FE NINTENDO SEGA PLAYSTATION PC MAC ARCADE INTERNET Back to reclaim the cup Command C Conquer Red Al i The wait is over TOBAL The latest PSX MO.I ame % tS MAG ► Ultima 9 A sneak leek ... I Pandemonium An alternative to Crash? Fighters Mega mix Virtua Fighter meets Fighting Vipers Microsoft amazingly comfortable, advanced programmability, full function multi-pud minim?. ...;Microsoft have developed what ould be the best PC gamepad j n the .Market... .” ' ' J tv , |i Hyper Magazine / /7NJ J t.f October 1996 / ft~ Unlock the potential of your computer, with the Microsoft Windows 95® operating system. The enhanced multimedia and faster, smoother video, makes for awesome programs and game play. Microsoft Windows 95® means you can work and play with more speed and greater ease. GEX: slither with this smart mouthed lizard through five tv and movie worlds full of over-the-top, outrageous action! MONSTER TRUCK MADNESS : untamed, hi^h speed, dirt kicking, car crushing racing, so authentic it’s almost heart stopping! FULL COURT PRESS: True-to-life multi-player action, featuring over 100 authentic nba plays that will put’em in the zone. SOCCER: puts you ri z c 3 <0 «l M 3 2 * » * 2 a o > j * 05 - » * 3 = S < 0 3 5 oo- C a 5 € ? * OP Q c /> r => 2 > o o 3 3 Q 3 a * o o 3 da c o n 5 g * 33 r to _ • Vi 2 o —• n Cft A O IO ? o O O *£ 3 3 a _ 3 - a o IO ? 3 o cn 00 Cn O cn “■* 5 J 2 0 Q 1 a 2 £q S “ a S3,®, sq 3 » 50 ' u 5 * 5 jj}- — 5 0 o 2 z -♦ z 3 $ § ? 1 * 3 3 « < ■■i s Crt Q ft> JP 3 £ 0 _ Q- O' O ST > g? 2£ ” o jf 5 in ^ *h -v_ O d- jw 3 2 3 O S 5 CU S & o « o> N> ©> M o £ So £ •» 0 I o 9 I > M O <0 3 tt 0 3 T3 T oo^ o m co CO J it < i? « o 3 £ l £ " UQ Q 3 S' 3 W ^ S S 3 8 < * * _ - m -: 3 * 2 o ■ O 1*1 c S. S" 5o* ? ^ ET > 3 . <5 ^ £ 5* ‘ sr j? M n S .2: f o®' C VQ 2 J nT 2 a% 2 .-• < g 3 3 I> Q_ iQ O 3 O' 2 o 2 c c. rc ■l 9 ft Cu w-ta ~ S' m £ ^ O' ° -o 5 . § o (Q SO 3 E Oi VU ^ ^ | » § 3 5. cl 3 0> ' UQ CT 3- : o 5- O' _ 3 o CT 5- CL flT ^ > 2 i Qp S 3- o ^ < .x i g- g« < lISJs *s! S-O^ § s ^ 111 —— a> Q. O' O' - • 3 CD 3 ^ co i o o. o° ! j? HT & i a r o- | 3 w rt ! o o 01 . S /-\ ■ L z Z 2. C® ■5 * §-5 ON .f- o 3 a £ cl 2J Z‘ 3 §og- s r S-s .3 —« CT a> *o o tQ ^ Cl; n fi 3 T 3 ?§ ? ti/ 3 cr c *V « O 3 ^ r < a> O' CL 3 a> °-S S a- x o rS O 0 * o < 3 w S O 3 : O' ~ CL »HYPER a Well kids, it’s time to say Bubblegum Crisis 2 "Bern to Kill” ’’Welcome Knight Sabers! loin me as we toast....THE SUPER BOOMER!” So touts the corporate suit in Bubblegum Crisis 2: Bom to Kill. What’s a boomer? Well, they’re like these super powerful androids built by those wacky fun loving dudes at the Genom Corporation. Androids designed to serve your every need, whether from general household/industrial jobs to the good old bat¬ tery powered slap and tickle. Of course, once in a while Boomers get a few circuits crossed and all hell breaks loose. That’s why the future city has AD Police to take care of the situation (See AD Police series for some pants pounding action). But what happens when the flesh and blood police force can’t stop psychotic android heavy metal? Well, call in the Knight Sabers! It stands to reason, doesn’t it? Cute schoolgirl types who dress in high tech armour designed to battle and destroy rogue boomers. Makes sense that when you gotta fight machines, then you cover yourself in a machine. If not, think about the twen¬ ty million you get paid in the process. That’s what the Knight Sabers are thinking when a particle beam satellite goes down. Along the way they get to meet all the mean and nasty corporate scumbags that populate the city, as well as the ever growing Genom corporation with their new line of SUPER BOOMERS!!! Bubblegum Crisis was a classic on its release in the eighties. It still holds up pretty well in some areas, but shows its age with the soundtrack and storyline. Still, it you’re a technophile like me and you wanna go back to your roots then this is the series to do it with. 6 ■ 5/10 DISTRIDIIIEO RY MADMAN AND SIREN. RAIED PG PlayStation COMING SOON Featuring the Porsche Boxter • Based on the 1st sports car release from PORSCHE in 20 years! • Exclusively to PlayStation • 20 trachs over four courses • Interactive trachs & music • One or two player split screen • Real time lighting • Motion capture drivers AVAILABLE March/April 97 • ONY tarns G Expected Classification For hints *n tips call the: PlavStation PowerLine 1-902-262-662* * ITM cans are charged at a rate of $1 50 per mm A higher rale applies from public and mobile phones is a trademark of Sony Corporation. Japan I and PlayStation are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Porsche Boxster are trademarks of Porsche No home is complete without the complete collection of HYPER. HYPER» . .