SEPTEMBER 98 CSieats for 1^(94. rbX, ^ PC plus Huge Unreal playguide! f osmer.s* Mi 4 | T | f nil run previ 1 1 answer ti Pi n- 2 ^. T T* ii 1 1 1 r Smoothes out unwanted vibrations. Don’t let a few knocks and bumps upset your sounds. Panasonic CD players have digital anti-shock memory to help smooth the way. Open wide Panasonic i — Hado-Ken Super Street Fighter II Turbo New Super combos to match Akuma, the dark warrior. Street Fighter Alpha 2 Cold New moves, modes and animation. 3 levels of combat Co for the perfect score Super Street Fighter II 16 Brave fighters in an intense battle. Dashes, super combos and air moves WWW cape www.vic.com For more information write to SFC c/o This Magazine at PO Box 624 Roseville 2069 <01998 VIRGIN INTERACTIVE AUSTRALIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. STREET FIGHTER COLLECTION, SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2. SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO. i A. Perfect complex 16 hit moves All the Super Combos from the arcade. * All your favourite arcade heroes, including Ryu, Wolverine, Chun-Li and Storm. * Pick an extra fighter to bring in with Super Combos. * Perform all the super Moves and Super Jumps from the arcade hit. Let Dhalsim and Rogue go 2 on 2 with Cyclops and Ken Do super jumps and brii your partner for killer co www.capcom.com For more information write to X-Men V SF c/o This Magazine at PO Box 624 Roseville 206 SUPER STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2 GOLD AND X-MEN VS STREET FIGHTER ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF CAPCOM"*, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVE www.vic.com PlayStation mai This month we saw milestones for Sony and Nintendo. From Sony, we see the M gWte I first of what I'd call Sony 's true 3rd gen¬ eration titles, that M being Tekken 3. The I ^ H PlayStation is now M M being pushed to the limit, and the results are good. The prevalent thought that springs to my mind however is, "Is this the best that we can expect from the PlayStation?". I'll take a semi-bold guess and say "almost" (the Final Fantasy VIII demo I saw today was astounding). I don't mean in terms of game design, but sim¬ ply in terms of polygon counts and frame rates at a high resolution. Hopefully some diligent developers will prove me wrong. Nintendo's milestone would be Banjc- Kazcoie, which to me is the beginning of the 2nd generation of gaming for the N64, since it is really the next Super Mario 64 style game so many have been waiting for. How many generations does the N64 have in it? The N64 is really suffering from lack of titles rather than quality issues. One thing is certain, both Sony and Nintendo will be forced to find the limits of their machine by November this year when the Dreamcast launches in Japan. To continue locking at generations in video gaming, we look back through the years and summarise the history of fighting games. The scary thing is that I can remem¬ ber when all the first games came cut! Other major points of note this issue... The unthinkable has happened... We found a Mortal Kombat game we don't mind! Also, diet did an Unreal playguide, since we found out the official guide was incorrect due to being based on a pre¬ release version. Heck, there's plenty for everyone here... Till next month. 8 NEWS More news on the Sega Dreamcast - A Sonic game on its way, and the VMS for the Dreamcast is on sale in Japan, and more. 16 WIN WIN WIN! PlayStation fighting fanatics rejoice... Win a copy of Tekken 3 with two Namco arcade sticks! Mu 40 HARDWARE PC peripherals perused include the H3D Vision System, and Professional Sound system sound cards. Also, the perfect pack to compliment the purchase of a Playstation. 42 REVIEWS 80 ARCADE 82 NET TRAWLN’ Win 2 Namco arcade sticks 22 PREVIEWS 22 Spyro PlayStation Zero Divide 2 PlayStation legacy ol Kain - Soul Reaver PlayStation The fifth Element PlayStation Moto Racer 2 PlayStation Rogue Trip PlayStation Rattle Tanx Nintendo 64 Knife Edge Nieteado SR Blood 2: The Chosen PC Revenant PC 23 24 25 2G 2R 32 FEATURE THE HISTORY OF FIGHTING GAMES To celebrate the arrival of Tekken 3, we take a look over the past 14 years of fighting games. 83 ANIME 84 PLAYGUIDE Unreal pc 90 CHEATS 94 LETTERS 98 HYPERMART N64 79 Street fighter Collection 77 House ul the Dead 62 Banjo Kazooie 44 Tekken 3 75 Indy Racing 59 Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls 53 Tnmbi 69 Int. Crciket Captain 60 Mortal Kombat 4 79 Tummi Makinen Rally 66 Krosstire: KKNB 2 76 World League Soccer ‘98 76 leisure Suit Larry’s PlayStation 79 Wreckin Crew Casino 48 Rlasto 57 X-Men vs Street fighter EX 74 Micro Machines V3 74 Circuit Rreakers 75 Xenocracy 68 Special Ops 56 Crime Killer PC 78 Starcraft: Insurrection 74 Frenzy! 75 Stratosphere 54 Heart ol Oarkness 77 krmy Men 72 Team Apache 78 Kick Ott World 76 Centipede 77 Trophy Bass 2 Deluxe 78 Mr. Oomino 54 Heart of Darkness 70 X-Com Interceptor 58 N20 73 Hexplore 75 Xenocracy CONTENTS ISSUE ADVERTISING National Sales Director: Steve Watson Advertising Manager: Julie Anne-Kwok Advertising Assistant: Emma Beck Ph: 02 9699 0333 Fax: 02 9310 2012 Circulation Manager: Melissa Doyle Group Accountant: Theo Fatseas Subscriptions Enquiries: Sharyn Eccles ph: 02 9699 0311 Fax: 02 9310 1315 email: subsOnext.com.au CONTRIBUTORS: Max Autohead, David Wildgoose, Steve Oleary, Kevin Cheung Tim Levy, Cam Shea, Simon Bailey Jacinta Thornier, Ross Clarksmith Printed by Wilke Colour Separations by: Prestige Colour Distribution by: NDD Ph. 9353 9911 All copyrights reserved by Next Publishing Pty Ltd ACN 002 647 645 ISSN 1320-7458 WRITE TO HYPER! 78 Renwick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 Fax: <02)9310 1315 E-mail: freakscene@nextcom.au 3 D The History of Fighting Games Coing back through the years, we take a look to see which games made up this great genre of gaming, and also which games introduced what elements into fighting games. 82 Banjo-Kazooie Rare continue to prove why they’re the best developers of N64 games. Is it a Super Mario 64 killer though? do Hardware You want a sound card that does everything and is cheaper than all other sound cards on the market? Here it is... Professional Sound System. m Unreal Playguide The Official Unreal strategy guide is based on an old beta version and is incorrect! Hyper delivers the vital information about the game as it really is... Publisher: Phillip Keir Editor: Dan Toose Art Director Steven Scott Editor: Eliot Fish » H Y P E R NEWS Dreamcast News Sega plan to crush the opposition! Dreamcast Sega of Japan have announced an in-house Dreamcast title - Godzilla! If you take a closer look at the big lizard, you may notice that this is not the same Godzilla which has been terrorising movie goers this year (yeah, the script really is that bad), but a game based on the old, original Godzilla which has been famous in Japan for decades. A much friendlier - some could say "Barnier”-looking - Godzilla, may look like it needs to go on a diet, but destruction is still at the top of it’s "things to do" list and this will be a big action title. There’s no arguement that the graphics look pretty - but is this game just going to be a Rampage World Tour with big textured polygons? Time will tell. It’s not just a Godzilla game which Sega have their eye on either... They’re really pushing this Godzilla thing for all it’s worth in Japan to hype up the Dreamcast. Already available in Japan from movie theaters which are screening Godzilla, is the Dreamcast’s funky little VMS device. The Dreamcast VMS (Visual Memory System) will be coloured green if you buy it at your Codzilla screening, or the usual grey if you buy it at the game’s shop - only in Japan of course. The VMS is one of the Dreamcast’s essential components, as it acts as the memory storage device as well as a hand-held gaming system. The VMS plugs into the top of the Dreamcast controller for all your funky gaming needs, so you can imagine just how many people are seeing Godzilla against their will just to get their hands on an exclusive green VMS. There will be a Godzilla game for the VMS too, of course! ip NEC of Japan have announced that a game called Seventh Cross will be one of the Dreamcast launch titles. Hard to categorise, Seventh Cross looks like a "life sim" in which you explore the environment with your character and evolve depending on which decisions you make. As you explore, you will encounter other life-forms which you’ll have to fight and consume for yourself to continue evolving. For instance, spend more time in water and explore there, and your body will adapt to that environment. However, the playing area is promised to be massive, including something in the order of 800,000 other life forms for you to stumble across. Seventh Cross certainly sounds like the sort of game which wouldn’t end up getting released outside of Japan, so don’t hold your breath for this one. Actually, you shouldn’t be holding your breath for anything Dreamcast related at all yet! ip CO :t's life and DEATH IN L.A. The only authentic police tactical sim with real time action. Sequel to smash hit Police Quest: Swat. Based on actual LAPD call-ups. BUILD A BETTER ROME |£ CAESAR LJ2J-D SJUUJ U-jO kll£JU akes city simulation gaming further than ever before The most antici multiple award winner Create, rule and defend a Roman-era city of your own design. From the makers of award winning Caesar II. Enjoy multiple gameplay objectives in a richer, truer environment. The next step in the evolution of 3D action games with the most advanced proprietary technology and dozens of innovative gameplay enhancements SIERRA Look out for these hot new Sierra titles at all major computer stores Visit our website: www.dataflow.com.au For further enquiries Ph: (02) 9417 9600 FAX: (02) 9417 9676 [ WOLF fUMf I l\II KA( IIVI I 10 »HYPER NEWS Sonic on Dreamcast! It would be safe to assume that one of the In anticipation of Zelda 64 being one of Nintendo’s biggest selling N64 games ever, a foreign toy company has begun making a whole line of Zelda 64 related toy figures. Featuring Link, Zelda and Gannon just to name a few, the toys are well detailed and colourful, though there’s no confirmation yet whether they will be available here in Australia. if Zelda gets plastic surgery tints get unreal Epic’s Unreal engine is so impressive, and so easy to program with, that it’s been licensed to a whole slew of games developers. Upcoming games that will be using the Unreal engine include... Klingon Honor Guard, Duke Nukem Forever, Wheel of Time, X-COM Alliance and even the next Oddworld game which will follow Abe’s Exodus! Yeah, that’s right, an Abe game in 3D - could they be talking Munch’s Oddysee on the Sega Dreamcast?! Epi boast that at least 15 games are currently developed using their Unreal engine, including an Unreal sequel which will come out in the year 2000. Sounds like all those years of hard work on Unreal have paid off... if reasons the Sega Saturn had such a tough time competing with the PlayStation in the early days of the 32-bit machines, was that there was no big 3D Sonic game to woo Megadrive fans to the new Saturn. Well, Sega have been listening to the fans and the Dreamcast will launch with a brand new 3D Sonic title called Sonic Adventures. The game was originally being developed for the Saturn, but the designers decided they could do more with the Dreamcast’s hardware and decided to shift Sonic Adventures over to the new machine. Little is known about the game at this stage, but we should know more by next issue... EF Charts Charts kindly supplied by Hitech World PLAYSTA TION NINTENDO 64 PC 1. Gran Turismo 1. Banjo Kazooie 1. X-Files 2. Point Blank 2.1080 Snowboarding 2. Might & Magic VI 3. Spice World (oh god) 3. Goldeneye 007 3. Commandos 4. Armored Core 4. World Cup 98 4. Descent Freespace 5. Final Fantasy VII 5. Forsaken 5. Mech Commander 6. Road Rash 3D 6. NBA Courtside 6. X-Com Interceptor 7. Tomb Raider 2 7. Wave Race 7. Unreal 8. World Cup '98 8. Yoshi’s Story 8. Commanche Gold 9. Diablo 9. GT 64 9. Starcraft 10. Resident Evil 2 10. Wetrix 10. Forsaken « 'O AfyJ PlayStation PlayS t ol ion DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PLAYSTATION www.playstation.com.au 12 »HYPER NEWS Spike looking sharp Sega’s arcade development team, AM2, have been quietly working on another fighting game called Spike. Due to hit Japanese arcades later in the year, Spike looks quite incredible - even sweeter than Virtua Fighter 3. The push towards more visually realistic fighting games is happening, this is evidence enough, though the gameplay in Spike looks set to be quite outrageous. For starters, this is not your traditional one-on-one fighting, but a four-player simultaneous brawl in which you can hurl your opponents off buildings and fight on moving escalators! All the huge environments are fully interactive, and players can split up and fight in different parts of the level before returning to their team mates. The detail and animation in the characters makes them look quite amazingly real, though they’re not photo-realistic yet. The game is running on the Model 3 Step 2 hardware, which should make Spike a pretty obvious contender to get ported to the Sega Dreamcast. What the hell is Virtua Fighter 4 going to look like?! ir More Duke oo N64 And you thought the world had seen enough Duke Nukem games to last us another century... The Nintendo 64 is at the receiving end of another Duke game - Duke Nukem: Zero Hour. Looking very much like a souped-up version of the PlayStation’s Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Zero Hour puts you in another third-person Duke game. Well, it may reek of "Tomb Raider clone”, but there’s a good chance that the humour of the Duke Nukem series and more action-oriented gameplay will make Zero Hour something special for Nintendo 64 owners. Currently the game is on target for an early 1999 release. overflow Here’s an update for Mac Gamers... the Mac gaming scene is looking good with Unreal coming and Mac versions of Total Anihilation, Carmageddon 2, Age of Empires, Tomb Raider 2 and even the controversial Deer Hunter getting the Mac makeover... The first Unreal mission pack has been announced by developer Creative Carnage, though Epic say it’s an un-official add-on. Called Unreal: World Gone Dead, the add¬ on will put the gamer in more real-world environments like city streets and sewers. The coolest feature though, is the ability for the game to adjust to the player’s skill level - simply getting harder the better you play. That sounds truly inspired... For the PC users amongst you, I’m sad to announce that it’s now official - America Online has bought Mirabilis ICQ. What will this mean? We can probably expect the worse, like maybe a registration fee... Those Hollywood types are getting carried away! Expect a movie of the Sega game House of the Dead to go along with movies of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Wing Commander and Quake (yes it’s still rumoured!)... Ergheiz is being ported to the PlayStation. You know Ergheiz, it’s that awesome arcade fighting game which lets you play as Cloud and Tifa from Final Fantasy Vll! It may be awhile for it to be released outside of Japan, but there should be a big enough demand for that one... An amusement park in Osaka, Japan, has opened a Resident Evil -based "haunted house’’ ride, where visitors walk around and have the crap scared out of them! Called Biohazard Nightmare, it has staff members dressed as zombies chasing people around! Rare have already confirmed that there is a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie in the works! Woohoo! Can you believe it will be called Banjo-Tooie? We’re not kidding! Don’t expect it until 1999. Microprose have been putting up weapons for their upcoming shooter Klingon Honor Guard on their website for gamers to download. Why? Because Klingon Honor Guard is based on the Unreal engine, making it possible for owners of Unreal to download the weapons and try them out! What will they think of next?! YOUR NI TM 0 A 6 64 " )°^ a<1 ' N ' tV ' ^ TV* NwwP u d . jfoonomics best “4” ' 9 ' , „ evQOf 101 ™ 0 S' T O.A -ro« B ° 4 ,® — 1ES FOR YOUR PLAYSTATION TM XPSS**-*-*■ AND NOW, A 2-IN-l ANALOG/DIGITAL WHEEL FOR NINTENDO™ 64 AND PLAYSTATION™ Race leader 32/64 Best For Gran Turismo Indy Car™, Nascar Racing and Formula 1™. WWW.GUILLEMOT.COM The Guillemot range is brought to Australia by : UBISOFT Pty Ltd, PO Box 43, Edgecliff, NSW, Australia, 2027 Tel: (61 2) 9362 1414, Fax: (61 2) 9362 1165 Specification and contents are susceptible to change without warning and can vary depending on the country. Fun Access deluxe Race leader 3D, T-Leader 3D & Jet-Leader are Trademarks of Guillemot International. 14 »HYPER NEWS HERE COME GIANTS! Giants. That’s the name of the game, and by all accounts it will indeed be massive. Being developed as we speak by the team that created the original MDK for Shiny, Giants has the mark of something big. Okay, enough puns, Giants is a 3D action/adventure in an incredible-looking 3D accelerated world. Play as either the Meccaryns from space, the mysterious Sea Reapers, or even the Giant and be prepared to use your brain - there’s some strategy involved here too. The landscape can be altered by your character to try and prevent your opponents from getting to places you don’t want them to have access to. There are also ’’natives” on the world which you’re playing on, who you can take advantage of to further your cause... get them to build stuff for you or just pop them in your mouth for a snack. The potential here for a popular multiplayer game is pretty big too, so we can’t wait to get our grubby paws on this one. Check out the screenshots! w The GameBoy Camera Say cheese! The GameBoy has now been enhanced with the rather funky GameBoy camera and printer. lust a few months ago we wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but here it is, an actual camera lens which will display (in real¬ time) on your GameBoy whatever it is you’re pointing it at! If you then so desire, you can save it and print it out on your GameBoy Printer. The camera itself though, has a few odd functions besides just taking snaps of your friends. You can use a saved pic of your own face in strange little games on the GameBoy, or even play around with the display - such as weird fish-eye lens settings and animated pics. As far as a novelty goes, this one’s pretty good and will no doubt spawn tons of strange websites and develop a bit of a cult following. We certainly mucked around with it lots. The Camera and Printer are sold seperately. ir Competition Winners This month, winners were decided by how neat their handwriting was. Only kidding. But hey, it does help... POY POY Nick Getley, NSW lean-Paul Mollinger, Qld Luke Pete, Qld B. Ryan, SA R. B’Brien, Tas HYPER PAK Paul Flynn, ACT Carolyn Cooney, Qld Chris Linnan, Qld Cameron Boundy, SA Rosemary McCoubrie, WA WORLD CUP 98 Marcia Couch, WA Andre Ryburn, NS lames Kariofillis, Vic Ehssan Malamiri, NSW Wayne Pan, NSW DUAL-SHOCK Amy Broadfoot, Vic Ian Wills, Qld Glen Wallace, NSW Richard Lance, WA Giuseppe Vitale. NSW Recoil It’s Quake in vehicles, and we’re damn glad that’s the case! HILE QUAKE IS UNDOUBTEDLY excellent fun, there is something missing in its gloriousness. You are on foot. And as any car owner knows, that isn’t as good as sitting in the comfort of your vehicle while polluting the air with your foul carbon monoxide. Thanks to the great God Ford, then, that in Recoil you can blast all manner of computer- controlled drones without leaving your rapid- motion tank. Or should that be your rapid- motion hovercraft? Of amphibious war machine? Or submersible? Because in the future, it has been scientifically proven that we will be driving around in vehicles that can morph into something better suited to the harsh landscape we’ll be trying to escape through. It’s when you morph from one vehicle into the other that will guarantee your victory (oh, and killing lots of computer baddies, of course), so that you can get over lava or find your way through large lakes. included over 20 weapons, including the slightly unusual sonic burst, arc sabre, high-intensity lasers and guided nuclear weapons. There’s also proximity and remote denoted mines, two weapons that have proved remarkably popular on the N64’s rather tasty GoldenEye. Such weapons would normally, do fairly major damage to the environment (in a physical rather than invisible sense), so, duly. Recoil's 3D engine is able to alter the landscape, with the creation of craters, and the cunning generation of quicksand traps. The single- player game requires strategic interaction with the 30 levels over six worlds (which can be indoors or outdoors), while the multi-player option allows up to eight people to deathmatch in six specially designed levels. With a game this stunning, it seems that there are no flies on Zipper, and they’re great to hang out with. Sorry. All manner of fabulous and lethal weapons may well bring Recoil up to the level of a comfortably seated Quake. The tale is the familiar one of computers taking over the world (so many science fiction writers can't be wrong), and you are one of a group of rebels fighting back, like rebels do. Of particular note, though, is that as a rebel you can do the kind of things rebels do in real life, rather than just relying on shooting the enemy. You can, for instance, knock them into lava, or off the edge of cliffs. Or blow up a bridge as they are crossing it, or knock a rocky outcrop down on top of them. But if you are of a traditional bent you might be happier with the more familiar method called ‘shooting’. It is for this reason that Zipper, the development team behind Recoil and the forthcoming MechWarrior 3, have ©1996 Vkgn Interactive Austrafca Al Rights reserved Virgin is a regstered trademark of Virgin Enterprises Inc. :,."3Trfe / 111 r Tekken 3 is the fighting game of the moment, and we re sure all you PlayStation fighting game nutters out there are dying to get your hands on a copy. We’re also sure you’d love to have a Namco Arcade Stick to ensure you have the best controller for the game too. Well here’s your big chance to win both! Thanks to the generosity of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia we’ve got 5 prizes to give away to some of this month’s lucky subscribers. 1st Prize: Two Namco Arcade Sticks and a copy of Tekken 3 2nd and 3rd Prize: One Namco Arcade Stick and a copy of Tekken 3 4th and 5th Prize: A copy of Tekken 3 For a chance to win these great prizes, you simply have to subscribe to Hyper this month (or re¬ subscribe), which not only puts you in the comp, but means you get a copy of Hyper every month before the shops get it. You also SAVE 37% off the cover price if you subscribe for 12 issues, and it’s 44% CHEAPER if you subscribe for 24 issues. Why pay full price?! JULY SUBSCRIPTION First Prizewinners: 1st prize: Righteous 3D II goes to: Andrew Smith, VIC 2nd prize; Righteous 3D I goes to: Terry Pearson, QLD SUBSCRIBE NOW! How To Cut or copy the form and post it with a cheque or money ordeT, or your credit card details, to: Hyper Subscriptions Reply Paid 634, 78 Renwick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 e Fax a copy of the completed form, with credit card details, to: 02 9699 0334 © Subs.a'ihe. email your name and address with credit card details to: games_subsa>n€xt com.au If you’re not sure about something give us a call on 02 9699 0311 or email games_subsd>n€xt.com.au or check out our website at https://www.next.com.au/publishing/subs/index.htl Allow 4 /6 weeks for ist delivery Fill out this coupon and mail it to HYPER SUBSCRIPTIONS. Reply Paid 634, 78 Renwick St. Redfern. NSW 2016 Name_ System _ Address _ Email (if appi.) Suburb/Town Postcode Phone Number ( ) Enclosed is my cheque/money order, or debit my credit card for $79.95/$44.95 J 2 years/24 issues ($79.95 saving 44%) ^ ] 1 year/12 issues ($44.95 saving 37%) Bankcard □ Mastercard □ Visa □ Expiry Date _ Card No Signature ALL ENTRIES CLOSE SEPTEMBER 9TH 199B W I N WIN WIN Win a copy of Outwars! We reviewed this one a few issues ago, and it scored very well indeed with a tasty 90%!! That’s a big rubber stamp! This is 3D action at it’s hottest, set in a sci-fi fantasy world with cool FMV cutscenes and challenging gameplay. Again, it’s from those smart people over at Microsoft, and they were keen to give us ten copies to giveaway to some PC-owning Hyper readers. To enter the comp, answer this question... Windows 98 has just been released to the public, what operating system did it replace? Put your answer on the back of an envelope and post it off to... Outwars, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. oc MICROSOFT MADNESS Win Monstertruck Madness 2 Yeehaw! Microsoft have been churning out some good games, Monster Truck Madness 2 being one of them. With excellent 3D acceleration and gorgeous gameplay, you want this game. If you own a PC, then here's how you can snag yourself one of ten copies we have to giveaway this issue thanks to the team at Microsoft here in Australia, lust answer this question to be hittin’ those mud-filled circuits in your tooled-up mutha truck... If you can’t out-race the other trucks, should you... A) give up, B) crush them under your super-wheels, C) pull over for a hot dog or D) switch off your PC? Put your answer on the back of an envelope and post it off to... Good Truck, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. Snap to it! WIN WIN WIN SOUTH PARK! Kenny, Cartman, Stan and Kyle have all been thrown together on three South Park volumes and we have a bunch to give away! Thanks to the generous Warner Vision Australia, five lucky winners can take home a copy of all three South Park videos!! To make it even better, Impact Posters have thrown in a bonus South Park poster for each winner to plaster on their bedroom wall. Tops! Not only are the videos packed with South Park episodes, but there are also interviews with the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. To have a chance of winning one of the five packs, answer this question... Which TV station has been broadcasting South Park? Put your answer of the back of an envelope and send it to.. They killed Kenny!, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. You Bastards! MORTAL KOMBAT 4 This ain't no moral combat! It’s a phenomenon of the fighting game genre, reknowned for it’s bloody moves and gruesome fatalities, it’s the fighting game known as Mortal Kombat. Now in it’s fourth installment, MK4 is one of those rare releases that comes out on every game platform known to man... er... except the Saturn. Tonk your opponent’s brains out - literally. To win one of five Nintendo 64 copies we have to give away thanks to CT Interactive, just answer this humble question... Which of the following does not apply to Mortal Kombat... A) Fatality, B) Babality, C) Animality, D) Beastiality? Er... put your answer on the back of an envelope and send it to... What about friendships?!, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2106. Yeehaw! HYPER» 19 WIELD NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN WEAPONS YOUR ARSENAL BOASTS LASE R-SI G HTIN G SNIPER RIFLES, REMOTE-CONTROL DETONATION DEVICES AND WEAPONS SO POWERFUL THEY CAN RIP YOU APART. EXPLORE HYPER-INTERRCTIVE WORLDS WALK, RUN, SWIM, EVEN DRIVE THROUGH SIX DISTINCT ENVIRONMENTS ENRICHED WITH SUCCULENT Quake II™-engine powered graphic detail. When the CEO of SinTEK Industries begins injecting the streets of Freeport with a DNA- altering drug, it’s time to reassess the laws of morality. When this twisted bio-ch€fltist plans to overtake the world with her army of genetically-engineered mutants, it’s time to rewrite ■P W—fc S s 1 1 £ I | he golden rule. You are Colonel John R. Blade. You’ve made a religion out of the security tection industry, and now you’re going to make Elexis Sinelaire pay for her sins. a registered trademark of Rctivision, Inc. Sin is a trodemark of Ritual Entertoinment. © 1998 Ritual Entertainment. Published and distributed by Quake' is a registered trademark and Quake II” is a trademark of Id Softwore, Inc. HERT and HERT.NET are trademarks of SegoSoft Networks. Inc. II rights reserved. Rll other trademarks and trode names are the properties of their respective owneri SUFFER RCTION-BRSED OUTCOMES INTER ft CT WITH INTELLIGENT BEINGS, OVOID THEM... OR KILL THEM. BUT REMEMBER, EVERY MOVE YOU MQKE — OR FAIL TO MAKE — RFFECTS THE FUTURE. INDULGE IN MULTIPLAYER SINFESTS commit Sin rs blrde, elexis or j.c. (blade’s CYBER-SIDEKICK) IN THE MOST INTENSE DERTH- MRTCH LEVELS OVER INTERNET, LRN/WRN OR MODEM. - or p :> 2 Available September 1998 1 ON WINDOWS*95/NT CD-ROM www.actiwision.comwww.ritual.com hipsets listed.above Lpfihis product.:..