SOURCE, LLC. All names and logos are the registered trademarks of their respective companies. j j 23 al АЙ in MT H TALK • MU ON NAS мо» COMIC WATCH + TOP TEN + TRIVIA з — SERT. onem Ш) == == aira i EEUU the Editors of GI es send correspondence to: | Release Date || Title Publisher System Snail Mail February теё 2/15/99. lello Kitty's Cube Frenzy Game Informer Magazine 2/15/99. Attn: Dear GI | 2/15/99. 10120 West 76th Street | 2/15/99. Eden Prairie, MN 55344 | 2/15/99. | ра E-Mail © | 3/16/99 deargi@gameinformer.com | 2/16/99 WWW Home Page 2/16/99. www.gameinformer.com ro 18: World Tour Golf. To contact Secret Access or Access & Allies please send correspondence to: Snail Mail ~ Game Informer Magazine Attn: Secret Access 10120 West 76th Street Eden Prairie, MN 55344 E-Mail codes@gameinformer.com send correspondence to: Snail Mail Game Informer Magazine © Attn: Swap Shop t 10120 West 76th Street. Eden Prairie, MN 55344 Г E-Mail | California Speed coderequest@gamei informer.com 3/9/99 - N64 = = ontact Game Informer С Servige with Change of Address, New. Subs ions or Inquiries please send correspondence to: t Snail Mail Game Informer Magazine Attn: Cüstomer Service H 10120 West 76th Street — ^ Eden Prairie, MN 55344 | Or са! © Customer service hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm (Central Time). (612) 946-7266 Outside Minnesota make sure to dial area code (this is a toll call). To Subscribe please send a check or money order for $19.98 to: Game Informer Magazine Attn: Circulation Dept. 10120 West 76th Street Eden Prairie, MN 55344 www.gameinformer.com/sub.html ру Hunter & Moon Patrol leetle Adventure Racing. EX 3: Enter the Gecko iuardian's Crusades... LB 2000... IBA In The Zc IBA In The Zone '99. аг Stor, І. ВРА Bottom of the 9th ‘9 leed For Speed 4 ‘olleage /CW Nitro riple Play 2000.. Jeff Gordon Racing 3/30/99 - PSX 1. Rare. 2. Adon. 3. Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter. Wizards of the Coast. | Young Merlin | | -Starshot Game Informer * March '99 3/15/99 - N64 [All dates subject to change. Call your local retailer for more details. ] What's more fun than watching cartoons? Playing 7 levels of Game Boy Color Looney Tunes with all your favorite characters! The seriously addictive, classic tile matching game, with all new levels and layouts! Challenging hand " hand fighting action with an adventure story tossed in for more excitement! ~ 10 monsters, 20 levels, 100 ways to win and 100,000 ways to die. Go figure! You'll need lots of balls to play this intensely delirious puzzle game! EH ELECTRO SOURCE LLC, | All names and logos are the registered trademarks of their respective companies. * Size: 128 Megabit | * Style: 1-Player Action/Adventure | * Special Features: 2 Playable Characters (Reinhardt & Carrie); Enhanced Enemy Targeting; Skeletons; Item Shop; Even More Skeletons (Some Riding Motorcycles); Controller Pak Required * Replay Value: Moderate * Created by: KCEK for Konami * Available: Now for Nintendo 64 "e all have our family jewels and the Belmont clan has its family whip. For generations now, each and every Belmont (born with a wee little Bottom Line: И 5 whip) has used this family heirloom to rid the world of the . Dark Prince (a.k.a. Dracula, the Lord of the Vampires, Mr. e Sucky Sucky). The Belmonts train their entire lives for this moment, and so far, all- who've stepped forward have succeeded in eliminating the undead threat. But now, the Belmonts ee z т =face their greatest challenge: -And- so: does -the entire [ are ue ee Castlevania franchise. - 2 animation and clumsy control. А As with most of the classics from the NES. == SNES, Castlevania Graphics ight si ~is now moving to the third dimension. This drastic change could 5 | ing ( | rocket the series to new-heights,-setting the standard for-years to пан car E FISH E mal come. But then again, this shift could leave the series frozen in its 4 “important to n - |- tracks, an argument-for remaining: in tt SCORE ‘dimension. The Playabilty _ from some Us repetition and absolutely awful music. Did | mention We bad voice-overs? test srATUS бооз пол оноо |] this one earable), but ise RO how poorly put together it [ the heights of eta G 2 ‘into е у loving care and this game could have been Let's find out. > 2. E с à awesome, but it was obviously rus! Right off the баг (по | his 64-bit Castlevania аө f 3 i H $ en > “This game has a lot to live up to. It has | Е 3 ==... 