\ Mortal KomJbat3 The beat 'ein up^to b«af /eiVall? HYPER» r HYPE**» Nintendo’s Doom URBAN STRIKE MOkC MK2 SCCkCTS HYPER » Saturn But don't despair. For a mere $7.50 an issue (including postage and hcjnngoyou can regain your street credibility. New Zealand readers please pay AUD$7.so per issue. Issue #1 SF2 Turbo Issue #2 Sonic Spinball/CD Issue *3 NBA jam, Issue *4 Virtua Racing, Issue *5 Star Trek Issue *6 Mechwarrior Issue *7 Streets of Rage 3 Issue #8 Super Metroid Issue *9 Mortal Kombat 2 Issue *io SSF2 vs MK2 Issue *11 Earthworm )im Issue *12 Doom2 Issue *13 DK Country Issue *14 Sold Out Issue *15 Top 100 Issue #16 Sold Out Issue *17 Sold Out Issue *18 VF vs Tohshinden Issue *19 Mortal Kombat 3 Issue *20 Daytona USA Issue *21 Rebel Assault 2 Issue *22 Playstation Issue *23 Killer Instinct Issue *24 Mortal Kombat 3 Issue *25 EW Jim 2 ♦ CD Issue *26 Cheat Guide [$10.50] Issue #27 Hexen Issue *>28 Diddy’s Jong Quest Issue *29 Virtua Fighter 2 Issue *30 Wing Commander 4 Issue *31 Alien Trilogy Issue #32 Toy Story Issue *33 Tekken 2 Issue *34 Mario 64 Issue *35 Quake Issue *36 Crash Bandicoot Issue *37 Nights Issue *38 Wipeout 2097 Issue *39 Tomb Raider ■ mm mm ^m ^m mm ■ ENCLOSED IS MY CHEQUE/MONEY ORDER FOR HYPER lSSUE/8 |NO CASH] NAME ADDRESS AT $7.50 EACH (INCLUDING POSTAGE AND HANDLING). SEND TO HYPER BACK ISSUES, PO BOX 634 . STRAWBERRY HILLS, 2012. NHL '97 Hyper puts more sport in your Summer You may be thinking there’s far too much sport on TV at the moment. Well we reckon there’s not enough! Not enough EA Sports anyway! Subscribe this mouth and we could help rectify this situation. EA have kindly offered us two Hot EA Sports packs, one for the PlayStation, the other for PC. Each pack contains: FIFA SOCCER '97 mi ■ V PGA '96 -£9 y:* NBA LIVE '97 ~j PLUS AIM EA T-SHIRT E CAP Subscribing also means you get your favourite magazine easier and cheaper than everyone else too. C’mon, be a sport - subscribe. Fill out this coupon and mail it to HYPER. Reply Paid 634, PO Box 634, Strawberry Hills, NSW. 2012 Name_ _ System _ Address Suburb/Town Postcode Enclosed is my cheque/money order, or debit my credit card for $44.95 (1 yeor/12 issues) Bankcard | Mastercard j | Visa |~ Expiry Date _ Card No Signature EASiLY OnE OF tHE HlOSt EniGITIAtiC FIGURES in fHE GAminG inDVStRy, DAVE PERRY Takes fimE out FRpm HOoninG ARpvnD in His VIO Dodge psYCHomoBiLE to Talicgaities, AnD most impoRjAntLY tHE LAtESt SHinY EntERjAinmEnt OFFERjnG, IT1DIC(IT1 urper^DeaTh Kjll). Steve Polak caught up wiTh tHE GAmES inDVStRy’S COURT iEStERtO TALK. ALL tHinGS DEStRyCtiVE. Hyper: What iA the baAic idea behind MDK? DP: We have been waiting to make a game like this for years, but the 16 bit consoles were never strong enough to handle it. The game is set in the future, it has a real "Aliens" and "Predator" kind of feeling, however the twist is that there is quite a bit of humour in there as well. Earth is being rampaged by moving alien cities that steal our minerals by driving into major urban areas and breaking them down into component parts on a VERY large scale. Hyper: SoundA like a AeriouA doAe ot maAA deAtruction? DP: In a good day in MDK 2.5 billion people will die. Hyper: How will the same be Atructured? DP: We have built the game around 4 principle stages - Freefall, Traversal, Boss, and Blast-off. Freefall is controlled look¬ ing down as you fall at the speed of a bullet. Finally landing on the moving city. Traversal is when you run in full 3D above, below, around and through the moving city. During The Boss’ section you find the driver/boss and kick his butt. This bit is usually funny as well as violent. Finally you blast off, flying back out into space through the plasma stream. But there are other modes of transport; there