^ JR WVIDIA 53 ao Mj li^j -r -* 0 occel tble w card bro 3-0 y effects and music are great and the gameplay is addic¬ tive as hell. This is the sort of videogame that Croc tried to be but failed miserably, and sometimes it’s hard to believe that graphics of this quality are coming out of your PlayStation. Spyro himself is cute without being sickly sweet, but ^as some very cool moves. You can blow fire out of nostrils, glide through the air on your little wings, charge at enemies with your horns and jump about like all good platform characters should. He’s small, but packs a punch and looks very cool in the process. It’s rare that a good videogame looks just like a cartoon, but Spyro certainly does - this is like some¬ thing out of Disney’s book, and is just as much fun to watch as it is to play. So, how does it play? The controls are excellent, and the game has features straight out of Nintendo’s secret bible to excellent gameplay. The game is aimed at a wide audience, and it isn’t terribly hard to get through, but has enough tricky bits and excellent design to keep hardcore gamers fascinated. The gameworld is designed in a similar way to Rare’s Diddy Kong Racing, with a number of areas which have doorways to differ¬ ent levels, allowing you to tackle the game in your own way. There are some great, original bosses and all your opponents are big, nasty and hilariously animated. There are even wandering sheep, rabbits and chickens that you can toast with your flame (they then become butterflies which you can feed to your pet dragonfly who follows you around - the dragonfly acts as your health indicator and changes colour accord¬ ingly). There’s plenty more here that we didn’t get to see, as the game was unfinished at this stage, but already this is looking fantastic. When Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped comes out this year, he’s going to have a hard time staying in the spotlight. Spyro is going to be the PlayStation’s hero this year. a PLAYSTATION AVAILABLE: OCTOBER CATEGORY: 30 PI AT FORMER PLAYERS: 1 PUBLISHER: SONY We took a look at Spyro in our last issue’s E3 report, but since then we’ve received a playable copy and have been able to get a closer look at the game in action! In fact, I played Spyro until the disc crashed because the game isn’t finished yet and I couldn't get enough. From the first few seconds of playing Spyro, you realize that Sony have really pulled something out of the bag here. Spyro is oozing so much quality you would think it was the latest Rare game for the Nintendo 64. Whilst it’s not up there with the complexity of Super Mario 64, Spyro is the sort of beautifully made, quailty 3D platforming adventure which puts most other PlayStation products to shame. Everything about this game is top notch - the visuals are high res and incredibly animated, the sound PREVIEWS Zero Divide 2 PLAYSTATION JS Si AVAILABLE: OCTOBER 6 CATEGORY: FIGHTING ? PLAYERS: 1-2 § P0BLISHER: SONY 1 Fighting games, they’re rather popular, eh? Zero Divide wasn’t the biggest selling game in the genre, but it appealed to some with it’s techy robotic characters and basic game mechanics. Zero Divide 2 is a much improved sequel, running in the PlayStation’s high res mode at a healthy frame rate. The bizarre mechanical fighters are back and they’re better then ever, both in looks and abil¬ ity. For those of you who never played Zero Divide, the fighting basically consists of Punch, Kick and Guard but¬ tons and the ensuing combinations they provide. All the moves in the game borrow from classics in the genre like Streetfighter, Tekken and Virtua Fighter. The pace of the game seems a little sluggish, and the con¬ trols don’t respond as lightning-fast as you may well like, but I guess these are meant to be big, hulking limbs of steel so Zero Divide 2 kinda gets away with it. The slower pace lends itself to a more tactical game which is nice, because the characters have some very tasty moves available and it can be quite satisfying when you manage to time things sweetly. We look forward to seeing the final product, which should no doubt appeal to those looking for an alternative to the pajama-clad teenagers found in most fighting games, ir Ged Computers 400mhz, (450mhz available mid September) Intel Pentium M’s Everyone who’s using the ATI all In Wonder Pro Video Cards will be happy with our choice of Sony monitors. Sony’s built-in video data/Hard Drive synchronizer allows video r streams to be managed professionally. The ATI cards have the Rage Pro x2 Chipset, which are a decent 3d solution in themselves. Ged’s built with Righteous 3dfx2’s (Scan-line 1 I single) are the ultimate for fast twitch Gaming. These puppies, with CPU's capable of running around the 500mhz mark, are just what’s ordered to run scan-line at around 100fps+ I Sony “rocks" again, by making these high frame rates visible at high resolutions. This is superior to arcade machines, which do not have Sony “Platinum Series" monitors ability to J display Hi-res at 100+ fps So get smart and invest a little more, get a GED. The Tyrannosaurs Rex (Aka; Godzilla) of the “86 age GED GAMER PRICING SEPTEMBER 1998 Intel Pentium II 400mhz “boxed” CPU lOOmhz System bus. Dual floating point “SPECIAL” BX chipset Mainboard. Single CPU. Simple switch overclocking. All features. AGPx2 ATI “All in Wonder Pro” 8mb Pal video card. R.R.P $945. “SPECIAL GED PRICE” ATX Midi Deluxe Case with Secondary Fan. Case $155.00, Fan $18.00 Surge Suppressor (Essential) Keyboard and Mouse. Righteous 3dfx2’s 12mb. Each $540.00 Scan-line 128mb 100ns Fast SDRAM. Encore DVD Drx2. 20 speed CD-ROM Drx2 technology. Dolby digital audio. (AND, OR) 32 speed, Panasonic CD-ROM Righteous “NUSOUND” 64 Voice wavetable, PCI. Soundblaster compatible “With A3D” Banksia Wave SP Modem '56 Cambridge Soundworks Speakers “The best sound under $800.00” Maxtor 3440 Series Hard Drive 13.6 gb 9.0ms seek. ATA-4 / Enhanced IDE Compatible. Video cabling and extensions, to hook up TV, VCR and camcorders. “At cost.” Sony Monitors discounts vary from $20.00 off the R.R.P of the 15” CPD-200ES which equals GED price $40.00 off the 17” CPD-200ES =$1,155.00 GED price. $60.00 off the 17” GDM200SP = GED price $80.00 off the 19” GDM-400PS =$2570.00 GED price $120.00 off the 21” GDM-500PS = $1290.00 $270.00 $760.00 $173.00 $190.00 $1080.00 $390.00 $550.00 $170.00 $139.00 $269.00 $399.00 $980.00 $70.00 $635.00 $1935.00 $4180.00 < Windows 98 will be done at cost which is $255.00. This is the full version. Plus good old Sony may throw in some sweeteners, like free floppy drives. The new “NUSOUND" soundcards really appeal to us as they fit in with our philosophy of Performance, Value and Price. Great cards. When matched with Soundworks speakers you have “Amazing sound!’ Another GED hardware match made in heaven. The Maxtor 3440 Series Hard Drives are available from 3.4gb to 13.6gb. Platter size is 3.4gb at ATA-4 “Hot". We file all hardware warranty material for our customers, as the units go out the door. We will be supporting our models from our Web site, and a Bi-monthly customer support issue, on CD-ROM. E-mail us on GED@IDEALNET.AU. Phone GED for orders, Pricing and hardware variations (GED can configure to suit any hardware variations). Delivery Australia wide, freight charges applicable as per location. So contact GED now and make a value purchase. GED Computers are built by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, so we build with plenty of T.L.C. Customer support and performance enhancement is what GED is about. c Ph 02 9829 8804 Fax 02 4628 7235 GED COMPUTERS “Proudly a Genuine Intel Dealer” 5 24 »HYPER PREVIEWS Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver PLAYSTATION fcj AVAIlABll: JAM 98 I CATEGORY: 30 PtATfOHMlH 5 countries in over 32 variable Sporting Tournaments, in order to become the No.l WarTorn Warlord in the world. ^ Players ore given the option of competing with or without M Resource Management on a scalable landscape of |^SS their choosing. ""m Variable Multiplayer modes allow for both single player Explosions cooperative Lai Ef fects and on-line world champion ship Tourna- ments. /^mour 7 Weapon. Produced by Ph: (02) 9674 7399 www. impact ga m cs. co m Copyright © Eyst Pry. Ltd. 1998. All rights reserved. WarTorn is a registered trademark of Eyst Pty. Ltd. All trademarks and all registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. KEUiN CHEUNG RND STEUE OLERRy other, one-on-one fighting games have become one of the dominant forces in the videogame industry. They have created the same kind of fanaticism and loyalty found in the ridiculous system wars and mascot feuds. Hyper now brings you an in depth analysis of where it all began and what it’s all about, so that you’ll appreciate why fighting game fans seem to have a language of their own. Intannatfonal Kanafe + Commodore 64 1986 • First game to introduce three players in a fighting match. Two players could go up against each other and a CPU opponent in what turned out to be a brilliant addi¬ tion to the series. • Two new bonus stages were included were you had to deflect bounc¬ ing balls with a small shield and kick away bombs before they exploded. Again the novelty of the game’s bonus levels were a great addition to the game. ■■■■ Karate champ Arcade 1984 • Each fighter was con¬ trolled by two joysticks. Combinations of different directions on both sticks at the same time would result in the character’s single¬ hit attacks. • The game used a point system where 1/2 or 1 point were awarded for each suc¬ cessful blow landed on your opponent, and it was first to 2 points. • Karate Champ 2 was the first real one on one fight¬ ing game with head to head two player matches, with two sets of joysticks. m mm mm mm ■ 'bbb ■■■■ 'Bat S w \mf ZJ Way of the Exploding Fist Commodore 64 1985 • Joystick movements in certain directions combined with a single button press resulted in the game’s attacking moves. • The first fighting game to introduce bonus rounds. A bonus stage existed where the players had to execute a crouching lunch punch at the right time to stop a charging bull. International Karate Commodore 64 1985 • Almost a carbon copy of Way of the Exploding Fist, this one simply had better graphics, and as a result got quite a large following. • IK 2 was exactly the same, but with different backgrounds. • The fist fighter to include opponents who had weapons. These included guys with Nunchaku, Sai, Pole, Ninja Stars etc. Although the character you control has to settle with the old 'fist and feet’ routine. • Yie Ar Kung Fu was the first game to introduce a 'Boss’, with the player working his way through the game’s standard char¬ acters before he met the biggest and badest dude with the most insane and damaging moves. hooligans to kick the shit out if the buttons them¬ selves. so this system was dropped for the traditional 6 button system that is still used in Streetfighter games today. play a two player Vs CPU game, much like International Karate ♦. • Fatal Fury was the first game to have a button that allowed you to move between the foreground and background to avoid attacks. i m t n n I "5 "J i mmr M 'Mr 'Mr M«r Mortal Kombat Arcade 1992 a ui. : Zj Fatal Fury Arcade 1991 *8 8“S 8" Yie Hr Kung Fu Arcade 1986 • Another fighter that Streetfighter Arcade 1988 • The first version of Streetfighter for the arcades had a control system which had variable damage • This game was created by SNK (who have been rivals to Capcom ever since) and included 3 playable characters and the ability to • Introduced fatality moves that could be used at the end of a fighting match. • The first game to intro¬ duce a Block button into fighting. Its use was rather clumsy and never really seemed to feel right. • A huge amount of blood was used in this game and was seen as the game's main drawing card. iiik ■ A mr jMk A A\ iiii iin mr u m rm rum 1 '■■■ '■■■ ' v I r w k a ■ iiik liik mr jm iiik ■ Amur m ■ ■ ■ r Arcade 1991 • The first game to introduce special moves that were initiated by multiple joystick directions (in arcing movements) with single button presses. Moves like the 'fireball’ and hurricane kick were born in Streetfighter 2 and have been copied in hundreds of fighting games since. • Aside from the fireball and hurricane moves, Streetfighter 2 was the first game to introduce charge | moves like Guile’s Sonic Boom. Holding the stick backwards | for two seconds and then pushing it forward with a attack but- 1 ton resulted in a special move projectile like Ryu’s Fireball • Eight selectable characters were available for use in I Streetfighter 2, which was the largest amount in any game to date. • The game featured four unplayable bosses, each with ' totally different character design and range of special moves. • Chun Li was the first female character to be included in a fighting game. Until this game fighting was the domain for men only. • SF2 was the first game to introduce ‘combo attacks’ were you could link single hits into each other or into special moves. Classic examples were the ‘heavy jumping kick into heavy leg sweep’ or the ‘heavy standing punch into fireball 1 . This was the start of the combo phenomenon. • The first game to introduce throws. Punching towards a character with an attack button would result in the player being thrown. • The first game to introduce multiple hit moves like Honda’s hundred hand slap and Blanka’s electricity attack. HYPER» 3 3 34 »HYPER FEATURE THE HISTORY 0 F — 1 -A r I I J 1: ■ ! V Yiir k ■ r JBBk. JRkBk JUUU Amur m UJUh. m ■■■■■ r ^ k ■■ ■ ■ wi m u r 'immm jmmr ■ ■ ■ ■■■ V k A V ■■ ■ jmm k a^Bk mr a B^Bk iBik BB BB BflBB BB B B WB B B ^ B B B 'IBFB v r Capcom ■ ■ 4 iir l r k if ■■■■ iNk mr iHk ■ ■■■ ■ 4Uk lilk mr | Bilk illk ■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■ ■ ■ i ^Bir r ■ ■ Yin ■ 14 11 ■ ^iri r r Arcade 1992 • The characters used a slightly dif¬ ferent set of joystick movements from those of SF2, with movements like ‘forward, back, forward + punch result¬ ing in many of the game’s special moves • AoF was the first game to intro¬ duce ‘Super moves’ that were basical¬ ly enhanced special moves that did a lot of damage. The first special involved running up to your opponent and then hitting them with every move you had - over 30 hits to be exact. • AoF’s was the first game that scaled in and out of the fight depending on distance between characters. Capcom is the big Kahuna who brought us Street Fighter 2 and its numerous upgrade and expansion editions the Alpha and EX series. Capcom has numerous other fighters under its belt, including Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men COTA, X-Men Vs Street Fighter, MSH Vs Street Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom, Rival Highschools, the Darkstalkers games, Cyberbots, Pocket Fighter, and the Star Gladiator games. SNK SNK was Capcom’s only real contender in the 2D stakes. Pushing technology that predates the Saturn, SNK marches on with quality titles like Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 and KOF 97. Its previous titles include Fatal Fury, World Heroes, The Art of Fighting, and Samurai Shodown. With its new Hyper Neo Geo 64 hardware, SNK will hopefully find new room for growth. Namcu Namco’s contribution to the fighting scene was huge, being the creator of one of the only two polygo¬ nal fighting games that first appeared in the market. First there was Tekken, then Tekken 2, Soul Edge, and now Tekken 3. FMV sequences, sub-quests, and train¬ ing modes in their respective home versions played a huge part in their success. We can only wait in antici¬ pation for Soul Calibur. AM2 AM2 is the classiest programming team to have ever graced the videogaming scene. AM2 deserves huge credit for the Virtua Fighter series, the first fighter to incorporate polygonal graphics. AM2 had a very clear rivalry with Namco, especially with the release of Last Bronx as an answer to Soul Edge. With the Model 3- enhanced VF3 and the Dreamcast on the way, the guys at AM2 are laughing. Midway The makers of Mortal Kombat just keep on churn¬ ing out wackier and bloodier games. If it’s not War Gods, then it’s Mortal Kombat 4 or BioFREAKS or some other bloodbath. Other companies that have made a few contributions include Tecmo, Square, and Hudson • The characters in AoF had a spirit meter that determined how many special attacks they could use. Players could charge up the meter leaving them vulnerable to attack. Streetlighter 2 Championship Edition Arcade 1992 • Made the four bosses ( Balrog, Vega, Bison and Sagat) playable. • Minor adjustment were made to the speed and damage levels. SF2 Hyper fighting Arcade 1992 • Characters had addi¬ tional moves added to their arsenal (Chun Li's Fireball. Ken and Ryu’s air Hurricane kick, Honda could move while performing his hun¬ dred hand slap), and the game had yet another increase in speed. 1993 Fatal Fury Special Arcade 1993 • Combined nearly 20 characters together in a huge fighting game that was unmatched at the time. • Kept the line sway sys¬ tem from Fatal Fury and with the huge selection of char¬ acters being the games main attraction point. Samurai Showdown Arcade 1993 • The first weapons based fighting game where you could actually use the weapons (unlike Yie Ar Kung Fu), Sam Showdown had swords, claws, machetes and all manner of killing weapons. • Huge characters like Earthquake were unlike anything ever seen in fighting games. Super Streetlighter 2 Arcade 1993 • Four new characters were introduced into the series (Cammy, Dee lay, Fei Long and T. Hawk). • Q sound was adopted in capcom games which resulted in a change of voic¬ es for most of the characters in the game. 1994 Art of Fighting 2 Arcade 1994 • AoF 2 arrived in the arcades with a huge graphi¬ cal uplift. • A dash movement was introduced into the game. FIGHTING G fi m E S • A0F2 was the first game to introduce a ’Hidden’ character. Geese Howard, the arch-villain know to many SNK fans, was only available to challenge if you didn’t lose a round in the whole game. Samurai Showdown 2 Arcade 1994 • Included super moves for each of the characters that would rob their oppo¬ nents of their weapons for a short time. • A few new characters were introduced and the existing ones had one or two extra attack moves implemented. • The first game to include a life bonus. A character in the back¬ ground would throw out a hunk of meat or chicken and you could pick it up to regain some life. King 0 ! Fighters 94 Arcade 1994 • Introduced 'team matches’ where the player was able to select a team of 3 players and then fight another team. • The dodge move was introduced so that attacks could be avoided. • The charge meter was introduced to the series that not only allowed super moves, but deter¬ mined the level of damage done. Uinfuci Fiqhfan Arcade 1993 • The first polygonal fighting game ever, Virtua Fighter introduce 3D modelled characters that were basically fighting with 2D limitations. • The first game to introduce multi-hit attacks like Jeffrey’s Toe Kick Splash Mountain and Akira’s Stun Palm of Doom. • Introduced a block button for 3D games. • Allowed you to perform throws from behind your opponents. • Ring outs were available by throwing or forcing your opponent out of the ring. Mortal Kombat 2 Arcade 1994 • A larger range of char¬ acters and even more grue¬ some moves made this game even more popular than MKi. Other than that the game had the first real com¬ bos for the MK series, although they were rather small and limited. • The characters now had the ability to perform moves in the air which added even more combo potential for the MK characters. Virtua Fighter 2 Arcade 1994 • Added two new charac¬ ters, who both had the abili¬ ty to dodge, making 3D movement possible. • Reversals and counter attacks were implemented. • Moves in VF2 differ depending on stance of the opponent, as well as how long each characters moves take to perform. • VF2 was the first game to truly take advantage of its 60 frames per second refresh rate, with every move taking a specific amount of anima¬ tions to perform. This allowed for very complex and strategic gameplay. Darkstalkers Arcade 1994 • Introduced a laid back ■ ■ B B ■ B A A k Jk B B B B ■ ■ k B BBk B B B ^B B B B B B In SF EX, something was seriously lacking from Zangief’s Screw Piledriver. In Virtua Fighter 3, some¬ thing was sorely missing from the overall atmosphere. The common deficiency was life, vibrancy, and a touch of humour. This is something that 2D fighting games provide. While some people vent their frustrations with their teacher on a fighting game, other people actually want to be entertained by the wonderful animated beauty of the on-screen action. The current generation of gamers are mostly brought up on cartoons, so it’s hard not to see why the attraction is there. Games like Pocket Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom, and Vampire Saviour are prime examples of this. While this in no way serves to undermine the merits of polygonal fighting games, it must be recognised that some aspects of the 2D fighting medium cannot be replicated into 3D. For instance, who amongst you cringed when you saw Chun Li jumping for joy in SF EX? If 2D games were presented in 3D, would it make any difference to the gameplay? Would Mai Shiranui be as bouncy in polygonal form? At least some of you will answer no. Something that certainly can’t be replicated in a 3D environment is the comic style artwork that has become so popular in 2D fighting games in recent years. Anime style visuals only seem to translate well into 3D when it’s mech based. Remember folks, regardless as to how technically amazing a game is, or how many other people like it, you must be able to play it and enjoy it. If you can’t, you’re just wasting your money and time. HYPER» 35 36 »HYPER FEATURE 0 R 0 F THE HIST ■ he ■ k r k k Mr mjmk. ■ ■ a BBk jmur .iBBk liBk a k. B BBBB B ' k B BB BB BB B a b b ibbp jmmr ''bbf iw b b ^mrm ^ r jmr i»k ■ r ^ ^ r !■ ■ amm^ mam^ mr m mam*. amm^ ■ ^mrm m r m uri r ■ il iiik iHkik iiai Ammr ■ ■■ ■■■■■ r i l wi ■ ■ r im jiif There are many different mindsets when it comes to fighting game fanatics, but they can basically be broken down into the following catagories. IBB m B B k B mr k B BiBk iBBB B B B iflBk B BBBB r ''k^r b B B B B IBB r IP iiBB BiBk mr B r B B B 'BBB B B ' ■kIL m mr a ■ ■ MAMi. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ^mmr Mindless violence is what every fighting game is about. As each new fighting game surfaces, the blows look more and more punishing and over the top. Take Tekken 3, where moves can produce dazzling sound effects and send opponents flying across the screen. Whether it’s by way of a 50-hit combo, a fatality, or a super move, the game must give the player a sense of might and awe¬ inspiring power. Old gems like International Karate Plus wouldn’t cut it anymore these days because the moves just aren’t powerful or interesting enough. Blood didn’t become a significant factor until Mortal Kombat began spilling it by the bucket-load. The fatali¬ ties raised quite a few eyebrows; and while they add nothing in terms of gameplay (since you’ve beaten them anyway), it really brought home exactly how violent fighting games can be. In what can be noted as a trend specific to American developers, certain fighting games like BioFREAKS and the upcoming Thrill Kill are premised on the ability to hack your opponent to pieces and other¬ wise kill them in an unsavoury fashion. This is indeed morally questionable, especially when you consider that equally entertaining fighting games make little to no use of such concepts. BBB BBBk B k B B k r A B BiBk iBBB BBB r iBBB iflBk B B iBBP IP BB BB r ■ 'k B r m BBB'' k B BBB 'BBB B B ''BBB 'BP B V B iBBP ' A large section of fighting game fans insist on a realis¬ tic portrayal of the action at hand. The simple reason is that such games would allow you to incorporate moves from your own personal skill, wit, and savvy. It’s certain¬ ly more entertaining than throwing cheap fireballs. The Virtua Fighter series, for instance, have always been criti¬ cally acclaimed for their accurate portrayal of real-life fighting techniques. However, it’s more precise to say that the magic of such games are in the realistic depic¬ tion of physics, body movements, and damage system. No one game at this point in time can ever profess to have achieved this goal - even the mighty Virtua Fighter 3 still has the annoying floating jump. Full three dimensional movement would obviously be mrm a m r ''BBB B'Bk B'Bk ''BBB .iflBk B Ammr Arcade 1996 • Introduced more long string multihit combos for every character. • Introduced chain throws, which did horrible amounts of damage. • Counter moves became a usable function on some characters. • The team match theme was brought over into KOF 95, but the players were now able to pick their own team out of a choice of 28 players. This huge number of selec¬ table characters was one of the games main drawcards in the arcades. • An attack move could players to run right up to their opponent before they started mashing the buttons. • Each character now had chain combos in the game, with up to 6 hit combos available. The gameplay was starting to approach the level of SF2, but the graphics made the game look dated in comparison. Super Streetfighter 2 Turbo 1994 Arcade 1995 alternative to the hard- knuckle fighting action of the Street Fighter series through amusing and satiri¬ cal character designs and animations. • Introduced a multi-hit combo system that allows you to progress up from light attacks to heavy attacks. • Allowed you to accumu¬ late levels on your super meter. Mortal Kombat 3 finally became in the Streetfighter series through a code that had to be entered at the selection screen. • Supers where now avail¬ able for use in the game. A meter, which increased when the player performed special moves, denoted when the player could per¬ form the super move. Sadly, the super moves were just basically enhanced versions of the character’s standard moves (Ryu’s super fireball move, for example). • The game offered speed settings that allowed you to select how fast play was within a match. King of Fighters 95 Arcade 1994 • Introduced a ’run’ button to the MK format that enabled FIGHTING 6 R m E 5 ■ t ^BBk m m ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ vmmr ^mmr wa Arcade 1996 • It was the first 3D weapons-based fighting game. • Introduced the side-stepping move. • Introduced a player-controlled replay camera • The PlayStation version incorporated an RPG mode where you could unlock new special weapons for use in the Arcade mode. now be performed while the character was dodging, and this move could be used to start combos. • Guard cancels were introduced into fighting games in KOF 95. When the charge meter was full you could block and attack from an opponent and immedi¬ ately perform a special move. These guard cancels added a great deal of strate¬ gy and skill to the game. Tekken Arcade 1995 • Introduced a control sys¬ tem where each button con¬ trolled each limb. • Introduced a long string 10-hit combo for every character. • Allowed unlimited air juggles and an ability to actively attack your opponent while they were still down. Darkstalkers 2 Arcade 1995 • Introduced new charac¬ ters into the series • It simplified the multi¬ hit combo system by allow¬ ing you to randomly switch between punch and kick attacks • Allowed new special attacks that were performed by executing certain button sequences. Fighting Vipers Arcade 1995 • Introduced caged arenas into fighting games. You could constantly smash your opponent up against the fence and then hit them with a powerful blow that would knock them through the fence for a spectacular finish. • Players had armour that could be smashed, which would open them up for extra damage from their opponents. • Counters were introduced in FV that were incredibly easy to use. Back ♦ Punch could counter any attack for example, and this made the gameplay fast and exiting. Street Fighter Alpha (Zero) Arcade 1995 • Aplha is supposed to take place before Streetfighter 2 (or 1 for that matter), so the characters had been redrawn with a younger, anime look to them. Some characters like Blanka, Guile and Bison had been dropped, but there were also new additions to the game like Charlie, Rose, Adon and Guy who was from the Final Fight series. • Characters could charge up to 3 super moves at a time, with these moves car¬ rying over from one round to the next. • Characters now had up to three different super moves each. • Some players were able to roll towards and away from their opponents. x-Men Arcade 1995 • This game pitted the X- Men characters against each other, and had huge beauti¬ fully animated characters. • The first fighting game to introduce chain combos, where you could link punch¬ es and kicks of ascending order together. • Introduced air juggles, where you could knock your opponent into the air and then continually hit them before they drop back to earth. an important step in truly simulating any kind of reali¬ ty. Ironically, very few self-proclaimed 3D games actu¬ ally do this, and hence are not even deserving of such a title. Street Fighter EX and Virtua Fighter, despite being presented in polygonal form, are not 3D. Soul Edge, Tekken 3 and Virtua Fighter 3 have a very limited ele¬ ment of three dimensional movement in the form of side-stepping. Tobal 2. Bushido Blade, and Ehrgeiz are prime examples of games where full three dimensional movement has been implemented. BBB iBBk B k B B A ■ B.iBk iBBB B iBBk BiBk B r iBBk B B B B r B B B B B B BBB BBB ''BBB ^aar IBflf B B ^ B ■ ■■■ ■ ■ ■ B B r B B 1 ■ Believe it or not, but control interfaces are very important. Why? Because a person will only enjoy a game when they can come to grips with the controls. For instance, some people love the fact that they have a 6-button control over the power of their attacks in Street Fighter, while others are completely flabbergast¬ ed by anything with more than three buttons. Some games have a specific button for blocking, jumping, or executing a super move, while others would require you to perform a complex joystick movement to accomplish the same thing. For others, control pads are an abhor¬ rence and nothing will suffice but a joystick. Here at Hyper, we really don’t care what the controls are just as long as they work and respond, but we do understand that some controls won’t suit certain people. ■ t ■ ■ k ■ iBBB B A BBk iBkBk B iBW iBBk BB BB r B BB BBBBB BB B B B B ''BBB ^BBr ^BBf B B r ^Bflr 'IBB V ■ AT WAV V m mam± amm^ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ^mrm r Unless you have a warped sense of humour, there is little fun to be derived from slowly stumping an oppo¬ nent to death one punch at a time. That’s why multi-hit combos are a mainstay of modern fighting games. For fighting game fans, it’s a question of how many hits you want to land, and how you want to do it. Most Namco and AM2 games incorporate the infamous dial- a-combos, where a specific memorised button sequence and one or two simple joystick moves will produce any¬ thing from your standard 3-hit combo to a devastating 50-hit Ultra Combo that brings you within 3 shades of defeat. Take away those combos, and games like Tekken 3 become decidedly average. The other combo methodology is to string together a set of moves that logically connect to each other. Virtua Fighter 3, SF EX, and many SNK games adopt this stan¬ dard. Complex long string combos in these types of games require a great deal of practice and skill. The only problem is that some of them become so long or complex in execution that they become impossible to remember. This has been remedied somewhat by games like Vampire Saviour or X-Men Vs SF, where the combo system is simplified so that you only need to progress from light attacks to heavy attacks. HYPER» 37 38 »HYPER allowed for huge combos that basically devasted your opponent. Fatal Fury 3 Arcade 1995 • Introduce a third plane to the Fatal Fury system, with a middle plain where the characters normally fight on and foreground and background planes that could be used to dodge attacks from your opponent. • The game contained extensive 'cinematic sequences’ that linked the fight scenes together and had a hidden boss at the end of the game that could be challenged if you didn’t lose a match during the course of the game. • FF3 was the first game to introduce a second • Finally took the SF series into the realm of 3D. • The 3 level supers were carried over from Streetfighter Alpha 2, with the possibility in EX to link supers together. This each character (Bust or Slash, they are called), with each version having slightly different moves and supers to the other. • Charging was brought into the series, with super being executed with a full charge meter. Streetfighter EX Arcade 1995 Samurai Showdown 3 Arcade 1995 • Introduce a dodge move like KOF 94, but in doing the dodge you would sneak around to the other side of your opponent where you could stab him in the back. • Good and evil charac¬ ters were selectable from Art of Fighting 3 Arcade 1996 • This game received a huge graphical overhaul from A0F2, and is the first time that motion capture, previously only used in 3D games like Virtua Fighter and Tekken, was used in a 2D fighting game. The char¬ acter’s movements were smooth and fluid, it’s just a pity that the gameplay was sedate and boring... • A0F3 introduced 'Ultimate K.O’s’ were you could kill your opponent in the first round which would mean that they would be unable to fight any¬ more and you would move onto the next fighter. These Ultimate K.O moves would FEATURE super. A code was needed to access this move, but its destructive power was far greater than the usual nor¬ mal super move each char¬ acter had. Marvel Super Heroes Arcade 1995 • The second in the X- Men series, Marvel Heroes had characters like Spiderman and the Hulk in the game. • You could hit charac¬ ters while they were on the ground and continue combos by knocking them into the air. • Introduced the ’Infinity Gems’ that could be used enhance certain abilities in the game. Super strength gem and super speed gem are some of the gem powers available. 0 F have been responsible for many pissed off players in the arcade for sure... Killer Instinct Arcade 1996 • Made use of scaling rendered graphics. • Introduced the ridicu¬ lously long Ultra Combos, which could cause inciden¬ tal fatalities depending on how well you executed it. Dead or Alive Arcade 1996 • It introduced the Hold manoeuvre, which made the gameplay unpredictable. • It implemented a Danger Zone which would explode if you landed on it. • The game made use of a complex system of chain throws. Street ffghter Arcade 1996 • Introduced an unlimited tag-team function, which did away with the two- round format and allowed continuous fighting until both characters on a partic¬ ular side was defeated. • Once you had built up two levels on your super meter, you could combine the powers of both characters on a particular side to unleash a combined super move. F I 6 H T I N 6 G fl m E S ■ ■ iiwik iiik ■ i»k jmmm | ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■ r wa air aw ■ ■ ibbb i ,,k ^BBk iBBk k il iBBk ■ ■ iBBk ■ ■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ^aar wa iar ■ ^aar ^mrm u Arcade 1997 • The third installment of the Darkstalkers series, this game introduced new characters who’ve have some of their special moves altered or removed. • This game added nothing particularly new to the genre, but allowed for new actions like counters, tech hits, and so on. • Introduced the Alternate Dimension feature, allowing you to exploit special abilities of your character. Fatal Fury Real Bout Arcade 1996 • Introduced more char¬ acters from FF Special that were left out in Fatal Fury 3. • Real Bout had boundaries on either side of the fighting area that could be broken. If the opponent was pushed or thrown out of these boundaries he would lose the match. • Introduced the ’double length’ life bar. The bar, when rescued to zero, would turn red and then would have to be reduced to zero again before your opponent was KO’ed. This increased the length of fights, which made them more enjoy¬ able and better value for gamers in the arcade. Last Bronx Arcade 1996 • Traditional weapons like the wooden sword, Nunchaku and Pole were used in this 3D fighter from Sega. • Player had the ability to cancel moves at any time with the block button. This opened up great possibili¬ ties for air juggles. King of Fighters 96 1996 • A roll move was intro¬ duce into KOF 96, with play¬ ers now able to roll behind opponents and attack them quickly (the dodge move¬ ment was dropped). The move was overused in the game and was often the source of great frustration. • Although the number of playable characters in KOF 96 increased to 29 the game was seen as the weakest ver¬ sion in the KOF series. Streetfighter Alpha 2 Arcade 1996 • Custom super combos were added that enabled you to perform a huge amount of special and normal attacks within a short period of time. Although the idea was cool, its execution was rather shab¬ by and proved to be a shal¬ low addition to the SF Series. • Counter moves were also added that allowed you to perform a counter. This would make you enter a counter pose where you would hope¬ fully block and counter and opponents attacks. • Sakura, another Ryu clone was introduced to the SF series. Samurai Showdown 4 Arcade 1996 • Introduced chain com¬ bos into the series and a great emphasis on combo attacks as well. • A standard dodge move, like the one in KOF 94, was included as well as the ’run behind the back move’ seen in Samurai 3. Virtua Fighter 3 Arcade 1996 • Added a dodge button that allowed any character to dodge. Characters could also perform throws from the side, which were usually executed as soon as you dodged an opponent’s attack. • Included varying types of terrain that altered how your attacks effected your opponent. Steps, hills and fences were included in the backgrounds and the hight these ground structures gave you could be used to your advantage when fighting. Mortal Kombat 4 Arcade 1997 • This game was a major facelift for the MK series as the characters were now drawn in full 3D. The basic gameplay still remained 2D, although the introduction of a dodge movement allowed players to duck out of the way of incoming projectiles. • Weapons were intro¬ duced into the game, with each character having their own unique weapon. It was even possible for you to knock a weapon out of your opponents hand and then use it on them. • Other objects, like boul¬ ders and rocks, could be picked up and hurled at your hapless opponent and provided even more excuses to cover the screen in blood. King of Fighters 97 1997 • 32 playable characters are now available for use. • The game system included the old dodge sys¬ tem of 94 £ 95 along with the roll system of 96. • Characters now had two super moves that they could use. One was the standard super and the second was a desperation super that could only be performed when the character had a low energy bar and a full charge meter. • The game’s control system had been simpli¬ fied to allow easy special and super movements. This made it much easier to play and allowed beginners to pull off large combos. Street Fighter 3 Arcade 1997 • The parry move was introduced as a new method of countering attacks • An option was offered to select one type of special super move from a choice of three (eh?), which could be performed after charging up a power meter. • The game otherwise incor¬ porated cool features from other fighting games, which made this long awaited sequel a case of too little too late. Fatal Fury Real Bout 2 Arcade 1998 • Reduced the line system back to two lines from the three in Real Bout. • A more refined and bal¬ anced control system that is extremely playable. HYPER» 39 40 »HYPER H A R D W A R E PC Type: Sound card R.R.P: $89.95 Distributor: Innovision Here we have a piece of hardware that is testimony to the school of thought that when it comes to PC components, that going for a no-name product will generally get the job done, and save you money. The "Professional" sound card comes in a dodgy little box, barely big enough to fit the card. The artwork on the box is equally as ify looking, with a strange picture of a sound card that looks like it’s been mounted onto a space cruiser. This is where the dodgyness ends... Basically, what you get is a PCI plug and play sound card, that supports Direct Sound, Sound Blaster Emulation, Aureal 3D, Wavetable, and of course has a game port. Like the Orchid NuSound, this card uses the Vortex chipset, and is for all intents and purposes the same card. The stand out feature of this card is the price. Till the NuSound getting 3D sound of any nature involved spending $200^ (Like the Diamond Monster Sound, and even then, that was an add-on card, not a "stand-alone-does-everything" option). At $89.95, this is easily the best value buy for a sound card, unless you want some bundled games, which are offered with some cards, like the NuSound. Of course bundled games aren’t choosable, so if you’d rather just be spending the money on the card, and put the rest of your money to games of your choice, then this card is definitely the way to go. If a retailer is trying to charge you more than $90 for a PCI sound card with Aureal 3D support, refuse them, and tell them about this card. ot Nyko Starter Pack PLAYSTATION Type: Accessory bundle Distributor: Dayform R.R.P: $49.95 If you’ve recently bought a PlayStation and want to get the essentials for completing the basic setup, then this is the ticket. Nyko’s Value Pack gives you a digital controller, a standard memory pack, and two extension leads. So if you buy this, and just have a PlayStation with 1 controller, you’ll then have two controllers with extension leads, and a memory pack, which completes that "Sit back on the couch" setup that we all want. The controller is the Nyko "Action Play” gamepad, which is actually very good for games that require you to do semi circle or quarter circle movements on the pad, which is a must for those into fighting games. The only possible warning that should come with the pack is that the extension leads are only 2 meters long, which should be plenty for most, but you’d be upset if you got it home and it still didn’t reach. A good buy for the "Just bought a PlayStation” crowd. ot H3D Eyewear System PC Type: 3D glasses Distributor: Mindflux R.R.P: $300 The idea of playing in a 3D environment with true 3D visuals has always been appealing, and the solution has always been some sort of headwear. Strapping an electronic brick to your head always sucked, and the most practical and realistic method so far has been stereoscopic glasses, which work by "blacking out” one eye then the other so rapidly that your eyes don’t really see it, and altering the screen image in sync. This creates depth perception, and basically makes the image on screen appear 3D, with objects "cornin’ atcha". The H3D is the latest of these projects, and looks to be the best so far. It comes with two sets of cordless glasses, a transmitter, and a connecter to allow you to hook the transmitter between your last video card (so you can use 3DFX cards, etc), and the cable to the monitor. Pros and cons... On the up side, this provides the best effect we’ve seen yet from a set of 3D glasses. Also, the second pair of glasses means you can let a friend watch too and show off (a must after you shell out $300). You can also simply download patches off the Internet, of many good 3D games. On the down side, you must have Internet access to get patches. Also, those with tricky setups, like 2 Voodoo cards, may experience some hassles (like 1 did), getting things to work. If you’re not a techno-boffin, go bring your nerdiest friend around when you go to use it the first time. Those with simpler setups will have smoother sailing. Overall performance will vary from game to game. We felt it looked better with Quake 1 rather than Quake 2, etc. A decent product if you’ve been after 3D specs for your PC. bt HARDWARE Buyers Guide The guide to purchasing the best value games hardware around! Item RRP Notes PSX Memory Card Nyko Memory Card *72 $129.95 It’s a lot to fork out, but it is the equivalent of buying 72 memory cards, so you’ll never need to buy one again. Nyko Memory Card x 8 $49.95 A better buy for those that don’t think they'll need more than 120 save game slots at any one time. Digital Controller Std Sony Controller $39.95 It’s certainly not the cheapest, but it has the best feel and reliability. Analogue Controller Sony Dual Shock $59.95 It has the best rumble efect in any console controller and is comfortable to use. Arcade Stick Namco Arcade Stick $99.95 Solid as all hell, really authentic sensitive arcade button, and a stick that’s perfect for whipping out fireballs. Hado-Ken! Steering Wheel V3 Racing Wheel $149.95 Not as cheap as the Mad Catz, but at least it’s solid, and will work with CT. Pc 3D Accelerator Canopus Pure 3D $249.95 Cheap V00D00 i (3DFX) card, handles textures better due to more RAM, and has TV out. Orchid Righteous 3D II $585 The top end of the "affordable” 3D accelerators. Best results require a Pentium2, but Pi users will still benefit. Sound Card Professional Sound $89.95 It’s PCI does SB support, 3D Direct sound, and is dirt cheap! Video Card ET6100 $99.95 The best value buy for those who own, or who plan to own a dedicated 3D accelerator Diamond Viper 330 RIVA 128 $349.95 A 2D/3D card in one. The best value card for those who want some 3D acceleration, without buying a dedicated 3D card. Shop around or ask for OEM to save money! Flightstick Thrustmaster X-Fighter $150 Sure, there’s no throttle, but this stick feels great, and will last you for yonks. Microsoft Force Feedback-Pro $269.95 Not the best in terms of ease of control, but the force feedback adds a whole new dimension. Gamepad Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad $79.95 Love em or hate em, Microsoft make great peripherals, and this is no exception Mouse Microsoft Wheel Mouse $59.95 Works as a three button mouse, and the middle button allows window scrolling. N64 Memory Pak Nyko Hyper Pak $59.95 Four times the normal memory storage AND variable Rumble settings. The all in one "Pak” Memory 64 DLX $29.95 Not only does it have four times the standard memory, but it’s only $5 more expensive than the standard Pak! Rumble Pak LX4 Tremor Pak $29.95 Not the cheapest Rumble Pak, but it DOESN’T need batteries, making it excellent value. Tremor Pack Performance $19.95 Two rumble modes, with the strongest being REAL strong. Creat for those wanting to put it into a wheel. Gampad Mako Pad 64 $59.95 Expensive, but its design allows you to hold the controller and press every button without moving your hands. Docs Controller $39.95 $10 cheaper than the Nintendo standard. Feels better, and comes with auto-fire and slow as well. Racing Wheel V3 Racing Wheel 64 $149.95 Gears on the wheel, really sturdy, great feel, and configurable buttons. Also all allows for Rumble Pak. Mad Catz $129.95 Cheapest of the actual wheel controllers, includes a gear stick, and built in Rumble Pak. Not amazingly sturdy though. HYPER» 41 42 »HYPER RMfWS GAME OF IKE MONTH BANJO KAZOOIE Scare: 92 reviewed oe sage 72 Strong PC month te, with some ting the mus- This month was one dHBtoe trump card months tor Sony and Nintend&mtmv laying it on heavy in the fighting game depAilkcnt with Tekken 3 , and Nintendo answered (cr going by release dates, maybe its the other troy around) with Banjo Kazcoie. Both games are fantastic, and definitely deserved the 4 j 3 age reviews they received. What started out looking turned into a somewhat 1 titles slipping, and some just 1 tard the way we like it. What has really shocked us is thi^b much as we hate to admit it, we ended up enjc f^g M ortal Kcmbat 4 ! The game mechanics havejj^-cved over the previous versions encughjftBd our interest a bit. TheX-Men vs Street Fjghter^^iclpi top this off as a real fighting game mont The only really sad note this month u4Bthe shocking lack of N 64 titles available fcriwew. However, we suspect Banjo Kazcoie may the only N 64 title that sells this month anyway, perhaps^* the other distributors tried to avoid ccntpetrnsz^ with it. Anyhow, we're certain there'll be — “ N 64 next month. Cnjcy. <3 PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE MONTH TEKKEN 3 Reviewed on page 44 PC GAME OF THE MONTH KKND2 Reviewed on page 55 •-*' ^ - *• r H ~ y r± ’id iae' S hi r*> MU •J! mnsy >.*.*- ^BtSKiF ;>vV»«fcF i '\^ t x : »,. v ./',-Sk,£^V N64 62 Banjo Kazooie 59 Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls 60 Mortal Kombat 4 PlayStation 48 Blasto 74 Circiit Breakers 56 Crime Killer 74 Frenzy! 