5 Ie Be 5 SE PAUL , been a long time since Castl | |: i - — — — —— graced a Nintendo platform, and Konami 2 1 Enden ake o ardt уби сап : toiled more than 12 months on the first а реп pai? Бареа aay E rec. | version for N64. Although I'm disappointed that Konami had to cut the а! plans schoolgirl Fernandez! Е ————\ {һа e The character choices are definitely lame, There's no: lenți the level design is rather dull and the But Konami. Computer- Entertainment Kobe slaved long and:ha ca ea perspective eds 10/6 MK make sure ће датерјау was up to the classic's standard. Yes; Playability EE MOni O EEPE ian gled & r wh to jum] 3D, but like the’Castlevanias before it, this one attempts to deliver 8.75 Su НЕ n etl B "топ-ајор асіїоп-апа сіавзіс ріаїогтіпо. Емеп (ћоџаћ ћез поћа—: Entertainment extremely challenging and loaded with Belmont.in-name, Reinhardt controls his whip like the best of them. 9 familiar Castlevania items and enemies. І And as viith Zelda 64, Castlevania comes packed with an enhanced-- | consider this game to be along the lines enemy targeting system that allows you to stay tethered to the - of zeda, but Castlevania le mote limited highlighted: opponent. ET in action, graphics, and control. t Roast chicken Roast beef E E Eachicharacter comes equipped with two attacks. Reinhardt uses Cure ampoule awhip and sword. Carrie employs magic and attacks close range with “Konami sucked the blood and guts out of two:chaktam. In addition to these attack abilities, each character can REINER the Castlevania series and left behind acquire-a third special weapon like an axe, dagger, holy water, or THE даме camer this corpse of а game. This title could cross. To use these items, you'll first need to acquire enough gems бий. шшш ШЫ одат аара E 4.5 another six to twelve months in the | (replacing the classic hearts). | Я ———————— development chair. But instead of the “The gameplay is fast-paced with action o'plenty. No matter where Graphics astonishingly bold new Castlevania that 'you-go, there always seems to be a skeleton on your tail. Instead of 7.5 mient h ; е) а [с anemi 2 тас й н Тр i In its plact 15 Castlevania lacks the | SEES m 5A placing the player in the middle of nowhere, this adventure is broken Sou nonstop < action and harrowing platforming " 5 | down into levels. Complete a certain number of tasks, defeat а boss, _8.75 of the 2D versions. Replacing these апа їз on to the next segment. Both characters share the same Playability ities is Sibel mo (and. a quest, with subtle differences in a few bosses and each ending. 5 - Ktyouthought the PlayStation Castlevania was a stretch, then this Entertainment ру version will floor you. It may not feature the same gameplay 4 techniques you loved years ago, and the cast of characters may not о а be:the most appealing, but it still features a sinister bite that сап [L6 : on “the money, 50 ШО, -епітапсе and engulf any gamer. a sequel; but until that tir OVERALL As with Zelda 64, СЕПКЕ comes equipped with advanced enemy targeting. ( 34 enema TET Lightning-fast arcade-style action! жгт 3 Over 60 of th me stling he top WCW p Smo available! => © superstars! All your favorite signature moves, EY finishing moves, and taunts! WINDOWS TH "m WCW Nitro © 1998 World Championship Wrestling, Inc. A Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. WCW™ and NWO™ are trademarks of World Championship. Ina Wrestling, Inc. Al characters depicted, are trademarks of or used under License to World Championship Wrestling, nc. АП rights reserved. THO TM 1998 THO INC. — * Size: 256 Megabit * Style: 1 to 4-Player Board * Special Features: Over 50 Mini-Games; 6 Playing Boards; 1-Player Quest; 6 Characters; 3 Game Lengths; Tons of Hidden Stuff; Purple Dice * Replay Value: Moderately High * Created by: Hudson Soft for Nintendo * Available: Now for Nintendo 64 Bottom Line: 3,5 "You'd think that a game with the words 1 Sp "Mari Senn 5 E THE GAME HOMBRE lari Party' in it would be both fun Board Game Bor edom 5 2 ^ Concept — and exciting, but nothing could further Y R " from the truth. The name is off, as the two. Desolation sweeps across the Nintendo 64 кА Se words | would choose to describe this board game scene. Not even a quick port of Graphics вате are ‘Satan’ and ‘Torture.’ Some of Monopoly or the game of Life can be found on this | ње 4 : T S 3 the games you must endure include the 64-bit terrain. But don't hang up your dice just yet. As we all know, a console machine truly isn't chris- tened until it lands a good old fashioned board game. Now, thanks to a joint venture by Nintendo and Hudson Soft, developers of Bomberman and...well Bomberman, a board game cometh. p Entertainment And who better to star in the first Nintendo 64 board i " D game than the legend himself. That's right diceheads, |: nun SQUE ami Mario Party’s name isn’t mere coincidence. Mario is think I'll stay away." actually the star of this product. And get this! The entire ш cast from Mario Kart is here as well. Yee doggie!! All their wildly funny motions and crazy cartoon voices are Bee here to tickle your funny bone over and over again. As with every Mario (f release, the red carpet has rolled out for this one as well. Mario Party: PAUL weighs in at a whopping 256 megabit (the same as Zelda), and delivers tons Sound ever-mundane crane game, where you 5 mindlessly grab at things that you can асса 2 — — —— never actually get. Or how about the Roll the dice, then 2 Playability funtastic Memory Match game? Actually maneuver across the board. 3 nothing could save this game from its ability to put up to four people to sleep at the same time, not even its 256 megabits “This is the game you pop in when your і 1 7 THE САМЕ PRoFEssor SiSter, grandma, or anyone else who rarely ames to Concept — touches video games wants to play. It's Beat the mini-g of options and variety. = collect Coins... simple and filled with cute little puzzles, The majority of Mario Party centers around the board game. There are in — 8... andit has a board game format that fact, six different boards to choose from. Each board is designed completely [=== Graphics grandma can relate to. To Mario Party's different from one another. And it’s not just the look. All of the boards also - [: 5 credit, this is the perfect game for the come packed with variances in skills and feats. However, all share the same Sound ae under six crowd. However, the experienced list of over 50 different mini-games. 5 gamer will get more enjoyment out of As you move-about the game board (just like in Monopoly or Life) you'll я = РЕ mocking this title, Making fun о? the lame need to collect Coins. To capture these you'll need to land on a safe space der ility MESE ему По (rewarding three coins) or find success in the mini-games. Almost all of the P 2 Party i MAE and basically fills a games are 4-player battles, but jp у $ Entertainment y z > 4 |. = 2 void in Nintendo's first quarter lineup. sometimes a 1-player game will rear its X2 ac Seriously, there is no way that this game is head. The games all last for about a || " worth the cash — even if you are looking to. minute and deliver diversity stretching „then exchange the buy a game for grandma." 5 = Coins for Stars. Collect the across just about every known genre in most Stars and you win END the gaming world. That's right! Mario Du UE e ШОШ d uu i "| stepped up to this review as a video variety of sports, platforming, and other » 1 Sio Pene that make you REINER game veteran, ready for anything. I've il | Ў i THE RAGING GAMER played every single N64 title out there, and conduct an orchestra, drill an outline ої || mcr See ' an image, battle for Coins, insert the || Concept have seen many sights and sounds. But A А 1 even with this experience behind me, | key into a door, and dig through sand. wasn't prepared for what lurked within this. - When you win events, you'll gain a о Graphics Мед release. No game has assaulted me fair amount of coins. You'll then trade in | | 4.5 with this kind of ferocity, and no game has the Coins for Stars. Obtain the most | у Sound taken as many jabs below my belt as Mario Stars at the end of the game and you're Mario Party features | Party. It seriously hurts to play this title. the winner! To do this though, you'll be over 50 mini-games. — paani, — And no, it's not designed specifically