is snowboarding, sliding on your butt, hoverboarding, parachuting plus a few other things. Hyper: Tell ua about the weaponA... DP: We have the World s Most Interesting Bomb and The Human Mortar plus heaps more. These are the coolest weapons a PC gamer has EVER experienced... I really don’t need to say any more... The objects and weapons in MDK are really unique and are fun to use. Hyper: you have been ofiten quoted oa being a tan ot high reAolution gameA. oa oppoAed to flrame rate. What reAO- lution optionA will MDK run under, and how have you managed to optimiAe the graphicA routineA ao the game will run on leAA powerful Pentium PCa. DP: MDK had many technical problems during development, when you can see for miles in high resolution there is a huge technical burden, all enemies are running around as well, finally we have bullet accuracy on the POLYGON level. We used to think a game like this would take a mainframe computer, however what we did was to write a lot of the code especially for the PENTIUM chip. It is AMAZING what a Pentium can do if you program PENTIUM code. Most developers have avoided doing this because it is really complicated. The result is that MDK runs REALLY fast. On my PC it is 30 frames per second. Hyper: Will MDK 3D accelerator graphicA cardA Aupported? DP: MDK will not be supporting 3D accelerator cards but the Pentium code is actually faster than many of the 3D cards out there already. Hyper: Any tavouriteA amongAt the currently available 3D cardA? DP: Santa will be getting me a 3DFX. Hyper: Where do you think the PC iA going oa a gameA machine? DP: It is moving in swiftly, it is getting really strong. I think it will always have a different audience but it makes a GREAT games machine. Hyper: What about uAing DirectXg which iA Atarting to make an impreAAion on developed? What do you think ot the MicroAott APIa (eApecially DirectXg)? DP: I think it is bloody great, we are using it now. I did not believe that Microsoft could actually speed up a game, but believe me, on some video cards our game runs TWICE as fast under Windows 95. Hyper: What about MicroAott a involvement . do you think they can Aimply buy their way into the market with their conAiderable tinancial muAcle? DP: Is the Pope Catholic? Hyper: Do you have any preferred plarformA to develop tor? DP: No, not really, we just know what our game requires and pick the best platforms. Considering the audience also! Hyper: Shiny were reportedly at one point in time intereAted in M2. Are you Atill vibed about MatAUAhita’A ettort? Any newA ot the machine, or your deciAion to develop tor it? DP: Reliable sources say that the hardware is VERY impressive. I just don’t believe that Matsushita (who make money sell¬ ing hardware) are going to want to sell consoles at a loss. I think they will go the 3DO way. I, like you, wait to be surprised. Hyper: Now talking about the jump to 32bit conAoleA. Hoa it really done anything to revolutioniAe or even Aignrfi- cantly enhance gameplay? 1 remember a lot ot great "muAt have " i6bit gameA whilAt at thiA Atage there are very tow 32bitterA which Atir a Aimilar level ot excitement? Am I getting jaded, or iA it the caAe that we are Aeeing the Aame old ideaA repackaged oa the neweAt thing on the block? DP: I enjoy playing classic styles of games, but what I care about is that they are REALLY WELL DONE. That is where most of the garbage gets in the way. Very few games are POLISHED. When one arrives like Wave Race then it stands out. I don’t want some funky new ice cream. I like vanilla, I just want to taste REALLY REALLY nice vanilla. Hyper: Tell ua a bit about you next major conAote title ”Wild 96"... DP: It is a huge project (maybe too huge -1 get no sleep these days), it stars a new character called WEX, he has a weapon that is completely new - it tortures his enemies before ripping them to shreds. The game is pure gameplay, action and humour. Hyper: What gameA are you looking torward too in the next 6 monthA? DP: I will be buying Red Alert today. I am disappointed in Tomb Raider, the controls totally suck. The game looks great, but the idiot that designed the joypad control should be shot at dawn. Hyper: What do you Aee aA the tuture tor the induAtry? Are there too many playerA? DP: I wish magazines would kill more crappy games and stop gamers getting jaded. There is really great stuff out there, but video game stores only really need ONE shelf. 