54 Heart nl Darkness 78 Kick Off Wnrld 78 Mr. Domino 58 N20 79 Street fighter Collection 44 Tekken 3 53 Tombi 79 Tommi Makinen Rally 76 World League S occer *98 79 Wreckin Crew 57 X-Men vs Street Fighter EX 75 Xenocracy PC 7 Army Men 76 Centipede 54 Heart nt Darkness 73 Hexplore 77 House of the Dead 75 Indy Racing 69 Int. Crciket Captain 66 Krosstire: KKHD 2 76 Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino 74 Micro Machines V3 68 Special Dps 78 Starcralt: Insurrection 75 Stratosphere 72 Team Apache 77 Trophy Bass 2 Deluxe 70 X-Com Interceptor 75 Xenocracy mmatmmmm Available: When the game is expected to be on sale. Release dates are subject to change without notice for a variety of reasons, so this may not always be correct. Ask your retailer if things don't show up. Category: What type of game it is Players: The number of players a game allows to play it at once. Publisher: Simply the company that publishes the game. Price: The recommended retail price. This is subject to change without notice. Rating: The OFLCs verdict on the suitable ages for the game. Required: The hardware required to play the game on your PC. Desired: The hardware we think you need to get decent performance out of the game. Supports: Which peripherals and hardware you can use with the game. Plus: Notable good points about the game. Minus: Notable problems with the game. Visuals: An indication as to the overall quality and impact of the graphics in the game. Sound: A rating that includes not only sound effects, but music as well. Gameplay: A measure of the depth, features and fun that you come across when playing the game. Overall: The verdict, in a number. HYPER» 43 I 1 ■] fi f J The PlayStation has been a leader in a few genres in the 32 (and 64 bit) console scene, and one of those is 3D fighting games. Despite the options, the Tekken games have proven far and away the most popular fighting games on the PlayStation, and this has made Tekken 3 perhaps the most hotly anticipated game on the system to date. Heihachi Mushima has once again staged a Tekken tournament, twenty years after the end of the second tournament, so we see some old faces, and some [new (yet strikingly familiar) faces too. PBeaetlful to watch When Rapid Racer first showed off the PlayStation’s high res mode, we got a taste of what was to come, and Tekken 3 would have to be called a 3 course meal of gorgeous viMis that really push the PlayStation to its limits. The : ickgrounds are still 2D. but there's a far greater illusion D environment than before, although a thoughtful ce is all that’s required to see how it works. The characters however are wonderfully textured 3D : *>lygon figures that are far more detailed than we’ve een in any PSX fighting game yet. While still being clearly polygonal, it’s a far cry from the low poly count ip the last two Tekken games. The music is also far better than in previous Tekken games, with a variety of different styles of music, suited to each jharacter. The sound effects also seem that little bit Ip irer, although the difference there is pretty minimal. ’ the best example of this, as he can enter into many dif¬ ferent animal stances, each branching off into unique moves. It’s more of a case of "looks cool” than anything else, but let’s face it, once you can win, then next step is to look cool doing it. Another character Hwoarang has different moves depending on which foot he has forward, making it a far more tangible difference, and also more like Virtua Fighter 3. Finally there’s a powerup ability, where players can "psyche” up for a few seconds to gain the ability to land some semi unblockable hits. Like performing a normal unblockable move, this leaves you open, and only lasts a few seconds, so it’s very balanced. Naturally, all the standard game options have remained, such as team battle, survival mode, practice mode, versus mode, time attack, and of course straight arcade mode. There are also sub games to indulge in, with Tekken Ball and Force Mode. Those of you into FMV will enjoy the theatre mode, which allows you to play back the movies without having to get to them again. Tekken 3 has had a few gameplay tweaks that may not be obvious at st, but they result in a much better me than the past two. The main complaint that people had about Tekken 1 6 2 was that it was very easy to keep your opponent down once you’d floored them, giving them lit¬ tle chance to get back into the bout. Namco have addressed this issue, allowing players to spring back much faster if they time it correctly, and the short toe jab is great for stopping folks just laying the boot into you repeatedly. Movement into the fore¬ ground and background are now possible as a standard move for all characters, although using this to dodge effectively requires much practice. Not only can you move to the side of your opponent, but there are also side specific throws (like in Virtua Fighter 3). Even differentiating between left and right. To go into even further depth, Tekken 3 has stance dependant moves for some characters. Lei has HYPER» 45 46 »HYPER REVIEWS PLAYSTATION eS ( 1)29 m mr. fl n rM TF» «• 31 ft ( 14 ) 7 \ NINA WILLIAMS HI Thanks to a trusty cryo chamber, Nina doesn’t look a day older than she did in Tekken 2. She’s still got all those sickening throws, plus a few new slaps and kicks. Her aim is to assassinate Jin Kazama, although this is not of her own will. KING 12) Actually, this is King 2, as King was killed by Ogre. The new King took up the mask and was taught to wrestle by Armour King. Buff wrestler with a mask, King looks just as he did in the previous games. LEI WULON 13) Jacky Chan in a video game. Lei now has multiple animal stances, which all lead into different moves, making him the all round Kung-fu expert, rather than the guy with a few fancy kicks that he was last time. Lei was invited into the tour¬ nament by Heihachi, and he has no idea why. PAUL PHOENI 141 Not only does Paul have the most embarrassing hair of the tournament, but that stubble and leather jacket make him look like Ceorge Michael’s closest friend. He still tonks hard though. He’s enter¬ ing for the sake of fighting. HWOARANC (51 A 19 year old street swindler who has studied Tae Kwan Do under Baek Do San from Tekken 2. He’s entering the tournament to get over his insecurities about having a "draw” with Jin Kazama, as he’s always won every fight he’d ever had. He attacks almost exclusively with kicks. YOSHIMITS IB) The eldritch mechanical ninja is back, with a few more off the wall attacks to add further confusion to the game. Yoshi has entered to acquire some ’’Ogre’s Blood” for Dr Boskonovitch, whom he is eternally indebted to. FOREST AV 17) Cumpy here is the son of Marshall Law from Tekken 1 £ 2. Paul has conned him into coming along with him to enter the tournament. Sadly, there is almost no difference between Forest and Marshall, and it’s almost as though this isn’t a new character at all. EDDY GORDO l>l Formerly wealthy brat, Eddy took the wrap for his father’s mur¬ der as to avoid the drug syndicate that killed him. Eddy learned a Capoeiristas dancing fighting style from an old man in jail, and years later after perfecting it, is entering the tournament to hope to get power to get back at the syndicate. JIN KAZAMi IS) The product of Jun Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. Raised by his mother, at age 15 he learns that Kazuya is his father, shortly before Jun is killed by Ogre. Jin studies under his grandfather Heihachi, and adapts a fighting style that is a blend of Jun and Kazuya from Tekken 2. Apparently some young gaming femmes go nuts over Jin... Go figure. LING XIAOYU HO) The token 16 year old schoolgirl (all fighting games have one now). Xiaoyu has a flashy, fluid style, that results in rapid sweeping arm attacks. She’s entered the tourna¬ ment to get Heihachi to build her an amusement park... erm, yeah. The Bosses and unlockables BRYAN FUR’ HU A corpse of a cop, animated by a rival of Dr Boskonovitch. Bryan was formerly a cop, but is now a killer, who fights remarkably like Bruce from Tekken 2. ANNA WILLIAM H2) Nina’s twin sister is still around, and has changed little. Typically, her ending scene results in her los¬ ing clothing. How novel. MOKUJIN (13) Ever hear of the wooden man training doll? I think someone at Namco took the idea a step further. Mokujin uses moves of a random character changing each round. GUN JACK (14) The little girl that Jack-2 saved in Tekken 2 has rebuilt Jack as this monstrosity. Same as before, a big slow heavy hitter. JULIA CHANi (15) A girl adopted by Michelle Change from Tekken 2, who just happens to dress, look and fight like MC... funny that. KUMA/PAND/ (IB) The bear is back. As in the past, Kuma is after Paul’s blood, but this ( 15 ) . 4 * one was a result of the bear idolis¬ ing Paul’s fighting after seeing him on TV! Only in Japan... GON (17) A little lizard with a host of silly yet amusing moves. Kind of like what Roger and Alex were to Tekken 2. Con is unlocked by vol¬ leyball skills. DR BOSKONOVITCH 111) If you can get it together to finish the Force mode four times, then you get Yoshimitsu’s "mas¬ ter". His weak and feeble body makes him prone to falling over... constantly. Funny to watch. HEIHACHI MUSHIM/ (19) Just to rub in the fact that 20 years have passed since the last one. Heihachi is back, with grey hair and wrinkles. He hasn’t lost any strength at all, and has learned a few more powerful attacks through the years. He is obsessed with the idea of capturing the God of Fighting (Ogre), and has hosted to tournament to lure him there. OGRE/TRUE OGR (21) Meet the worst boss to a fighting game. Ogre looks okay, as a huge Central American warrior, but despite all of this game’s bril¬ liance, True Ogre is way too chunky to look like anything in particular. It’s near impossible to tell what he’s doing simply because he’s this large mess of brown polygons that borrows moves from other charac¬ ters. Having Ogre stay as he was would have been better, and hav¬ ing someone with unique moves would have been ever better. While one can praise Namco for their efforts in adding extra moves, techniques, options, and a better audio-visual experience, they really lack a lot of imagination in the char¬ acter planning and plot. The supposedly new characters King 2, Forest Law, Hwoarang, Jin, Brian Fury, and Julia Chang are all either direct copies of Tekken 2 characters, or they use almost identical moves to previous characters. Xiaoyu and Eddy are completely new, but out of the 21 char¬ acters available, this is a rather small addition. Now this may seem a bit anal to be griping about this, but for objec¬ tivity sake I had to pick a low point of Tekken 3, and this was it. Hopefully Tekken 4 will see many new characters (not just their look alike sons and daughters), with new moves and fighting styles. When it comes down to it, Tekken 3 is quite simply the best fighting game on the PlayStation. It has tons of charac¬ ters, an absolutely stupid amount of moves (including mul¬ tipart throws and ten hit combos), a couple of sub games, superb graphics and sound, and every standard option you could want. The only people who will be let down at all are those that were hoping for a whole mess of new characters with original moves. If you want the best fighting game on the PlayStation, go out and buy Tekken 3. TEKKEN BLANKET BINGO? Unfortunately you don’t get to physically assault Frankie Avalon and his overly hip and happy beach buddies. You do however get a beach volleyball sub game. As funny as this sounds, it’s kind of cool. You can defeat your opponent either by hitting the ball into them forcibly, or by hitting it where they can’t reach it, taking damage as it hits the ground. It makes for an amusing diversion from the normal game, and* also unlocks Con, a crazy little lizard character with his own set of moves. Looks cute and funny, but isn’t one of the characters you’ll want to use much. FORCE MODE SCROLLING BEAT EM UP BONUS GAME! Yep, Tekken 3 comes with a side scrolling beat ’em up built in. Now before you go get too excited, it must be pointed out that you just fight lots of fea¬ tureless goons till the end of each of the four stages in this sub-game, at which point you fight a game character. The other downer is that because of the controls are the same as the standard 1 on 1 setup, that when you start facing odd directions, or when you have an opponent either side of you, your moves sometimes don’t come out as you’d planned, or you’d like them to. Regardless, this is simply a bonus, and serves as a very novel way to unlock one of the secret char¬ acters... you have to be keen. AVAILARLE: September _ CATEGORY 3D Fighting PLAYERS: 1-2 PUB LISHER Namco PRICE: $89.95 RATING: TIC SUPPORTS: Dual Shock controller. PLUS Outstanding visuals and sound Heaps of characters, moves, and options MINUS Most of the new characters are just Tekken 2 clones. VISUALS SOUND EAMEPLAY 94 89 94 OVERALL Namco continue to prove their dominance in the PlayStation 3D fighting genre. Outstanding stuff. HYPER» 47 48 »HYPER REVIEWS PLAYSTATION Blasto Space cadet Cam Shea take a trip with the voice ofi the late great Phil Hartman, in Sony’s Blasto. THE IRRESISTABLE DEATH TRAP Hi, I’m Captain Blasto. You may remember me from such workout videos as "Pectorals of Doom” or perhaps such educational films as "Drop dead alien scumbag" or "Handheld nuclear weapons - the kooky craze sweeping the galaxy!!” Just like a cartoon Blasto is a 3D action/adventure game. You play the ridiculously proportioned, retro superhero Blasto - prob¬ ably the most heroic man ever to grace the face of the Earth. Honestly, Blasto's withering legs would instantly snap under the weight of his 'roid filled torso - his chest is liable to collapse into a black hole at any moment! The games design is heavily influenced by Warner Brothers cartoons of the 40s and 50s - in particular the Marvin the Martian (no, not starvin' Marvin!!). Thus, the levels all have that empty, flat shaded cartoon look. This theme is created visually by utilising smooth gourard shading with well positioned lighting effects, rather than the oft abused method of packing levels full of gawdy textures. Thus, Blasto has a unique and aes¬ thetically pleasing feel. The engine looks great and runs smoothly most of the time, although there is occasional slowdown when there are many enemies on screen. The levels are huge, maze-like structures, and are generally well designed. They flow smoothly on from each other, and often backtracking is required, with a switch in one stage connecting with a door in another stage. Phil lives on The sound effects and music are both excellant. The music suits the silliness on screen with a wacky, space adventure vibe, and reacts dynamically to the situation. As alluded to above, the late Phil Hartman (Troy McClure and other Simpsons characters) provides Blasto's voice. His vocal talents are a pleasure as always. Comments like "I love the smell of burning ectoplasm in the morning", and (when you attain a powerup) "as if i need more power!!" are great. However, the speech isn’t hugely inventive, and a little more wouldn't have hurt. Blasto's main problem is in the control department. His movements aren’t exactly lighning fast... more like beached whale fast. This isn’t too debilitating until hordes of aliens start teleporting in all around, and the speed and skills are lacking to compete. Since the aliens have the ability to teleport in anywhere at any time, finding yourself surrounded is very common. Teleportation is a good idea, creating fast-paced and unpredictable action. Each time an alien warps in, you hear a telltale sound, so attentive listening is paramount to success. However, the thrill of keen detection skills is soured by Blasto’s lack of responsiveness. The inevitable "jump from tenuous platform to tenuous platform" routine is also made rather frustrating. Also, infuriatingly enough, Blasto can sidestep right off the edge of walkways etc. Thus, in the heat of combat, you sometimes have to take the damage to avoid falling to your certain doom. Blasto is another "almost, but not quite" game. It certainly has flair and will provide a hearty challenge, but can be exceedingly frustrating at times - you have been warned!! AVAILABLE: November CATEGORY: Action/adveature PLAYERS: ~\ PUBLISHER Sony PRICE: $59.95 R ATING: TIC SUPPORTS: Oual Shack PLUS zapping aliens on Uranus is always fun MINUS sluggish control consistently irritates VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 87 88 74 ohrul 82 A good action adventure that is really just let down a bit by the controls. 1 -r. THE LISTER NE SEA PLAYSTATION REVIEWS Tombi With the release of recent titles like Castlevania and Klonoa, it seems that developers have heeded the call for a return to old-time platforming with deeper enhanced gameplay. Tombi, a platform-based romp by Whoopee Camp, tries to offer something a little new to the genre. Did somebody mention Caveman? Kevin Cheung whips out the loin-cloth and club. to pink hair. The other characters are all nicely ani¬ mated sprites, set against back¬ grounds that are brought to life by lush interactive 2D detail and the odd bits of parallax. Aside from the visual beauty, the level designs are fairly sim¬ ple to navigate through. Can A Caveman Flash? In terms of game- play, Tombi attempts to innovate in several ways. Firstly, RPC elements are implemented into the game. Your character can find new items, gain experience, and travel around a map in his quest. Consequently, each level is not a sim¬ ple matter of just getting to the other side, as you have to actually find things and complete certain tasks before you can go to the next level. Secondly, there is the ability to jump back and forth between the foreground and background, which adds depth to the game's physical dimensionality. On the whole, Tombi suffers from just not being enough. The controls, aside from the dodgy jumping interface, are solid, the presentation is spot on, complemented with high-quality FMV sequences; and the music, while being absolutely annoying at some points in the game, can still be described as being acceptable on the whole. What’s wrong with the game is the fact that it’s just not flashy enough. There aren’t enough animations or effects to make the game spectacular. This is one of the reasons 2D games were avoided during the PlayStation’s first run of games due to their ’snes-iness’. The other problem is that the game is sometimes unbelievably easy, while at other points it is frustratingly difficult due to the RPC elements. All this boils down to is a mismatch of gameplay mechanics. In the Good Or Fashioned 20 end, Tombi is not quite a thrilling or ground-breaking Tombi, the main character you control, is a caveman game, but it is nevertheless entertaining, who’s had his precious belongings stolen by a band of evil pig people. Violated, Tombi seeks to right the wrongs of these pigs, restore his pride, and retake possession of his belongings. To that end, you’ll be jumping, swinging, climbing, beat¬ ing your chest, and performing other caveman-related antics until your brand of justice finally prevails. Carnes of this type are typically defined by two things: the character and level designs, and the play mechanics. Although the game is of a distinctly Japanese flavour, Tombi is a character of largely Western influence, looking astoundingly like Sega’s long forgotten mascot Wonder Boy except with wacky fluo- Castlevania X is the ulti¬ mate alternative for lovers of platforms and RPCs. Its overall production stan¬ dards are stunning, its music is ranked among the best ever on the PlayStation, and the RPC elements are well balanced. Younger gamers might try Klonoa, which combines a touching storyline with better plat¬ form action. AVAIUDLE: Aogust CAT!GORY 2D Platforms PLAYERS: 1 PHLISRiR: Whoopee Camp PRICE: $69.95 RATIN6: C PLUS An easy game to get into with a little bit of everything MRNUS lt‘s a little shallow in every aspect of gameplay, so experienced gamers will get bored quickly. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 82 72 77 OVERALL 79 It's not a bad title, but it doesn’t do all it aspires to do in convincing fashion. HYPER» S3 54 »HYPER REVIEWS PC/PLAYSTATION Heart Of Darkness David Wildgoose had been waiting by the Hyper mailbox for a long time (or this one. Heart ot Darkness, plattcnn adventure extraordinaire arrives at last. Quickly, someone, pinch me! Can this really be Heart Of Darkness? Can this really be the awesome looking game we previewed for the first time about three years ago? Is this actually the Heart Of Darkness designed by the legendary French guy, Eric Chahi, who made Another World? Or am I dreaming? OUCH!! Bloody hell! It really is Heart Ot Darkness!! You won’t believe how thrilled I was to finally get my hands on this almost mythical game. I haven’t felt this hyped up about a game since, oh, I don't know, Mario Kart 64 probably. Let’s just hope I’m not in for a big let¬ down. And. yes, if you’ve sneaked a peek of the score over there, you’ll know I haven’t been disappointed. Can’t keep any secrets around here, can I? Heart Of Darkness begins fantastically, breathlessly, star-scrapingly CINEMATIC. The jawdropping opening sequence runs for nearly ten minutes and is the most stun¬ ningly-conceived intro piece I’ve seen in a video game. The 3D character modelling even leaves those of Westwood’s Blade Runner to shame. It transpires that Andy, the cute kid with the baseball cap, loses his dog, Whisky, during an unusually threatening solar eclipse. The ominous swirly black sky and wilting flowers would seem to indicate that something, somewhere is not quite as it should be. So Andy hops into his homemade flying contraption (I hesi¬ tate to call it a plane) and sets off into the heavens to rescue Whisky. Seamless stuff... Returning beneath the clouds, Andy finds himself in an alien land and instantly collides mid-air with a hideous, shadowy winged beast. He crashes into a canyon and is left tee¬ tering on the edge of a towering cliff. At this point the game has actually started, but the brilliant thing is that you won’t realise for a few moments - you’ll still think you’re watching the intro. In fact, throughout the entire game, the way the cut-scenes segue seamlessly into the game (and vice versa) is a remarkable achievement. Picking up the controller, you get Andy to jump from the wreckage and then, a mere fraction of a second later, the mangled hunk of machinery explodes out of the screen in a shower of metal and rock! And then your eyes follow suit! It’s just incredible! Despite the arresting opening to the game, if there’s one thing Heart Of Darkness asks of the player it is that you give it a little bit of time. This is a game that you’ll need an hour or so just to settle into and grow accus¬ tomed to. For a start, the graphics, as wonderful as they most certainly are, may take a small while to fully appre¬ ciate. After all the extraordinary 3D engines I’ve wit¬ nessed recently, it took me some time to re-adjust to tra¬ ditional 2D graphics. In the end, however, what’s here is just as good as the likes of Unreal, but in a different and more subtle manner. Perhaps most impressively, the detail in the animation is truly astounding - and yet it’s just not as in-your-face, as obviously great as seeing a mothership in Descent Freespace, for example. See Andy leaping across ravines to grab rocky ledge, all elastic limbs and lithe contortions, and then you’ll be impressed. Or catch a glimpse of those little black cave¬ dwelling gremlins giggling as they evade Andy’s laser fire and just try not to start chuckling yourself. To Hell with tradition The other thing with which you’ll need to become accli¬ matised is the somewhat un-traditional gameplay. On the surface, Heart Of Darkness appears like most other platform games. Underneath, however, it’s a quite different beast. Instead of the typical repetitive platform action (you know, lots of pixel-perfect jumps, leaping on enemies’ heads to kill them and that sort of thing, over and over again), this game is littered with ingeniously-designed situations of gaming inspiration. Andy does have a few abilities - jump¬ ing, somersaulting, running, a laser gun and, later, a spe¬ cial magic power - but the trick comes in working out how to use them to negotiate the next obstacle. Some situations are intuitive - you’re hanging by the ankle from a vine above a swamp and the water’s beginning to bubble and stir, obviously you’re going to start swinging back and forth and hope to grab that stick to the left. While others will need some moments of contemplation - that cave full of moving pylons that squish you as soon as you step next to them is a especially tricky. What makes Heart Of Darkness so superb is the seem¬ ingly endless variety of trouble that Andy gets himself into. Throughout the entire game, rarely did I feel as if I was doing something similar to what I had done before And for any type of game, let alone a so-called platform game, that is quite an achievement. The only possible criticism you could level at the game is its length. Or rather its lack of it. There are only eight levels, you see, and they’re not what you’d call huge. But honestly, Hea 1 Of Darkness has managed to squeeze in more imagina¬ tion, more flights of fancy, more effortlessly brilliant moments of pure gameplay into those eight levels than you could experience in most of this year’s games put together. If you loved the way Abe’s Odyssey reinvented the 2D platformer last year, then you’ll just adore the way Heart Of Darkness has done it even better this year. AIAURLE: Now CATE6RRY: Action/Adventure PLAYERS: 1 PUBLISHER: Ocean/lnfogrames PRICE: $19.95 RATINE: 68+ REQUIRED: 486 DX2/66. Win 95 16MB RAM DESIRED: p90 PLUS Inventive, original gameplay and superb animation. Oh, and it's finally here! MINUS Bit on the short side. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 92 87 91 DVERAll Truly amazing while it lasts A bit longer and this would have been a 95% game. HYPER» 55 56 »HYPER REVIEWS PLAYSTATION Crime Killer Who ever would of/ thought that cur hccdlume&que Cam Shea would be a Crime Killer? Oh great, another game where you’re forced to play as the good guy. Sheesh, the last character that I’d like to be represented as in digital form is a cop., unless it’s a ’Bad Lieutenant’ kinda cop, now that’d be fun. Or per¬ haps a 'Hard Boiled' cop., mmmm.. Chow Yun Fat kicks ass! Oh well, I guess it’s not all that bad. I mean, Crime Killer is set in a fairly lawless future. It’s basically a mis¬ sion based car combat game where you patrol real-time city areas in 3 slick and fast vehicles. As you’d expect, in the concrete jungles of this alternate future, there are a variety of other vehicles on the streets - all of which can be blown up if you so desire, although too many civilian casualties will result in failing the mission. Smooth as... Crime Killer places you in control of 3 types of vehicle - patrol car, motorbike and prototype wing. The vehicles are pre-assigned to individual missions, so unfortunately you don’t get to choose your favourite hotrod of death. There are 15 missions which take place in several sprawling real¬ time city environments. The game runs very smoothly indeed - at a consistent 50 frames per second. Even in two player splitscreen, a nice framerate is maintained. The city sectors are generally well designed (apart from the woeful freeway level). Unfortunately though, the textures used are often rather bland, perhaps to generate a cold, con¬ crete, futuristic city atmosphere., regardless it’s rather uninspiring. However, there are some cool coloured light¬ ing and weapons effects. The missions are long and involve many different tasks, whether it be terminating crims, keeping vehicles under surveillance, diffusing bombs placed strategically around the city, or simply blowing away an illegally parked hov¬ ercraft! You don't have to be the bad cop though, as your vehicle is also equipped with a pacifier. This weapon induces unconsciousness in the target's driver. Thus, some sub-missions involve apprehending suspects rather than killing them. Task updates come through after each mini¬ mission is complete on the vehicles on-board computer. Searching... Seek ft Destroy At it’s core, however, Crime Killer is basically a search, chase and destroy game. Unfortunately though, there’s a real lack of variety in the missions, and as such, the action isn’t compelling enough to make you want to complete all the scenarios. Also, enemy AI is non-existent. The vehicle that you’re chasing basically just does the same circuit over and over until it’s destroyed. Thus, they don’t react to your presence at all - they even fire at you in a timed, robotic manner. The lack of radically different objectives wouldn’t have mattered so much if the opponents were devious and really acted as if they wanted to get away. Non-linear mission structure would have been nice as well. Despite these weak aspects, Crime Killer still has many strong points, such as the sheer speed of the game, the great music and the variety of vehicles at your disposal. PLAYSTATION REVIEWS X Men Vs Street Fighter EX Edition *Schlikt ?* Kevin Cheung unsheaths his adamantium claws and rips into X-Men Vs Street Fighter £X. C 1 ip w/ i r* ¥/ M h* V Y3^ YOU SHOULD SEE A DOCTOR ABOUT THOSE LEG SPASMS It’s a sad fact that true fans of 2D gaming are a dying breed. Why? Because even Castlevania SOTN, the superla¬ tive 2D platform/RPC experience of 3rd Generation con¬ soles, did not receive the consumer reaction it rightly deserved. The Saturn was the 2D gamer’s best friend, but now that it’s technically dead, programmers who’d nor¬ mally develop great games like Grandia and Radiant Silvergun for it are now flocking to the PlayStation. Although Capcom has always been there for the PlayStation from the beginning, X-Men Vs Street Fighter EX represents one of the first of many of these 2D games that have been thought impossible for the PlayStation to handle. Oh my God! What have they done?! Apparently inspired by the ridiculous Marvel Vs DC comic extravaganza, this game is based on the awe¬ some X-Men Vs Street Fighter of arcade fame where characters from the SF and X-Men games were pitted against each other. Summarily, the game was awesome fun, combining air moves and a multi-hit combo sys¬ tem similar to the largely unappreciated Darkstalkers series with a tag team system, allowing for combined super moves and infinitely more dynamic gameplay. For art, action, control, and fun, the game set a glorious precedent. The PlayStation ver¬ sion is, however, more than a few shades shy of its arcade counter¬ part. This ’EX’ PlayStation edition is so named because, firstly, there is no tag team system; and sec¬ ondly, to make up for that, a couple of new ’’modes” have been included like a Training Mode to supposedly spruce up the gameplay (not). The only thing remotely similar to the tag team system is the ability to use your second character in the combined super moves. Other than that, the game is a shambling mess. Many frames of animation and layers of parallax in the backgrounds have been cut. Even with those concessions, the game has horrible slow¬ down, especially upon the execution of a super move, juggernaut, by his presence alone, already slows this game to a chug. What this does is take away any sense of strategy and gameplay that the game originally had. You can basically see a super move coming from a mile, block it, and take your sweet time in executing a super of your own to counter. Put simply, the original gameplay is completely ruined. What exists in its stead is a garbled wheezing mess fit for a gibbon with rheumatoid arthritis. There is hope in the big picture Is this a sign of the future for PlayStation-owning 2D fans? Thankfully, it is not. Capcom’s Gem Fighter, Arc System’s Guilty Gear, and SNK’s KOF 97, all recently released in Japan, are awesome fighting games that do the PlayStation great justice (I hope that’s a big enough hint for Australian distributors). And for those not of the fighting persuasion, Trap Gunner and Silhouette Mirage (by the fine folks at Treasure) show great promise. Why am I mentioning all of these games? Because they dispel the myth that the PlayStation isn’t capable of good 2D games. X-Men Vs SF EX does not. But then again, credit should go to Capcom for at least trying. AVAILARLE: September CATEGORY; 2D Fighting PLAYERS: 1-2 POlllIRER: CipciB PRICE; $19.95 RATING; MAI5* SUPPORTS; Namco Arcade Stick PLUS Diehard Capcom fans with only a PlayStation to play with may yet want to check this out. MINUS Horrible slowdown that turns the action from pretty good to shockingly mediocre. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 80 83 70 IVERMl It gets this score because I'm a big Capcom fan. Even then, I'm still disappointed. hyper» s 58 »HYPER REVIEWS PLAYSTATION Dan Toose'S ears perked up when someone said that we received a delivery ct N20. Laughable? AVAILABLE: Now CATEGORY: Shooter PLAYERS: 12 PUBLISHER: Gremlin PRICE: $89.95 RATING: G SUPPORTS: Negcon. Dual Shock PLUS Crystal Method soundtrack Smooth fast psychedelic visuals MHNUS Gets a bit too messy and confusing at times ! Not much depth for the hard core VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 85 91 78 OVERALL 83 A very effective blend of flashy 1 visuals, funky music, and simple shoot 'em up fun. Now, you can go on about how we may make some rather childish sex and drug references through the years (they seem awfully popular come to think of it), but when the latest shoot ’em up from Cremlin arrived, it’s pretty much impossible not to end up making a bunch of drug references, as N20 is one big drug reference... that just happens to be a game too. Let’s take a look why. The opening FMV starts with a syringe pushing into a cell... hmmm. Visually, you’re assaulted with a barrage of fluid, swirly, multicoloured, and basically "trippy” visuals. You move down a corridor, moving around the walls, firing at the enemies that come at you from up ahead. There are some visual options including a fixed camera mode rather than ’’follow player” (perhaps so some people don’t get dizzy playing the game), and lens flare style options, which is the definitive late 90’s irrele¬ vant video game feature. The visuals are, in general, very good, and if you’re into that Designer’s Republic art¬ work, there’s some snippets of their kind of techno-logo style (blatant rip off though... naughty designer!). Get Busy Child The music is provided entirely by the Crystal Method. With song titles like "Trip Like I Do", and "She’s My Pusher", that recurring theme is really strong in the sound department. The quality of this music is quite possibly the best since the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack, pulling up a little short simply because there’s only one artist. Also, all but two tracks of the Crystal Method’s "Vegas" album are on the game CD, and there are some remixes, so fans of the band may want this game purely as a music CD! The sound effects are nice and clear, with a reverb effect to go with the tunnel environment. Old ideas, new polish... Cameplay wise there’s nothing really ground breaking or original, but it’s a shooter that doesn’t really pretend to be a deep and complex experience. As you come across something new, you get an in game explanation, which is a very nice touch. Like most shooters, you collect special weapons to help take out some of the more difficult situa¬ tions. The most useful of these being the firewall, which simply sweeps the tunnel clean (you have to earn them, and use them wisely). lust not to let down the narcotic themes, you can use shields, which are naturally acquired by collecting colour¬ ful mushrooms. Perhaps Cremlin were determined to target the rave scene portion of the market. The one gameplay element that is actually a noteworthy gameplay addition to the old circular shooters like Cyruss and Tempest is the two player options. You can choose to play either split screen or sharing one screen. This can get very cluttered and confusing though, which is the only real downfall of the game. All the swirly colours, shifting environ¬ ments and odd depth perception end up making it a very bewil¬ dering game to play. It’s certain¬ ly not impossible as a result, but it seems that you almost always die as a result of not really seeing properly amidst all the flashy trippy action. N20 is not only a collection of amusing drug references, but is also the perfect shooter for folks that want a flashy entertaining gaming fix (casual gamers). Hard core gamers may find the whole process a tad repetitive, and will find the dying due to screen spam very annoying, but even the hardiest gamers will find the game hard going if they pop up the difficulty. Imiv's Reckin f Balls Kevin Cheung gets into sc me spudty action and learns new tricks to perform with his tongue. Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls involves a group of little spuds that race through a series of winding, looping tracks, with the winner of each race earning the privilege of hitting a red button at the end that blows up the track. How novel. It’s amazing what they do with balls these days. While IRB appears to be three dimensional, the game- play is strictly 2D. The three dimensional perspectives only go so far as to give the gameplay a more dynamic appearance, but the action itself is largely dependent on choosing to move either left or right, and what direction you want to shoot your tongue. Aside from that little visual trick, the game nevertheless has a satisfactory visual presentation, especially with the use of various light and fog effects. The only aesthetic problems are that the sprites are very small and it’s hard to focus on what they’re actually cioing. The character designs, along with the music, are fairly ordinary, nondescript affairs that are neither inspired nor inspiring. The supposed innovation is that each spud is equipped with a chameleon-like tongue that can be fired in any direction to act as a grappling hook. That way, you can swing around and reach the higher platforms. The tongue can also be used as part of your offensive arsenal. For instance, you can grab an opponent and whack them a few times on the floor. In terms of gameplay, IRB is quite a solid and addictive experience. The action is fast paced, and once you’ve mastered the use of the tongue, you’ll be jumping, grappling, and swinging fast enough to impress anyone unfamiliar to the game. In many respects, this quality is similar to some of the more recent puzzle games. 10 buttons, 2 directions controls, and you want to do WHAT? The control interface is totally inappropriate. Both the ball movement and tongue directional controls subsist in the analogue thumb pad, while jumping and actual tongue-shooting is achieved through the A and B but¬ tons. Basically, you can’t jump forward while shooting your tongue backwards because your analogue thumb pad can only point in one direction at a time. This takes a lot of meaningful strategy and control out of the game. It would have worked better if all tongue controls were rel¬ egated to the C buttons, while jump controls are assigned to the Z button. It’s a pity that nobody asked Hyper for that opinion... The bottom line, however, is that IRB’s game concept is limited; and its execution is flawed. The idea of a plat¬ form-based racing game is nice, since there would be more interactivity than your usual racing game. As it works out, too much focus is taken away from the racing, and the gameplay of the platform and racing genres becomes completely incongruent, hence incompatible. The end result is that you have to memorise the tracks and have a lot of dumb luck to get through some of the races. That means frustration. Mind you, IRB is quite a fun and addictive game, but that's assuming you can get into it. PLUS The action is pretty intense and it's good fun as a multiplayer game. MINUS Poorly designed controls and a mismatch of game genres can make it a frustrating experience. VISUALS SOUND EAMEPLAY 79 70 80 OVERALL 78 Not a bad game, but there’s so much more it could've done. HYPER» 59 60 »HYPER EVIEWS NINTENDO 6 4 / P L AY S T AT I O N Mortal Kombat 4 MK4 brings you the Gods of Thunder and Wind. Kevin Cheung, Hyper’s own God of Lightning (at least in his dreams) investigates. mttt-oo poshst/kt & ana A y^ in PANG STII l TIC fUMo&TAl CHAMPION Of r MORtAl *OMB AT, II) KANG fINOS MMStir VCNTURMG INTO THf RfAlM O?. CDCNi A TO KSCUF THf RBfeCfU KITANA FROM TMC VEE CLUTCHCS OF 00 an chi uNsuccrtsrut in his MISSION in tf TURNS TO f ARTH ANO MOUNTS AN EFFORT TO IRRK. TOCTTHf S EARTH* GRCATrST VARfrfORS Mf DOTS IT THIS TMf NOT ONlY TO FRfE KfTANA S HOME WORl 0 EOT AISO TO ASSKT MS MENTOR ANO fARTHS PROTECTOR RAfDCN HE HAD EYES THAT JUST BORE RIGHT THROUGH YOU MUCUSITY? Mortal Kombat rides again! Of all the American fight¬ ing games to have ever competed with japan’s suprema¬ cy in the genre, the Mortal Kombat series is probably the only one to have a shred of credibility, much less playa¬ bility. Having originally appeared several years ago as America’s answer to Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat is traditionally a 2D fighting game. With this fourth instal¬ ment, the series now moves into the third dimension by presenting the game in polygonal form. Hard to believe, but there’s a plot. As it turns out, Mortal Kombat 4 follows an expansive plot dating all the way back to the original Mortal Kombat. Liu Kang is good buddies with Raiden; Sonya is still hunting around for any of Kano’s followers; Jax can’t seem to stop following Sonya anywhere she goes; and Johnny Cage (God bless his nut punch) is dead and watching over his sparring mates from the heavens. One day, an evil warlord called Shinnok is unwittingly released from imprisonment and he takes over the realm of Edenia, taking the fair Princess Kitana hostage in the process. Apparently, Shinnok was imprisoned by Raiden many eons ago, so it’s understandable that Shinnok should declare a war of revenge against our fave Thunder god. That’s basically where this game begins, throwing 16 characters into the fray to restore some order. The first thing that should be said about Mortal Kombat 4 is that it is the best of the series. Compared to other fighting games, it is actually fun. Honest. The visu¬ als are smart and atmospheric, making use of all sorts of graphical touches like lighting, fog; and the sound effects will delight traditional MK fans, as there are plen¬ ty of the usual howls of pain, uppercuts, and that sick puppy in the background who laughs every time you land a decent punch and screams at you to "Finish Him!’’. Or her. m Midway finally produces some real gameplay. Cameplay is what makes MK4 an enjoyable experi¬ ence. In addition to the usual punch, kick, block, and run buttons, a new side-step button has been added. While the bog-standard punching and kicking is fairly unin¬ teresting, MKa’s magic is revealed when you start run¬ ning in with the special dial-a-combos and start spray¬ ing blood all over the place. To add to the fun, you can actually pull out huge bladed/spiked weapons to make an even bigger mess of your opponent. When you com¬ bine that with side-stepping and special moves, you’ll realise that MK4 actually possesses a very real and acceptable measure of strategy and depth. MK4 is, of course, not without problems. The first is in the attacking interface. The idea of performing high and low attacks while standing is a redundant legacy of 2D fighting that does nothing more than act as an anchor to old traditions that have lapsed in the move to 3D. What it needs is more moves, with more variety and more anima¬ tions. It follows that more advantage should have been taken of the 3D movement. Side-stepping adds a nice defensive element, and it’s also cool that you can pick up objects from the floor. However, there is nothing you can do offensively to exploit the weaker position of an oppo¬ nent you avoided. This is an area that games like Dead or Alive and VF3 excel in. On the whole, if you can get past the weird (albeit smooth) animations and bodgy physics, MK4 is a very enjoyable game. The fast action and visual treats make it a very entertaining showpiece. Its action remains never¬ theless shallow in comparison to other more established 3D fighters, so the one-player mode might prove monot¬ onous. As a two-player game, however, it’s bound to produce many laughs. I Urn f- kj/, BLOODFEST MK4’s entertaining qualities come from the portrayal of mindless violence. Although the previous MK games had a more realistic edge to them, MK4 somehow looks comical and darned funny. We’re not sure which one we like better. (1) BLOOD MK4 is absolutely filled with the stuff, only this time, it looks more like ketchup than ever before. Everything from a little punch or a knockout combo to a fatality will send blood spurting all over the place. (2) WEAPONS Each character in MK4 carries a large weapon capable w * "V- . * SCORPION WINS ipi; Nrap* f of doing some pretty hefty damage. They add very lit¬ tle to the gameplay, but their menacing over-the-top appearance is still impressive. (3) FATALITIES What MK game is complete without fatalities? They don’t look anywhere near as gory as they originally did, but what the hey - it has the same effect. (4) BONE BREAKING This is a newer element to MK. Pressing the LK button while up close will produce a short automated sequence where your character bends or twists a par¬ ticular limb on your opponent’s body in the wrong direction. The bread-stick sound effects are hilarious. HYPER» 61 62 »HYPER REVIEWS NINTENDO 64 Banjo-Kazooie Super Marie 64 was the must have title at the N64’s launch. Cam Shea believes Banjo-Kazooie now holds that title. Firstly, let us acknowledge that Mario 64 was a genre defining game - it took the gaming populous into the third dimension like no other. Like most in-house Nintendo games, particularly those created under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto, it had an entertainingly unique style and un-rivalled depth of gameplay. Whether you were gripped with "Just one more star!” fever, or just relishing the inventive touches that made it great (like skating around Bob-omb Battlefield on the tortoise shell - y’know popping huge air off the top of the mountain, perfecting insane wall riding runs etc), Mario 64 was a truly great game. The truth of the matter is that Rare have created the Mario killer. Although it is more an evolution than a revolution, Banjo-Kazooie is the next big step in 3D platformers - one that countless imitators have attempted and failed to make. It improves upon many elements borrowed from Mario 64 and innovates as well. Banjo-Kazooie has very familiar cute and quirky graphics, tight and intuitive controls, and compelling gameplay. It’s hard to believe that Mr Miyamoto wasn’t involved in this one! Twi smooth moving dudes... You control Banjo the bear (in those disgustingly tight yellow pants) and Kazooie the bird (who rides in Banjo’s backpack) in a quest to save Banjo’s sister Tooty from the evil witch Cruntilda. They're quite a formidable pair, with Banjo providing brute strength, and Kazooie agility, flight and pecking stance! The sheer number of moves available to the player is quite astounding. Fortunately, the controls are responsive, intuitive and well laid out. You can also learn how to use super fast boots and gum- boots, as well as change into several different creatures (courtesy of a shaman named Mumbo). Rare have exploited the potential for diverse gameplay that such a broad range of abilities allows. Thus, each level has a wide variety of goals to achieve in order to collect the puzzle pieces (the equivalent of Mario stars). Whether it be feeding a hungry squirrel, controlling a Weejie board, a race against the clock, playing mini¬ games, helping out other characters, or using Mumbo creatures - it's action packed. Rare have also included one of the most creative and satisfying endings yet seen in a platformer. Banjo-Kazooie also has a great deal of personality. There are plenty of other characters to interact with, and lashings of humour. It could be Cruntilda interrupting your quest to rhyme off a couple of lines about how she'll woop your butt, or Brentilda the fairy godmother telling you silly secrets about Cruntilda (she cuddles a huge, sweaty baboon in bed at night), or Kazooie paying out Bottles the mole - it seems like every character has a wise¬ crack. I laughed so hard one time when I went to Mumbo, and he changed me into a washing machine with the comment "Mumbo's loincloth dirty. You wash?’’. lire demonstrate tie art of tie snow level... There are nine worlds hidden in Gruntilda's lair. Each world contains 10 puzzle pieces. 100 musical notes, and 5 jingos. Levels can be unlocked by collecting enough puzzle pieces, and new sections of the lair can be unlocked by collecting enough notes. There are also Mumbo tokens, eggs, red feathers, and gold feathers spread liberally around. The levels are all entirely non-linear. You must simply explore. Fortunately, Rare have successfully side-stepped the potential problem of too much aimless exploration. It is more a case of curiosity at every turn. Inevitably there seem to be too many things to do, and places to explore. Rare have used many of the platform level design cliches - such as a snow level and a haunted house, but have done them with an enjoyable flair. In fact, as a whole, the level design is excellent. I vary attractive garni... Banjo-Kazooie sure is one purty game... yea haw!! In fact, it's definitely set a new benchmark for the N64. Whilst having a very familiar 'N6V graphical feel, I was consistently amazed by the variety and detail packed into Banjo's graphics. In fact, Rare seem to have over¬ come all the major problems that often plague Nintendo games. Firstly, there’s hardly any texture repetition. Rare have used an impressive array of fresh and distinct textures, HYPER» 63 * ^9 ^ 99 A MOVES; BANJO-KAZOOIE are well versed in an impressive array of 14 special moves. Unlike Mario, you begin the quest devoid of moves and must learn them as the game pro¬ gresses. This is an inventive technique that allows the player to learn moves thor¬ oughly and unlock secrets that were previously inaccess- able. One of the coolest "moves'’ in the game is the ability of mumbo to morph you into other creatures. There are always several puzzle pieces requiring the creatures abilities and this adds yet another important gameplay element. allowing for plenty of variety within levels as well as between them. Special credit to Rare for the work done in the more organic environments - they appear chaotic and random, just as in nature. The textures used throughout the game are sharp and colourful, and meld seemlessly together. Secondly, Banjo-Kazooie maintains a decent frame rate, even though levels are huge, and have no horizon clipping! That's right, the cursed fog is no more. Rare cried "Away with ye, ya nasty fogging bastich", and it was so! The gameworld feels much more solid as a result. Flying around gives a great impression of scale and the grand scope of each level's design. An inevitable sacrifice that was made in order to accommodate such unprece¬ dented depth of vision is that smaller objects fade from view fairly close to the player. Thus, if you're lovingly gazing down upon a level from on high, you'll see the major structures and geography, but not other characters or items. This isn’t so bad, as the fade in is smooth and in most situations, you won't notice the effect. Graphically, Banjo-Kazooie is incredibly thorough on every scale. Take for example, the incredible water effects. When Banjo creates a splash, you can literally fol¬ low the trajectory of every single water droplet through the air until it hits the surface of the water and creates a ripple. Air bubbles that rise to the surface also create rip- m r „ . .. • r: * a. ' r J . / & fv * . ft. £ V pies. Little touches like this are everywhere and demon¬ strate how polished a title Banjo-Kazooie is. The graphical sophistication and attention to detail also help bring the characters to life. All the creatures in the game are ani¬ mated smoothly, and Banjo-Kazooie have countless little animations for every situation. letter ten it ip... The sound quality in Banjo-Kazooie sets yet another new benchmark for Nintendo’s muscle machine. The sound effects are all outstanding, down to the smallest details. For instance, in the kitchen in Rusty Bucket Bay, there is a small patch of spilled goop on the floor, next to the pots and pans on the stove. Even though it's just a one off event of no significance, walking over the goop yields a squelchy sound effect. Perhaps due to memory limitations, the characters talk via subtitles, but each has a distinctive sound effect to represent it’s voice. Some of these are hilarious. Banjo sounds like Disney’s Goofy, whereas Captain Blubber’s voice is a string of variations on a burp sample - very amusing indeed. The tunes are lightweight, but suit the vibe. You’ll catch yourself recognising elements from various chil¬ dren’s songs, such as ’’Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. The area that Rare have really excelled in though is the dynamism of the music and effects. The music changes pace and arrange¬ ment (and hence, mood) depending on the circum¬ stances. Whilst walking through a cave, the lead instru¬ ment may be a cheeky oboe, but dive underwater and it seemlessly morphs into a harp - much more conducive to gliding around under the water. Also, standing atop the huge mountain in Treasure Trove Cove, you can hear the wind rushing past, seagulls cawing, and waves crashing way down below. With a nice pair of fat headphones, the sense of sounds positioned in space is incredible. Almist, but not quite... Banjo-Kazooie is a very special game, but I do have a number of small criticisms. The viewpoint can be chal¬ lenging at times. On the whole it's fine, and there is a great deal of freedom to manipulate it, but occasionally there will be a situation - particularly in enclosed spaces, where the only way to see ahead is to switch to first per¬ son mode, then gradually move along. The viewpoint can also be frustrating underwater, and is compounded by the awkward swimming mechanics. There are two ways to swim - one of which is too slow, and one too fast. Turning in the water is annoying and it is often hard to judge whether you're taking the correct line. My only other qualm is that I didn't find beating Banjo-Kazooie to be particularly difficult. Sure, the levels increased in difficulty as the game progressed, but there were no instances of spleen bursting frustration. Perhaps this is a sign of good level design that doesn't rely on traditional platform fare, or perhaps Mario 64 has turned me into some kind of 3D platforming crack commando... I dunno. Either way, this is a game that deserves to be appreciated by all, since it's not every day that a game better than Mario 64 comes along. VS MARIO: Mario 64 is a timeless classic. Saying that Banjo is a better game is not a criticism of Mario - merely an indication of Rare’s talents and a greater understanding of N64’s hard¬ ware. Also, the fact that Mario has reigned supreme for 2 years now (Japan release) demonstrates just how impressive a title it was. Instead of starting up point¬ less debates about which game is better, grab a control pad and enjoy them both! AVAILABLE: Jlow CATICORY: 3D platformer PlAYERSJ_ PUBLISHER: Nintendo PRICE: TBI BATWC: 6 SUPPORTS: rumble pack PR. IIS Outstanding visuals, sound and gameplay. What else do you want? MINUS Not overly hard, potentially being a short game for the enthusiast. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 97 91 96 OVERAII (Simply outstanding in every department. Kudos to you Rare - you've created one spanky game!) HYPER» 65 66 »HYPER REVIEWS v 1 Aussik'Jjbme developers. Beam, ccntinutrthe ptist apocalyptic strategy saga with KKND 2 KrSispire ROSS Qaijksmiti takes control. 0*+ * ' * “t* * •* .* 4* V >* » >• v ' f ..*••• . % >* A j : L ry?* ft • ■ 4grW'% What makes the sequel to a game good? After all there is nothing worse than forking out a wad of cash on the strength of an original’s good name, only to find out that the designers got lazy and greedy and the sequel bites. It would seem that the designers of KKND2 Krossfire were being anything but lazy since the success of KKND and KKND Extreme. The latest version takes all that was good in the original, gives it i) a good shake to get rid of all the dead stuff, 2) a trip to the plastic surgeon for a bit of a facelift, and 3) a trip to the bad guys lab for a new team of pain givers. The end result is a very impressive player in the real time strategy market, well able to hold its own against all comers. ' ■' 11 mSp «•>:*. >> ■ >>>;«•> ... > v < • -; . V ■} The original teams are still present, the Evolved have been given another 40 years to mutate, get more grotesque, and develop their general weirdness. The Survivors have spent another 40 years in their bunkers and vaults getting more and more paranoid, psychotic and doing nothing at all for their suntans. Now enter the new kids on the block. The once meek and menial Series 9 farming robots became more than a little angry at the other two destroying all their good honest work, now they all want is to wipe all forms of humanity from the planet. Although KKND2 will make a place for itself in with the other RTS games, it will not bring with it anything mind blowingly ground-breaking. If it was herer a few months ago, it would have beaten Starcraft in the race to be the first RTS with three races... oh well. It is however far from straight meat and potatoes action and strategy. There are over 50 different units shared amongst the three different tribes. The unit’s level of firepower, toughness and level of development are all well balanced, which makes no race better than the other to play as. The units all do different damage to each other, which opens up the range of differ¬ ent tactics to use during battles. The AI doesn’t cheat to find strengths and weaknesses, but instead makes use of scouts to probe for weak spots. The AI also makes use of terrain during play. Line of sight has been integrated into the game, with units not being able to see or fire up cliffs, but those on top can see and fire down on those below. This also lets units hide and ambush each other, providing of course that the others are not using their radar. Krossfire comes with an editor for all its existing units and buildings, which let the player change any number of stats for each unit. This is a great idea to alter difficulty, or even balance any inadequacies you may find in the game. As well as being able to customize, the player has the abil¬ ity to custom design new units during play. This increases the type and number of units available to each player. Adding to the life of the game, is the mission editor that is fully detailed for both single and multi-player games. Controlling units is really simple, being point, click and drag like most RTS games. A few little extras make the game a lot easier than some to cope with. Up to nine groups, and four locations can be given their own num¬ bers, so they can be instantly jumped to. Units can also be given a series of waypoints to pass through or stop at. Patrolling and defending is also possible. The game looks absolutely divine, and the addition of the three new landscapes, urban, desert and highlands, enhance the KKND2 S appearance. The rendered mission briefing, cre¬ ated using motion capture, is brought to life. Unfortunately the briefing can’t be seen again without restarting the whole game. This would have been a good idea as during the verbal briefing, there is a whole lot of words and numbers scrolling on the side. This is normally pretty funny stuff, if a little corny, but it detracts from the briefing. Sound on the whole is on the high side of average. The standard replies to orders for each unit like all other RTS games is present. Though while playing through the 51 dif¬ ferent scenarios, not once did 1 get the urge to tear out hair or turn the music off, so the score can’t be overtly annoying. KKND2:Krossfire is one heck of a game to get through, with a few of the missions being mind bendingly tough. There is guaranteed hours of enjoyable playing time. Even if you are not a strategy fan, the levels can all be hacked through with a bit of judicious saving and a few restarts. Best of all it’s a quality Australian product through and through, so go and support your country. Buy Australian! AVAIL ABLE: Now_ CATEGORY: Strategy PIAYHS: t-8 PUBUSH EH Melbourne House PRICE: TBA RATING: TBA lEHNER: Pt33.1t Mi MN DESIRED: P133.16 MB RAM PLUS Looks pretty, comes with an editor MINUS No original features » ISUALS SOUND 85 80 fiJWEPMY 89 OVERALL A strong real time strategy game that is definitely worth checking out for any fan of the genre. HYPER» 67 68 »HYPER REVIEWS PC Spec Ops: Rangers Assault Slap on some fatigues, grab ycur zooming scope, and fallow Eliot Fish into the bushes AVAIIARIE: Now CATI60IY: Action/Sim PLAYIRS: 1 (Multiplayer patch available) PUBLISHER IMG PIICE: TIA BATING: TIC REBUIREO: P1SS.16MI RAM. Win S5/SI DESIRED: P200. 3D accelerator. 32MI RAM SIPPORTS: Glide. OpenGL PLUS Challenging. The sound is awesome. MGNUS The time limits get frustrating and the Al is slightly buggy. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 85 86 84 OVERALL Intruiging gameplay. with tasty 30 accelerated effects. The thinking man's shooter SpecOps was released over in the US a few months back to mixed reviews. There was no denying the graphics and superb sound rocked, but the game was buggy and had many features lacking - like a control setup option etc. Since the US release. Zombie have been hard at work improving the game and fixing all the problems that gamers disliked. The lucky bunch that we are get a ver¬ sion of Spec Ops straight out of the box with all the latest additions and features - which have really improved the game over it's earlier release... Rejoice Aussie gamers, we get the better game! Einmle SO pushups! Spec Ops is a first/third person military sim, in which you take the role of an Army Ranger with the task of com¬ pleting a number of covert operations. Each mission is played with two soldiers, one you control and the other you order about, but you can also switch between the two. Choose a Rifleman, Machine gunner, Crenades expert or Sniper and try to complete the objectives within certain time limits. The first mission for instance, requires you to take out an enemy truck which is snaking it’s way to the enemy camp. Once you manage to explode the truck, you have to sneak into the enemy camp (tak¬ ing out the hidden soldiers scat¬ tered throughout the forest) and destroy their radio - those damn Russians have to learn not to listen to 2-Day FM. The hitch, is that it’s not only night, but you have to utilise the inventory you begin the mission with to get the job done - and all within a time limit. Use your night goggles, 2X scope, binoculars, mines etc wisely and conserve your ammo. Your soldier can crawl on his stomach, sneak around in a crouch and run for his life, and you can give your fellow rangers instructions too, like "follow me" or "fire ’em up!" to help get the job done. The visuals are excellent, and playing as the sniper was great fun - getting yourself into position and then attempting to pick off the various guards so that your grenades expert can get into their camp and destroy stuff is engrossing gameplay. Because the game can be played from a first-person perspective, you really do feel part of the action, and you can move the camera angle around to suit yourself. Our local release of Spec Ops allows you to reconfigure the keyboard commands and set up every¬ thing from your mouse and gamepad to your joystick. There are also options to randomise the enemy troop placings and there is also a patch you can download which lets you customise your inventory each mission, and improve textures for Voodoo2 users. Big news though, is the release of a Multiplayer patch so you can play in teams and try to infiltrate your opponents base. Spec Ops is realistic in the sense that you can’t just approach these missions like an action game - if you run towards the direction of the enemy camp, you’re only going to get picked off by a sniper. Stealth and quick thinking are your friends here, and the pace of the game can be slow at times. The time limit is annoying, and you’ll find yourself replaying a mission over and over until you figure out the best way to approach your objec¬ tives without running out of time, but the game is engrossing enough for you to want to keep trying. Zombie seem very commited to continually improving Spec Ops with constant patches, but there’s a very meaty simulation on hand here - so things can only get better. PC REVIEWS International Cricket Captain Feeling a little too old to seriously consider playing for a living, Eliot Fish plays armchair captain instead... To some, Cricket is an obsession, and up until now no video game has done the game justice. Whilst Beam’s effort with Cricket ’97 was Sussex: 6/0 Cowan to Newell admirable, it was a fairly lame rep¬ resentation of the true sport - much like Cameboy golf is fun, but not a terribly accurate depiction of the subtlety within the game. Well, hardcore Cricket fans can rejoice because International Cricket Captain is so far the closest thing to actually standing out there on the pitch and adjusting your box. First, understand that ICC is not an action game, this is more of a Cricket management simulation in which you select your team, train them and then cap¬ tain the side from a series of menus with the game play¬ ing out in front of you like you’re watching it on the TV. Then realize that this first edition only features the English county teams and national side, with an Australian Sheffield Shield edition coming out later. However, if you’re successful enough captaining your county side, you can go on to captain England later on in the game. So... how does it work? Smacking the leather After selecting your team, you can pour over the end¬ less stats for each player (endorsed by Wisden with all the official figures), check out your finances (you can trade players at the end of a season) and select a side for the next match. Playing a County Championship for instance is a four day match, and after checking out the playing conditions you can toss the coin and bat or bowl. The layout of the in game menu system is excel¬ lent, and when bowling you simply choose your bowlers, adjust their line (off-stump, middle or leg) and then set how attacking or defensive you want them to be, whilst editing the field placings to your delight. Batting is simi¬ lar - edit your batting order, adjust their aggressivness (carefully paying heed to how "settled" the batsmen is) and then see how they deal with what they’re dealt. The replays (you can choose to watch every ball and make field adjustments if you’re that anal) are good too, and the batsmen’s shots are as varied as the real thing. The only disappointing factor is the unrealistic fielding - sometimes the ball will go straight to a fielder on the fence and still go for four! The fielders also do not attempt to slide and stop the ball if it is near them... ► HR % COUNTY CRICKET THE GRABS ARE AS THRILLING AS THE REAL THING! ■ it \ however, as the game plays out, the batsmen still get restricted to singles and twos, it’s just that you’ll find more fours are scored than in real life (maybe this was intention¬ al). Another annoying aspect which could possibly have been intentional, is that you can’t quit the game without it saving your progress. Thus, if your team gets spanked you can’t just quit and reload, you have to live with their pathetic performance - which does force you to pay more attention and really play through a game carefully. The good thing about ICC is that paying close attention to the game, the bowlers, the field placings, the pitch condition, the age of the ball and all that jazz, actually pays off when you adjust your tactics to suit the situation. Changing your bowlers line when a batsmen is flogging you out of the ground can sometimes produce a wicket. If we still had the freakometer in Hyper, this game could possibly score a full 100, safe to say Cricket fans will like this one lots - but maybe wait for the Australian edition. AVAIURLE: October CATEERRY: Cricket management sim PLAYERS: I PUBLISHER Empire Interactive PRICE: $79.95 RATINE: G REQUIRED: P90.16MI RAM. Win 95 DESIRED: Some one to make your meals PLUS Real players, real stats, realistic outcomes. MRNUS Sometimes you feel a little removed from the game. VISUALS SOUND EAMEPLAY 70 74 84 OVERALL Utterly addictive for true fans of the sport, but casual gamers won't get anything out of this hardcore sim. HYPER» 69 70 »HYPER REVIEWS PC X-COM Interceptor The only Hyper statt member who has been abducted by aliens, Biot Fish, was obviously going to be the expert in this area... The X-COM series has chugged along for a while now, churning out a few sequels which haven't really stretched the game beyond it’s initial basic concept. X-COM Interceptor looked like it could be the first X-COM game to truly give you a different per¬ spective on the game. Sticking you in the cockpit of one Earth’s Interceptors to chase down UFOs and blow them up (or if you could be bothered, disable them for the Mulder and Scully types back at homebase), X-COM aliens are sitting somewhere in the system tooling them¬ selves up for an assault on you and your buddies. Either you’re going to have to cleverly research some amazing offensive and defensive weapons, or you’re going to have to seek the aliens out and crush them before they can do the same to you. First off you have to build your starbase which will house your crew, crafts and research. Much like the other X-COM games, you can have starbases built all around the joint, researching different technolo¬ gies, hiring personnel and buying the latest, greatest equipment. And so you can sleep better at night, you can launch probes out into a distant system to see what’s lurking beyond your scanners. When UFOs do come up on your scanner, you can choose to send out a patrol to stop them in their tracks. Everything up until now, has been just like any other X- COM game you’ve played - it’s now that you can actually plop yourself behind the controls of one of the Interceptors and take on the UFOs yourself. This is the game’s main drawcard, and unfortunately one of it’s weakest moments. Frankly, the space combat engine looks dated and ugly, ruining hopes for long drawn out • . £ . 9 I'LL TAKE YOUR BRAIN TO ANOTHER DIMENSION Interceptor was a brilliant idea for expanding the X-COM universe. However, upon booting up the game and pour¬ ing through the huge manual, it seems these are the same old X-COM game mechanics we’ve fiddled with before - just from a slightly different perspective. Sure, this time you’re playing with different toys, but it’s all very familiar, and the much-anticipated space combat is unfortunately below par. Intergalactic Accountant The guts of Interceptor is in the comprehensive eco¬ nomic and resource management which you have to get a handle on to keep one step ahead of the aliens. As you fiddle around with all the goodies at your disposal, the dogfights in a sparkly new X-COM universe. Crafts look small and dull, and the dogfighting is much like early Wing Commander games. It's difficult to settle into a rhythm, and the game slows down horribly when flying near a large starbase - even on a P200 with a Voodoo2l After playing Descent: Freespace, the space combat in X- COM Interceptor just seems laughable - almost like watching a cartoon after watching a real movie. Your co¬ pilots also don't shutup, sometimes repeating the same comments over and over, though the Aliens and their insults are cool. All up, the basic mechanics of the combat are a bit dated, and even with 3D acceleration you can hardly tell the visuals are any improvement over software. It’s life Jin, but not as we know it! Thankfully, X-COM Interceptor doesn’t take itself too seriously, and because of this the game saves itself from the bar¬ gain bin. All the menu screens and data¬ bases in the game are dressed up in the style of cheesy b-grade sci-fi movies from the i95o's, even down to the design of some of the craft. This at least gives the game a light-hearted US Vs. THEM feel, which is so prevalent in old sci-fi flicks. I love the Alien autopsy in the menu screen... eeewww! Well, if you’re lucky you’ll get to chop up a few aliens in the game - all in the name of research of course! Besides the Creys, there are a few other alien cultures in the game who will cross your path... including pirates... so between juggling your own development and duking it out in your Interceptor, X-COM Interceptor really requires you to have a keen eye for detail. Keeping track of all aspects of the game can be exhausting... it’s just a shame that the outcome is not all that satisfying. It’s really the research, space explo¬ ration and strategy in X-COM: Interceptor which will keep you playing, which is odd considering it’s being advertised as a space combat sim. AVAILABLE Now CATE6IRY: Combat/Strategy PLAYERS: 18 _ PUBLISHER: Microprose PRICE: $89.95 RATING: G8+ REQUIRED P166.16MB RAM. Win 95.4XCD ROM KStlEI: P2II, 32 MB RAM. 31 _ Accelerator, 8X CD ROM SUPPORTS: Direct3D PLUS Deep strategic resource management. MINUS The combat engine is lame, making for a poor multiplayer game. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPIAY 74 79 75 OVERALL 74 Same old X:Com gameplay with average combat bits HYPER» 71 72 »HYPER REVIEWS PC Team flpache We figured his last name would make an amusing callsign , so David Wildgoose got the mission to review Team Apache . AVAILAIll: Now CATEEIffif: Flight Sin PLAYERS: 1 Multi PUIUSHEB: Mmdscape PRICE: $TBA RATINE: TIC RE9HIREI: P133.16Mb RAM. Joystick DESIREI: P200. 32Mb RAM, 3D carl PLUS Enjoyable for both the hardcore and casual flight sim gamer. MINUS Poor field of vision can be frustrating VISUALS SOUND EAMEPLAY 8G 82 88 OVERALL 87 One of those rare military flight sims that can be appreciated by a wide audience. Blimey, this is a real surprise! Not having heard of Team Apache before, I was expecting this incredibly detailed and highly difficult, hardcore flight sim that only real pilots could ever play properly. You know, the way they usually are. But, wow, Team Apache instead turns out to be an extremely playable and damn enjoy¬ able game. I’m seriously impressed! When you begin a game there are several options available. A brief detour through the comprehensive training runs will give you all the basics for flying heli¬ copters and killing things. An ever-so-kind higher ranked officer instructs you the whole way and, even more helpfully, a speech sample shouts the appropriate command each time you press a key (to start your engines, ready weapons or order your wingmen, etc). Instant Action is there if you want to get your hands dirty immediately. It’s a case of staying airborne for as long as possible, while enemy choppers do their best to bring you down - which shouldn’t take long, if my experience is any indication! Drag bust... The Campaign is the real meat of the game, however. Here you take command of a squad of pilots try¬ ing to flush out some drug-run¬ ning terrorists in the heart of Colombia. Team Apache is more than a flight sim, in that it offers plenty of squad management on the ground as well as combat in the air. You need to select pilots, keep them happy and rested, and even tin¬ ker with the mission strategies devised by your superiors - perhaps choosing different waypoints or approaches, among many other options. In the air, you have a co¬ pilot to manage all the complexities of navigation and target spotting, leaving you with the reduced workload of general flying, shooting and ordering about your squad. Up to five other choppers can accompany you on a mis¬ sion and it’s vital to be able to instruct them on the fly, as it were. I must admit that Team Apache creates a genuine feeling of camaraderie with your squad. And with the cool, challenging and dynamic missions, there’s an atmosphere of real life-or-death warfare that most other sims fail to match. THe faults... On the down side, damage is simplified, the virtual cockpit doesn’t give a wide enough range of vision and the way your co-pilot chooses targets can be a mite frus¬ trating at times. But, cancelling these faults out are the sumptuous visuals and the excellent flight physics. Ground level structures like buildings and trees are more evident than most sims and are just so finely detailed, with entire villages looking amazing. Apaches are light, nimble machines and the flight model reflects this per¬ fectly - beware the rough buffeting you will receive from nearby explosions, they can send you spinning! Team Apache isn’t just for the hardcore flight sim freak, it’s accessible enough for the novice to enjoy. Yet at the same time, the mission design and squad manage¬ ment offers the depth of gameplay that those same hard¬ core pilots require. In the end, Team Apache is just loads of fun and surely that’s the most important thing for a game to be, right? PC REVIEWS MULTIPLAYER Hexplore is a game where having individuals control one character offers potential for more efficient (and entertain¬ ing) play, but the sad thing is, without local servers, you’ll be Hexplore Descendant of the classic Gauntlet games, dees Hexplore live up to its ancestors greatness? Dan Toose decides. After playing Hexplore, it’s hard to put it into any particular category. It doesn’t have the basic mechanics that make up an RPC, nor the pace and excitement to truly be called an action game, and lacks the depth and variety to be a strategy title. I guess the gameplay really named the game though, because more than any¬ thing, you explore. Set in the year iooo AD. Hexplore is a game where you lead four heroes through unexplored wilderness, towns and dungeons to eventual¬ ly defeat Garkham, the current lord of nastiness who has raised an army that threatens the world (just for a change). From days of old? The visuals are remarkably retro. Despite the use of a 3D engine, Hexplore’s speech could either be described as bad, or funny. Most of the speech is stilted, as though the person who was reading it has no idea how to pace or structure a sentence in English. At least this offers a little more char¬ acter to the unveiling of the clues and plot of the game. The sound effects aren’t noteworthy. very hard pressed to find any¬ one to play with. We found no-one on the Oceanline servers to play with. everything is sprite based. That in itself is not the downer here, so much as the rather chunky, low detail artwork. The hilarious thing here is the option to go high or low res, which really should say "pixelated” or ’’pixelated with a blur effect”. If Hexplore had the serious RPC or strategy elements required to make poor visuals less rel¬ evant, maybe they wouldn’t stand out. Not Diablo... The interface works in a way very similar to Diablo, using the mouse to click on where you want to go, and using the shift key to attack from the spot. The main dif¬ ference is that you control four characters, with the abili¬ ty to move them around individually, or as a group. Hexplore gives a constantly mixed reaction. One moment you’re into it, the next you’re frustrated and bored... only to be plugging away regardless, and then suddenly into it again. In the end, action gamers will want something more gripping and visually impressive, and RPC fans would be better with a true RPC. AVAILABLE: Now CATEGORY: Action/RPG PLAYERS: 1-4 PUBLISHER Ocean PRICE: $19.95 RATING: G8+ REQUIRED P100. IS MB RAM DESIRED: P120 16 Ml RAM PLUS Plenty of exploring for those that are keen Minus: Dated visuals, and a lack of any gripping element. MINUS Dated visuals, and a lack of any gripping element. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 5B 72 69 OVERALL A game that would have been a lot better had it have had a strength in one area, rather than just dabbling in a few. HYPER» 73 74 »HYPER REVIEWS Micro Machines V3 PC AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: RACING PLAYERS: 1-6 PUBLISHER: CODEMASTERS PRICE: $69.95 RATING: G REQUIRED: PI20, IB MB RAM. DESIRED: PI66.16 MB RAM. 30 ACCELERATOR (AMR MINIMUM) SUPPORTS: 30 ACCELERATORS Without a doubt, Micro Machines is one of the greatest and most enduring multiplayer console games. The Playstation edition brought the game to new heights, incorporating real 3D seamlessly into the saucy melting pot of hot hard gameplay. This edition is a straight port from Playstation to PC. Everything is exactly the same - the tracks are the same, the cars are the same, the feel is the same, and the loading screens are the same. It runs well in software mode, but the cars look like a mess of ugly pixels. They look great in their 3D accelerated incarnation, but unfortunately it's a rather shallow attempt to utilise 3D cards. For instance, all the powerup effects are still just ugly 2D sprite animations. This all rather irrelevant however, as the gameplay is sooo good - the cars handle beautifully, and there’s so much powersliding action to be had!! Whilst Micro Machines has gameplay in spades, it’s frustratingly lacking in options (PSX too). Even the most simple of things. For instance, an unconfigurable point allocation in multiplay. You can’t adjust the number of points awarded for a win so that races last longer. I have mixed feelings about Micro Machines on PC. It’s a fun one-player game, but it’s strength definitely lies in multiplayer competition. The allure of a group of friends hunched around a monitor sharing a keyboard and joypads is nil compared to lounging in front of a huge telly with nice comfy chairs and a controller each. Thus, since this is a direct port, you’re probably better off buying a Playstation or waiting for the N64 version. CAM SHEA 86 Frenzy! PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: ACTION PLAYERS: I PUBLISHER: SCI PRICE: TRA RATING: G Sure playing videogames for a living is fun, wonderful and amazing even, but sometimes you almost wish you were a brickies labourer or sewerage worker - it’d be more fun than wasting hours of your precious life playing something as terminally pointless as Frenzy. To their credit, SCI have attempted something humourous and entertaining here but it’s like they left the actual gameplay design to a trained chimp. The aim here is to fly a small bi-plane through a series of levels ranging from mountains to lava-filled caves and even underwater levels in a sub - all the while shooting at everything you see and dodging incoming fire. You can move your bi-plane around the environment pretty much 360 degrees, though you're restricted by walls. For some reason though, it can’t move backwards - hey if you can get the old warplane to hover mid-air. why not move backwards too? It would have helped the gameplay. Stuff everywhere shoots at you and you in return blow it to bits and pick up the powerups left behind. The controls feel horribly slippy and inaccurate and the speed of your plane is either too slow or too fast. When you finally come across a boss in a small arena area, they look cool, but actually managing to shoot at them and keep your bearings is near impossible thanks to the small cramped environment and hopeless control method. You’ll find yourself getting killed a lot in this game unexpectedly and in annoying ways. Unfortunately bad. ELIOT FISH 64 42 Circuit Breakers PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: RACING PLAYERS: 1-4 PUBLISHER: MINUSCAPE PRICE: $79.95 RATING: G SUPPORTS: DUAL SHOCK. MUL Tl TAP If Micro Machines V3 was Coke, then Circuit Breakers might be Diet Coke. That is, a concoction resembling the mutant offspring of the original - and nice in many ways, but ultimately less satisfying. If you’d never tried Coke, you just might be happy with Diet. But let’s cut to the chase here. Circuit Breakers is a solid racer, with an enjoyable one-player game, but it falls short in the crucial multiplayer mode. Micro Machines is the superior multiplayer game, and has more character to boot. Rather than an overhead view, Circuit Breakers uses a more traditional behind the car camera perspective. Whilst an OK idea, the execution creates a number of annoying problems. Often the camera lags behind, so that the action is viewed from side on - which can make taking that fine racing line rather difficult, although obviously learning the track helps. The track design is often messy and a little dull, possibly because of limitations imposed by the perspective choice. There are plenty of worlds to race in though, reaching a total of 16 tracks that can be raced forwards and backwards. Unfortunately, tracks tend to be linear and very narrow, which means no trail blazing, and passing the opposition can be frustrating at times. It also makes the AI seem robotic. There are several different car designs to choose from, but the difference between each only seems to be skin deep. Still, the graphics are nice, and the music groovy (for a while). However, with average multiplayer racing the fun won’t last that long. CAM SHEA REVIEWS Indy Racing PC AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: RACING SIM PLAYERS: 1 MULT! PUBLISHER: ABC INTERACTIVE PRICE: TBA RATING: G REQUIRED: PI20.16MB RAM. WIN 95/98. 30 CARD DESIRED: P200. 32MB RAM SUPPORTS: DIRECT3D. MMX Indy Racing: Road to the Indianapolis 500 was made by abc Interactive in the USA, and is a prime example why abc Interactive may not be terribly well known for their computer games. Indy Racing has a bunch of features and cheesy TV-style presentation (with a couple of old American hack presenters - spouting forth rubbish in their digitised glory) but ultimately, the game engine is poor and after a few laps in your indy car you can’t help but feel that abc interactive have really missed the point. It doesn’t matter if the game is built specifically for 3D accelerators, has the authentic tracks and stupid levels of anally retentive stats - if the car doesn’t feel like a car when you drive it around the circuit then what’s the point?! Driving these cars across different surfaces has no ’’feel”, and when you add the opponent’s AI into the equation, playing Indy Car just deteriorates into a frustrating mess. Choose from practice mode, single race or championship mode and try your hand at some of the world’s famous indy car tracks. A fun addition is the dirt track, CART racing mode which lets you indulge in your powersliding fetish - though it isn’t much of an improvement over the indy cars in terms of gameplay. You’ll generally find that the AI is unpredictable at best. Not only do the other cars drive like you simply don’t exist, but half the time they drive as if they don’t know the other AI controlled cars exist either. Whilst there are some pretty effects, and lots of detail for car nuts, the actual racing leaves a lot to be desired. ELIOT FISH 73 70 62 Stratosphere PC AVAILABLE: TBA CA TEG OR Y. ACTION/STRA TEGY PLAYERS: 14 PUBLISHER: RIPCORD PRICE: $TBA RATING: G REQUIRED: PI33. 32MB RAM DESIRED: PI66. MMX. 3D CARO I think it’s fair to announce that the first wave of post-Battlezone 3D action/strategy titles has finally hit. If designed correctly, the combination of resource management and shoot ’em up action is potentially a great one. lust imagine a game with the tactical depth of Total Annihilation and the visceral kick of Unreal! Stratosphere doesn’t reach such dizzy heights, but it’s still a worthy addition to this nascent genre. As pilot of, urn, a giant rock, you have to keep an eye on the maintenance and construction of various buildings as well as taking a hands-on approach to aerial combat with the enemy. Hang on a sec, I hear you say, a giant what?! Apparently, these huge chunks of granite - called ’’floatstones”, rather amusingly - that you reside upon have the capacity for flight. You build cannons, windmills (for energy), rudders, various engines, research labs, etc, on your floatstone then take off through a series of missions to protect your kingdom. Safely ensconced within the norms of mission design, you will take on escort trips, assist with last-ditch defence, dogfighting sorties, supply line strengthening, and plenty of those ones where you simply seek and destroy the enemy. Piloting your floatstone is an unusual and challenging task - they’re quite slow and cumbersome, although a few jet upgrades will boost their speed (but, of course, the extra rock needed to support these makes your floatstone even chunkier). Combat is therefore more tactical and thoughtful than in Battlezone and consequently less exciting. Nonetheless, Straosphere is an interesting and involving game. Worth a look if you’re after something new. DAVID WILDGOOSE _ llll RMIIII MS llll Xenocracy PC/PlayStation AVAILABLE: TBA CA TEGORY: SPACE COMB A T PLAYERS: ONE (PC HAS MULTI PLAYER OPTION) PUBLISHER: GROLIER INTERACTIVE PRICE: STB A RATING: G REQUIRED: PI33. 16MB RAM DESIRED: PI33. 32 MB RAM. 30 CARD SUPPORTS: 30 CARDS. JOYSTICKS Xenocracy is yet another entry into what is fast becoming the hot genre of 1998 - the space combat sim. Set sometime into the distant future (it’s hard to say when exactly, since the game has invented its own time scale), Xenocracy casts the player as a spec ops commander in the UPN (United Planet Nations). Ever since a hugely valuable mineral called Lycosite was discovered on the outskirts of our solar system, the warring forces of Earth, Mercury, Venus and Mars have been desperate to claim its supply for themselves. You fly through a series of missions aiming to ensure that everything’s fair in the fierce competition for the Lycosite. The mission structure is intriguing. As numerous conflicts arise simultaneously on and off various planets, it’s up to you to decide which mission to accept. Pleas for assistance arrive at regular intervals and you have to constantly monitor the political situation. With nifty controls and a freshness to the mission design, it’s all exceedingly well done - bar the absence of any kind of (much-needed, it must be said) tutorial. Visually. Xenocracy is absolutely superb... as long as you own a PC. The PlayStation version is tres jerky and you can really take 15 off the visuals and overall scores for the PSX. The action takes place both on the surface of each planet and in deep space as well, making for a good variety of battleground backdrops. Decidedly limp sound effects are perhaps the only disappointment in what is otherwise a frighteningly accomplished game. Not quite as good as Descent Freespace, but then no other space combat sim is either. DAVID WILDGOOSE rnKiiTi is HYPER» 75 76 »HYPER E V I E w s World League Soccer ‘98 PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: SPOBTS PLAYERS: 14 POBLSIHEB: EIDOS PRICE: $89.95 BATING: G There are a few certainties in life. One's taxes. Another’s death. Yet another is the inevitable saturation of computer game tie-ins around any major sporting event. I myself am still waiting for the definitive Lawn Bowling title, where players can politely elbow the opposition’s elderly spouse after performing a shocking bowl, or the typical "crushed light bulbs in the Hungarian goulash" trick when the tournament victory seems just a little beyond reach. Somehow I get the feeling I’ll be waiting a little while longer. Soccer however, is a bloody popular sport, with already a stack of titles to chose from. Then along comes the World Cup, and the choice becomes mind boggling. The mistake with WLS ’ 98 is thinking that this is a cheap World Cup 98 tie in effort. Far from it. Eidos’ WLS is a very slick and classy soccer sim that with hardly a smacking of that seedy "let’s get it out before World Cup fever dies down" perfume. On the visual and aural side of things, WLS does rather nicely. Using a new fangled Skeletal animation system modelled on English international Les Ferdinand. WLS rarely drops below 30 frames a second. Enlisting Peter Brackley 8 Ray Wilkins as the commentators, the overall presentation is well produced. Packed with all the options you could need and want, WLS' strength lies in gameplay. Smooth, intuitive controls adorn this game, as well as a good sense of team play within the game. Computer controlled players behave intelligently, and as a result, you’re rarely bringing in a lone striker to score all the goals. The end result is a pretty spectacular game of soccer where you rarely get the sensation you’re fighting the controls rather than the opposition. MARCH STEPNIK 81 SOUND 80 86 Centipede PC AVAILABLE: TBA CATEGORY: SHOOT EM UP PLAYEBS: ONE POBLSIHEB: HASBRO INTERACTIVE PRICE: $70.95 BATING: G REQUIRED: PI66. 24MBN BAM. 3DFX DESIRED: P200. 24 MB HAM If you suffer from arachnophobia or insectophobia (you know what I mean - the fear of bugs and other small multi-legged critters) then might I advise you to avoid the latest reincarnation of the ancient arcade shooter, Centipede. It’s just full of the damn things, creeping and crawling, dancing and darting everywhere. Reminds me of my bathroom floor on a late summer’s night. The essence of Centipede is shooting bugs. You control a dinky little spaceship, manoeuvring through a field of mushrooms and attempting to kill almost everything that moves. On each level there’s a giant centipede twisting and turning across the field, splitting into segments each time you hit it, and a host of spiders and beetles and other uglies making a nuisance of themselves. There are two ways of playing - Adventure and Arcade. If you’re feeling nostalgic, then you ought to give the latter a quick go. And I really do mean a quick go - it’s a simple single-screen affair with basic graphics and pretty monotonous gameplay. Adventure mode offers a more modern spin on the formula. Each level encompasses several screens and the 3D effect is quite nice, but hardly astonishing. You have complete freedom to roam all over the level blasting the insects and, in an added Defender-style complication, rescuing your little mates from the centipedes’ clutches. A few 3D tweaks were introduced, with the ability to jump, fly/hover, and go to different elevations. The game actually reminds me a bit of Assault. On second thoughts, perhaps this would be the perfect way to exorcise that phobia and gain revenge for many a midnight bathroom scare. Centipede is fun, but only in a disposable, frivolous kind of way. DAVID WILDGOOSE 72 62 Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino PC AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: ONLINE GAMING/GAMBLING PLAYERS: VTOOMANY PUBLISHER: SIERRA PRICE: $69.95 BATING: TBA REQUIRED: P90. 120 MB HD. 16MB RAM. WIN 95 DESIRED: PI50. 32MB RAM. 28.8 MODEM FOR MULITPLAY Lock your kids away! Leisure Suit Larry has slipped himself into that darn awful polyester suit of his and is on the prowl again! Oh dear. At least you can say that Leisure Suit Larry is filling the void in toilet-humour computer games. There’s just nothing else out there that stoops as low as the LSL series (for better or for worse), nor nothing that boldly pushes the boundaries of acceptable humour in the same way the LSL does. Cod bless ya Larry. Without you, we’d have to stick to watching Benny Hill repeats on cable. This next LSL game however, isn’t the next in a rather long line of adventure games. Working on the popularity of the casino featured in the first Larry adventure game, Sierra have brought us a Larry game that is entirely a casino, with a twist. While the game can be played single player, Larry’s Casino was actually designed with net play very much in mind. Featuring five traditional casino games (Blackjack, Poker, Roulette, Craps and Slots) and stacks of options and settings to tinker around with, the real fun to be had (if that’s at all possible) is taking this online with Sierra’s own WON server. Picking an alter-ego, you wonder around the casino either taking part in the games, aimlessly chatting in the various themed bars, putting on a comedy show or even getting cyber-married by Larry himself! Aww... How sweet! Casino never really takes off. Mostly due to the quality of players online (I bet the majority didn’t even hold a drivers license when I visited), but also in part due to the lofty aims of Larry’s Casino. Tacky, tasteless, and cursed with a messy interface, Larry’s Casino is purely for the niche market of Larry fans. MARCH STEPNIK visuals sound oamiplay 69 I 64 | 59 |3 RIVIE Trophy Bass 2 Deluxe PC AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: FISHING SIM PLAYERS: I MULTI PUBLISHER: SIERRA PRICE: $69.95 RATING: G REQUIRED: 486/66. 16MB RAM DESIRED: PENTIUM. FORCE FEEDRACM JOYSTICK! Cyber-angling, eh? What a concept! It’s difficult to imagine anything more crashingly dull than the computer fishing simulation. Except, perhaps, actual fishing itself. But I approached Trophy Bass 2 Deluxe with an open mind and was more than willing to be persuaded by its leisurely marine charms. All the options you would expect to find are indeed available. There's a vast collection of rods and lures to choose from as well as various methods of casting. You can enter fishing tournaments or even embark upon a career in angling. But the core of the game is a big let¬ down. Your view of the action is from a rather prosaic bird’s eye position, while surely a 3D view from the boat would have worked better. Several Army Men clicks and a shove of the mouse later you’ve cast your line and can sit back to wait for a bite. When the fish comes it’s a case of wobbling the mouse around as you reel it in. before releasing the poor bastard back into the water - split lip and all. All things considered, the inescapable fact remains that virtually catching some virtual fish and virtually throwing them back is a dubious pleasure at best. As a fishing sim, Trophy Bass 2 Deluxe is only a moderate success. As a piece of entertainment, however, its appeal will forever elude me. OAVIO WILDGOOSE 36 SO 53 AVAILABLE: NOW CA TEGORY: ACTION /STRA TEGY PLAYERS: 14 PUBLISHER: 3D0 PRICE: $89.95 RATING: G REQUIRED: P90. 16B RAM DESIRED: PI33. 32MR RAM Remember when you thought good warfare strategy was placing a little green soldier inside a Lego bunker, avoiding incoming marbles from enemy troops. Well if you thought that was fun, this is a fantasy come true. Army Men, from 3DO software puts you down into the action with these little green men. You take the role of Sarge. the leader of the Green, out to defeat the vile Tan army. Forget marbles, the little green guys will be finding flame throwers and bazookas, and scooting around in jeeps and tanks. The interface of Army Men is through an overhead perspective, much like Diablo when taking Sarge out on recon missions, and similar to other strategy titles in this regard. The graphics are reasonable, with three terrain types, and attention focuses on keeping to the story of the plastic soldier, model trains and planes giving that definitive touch. The controls can be a little tricky at first. J ' 5^ '■ '■' ■M combining keyboard and mouse or joystick, but fortunately the controls can be customised to your liking. Something that I did find lacking was a campaign editor and a lack of a dedicated internet server for multiplay. Army Men does cater for multiplay death matches via established networks such as TEN. With over 30 missions to complete it will keep you trudging around toy town for some time (if anyone really gets into it to provide you with opponents). If you are looking for something different, are strapped for cash, and enjoy a good shooting frenzy, then Army Men could be on your list. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the name this game is a lot of fun, but definitely as a budget title, not that killer game you’ve been hanging for. NATHAN GERSBACH The House OLThe Dead PC AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: SHOOTER PLAYERS:!2 PUBLISHER: SEGA PRICE: $69.95 RATING. MAI5* REQ: WIN 95. P90. 16MB RAM. 80MB HD DESIRED: PI50. 32MB RAM. 30 CARD Within the last year, something happened in video arcades that weirded a lot of people out... A game wearing a curtain. Actually, it was simply a way to hide the youngsters from what the OFLC deemed to be such a gratuitously violent game that it needed some form of sensorship, and a 15 years and over curtain was the answer. You see, The House Of The Dead is an arcade (and then Saturn) shooter ported over to the PC by those expert arcade game developers over at Sega. The complete summary of the game is that you shoot things. Point, click. You get the idea. In the vein of Time Cop and Virtua Cop, The House Of The Dead has you pitted this time against zombies and other terrifying creatures of the dark. The visuals are faithful to the arcade version, if of course you have a 3D accelerator. Without the support of any light gun, the PC version calls for the use of the joystick, keyboard or mouse to shoot. Played in this manner, the whole appeal of standing in front of a screen with gun in hand blasting things to bits is entirely lost. Coupled with a fidgety reload function and a rather questionable sense of accuracy, THOTD remains a substandard on-rails button bashing fest. MARCH 8TEPNIK HYPER» 77 78 »HYPER REVIEWS Starcraft: Insurrection PC AVAILABLE: NOW CA TEGORY: STARCRAFT EXPANSION PLAYERS: 18 PUBLISHER: AZTECH PRICE: TBA RATING: Ml5* REQUIRED: PC WITH STARCRAFT DESIRED: PC WITH STARCRAFT The first official (Blizzard approved) expansion for Starcraft, Insurrection demonstrates what is possible with a few ideas and the in-box editor. However it doesn't really stretch the Starcraft universe boundaries. In brief, the world of Brontes IV has a human sect which wishes to introduce the Zerg as saviours. The main human forces and Protoss prevent this but a surviving rebel leader joins the Zerg wiping out the humans and aiming to eventually challenge the Overmind. Finally the main Zerg forces must wipe out the rebel and his Zerg swarm. The 30 campaign missions, io for each of the three races, are well designed for the most part and proved to be more challenging than in the original. There was a tendency to overbalance forces in favour of the computer, and players will find it tough going. Missions can be played in any order simply by removing the hidden property from the mission files. The add-on really suffers from using original terrain, sound effects, units and buildings. Kick Off World PlayStation The only new additions are heros and different voiceovers, not enough to add a new perspective on the universe. Insurrection includes about ioo multiplayer maps and. similar to the campaign, these make clever use of existing Starcraft components without any clear breaks from tradition. Finally, the publisher could easily have included autorun however for some reason didn’t bother. Whilst only a small slip it’s characteristic of the product, it works OK, requires some effort to complete but adds little to Starcraft. My call is to wait for Brood Wars. JACINTA THOMLER 70 GOA AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: SOCCER SIM PLAYERS: 14 PUBLISHER: ANCO PRICE: $TBA RATING: G 1 ^ Readers with memories as long as mine may recall an ancient soccer game on the Amiga called Kick Off. It was loved by many (possibly because it was one of the few soccer games around), but hated by many more for its truly awful control system. Well, it’s back and sadly not much has changed. You can play Kick Off World as you did the original, from a simple top-down view and with the same pinball-esque controls - it’s just absurd and certainly not football. Thankfully. Anco have moved with the times to the extent of granting us a 3D view as well. Compared to the most recent soccer games, however, KOW’s visuals just don’t measure up - lousy stadium, average animation, repetitive player moves, etc. They’ve had the presence of mind to update the controls, bringing them more or less into line with what we’ve come to expect nowadays. No, this time it’s not the controls that are the