for up for the battle of a lifetime and every skill from children. Even the kiddies will find Mario quick button pressing to catlike reflexes will be called upon. Party and its plethora of minigames to be Besides the massive board game, Mario Party also brings forth a Entertainment extremely boring and more of a chore than 1-player adventure, which challenges you to beat all of the mini-games. For .25 anything else. Heck, if Iwas a kid again, I'd Some mini-games pit one player against the rest. completing tasks or performing well (even in the board game) a ton of Pont нате Даар goodies can be purchased in the gift shop. Including a bird that mimics the and take the spanking rather than play this Voices of each character. Funny! And a motherload of hidden stuff awaits OVERALL god-awful game again." as well. 2 ij W 4 rj е, Mz Preview * Size: 128 Megabit * Style: 1 to 4-Player Action * Special Features: Play Through Multiple Time Periods; 1st or 3rd-Person Gameplay Views; Deathmatch & Cooperative Modes; 15 Different Enemies (Plus Extra Bosses); 18 Different Weapons; 20 Levels Spanning Through 4 Different Time Periods; Secret Areas; Rumble Pak, Controller Pak, & Expansion Pak Compatible * Created by: Eurocom for GT Interactive * Available: March 19 for Nintendo 64 | |40% Complete A little jab at the competition. sen. ena WEAPON acas Ten ZOOM 1.000000 Duke Nukem is definitely one busy character. Appearing on all the current platforms, as well as in a PC series that is well-known to gamers and non-gamers alike, Duke has over ten games, spanning from 1991 to now. And Dukey is not afraid of change, either. From the side-scrolling action of Duke Nukem |, to the in-your-face first-person action of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, he’s seen it all. Eun But it seems that lately, looking at the king's butt is all the rage. | 29 ховав" Taking a page from the recent PlayStation incarnation Time To Kill, Zero Hour can be played in third-person mode. However, the control is nothing like Tomb Raider, which TTK was obviously modeled after. Instead, the control is just like any first-person shooter, with fast-paced shooting action and lots of mobility. The camera can also be moved to a first-person perspective for those who prefer it. The best part of this whole setup is that the camera is always in a place that doesn't get in the way. If Duke's in a small spot, the camera gets in close, and Duke becomes transparent, enabling a full field of vision. Duke can run in any direction, as well as jump. This gives him the motion he needs to blast pig cops, giant lizards, and mutated humans to smithereens, all while delivering off-color remarks. Speaking of off-color, the areas are filled with suggestive statements on billboards, like a sign that says "Lee's Golden Showers." There are also the typical parodies and caricatures to tickle the funny bone that you would expect in a Duke game. One of the first you run across is a Spice Girls knockoff. Yes, humor is not dead in Duke, even though he can kill a joke like nobody else. And there are many weapons at your disposal, 18 in fact, to keep the killing fresh, fun, and festive. And the story...well, the story is pretty much the same as Time To Kill, except that here the aliens are using time travel to attempt to eliminate Duke's ancestors, thereby causing his extinction in “the present.” Of course, Duke is a smart ol' perv, and sets off again through time to thwart the aliens" plans. Along the way, he'll end up in Victorian England, the old West, and an area where all times exist together in a mishmash of old and new. Over 20 levels await the hardcore Nukers out there; and with lots of enemies to kill, and even more weapons to obliterate them with, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour is one wild ride indeed. +. Point-blank pig blasting. A always besi to kill in pairs. п Clam juicer Sounds tasty. E PlayStation Review * Size: 1 CD-ROM * Style: 1-Player Action * Special Features: Running on Revamped Gex Engine; Voodoo & Tons of It; Puzzles; Warp Room; Voice-Overs; FMV & Real-Time Cutscenes; Analog & Dual Shock Compatible * Replay Value: Moderately Low * Created by: Crystal Dynamics for Eidos Interactive * Available: Now