3,000 new CD ROM titles a year - give me a break! Hyper: Where would you like to be in the induAtry in 5 yearA? DP: Small and making games without pressure. HYPER» 23 24 »HYPER previews 8 > Fighters Megamix Saturn AVAILABLE: APRIL Now that the Virtua Fighter phenomenon is reaching the absolute heights with the arcade release of Virtua Fighter 3, arguably the most impressive arcade game ever... it’s high time to see some sort of compila¬ tion of the Sega fighting games isn’t it? Well while some PlayStation owners might be sated with the Mortal Kombat Trilogy release... Saturn owners really have something to jump up and down about. Sega of Japan had been keeping devel¬ opment of their latest fighting game title very hush-hush, but on the 21st of December they released Fighters Megamix in Japan. What is Fighters Megamix? Essentially it takes all the Virtua Fighter characters, and all of the Fighting Vipers characters, and bundles them into one huge fighting game tonkfest! Very little is known about the title at this stage, but we do have news that the Fighting Vipers characters will have their armour as they did in the standard game, and that there will be arenas from both classic games, so it’ll be possi¬ ble to have Wolf and Jeffry bat¬ tling it out in a cage! There’s also word of completely new characters that have been developed specificallly for the game (Rumour of use of the Virtua Cop characters), so we’re looking at around about twenty or more characters. Fans of Virtua Fighter 3 will be pleased to know that the dodge function from VF3 will be included (as it was in Fighting Vipers), so it would seem gameplay has been tweaked as well. For those Virtua Fighter fans that are con¬ cerned that the Fighting Vipers characters will have an unfair advantage with their armour, rest assured that Sega are including armour breaking moves for the VF characters to even things up. No confirmation of the PAL ver¬ sion as yet, but you could bet your Saturn that it’ll happen. Look out for updates on a release date in Overflow over the next issue or two. CATEGORY: FIGHTING PLAYERS: 1-2 PUBLISHER: SEGA Lifj 4/ J J Turk* 9 Play with £> players simultaneously. over 24 challenging tracks... an unbelievable race ! a full 3D environment, Windows CD ROM PC PlayStation SAiI'UPN Internet: http//www.ubisoft.com vivid image O 1996 Uti> Soil Entertainment C 1996 Vivid image Playstation * and ir« trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment me.Sega and Sega Saturn are trademarks ot Sega Enterp- 26 »HYPER previews Ecstatica 2 PC AVAIIARIf: MARCH CATEGORY: ADVENTURE PLAYERS: ONE PUBLISHER: PSYGNOSIS Remember Joe? Little guy made up of ellipsoids? Okay, so maybe you didn’t play Ecstatica, hard luck. Fortunately, Joe is making a comeback very shortly, return¬ ing with the damsel he saved in Ecstatica... but his castle has been over by a demonic sorcerer (well, you get that don’t you?), and he gets captured in a mon¬ ster ambush, awakening to find himself in stocks... and less on bride to be. It turns out that the demonic sorcerer and his four evil worshipers have broken this thingy known as the Elder sign (which just happens to be responsible for world order and that sort of thing) into several bits, which they plan to use in some rather questionable ritual in an order to reshape the world and summon the Lord of Demons. Of course a human sacrifice is required at the time as well (no prizes for guessing who’s fiance is the like¬ ly victim), so you’ve gotta hurry up and do something about it. Now this sort of scenario would usually be the scene for some sort of slow, generic adventure game, but Ecstatica 2 is anything but a slow cryptic adventure... we’re looking at an epic action adventure of epic proportions. The interac¬ tion in the game will mostly be somewhat violent, as your task is really to defeat the four wor¬ shipers, then confront the sor¬ cerer and rescue your girl¬ friend. There are a variety of weapons to collect and moves to master, with an interface that sounds like Time Commando, except with a few extra moves and options. The graphics are obviously high res, and all the characters are drawn in an ellipsoid style, which makes a refreshing change from the flat polygon trend we’ve all been subject to for ages now. Something to do with this way of handling the graphics helps makes things run smooth and fast, so expect some amazing animation in Ecstatica 2. There’s a 1000 dif¬ ferent views, compared to the 250 in the first Ecstatica game. Should be big, keep yer eyes peeled for a full review. 