for PlayStation Bottom Line: 6.75 Is He Gutless Too? Akuji the Heartless is the first of many Crystal Dynamics titles to utilize the Gex: Enter the Gecko engine. From the dynamic lighting to the structure of play, you'll be reminded now and then of the appealing Gecko. Unlike Gex though, Akuji isn't about wit and charm. This title is extremely sadistic and light on the jokes. The main idea here is to thrust gamers into a dynamic adventure that delivers just as much story as it does heart-pounding action. In last month's issue we blew out Akuji, taking an in-depth look at every inch of the game. Since that time we've learned a few things and found a solution to Akuji's biggest drawback. In case you didn't yet know it, Crystal Dynamics has a camera crisis on its hands. Gex’s only. problem was the loose and often dizzying camera. You may also have experienced the camera difficulties in the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver demo. Well, the release of Akuji brings forth a big gasp of relief on this score. The camera is still a little on the confusing side, but it's no longer a serious hassle to manipulate it to your liking. By double clicking the Akuji cam, the camera will quickly swing from its current location to a comfortable position behind Akuji’s back. While the camera work is a distant cry from perfection, it is a step in the right direction, hopefully just the beginning of the improvements that we'll see in Soul Reaver. The gameplay in Akuji is fast and loaded with hand-to-hand combat. If an enemy (like a boss) is too powerful for Akuji’s hand-mounted talons, then switching to the art of voodoo is a must. Similar to a Jedi handling a saber, Akuji is masterful with his tools. Everything from fireballs and energy shields to powerful shockwave blasts can be launched from Akuji’s hands. However, Akuji cannot manipulate one of these forces unless he first collects an icon representing the desired power. On the plus side, the voodoo can be used on the run, even while jumping. If you find yourself in a sticky situation, then unlock the beast within and, using your gift, fry all who oppose you. Akuji is heavy on the platforming as well. All the environments require that you tackle some sort of feat. Maneuver past rolling boulders, keep clear of the burning lava, and jump from moving platform to moving platform. Akuji is an ambitious project that rekindles the spirit of classic platforming and dives deep into a creative story. However, will the ancient 3D camera work and comparisons to Gex be too much for today’s savvy gamer to take? KX оў 38 Game Informer * March “99 * Ge I = E] Now, if | was a heart, where would І hide? ~ pe що Give me back my heart! є | Ring around the Akuji? Or wicked! voodoo? You make the call! ms sea THE GAME HOMBRE Concept 1 phics OVERALL PAUL THE GAME PROFESSOR Concept 1 Graphics OVERALL REINER THE RAGING GAMER Concept 3.25 Graphics 7 Sound 7. Playability 6.5 Entertainment 3 OVERALL “Conceptually, Akuji is right on. A 3D adventure that involves voodoo magic and a main character with a huge claw on one arm is just the kind of sick and perverted thing | look for in video games. Unfortunately, this game has a lot of technical problems that distract from Akuji’s fantastic tale. First of all, the camera sucks. While the do-ityourself camera was acceptable a year ago, it isn’t anymore. | refuse to spend as much time battling the camera as playing the game. Plus, the engine has a lot of problems. The odd perspectives lead to sloppy control, which in the end makes the game mediocre. If you like adventure games along the lines of Tomb Raider, check out Akuji. It's got tons of switches for you to flip. Otherwise, | don’t see much that this game has to offer.” “Some guy has his heart ripped out and he wants to kick butt. It seems to me that this is just a slight deviation on another title coming soon from Crystal D. So until that one comes out, | would keep your distance from this game. The level designs are excellent and the overall look is very nice, but once you see the game in action it is another story. The camera control is very cumbersome and this causes everything to come to a grinding halt as you attempt to get the right perspective for the next