28 »HYPER previews S> Ultima IX- A&cen&icn PC AVAILABLE: march-june CATEGORY: RPC PLAYERS: ONE PUBLISHER: ORIGIN The Ultima series is unquestion¬ ably the most successful computer RPC series ever. Richard Carriot (aka Lord British) cranked out the first Ultima game in 1979, without any idea that he was starting a phenomenon. It's going to be a great year for Ultima fans, because not only will we see the much anticipated Ultima Online, but also the final chapter in the trilogy of trilogies... Ultima IX - Ascension. The game will see the Avatar (that’s you) return to Britannia to have the final confrontation with the Cuardian (the big nasty from Ultima VII 6 VIII), and as the name implies, ascend beyond the mortal realm. Word from Richard Carriot has implied that there are plans for an Ultima X, but we will have seen the end of the Avatar, so there’s going to be a new hero (or heroine) and possibly a new realm/world to explore. Origin want to keep their options open. In relation to actual gameplay and new features, Ultima IX is expected to be the best yet. Origin have learned a bit of a lesson from Ultima VIII - Pagan, that being that pushing a game in the graphics department is not an excuse for a bad interface. While having a mostly isometric approach, the viewpoint can be spun around, and zoom in or out. The whole effect is supposedly seamless, which is quite a monstrous undertaking when you consider the size of the world of Britannia and the fact that Ultima IX is a 3D polygon based game, a first for the Ultima games. Players will have the ability to position the viewpoint as they wish, panning around, zooming in and out, etc. Rest assured, that there won’t be any cases of you not being able to grab some object once it’s gone out of view, or any other such interface bungles. Richard Carriot has mentioned the possibility of a first person per¬ spective being an option, although it was unconfirmed if this was going ahead. The plan is to pool the best features of the various Ultima games and churn out a vir¬ tually flawless game in the end. This will no doubt be BIG, and should hopefully be something to rival Bethesda’s 3D RPC, Daggerfall. PlayStation c • Enhance Pad A A Fast action digital microswitches for rapid gcarchangcs/missile firing etc. Precision analogue buttons for proportional acceleration and braking. Analogue Wheel for proportional steering control. Additional fingertip microswitch buttons on underside of wheel. High Quality Construction. Grips optional. Highly responsive for total accuracy. The ultimate controller for race games, flight sims and sports games. ©R ACCEPT DEFEAT Available - K Mart, Myer/Grace Bros., Target, Harvey Norman, David Jones, World 4 Kids and leading games outlets. Distributed bv Action Hi Tech 150 Highbury Road Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. Tel: (03) 980 82 100 8 MB Memory Card RF Switch Adaptor THE ROSS PARTNERSHIP AH 044 30 »HYPER arcade Tokyo Wars namco I’ve always had a fetish for tanks. Just the idea of driving straight through buildings is enough to make me join the army and become a tank com¬ mander. Unfortunately there is no driving through buildings in Tokyo Wars - it’s more like a game of skirmish in a tank. Choose a side - white (Soviet block) or green (NATO). I found it best to go Soviet as the green tanks stand out more as their jungle camouflage seems to be more at home in the jungle of the botanical variety. The game is fairly basic. You have 16 tanks per side and you control one tank. Destroy all the enemy tanks before the time limit to go to the next stage. It takes about 3 shots to destroy an enemy tank, and about 4-5 for your own. A damage-o-meter shows your energy levels which are magically restored