jump. Akuji does have a great soundtrack and nice cutscences, but that is little consolation because this game is fairly average. My advice is to wait until you see what Soul Reaver has to offer before dropping the bucks on Akuji. It may just be better to forget this game altogether.” “This story never really intrigued me. It’s different and crafty (ГІЇ give it that much), however it's also completely asinine and a serious waste of creativity. The game follows suit. Akuji should have been more like Tomb Raider, vast and rich in exploration and puzzles. But instead, the gameplay is like a mentally disturbed version of Gex, heavy on the platforming and goofy in design. The color pallet in this title is way too vibrant (especially for a creepy voodoo scenario). The levels are extremely short and ridden with weak puzzles, and the gameplay is often choppy. and hindered by poor combat mechanics. If you are а manic depressive, easily angered, or fearful of anything evil, then stay away from Акції the Heartless. It'll drive you to the brink of insanity." = www.989studios.com 4 Playstation |, PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Syphon Filter, 989 Studios and the 989 Studios logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.© 1989 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. : 1-Player Strategy * Special Features: Based on Popular PC Title; Turn-Based; PlayStation Enhancements in Interface; New Beginner Mode; 21 Historical Civilizations; Uses 10 Blocks of Memory Card * Replay Value: Moderately High * Created by: Microprose/Human for Activision * Available: Now for PlayStation Bottom Line: 7 75 ^^f E. You start the game in a small corner of a vast world. 10. Берре: с: Solik ANDY If you envision a group of game producers and designers huddled іп а conference room discussing what Eum. Concept project will be “the next killer game,’ what is the first [is SUE ы idea to come to your mind? A fighting game starring Graphics Steve Austin? A game like Resident Evil ог Final Fantasy? y How about a title that simulates 6000 years-of organized Sound culture and allows the player to develop trade, command ша сугыш armies, and advance technology all їп an attempt to Playability conquer the planet or leave it? Although the latter was HOMER probably the farthest from your mind, this game concept Enter ES has been imitated in video games ever since a designer and programmer named Sid Meier adapted a board game called Civilization to a computer. Subsequently, this award-winning game, which spawned a sequel іп 1997, has finally made its way to consoles. Soe OVERALL Civilization И, like most strategy games, is a different PAUL breed than the average popular console game. It is not THE GAME PROFESSOR. driven by dazzling images and special effects. The heart of Concept the game is not the graphics, but the complex program 8 that keeps track of every event and changing variable. i Graphics There doesn't seem to be too much going on when уои | ЖЧ ak $ 6.75 start опа small block of land with а few thousand Sound settlers. The year is 4000 BC and you decide to start a civilization has developed. 1 new city next to a river. You may decide to build a [@ Playability barracks for your small army or possibly attempt to 8 fortify your city. After a few turns you notice that almost 100 years have passed, and you decide to explore beyond your small cube of land. Over the next thousand years, your settlement will grow larger, new cities will be REINER A closer Took at one of the cities complete with harbor, temple, settled, and you may have to defend your ferritory against concept and granary. barbarian invasion. Whatever the scenario, an increasing ————— number of challenges and decisions must be made as your Graphics civilization grows, and the timeline creeps toward the year 15 2000 AD. Sound А game can normally last about 12 hours which, for но IER some players, will pass in the blink of an eye. Civilization II ШУО has an addictive quality that can keep you up through the night and thinking about the next game throughout the following day. Of course, this title is not for everyone, but B Civilization IVis not like most other games available for the (7.75 | M А wide variety of units canbe | PlayStation. produced including buildings | OVERALL THE GAME HOMBRE "Entertainment | 9 THE RAGING GAMER Entertainment Your citizens will pay homage to you by building new items for your throne room. “Civilization Il is a great strategy game, and this incarnation for the PlayStation is more than adequate. It’s been awhile since | played the PC version, but the second you pick up this game, you quickly become addicted to your quest to conquer the world, soon finding the hours on the clock flying by faster than Randy Moss on a post pattern. About the only problem | have with this version is the resolution, as it is hard to see some of the terrain bonuses; otherwise, everything from the throne room to the advisors are here in all their glory. If you like strategy games, and you missed it on the PC, definitely give this one a whirl as it is still one of the greatest.” "| missed out on the Civ Il craze on the PC, but | remember a number of people in the office losing a number of days to this behemoth. It looks pretty dull at first, but | was sucked into this game almost immediately. Before | realized it, six hours had passed and | wanted to keep going. Don’t make the mistake of not clearing a chunk off your memory card. It takes 10 blocks so be warned. The options this game has to offer are overwhelming and there are a ton of ways to play. However, | found the military strategy of my Nordic ancestors to work the best — march the military down the opponents’ throats. It's. a brainless strategy, but a smart tactic the first time around. | suggest renting this game for a few days because some of you might get bored out of your gourd. Don’t let the score fool you. | like this game a lot.” “Hopelessly addicted. | haven’t fallen victim to a strategy game for quite some time, but Civilization Il has me completely shackled to my PS-X. This PC port is magnificient. Some of the artwork and options have been slightly altered, but the absorbing gameplay is still intact. The resolution is obviously worse, but the menus are still easy to read and the play is extremely fast and not hindered by loading or lulls. The graphics are sufficient, but lack flash; and if Civilization || has any kind of downfall, it's found in the monotonous and annoying music. If you're &oing to play for hours on end, then you'd better hope you have your own tunes ready and waiting. To truly be engrossed (and Successful), a general knowledge of world history, sheer resourcefulness, and intelligence are required skills." [ “Stunning spell effects” —EGM ] [ “Deep, involving storyline...beautiful graphics" —GamePro | [ “Beautifully rendered" —Next Generation ] [ www.shadowmadness.com ] Шы [ "Loaded with exquisite music." —Gamer’s Republic | lon [ “Unravels like a good mystery...epic” —PSM | [ "A highly interactive world." —PSExtreme ] pem J E un > = [DE Shadow Madness, Craveyard and Crave are trademarks of Crave Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. © 1999 Crave Entertainment, Inc. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. * Size: 1 CD-ROM * Style: 1 or 2-Player Action (3-Player Via Multi-Tap) * Special Features: 7 Playable Characters (4 New); 125 Levels j . Throughout the Universe; Special Move 2 Е for Each Character; Bonus Levels; Dual * Shock & Analog Compatible; Level Specific Art; Interactive Objects x * Created by: Midway ша Available: March 30 for PlayStation . 80% Complete Mayhem in the Solar System When watching the Godzilla movies of old, it made many of us want to dress up in rubber suits and stomp all over a miniaturized city. But we discovered that those rubber suits are kind of steamy. Fortunately for our sweat glands, Rampage came along. This game was inspired by classic monster films, such as Godzilla and King Kong, and based on an incredibly simple concept — Smash! Rampage puts you in the shoes of a giant monster and lets you destroy buildings, punch helicopters, and snack on the helpless civilians that scurry at your feet. Simple yet satisfying, especially with a friend or two. The Monsters Before you begin your quest of destruction, | you must choose a monster. George, Ralph, and | | Lizzie have been busting buildings for years since | 1 the original arcade version of Rampage appeared.