in conjunction with not sustaining dam¬ age. A tip: try to travel in a pack as you will sus¬ tain less damage. Also, watch on the radar as to which way the enemy tanks are facing as this allows you to sneak up from behind and let loose a couple of shells before the enemy has the chance to traverse their turret around. Although it is in no way a classic tank battle game, Tokyo Wars does make you realise that in a real life tank battle, your chances of survival are real low. XXX Dancing Eyes namco If you were a monkey, there couldn’t be a better way to pass the time than to hang out on giant nubile girlies. Though don’t think your existence would be as simple as that. Unfortunately, these lavish ladies are hiding their beautiful contours beneath typically common objects such as clothing, shower curtains and of course, clothing. The object of Dancing Eyes is to control a tiny monkey and get him or her to "unpick” your hosts’ apparel- which is divided into grid like sections. Once the outline of a grid is completed, that section disappears to reveal some flesh coloured pixels and some shad¬ ed contours. To increase the challenge of this soft porn game, enemies in the form of sharks, centipedes, and other insects attempt to kill you. To counter these upholders of common decency, the bugs may be dispatched by completing a grid whilst the nasties are travelling along the boarder of the soon to disappear piece of fabric. Once the whole character has been revealed, it becomes show time, in which you control the ’camera’ viewpoint and magnification, with that joystick of love. Hubba hubba. As there are 13 stages and three girlies to choose from each stage- that ends up being a lot of chicks to hang out on. Dancing Eyes is not a game for the whole family, and for some strange reason, in the chal¬ lenge stage when one has to ’unmask’ a cow skeleton, the game’s attraction level drops by at least 67%. Which in turn is why we rate this particular game on a sliding scale between 1 and 5 corresponding to the players gender (girls are going to find this most offensive), sexual dis¬ position and of course, level of desperation (time between non inflatable sexual partners). X X (MORE IF YOU’RE A DESPERADO) San Francisco Rush atari Atari, pioneers of the video game, have bought out an overly mild attempt at a racing car simulator. If you are in for the challenge of driving one of those big block V8’s that can go too fast, then this is the game for you. However this is in no way full throttle action (if you choose the expert level mobiles) as too much acceleration will see your vehicle careering from the track. Careful handling and controlled driving is where this racer is at. Huge jumps (Dukes of Hazard style) appear along the way (thanks San Fran), along with fast sweeping corners, chicanes and all those bits of road you could die for. The thing that makes SF Rush repeatedly enjoyable is the way the cars handle and the way one has to fight the wheel if the car starts to drift or powerslide out of control. Also the accidents are quite awesome. If you enjoyed Hard Driving (released around 1984) then you’ll dig San Fran Rush. X X X 1 /2 arcade Dead or Alive TEMCO Dead or Alive is sort of like a try- hard Virtua Fighter 2 1/2 but really, while not doing anything particular¬ ly wrong, it comes off as nothing more than a clone. The only thing that is truly superior (to VF3) is that the female characters have breasts that would make Pamela Anderson head straight to the silicon plant to get a gravity defying breast upgrade. Schlock Horror. Other characters are like the inbred cousins of previous fight sim characters such as the mighty Chun Li (SF2) and the irre¬ pressible Shun (VF2). All the fight cliches are in here and while some of the moves are cool, there’s nothing that’s really going to set you on fire, although the electrified and exploding bound¬ aries (which replace ring outs) will give you some excitement. It’s true that Dead or Alive is a decent game, it’s just that the fighting game genre is in need of some fresh ingredients to really take hold of our neurons and our cash. X X X 1 / 2 Y&RM CONAL0014 32 »HYPER review playstation Pandemonium A 32bit platformer at Sonic speed? I'd like to see that... Well now you can thanks to Crystal Dynamics and Pandemonium. STUART CLARKE takes himself on a wild ride... Crystal Dynamics are a pioneering games development house. They produced the first ever 32bit console title (Crash 6 Burn for the 3DO) and Gex (another original 3DO game) was probably the first 32bit platformer around. Unfortunately getting in first sometimes doesn’t pay off and apart from the ugly demise of the 3DO, Gex didn’t set the world on fire because it really wasn’t that big a leap from i6bit platformers that everyone had played to death. A couple of years down the track though and Crystal Dynamics have released another 32bit platformer, this time taking full advantage of the new technology. And guess what? It’s wonderful. Charismatic Heroes Nikki and Fargus are our charismatic heroes. At the beginning of the game and at the start of each new level you can choose who you want to play. Fargus is a slightly deranged harlequin/jester type who carries around Sid, his puppet-on-a-stick alter ego. I’m not sure of Sid’s exact role in gameplay (I don’t think he has one) but Fargus’ special move is a spinning attack. Nikki is a sexy gymnast type with a hyper personality. She’s actually a wizard’s student and can perform double height jumps as her spe¬ cial move (and let me tell you kids, I’d take double jumps over spinning attack every time in this game). Throughout the course of the game though you will morph into ani¬ mals (like a turtle or a rhino) to complete some sections. They are the stars of what is, if you scratch the surface, a standard platform game ie move right, jump on baddies, pick up coins/lives/bonuses, don't fall down holes, make it to the exit and beat any bosses you come across (after every five levels or so). Pandemonium has been implemented so well though that you can’t help but love it. Camera angles play a major role in the enjoyment. The view changes con¬ stantly; one minute Nikki or Fargus take up most of the screen, the next they’re specks in the distance. While you can’t manually control the camera (a la Mario 64 and Tomb Raider), the programmers have done a great job to pick the most cinematic and useful angles possible. Sometimes you really do need to pan back and see what tricks and traps are ahead and luckily Pandemonium does all the work for you. And it all flows soooo smoothly. Fast = Fun Apart from the most attractive camera work, the levels themselves are also rather beautiful and there are heaps of completely different environments so you won’t be bored by 10 stages of boring desert graphics or the like. Because each world is completely different there are constant sur¬ prises to be had and new challenges to overcome. Pandemonium has taken the best bits from games like Sonic and Mario and put them together to make something that can sit alongside the original classics without feeling too embarrassed. Sonic would have to be the biggest influ¬ ence though, and Crystal Dynamics obviously were smart enough to realise that Fast = Fun. The game certainly does rip along (in 30 frames a second, no less), especially when you find yourself on a "slime slide" or you step off the edge and fall about five kilometres (well it feels like that far any¬ way). Quick reflexes are a must, although if you really want to you can take it slowly and surely and pick up all the treasure. Like Sonic, I’m sure Pandemonium players will be broken down into two camps - those who want to get through the fastest with the coolest stunts and those who want to take it carefully so they can see the lot and com¬ plete 100%. Like everything, it’s a matter of personal prefer¬ ence and whatever way you play, you’ll have fun. Pandemonium won't change your life. It’s not a Mario 64 or a Tomb Raider. It is however a great traditional platform game that uses the abilities of the PlayStation to enhance enjoyment. It’s fast, it looks great and if you like platform games then you’ll have a stupid grin on your face as you play this little bugger right through to the end. HYPER» 33 34 »HYPER review playstalioH Project Overkill Does your mum tell you that video games are too violent? Give her a load of this one, then! HARRY MARAGOS fights violence with more violence... ii ¥ w ■ y