problem, it’s the AI. Your teammates are imbecilic baffoons! They stand around, content to watch you try to dribble the ball into the goal, because they’re too stupid to make any sort of useful supporting run or get into position to receive a pass. And when you do pass them the ball (except via a through ball), they stop moving and let it come to them. More often than not, a computer player will actually emerge from behind your teammate and intercept the pass! It’s a shame really, cos there are some nice management options elsewhere and a totally brilliant replay facility. But ultimately, Kick Off World plays like its acronym. DAVID WILDGOOSE Mr. Domino PlayStation AVAILABLE: TBA CATEGORY: PUZZLE PLAYERS: 1 PUBLISHER: JVC PRICE: TBA BATING: G Unique and original. That would be the polite way of describing Mr. Domino. Essentially, you are a walking, breathing domino whose job it is to wander around a strange little map dropping dominos in a line so that when you push them over, they trigger cool little events on the map and give you points. It sounds simple, but Mr. Domino is fiendishly hard to get the hang of, and is one of those puzzle games that will grab you by the goolies until you prove to yourself that it is humanly possible to achieve what the game is dangling in front of your weary brain. Scattered around the map, are obstacles which either slow you down, hurt you, reset the board or make you go stupidly fast (which makes laying your dominos strategically near impossible). The trick is that Mr. Domino is always on the move, and you can only slow him or speed him slightly. If you manage to get a domino to land on a "button" and then plop another one on a "hot spot", then when you push your dominos something cool will happen and trigger your next line. If you miss a beat somewhere, you usually have to restart the level, as you only have a certain amount of dominos and you can’t move backwards. There’s heaps of character in the game, and it’s certainly addictive, but something tells me this is one for the puzzle freaks. ELIOT FISH R E V I E Wreckin Crew PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: RACING PLAYERS: 12 PUBLISHER: TELSTAR PRICE: TBA RATING: G SUPPORTS: ANALOGUE CONTROLLERS AND WHEELS. Wow, this title has been in development a long time. Now Telstar, the lads that brought us Formula Karts and Bubsy 3D finally present us with Wreckin Crew - Drive Dangerously. To me Wreckin Crew was going to be one of those games that although there was no hype about it, just might shine through with enough well executed gameplay to make it an instant classic. After about a few hours of frantic action, trying to follow the arrows swerving left, right, left, left, power-up, right etc. I realised the strange (not to mention motion sick!) feeling coming over me was one of disappointment. Not due to any sort of preconception of this game but because I feel that the PSX is missing a Mario Kart style blast- on-wheels and this is another futile attempt that has missed the target completely by failing to capture the essential ingredients needed to make us all cry for more! "What’s the game like?” I hear you ask. Well what do you get when you cross Street Racer (remember the 8-player Mario Kart rip-off) and San Francisco Rush? Umm... Wreckin Crew? That’s right! The object of the game is to blast your Hot-Rod through the ridiculously twisty tracks using nothing but a plethora of gnarly weapons, any number of secret short cuts on each track and your totally awesome driving skills to be the first across the finish line after set designated number of laps! Now if you can achieve all this without: 1) Throwing up Or: 2) Having an Epileptic fit, sure, you’ll probably enjoy the game. But be warned it is quite shallow at the longevity end of the pool! SIMON BAILEY 75 70 OAMEPlA V 73 75 Street Fighter Collection PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: FIGHTING COMPILATION PLAYERS: 12 PRICE: $09.95 RATING: MA!5+ The legend continues... Well, Street Fighter Collection doesn’t so much take the legend any further, it actually goes back and just makes sure the legend isn’t forgotten. The collection comes in the form of three games. Super Streetfighter II - The New Challengers, Super Street Fighter 2 X - Crandmaster arcade games quite faithfully reproduced. They Challenge, and on the second CD (yep, there’s run as slow as all hell by default, but if you two) Street Fighter Alpha 2 dash. crank up the turbo speeds, the game runs at the Instant gripe to be had. SSF2 and SSF2 X are so sort of pace you’d want it to. Having a decent similar that the done thing would have been to controller (preferably Namco arcade stick) can include a ’’Street Fighter Gallery” or something, make the difference between having a good time where you can look at all sorts of nifty artwork with this one. or feeling like you are struggling and history, rather than include SSF2. with the pad rather than your opponent. If long loading times bother you, then SFC is If you don’t own a PSX 2D Street Fighter game, "Bother in a box”. It’s proof that the and you want one, then this is a good buy. PlayStation is just not the 2D fighting machine However if you do own SFA2, then you’re of choice. Put a polygon fighting game on PSX probably better off hanging out for a newer and loading times are generally very low, 2D Capcom game like Rival High Schools sprites, and the memory requirements enforce dan toose low numbers of frames of animation and basically load every bit of info they can into memory (in case you were wondering why). Despite this, you still basically have the Tommi Makinen Bally PlayStation AVAILABLE: NOW CATEGORY: RACING PLAYERS: 12 PUBLISHER: EUROPRESS PRICE: ?? RATING: G SUPPORTS: NEGCON. DUAL SHOCK. WHEELS. OK boys, you might be taking this competitive thing just a tad too far! Just last month I reviewed what I think is the most realistic and enjoyable rally simulation we’re likely to see for some time, Colin McRae Rally and now, not to be outdone by his fiercest on-track rival, 2 times WRC World Champion Tommi Makinen has gone and put his name to a rally game. Well, Tommi Boy might have had the advantage (I call it luck!) over the last couple of WRC seasons, but as far as rally simulations go this guy is left out in the cold in his thermal (he’s from Finland) underwear! Just like the drivers, direct comparisons are inevitable, so here I go: The gameplay has an entirely different influence to it which ends up making it feel more like Wipeout 2097 than a rally game! The cars, both the one you’re driving and the competitors, look like they are floating on thin air and the collision detection and computer AI is quite mediocre. The graphics move quite swiftly but aren’t as smooth as either CMR or V- Rally and the engine sounds are also a little Sub- par. However the game does have one BIG redeeming feature. The 3D track editor. This is where they give you all the tools you need to make any type of track you can imagine, in which you can apply all types of weather conditions along with jumps, dips, twists, just about anything. You could probably justify getting this game for this feature alone but if its a really rewarding rally experience you’re after, I’d still stick to Colin McRae or V-Rally. SIMON BAILEY VI HYPER» 79 80 »HYPER ARCADE s Tecmo World Gup ‘38 TECMO Now that the most watched game in the world is over (receiving over 43 billion TV 'hits’), the legacy of the World Cup 98 continues through a multitude of World Cup 3D soccer sims. Most have attempted to recreate all the nuances (things) that is the game of soccer, all except one particular game... Tecmo World Cup 98. although having all the stan¬ dard features of the other soccer sims. is no ordinary soccer sim in that a major feature of the game lies in the ’special moves’. The special moves are where the game rapidly departs from reality and travels down the line towards fantasy village. Each of the 16 teams (Argentina, Mexico, Scotland. Republic of South Africa, Colombia. U.S.A, Korea, lapan, England. Italy, France. Spain, Germany. Holland, Yugoslavia. Brazil) comes with a couple of special moves. And where they say special, they mean special. If having the ball suddenly shoot to about 40 meters in the air with a rainbow trailing after it and then land exactly at the feet of your team mate; or being able to kick the ball with such ferocity that the flames are emit¬ ted; or having the Eiffel Tower appear from under your feet allowing you to pole vault your opponent; or being able to create an ice wall around your player- is what you call normal play, then keep off the stuff... man. After defeating an opposing team, you are awarded an extra special move, though of course some special moves are more effective than others. One in particular is Colombia’s ice wall (a.k.a 'scissors feint’) which is extremely hard to counter as it actually stuns the opposing players for a brief second, allowing your player time to weave through their defenses. Up to 8 special moves can be accumulated per team. The spe¬ cial moves include: High speed dribble, drive shoot, power shoot, heal lift, power tackle, super save, super combination, super overhead kick, super direct, scis¬ sors feint, super slide and super counter pass. If the match is a draw, a penalty shoot out ensures a winner. N.B - This is where the special moves of ’super save’ and ’super direct’ come into their own. The graphics don’t appear to have that polygon edge to it like Virtua Striker and detail of the players is some¬ what muted, though are more than adequate for a game of this ilk. As for the sound effects, there are only the roaring of the crowd, the boff sound of the ball being booted and the outlandish sounds of the special moves. Another feature of the game is that you can play on either a vertical or horizontally scrolling field. Either one has its advantages and disadvantages, although horizontal is the best choice for two player mode. Although the game is missing a football hooligan battle challenge stage, TWC 98 is a fun game to play and anyone who enjoyed Vitua Striker should definitely check this one out. b/lD At last a video game that doubles as a fitness machine, so much so that it was nearly ambulance time as this reviewer’s heart almost blew up after complet¬ ing the easy stage on Namco’s new 3D-mountain bike racing simulation. The first thing you'll notice is how DHB’s bike inter¬ face is similar to Manx TT in that the bike pivots left and right as you steer with the handle bars. There are front and rear brakes to slow you on the harder courses sharp corners. Unfortunately you can’t use the rear brake to throw the bike into a rear wheel skid. Another missing option, (though in no way a fault) is that there is no forward / rear motion on the bike to simulate the mechanical bull style ride encountered when high speed rock hopping. The peddle difficulty control is excellent in that difficulty changes in relation to the gradient encountered and simulates the hardest gears used on a real mountain bike for the games sprint sections. The graphics are fair yet adequate though the courses they represent are a downhill cyclists dream. There are two tracks to choose from - speed and technical and are both full of high speed corners, ramp jumps, big berms, sprint sections, and a host of minor novelties such as parked cars. Air tricks can be made off the jump ramps. The type of trick is determined by combinations of using the hand¬ brakes, peddling and steering. The tricks can only be made whilst launching off any one of the tracks jump ramps. DHB's soundtrack is surprisingly good. Comy inspirational ’let’s do it’ voice-overs are supplied by some guy whose talents really lie in late night television infomercials, but in any case worth the laugh. Two-playeT mode takes on a different type of riding as you attempt to cut off your opponent and leave him/her eating the dust. The best way to make your opponent stack, apart from nudging the oppo¬ nents on the jumps to alter their launch trajectories, is by cutting in on the inside of a comer and clipping their front wheel. Overall, the game excels in the fact that good down hill mountain bike tracks are hard to find in reali¬ ty and especially so in Australia. The longevity of the game could lie in the physical fitness side by using this interface in conjunction with a computer generated ’endless bike track’ in which the exercise fanatic could program in the length and degree of difficulty of the course. Sure this may be out of place in the local arcade where time is at a pre¬ mium, but in a gym environment it would suddenly make the boring exercise bike a thing of the past. n/in The World's most humungous collection of Game Reviews. Cheats. Hints and Walkthroughs We're an essential part of every gamer's diet! " has a dream, that one day gamers will be measured, not by the casing of their console, but by the value of their high score. It's a website! It's your nutrition http://hypercictive.com.au 82 »HYPER NET TRAWLIN w Bad Karma http://www.badkarma.net/ If your love of Mechs extends beyond the Battletech universe, then you simply must bookmark Bad Karma - the coolest site for info, news and stuff on everything that is ’’Mecha’’. What is Mecha? Mecha includes Battletech, Mechwarrior (all versions). Heavy Gear and Earthsiege/Starsiege games, so it’s the Mech gamer’s website of choice made by gamers for gamers. Discover Guilds, Warriors and all sorts of obsessive Mech talk you never knew existed! Advance! Mos Ispa Marketplace http://www.mosespa.com/ For those of you who love reading sci-fi, the Official Star Wars site has sprung another branch for the Star Wars fiction enthusiast. This brand new website contains everything you need to know about every single Star Wars book released, plus tons more for the Jedi in train¬ ing. All the info here comes from the official source, so you know you're getting the real deal. There are also links here to stuff on the Star Wars prequels... Devour! Mech Commander http://www.mechcommandcr.com/ Now that this FASA Interactive game has hit our shores, it’s time to lock yourself away and become a freaky mech expert. This official site is great for those of you who are after some more online info on this cool game. Here you will be able to get the latest patches and other funky additions to the game. Battletech nuts will even get something out of it. 3D Central http://www.agn3d.com/ Operation 3Dfx was one kick-arse website for 3D gaming news, but it has since been taken over by new "manage¬ ment”. The originator of Operation 3Dfx has gone on to continue his excellent news coverage at a new site called AGN3D. Here you can find all the PC 3D gaming news, downloads and pics you could possibly want, and be kept up to date with new game patches and upcoming releases. The site is nicely laid out, easy to browse and chock full of meaty goodness, so get stuck into it. They also review hardware, so if you’re curious to know if your 3D accelerator is crap or not, then check out their reviews. Perfecl Dark http://www.n64network.com/pdark/ Nintendo 64 owners the world over are shaking in their boots, dribbling with glee and rubbing their hands together for the release of Rare's GoldenEye followup - Perfect Dark. Well, for the latest breaking info on this and other stuff like Quake. Tomorrow Never Dies and GoldenEye bits 'n bobs, head on over to the N64 network and chew on this. This dude used to run Makworld, which we featured in a previous issue, but now he’s moved onto these greener pastures. Check it out. BY .; . You are Shuranosuke Sakaki, a clinical cold samurai with unbelievable prowess with the sword. About you is the aura of death, clothed with the blood of many men and sealed with the crest of the "Scythes of Death". You are about as invincible as they come. Giant white tiger on a death inflicting rampage? Or Ninjas from hell throwing boathooks, sword, spider¬ web and an assortment of cruel and lethal Japanese m ■ - implements of death? Only you know how to stand . ^ frozen like a statue with f your eyeballs trailing your enemy, until the right moment emerges to draw your sword and with a grunt and a swipe cut your opponent into salami in mid air, watching the pieces shower down around you. Whereas in the west feudal warfare and single combat was about how long it took to brutally bash your way through your enemy’s armour, the Japanese hand to hand combat relied on that single deadly stroke that would cut through IfTiiiii i nX?" Ms?, mi tms both armour and man. Or so they would have us believe. Japanese mythology is laden with master swordsmen and magical ninjas. The lone samurai with honour, who is loyal only to the, code of the Samurai. From the Samurai to Lone Wolf and Cub to Frank Millers Ronin, the "magic" of Samurai and ninjas lives on. There is no more traditional samu¬ rai tale than of Shuranosuke Sakaki in SWORD FOR TRUTH. Here we have a hero who remains outside of the society that he lives in. skirting on the razorblades edge of "truth" and idealism. There is no time for self contemplation and angst, just total awareness of your six senses and a readiness to draw your Katana into flesh and bone at any second. It’s be in tune with the filthy, deadly and treacherous world around you and you wont be one of its victims. Sword For Truth was described to me as "the Ninja Scroll with lots more sex". Probably a fairly adequate description on first viewing. If you like your Ninja/ Samurai action peppered with interesting nasty bad guys and competently executed animation, then Sword for Truth is a must see for you. a/xa Rated 18. Available on Import through the Cartoon Gallery. »HYPER 83 84 »HYPER Five minutes into playing Unreal, you’ll realize how different this game feels to Quake 2, and that you’re going to have to learn a new set of skills to survive in this new and tightening world. Switching from Quake 2 to Unreal doesn’t feel very comfortable, and you should keep in mind that these two games are very different • especially in deathmatch... Unreal is probably even more tacti¬ cal and even a bit slower than Quake 2 due to the weaponry. This isn’t a bad thing - it's just a different game, that’s all you have to remember! Not only are the weapons unique and dif¬ ferent, but physics in Unreal are a dif¬ ferent kettle of fish to those found in Quake 2. Clearly, Unreal is a fun alter¬ native to Quake 2 deathmatch. but for those after wham, bam, thankyou maam, Unreal may prove to be a little too evenly paced for your liking. If you stick with it, there’s a wholesome, chunky deathmatch for you to cruise on. As for the singleplayer game, Unreal is certainly a new experience, and facing off against this AI is just that much trickier than we've previ¬ ously seen in other first-person shoot¬ ers. The monsters here strafe, jump, run away and generally take a lot more skill to take down. Knowing your weapons inside out is the first lesson, and after that it’s a case of learning some fancy footwork and tactics for individual monsters. Tweaks One of the most important things you could possible learn in regards to Unreal, is how to tweak the game to run better on your PC. Though it’s dif¬ ferent for every single PC configura¬ tion out there, there are some basic rules which apply to everybody... * High quality sound sucks up valu¬ able processing time... Use Low quality sound and try turning off the advanced audio options such as Reverb, Spatial and Filter. Also switch the sound chan¬ nels to 8 and the output rate to uo25hz. * Turn off Detail Texturing and curved surfaces in the rendering options. If you really have to. switch to Low Detail textures also. * Even with a Voodoo 2 you may want to turn off High Detail Actors to improve frame rates. * Unreal seems to be sensitive to overclocking, so if you're having prob¬ lems with the game, it may be due to you overclocking your hardware. * Cet more RAM. A simple but useful solution! * Remember to close any other pro¬ grams your PC may be running, even Virus checking software and other utilities in the taskbar, before launch¬ ing Unreal. * If you're playing Unreal without a 3D accelerator... WHY?! No really, if you’re running software mode, use these settings in the advanced options... - set Coronas False - set DetailBias .25 - set FastTranslucency True - set HighDetailActors False - set HighResTextureSmoothing False - set LowResTextureSmoothing False - set ShinySurfaces False - set VolumetricLighting False * Playing Unreal over the internet hasn’t been fully optimised yet, but as long as you have the latest Unreal patch from Epic things will be improved slightly. Also, you may want to try these settings in your Advanced Options/Networking/TCPIP Network Driver to improve lag. Set your "ByteLimit” as follows: For 28.8K modems, try 2500 first and then 2200 if there’s no improvement. If that fails, try 2000. Some modems and ISP connections get significantly better bandwidth than others. For 56K modems, try 3000. If that fails, then try 3500 then 2000. * Most importantly, get the latest patches off the internet from the Epic website, or ask a friend who has inter¬ net access to get them for you! http://www.unreal.com/ ITEMS These are not all the items in the game, but the most useful. Health items like the Healing Fruit and Seeds, Super Health, Invisibility and other things like the Flashlight and Flares are pretty self-explanatory. TRANS1AT0R (1) Never ignore your Translator messages!! It’s where you receive hints at your mission objectives or instructions on how to switch something on or off. ASSAULT VEST (2) The Assault Vest will absorb 90% of damage taken until it wears out. TOXIN SUIT (3) This suit allows you to go explor¬ ing in toxic sludge, and in Multiplayer will give you protec tion against the CES BioRifle. JUMP ROOTS 14) Weeee! These lump Boots . when activated through your inventory, allow you to jump stupidly high and not take falling damage. SHIELO REIT IS) The Shield Belt works like invul¬ nerability and will turn a player a reflective gold colour. POWER AMPLIFIER |6) If you have upgraded your Dispersion Pistol, using the Amplifer will make your Pistol the most pow¬ erful weapon in your arsenal. PLAYGUIDE There is no all-powerful weapon in Unreal (like the BFC in Doom and Quake 2, or Rocket Launcher in Quake), though some say the Assault Rifle is the expert’s choice. Clearly, it’s easier to get frags with beefier weaponry such as the Eightball. but in certain situations you’ll find yourself in trouble unless you learn how to utilise all the weapons in the game. The humble Flak Cannon can be the most deadly weapon in singleplayer and deathmatch... it’s simply knowing when to whip it out! If you don’t like using a crosshair when you play, then learn, because with some weapons you need to be pin-prick accu¬ rate to pull off some moves - or even activating a weapon's feature. You’ll also need to be deadly accurate with taking down flying enemies like the Fly and the Manta. Also, keep in mind that Unreal features location-specific dam¬ age. simply meaning that a shot to your opponent's head will be an instant kill with some weapons. If you have a steady hand, and an Assault Rifle or Razorjack, always try to aim for the head - you’ll save ammo that way too! Conserving ammo is also a major lesson to learn - don’t waste rockets on Tentacles when the AutoMag will do just fine. Also, if an enemy is using a weapon against you - try to attack with the same weapon of your own as that way you’ll get the left over ammo from your target. Remember to blast open every crate, barrel and pot in the game - there’s always something you want hidden away. lust be wary later in the game of Pupae living inside some crates. When exploring the huge levels in Unreal, it’s also possible to get a nasty surprise, so don’t go wandering emtpy hallways with the Eightball equipped - you’re likely to end up with a Skaarj in your face and a weapon which is only going to hurt both of you.ion Pistol upgrades (i) The default weapon in both single player and multiplayer. If you collect all the powerups for this pistol, it can be quite deadly - use a power ampli¬ fier with a charged shot and you will gib anything instantly. ’’Ammo” for this gun are the energy cells which simply recharge over time, though with the upgrades you have a greater energy storage capacity and can cause more damage. You can also use your pistol to light dark areas when you have run out of flares. Not a par¬ ticularly useful weapon, but good for shooting crates, barrels and other harmless stuff so you don’t go wast¬ ing more useful ammo. Primary mode: fast single shot - 15 damage Secondary mode: slow charged shot - 30 damage First upgrade: 25 damage Second upgrade: 40 damage Third upgrade: S 5 damage Fourth upgrade: 75 damage ( 2 ) Excellent gun for nagging your target from a distance, as it’s accu¬ racy is high. In secondary mode, it looks cooler and the gun may fire faster but the accuracy drops remarkably, and is best only used at close range. If an enemy is a fair dis¬ tance from you, whip this baby out and pump single shots into them before they get close - you may be surprised to take them down. Also, the AutoMag has the most abundant ammo in the game which makes it good as a default weapon. Primary mode: accurate single shot -17 damage Secondary mode: fast inaccurate shots (3) Not a weapon of choice, but handy as a back up. Similar in power to the Quake Nailgun. The primary mode is difficult to aim at fast moving targets and doesn’t do as much damage as you’d like. The secondary mode is almost useless and really the Stinger as a whole is only useful when there’s no ammo left for the other weapons. Primary mode: stream of shards - 14 damage per shard Secondary mode: spread of five shards - 70 damage if all shards hit (4) Similar in style to the Quake 2 railgun, but nowhere near as power¬ ful. The secondary single shot does more damage, but the best tech¬ nique is to shoot your secondary shot with your primary mode which creates a deadly purple shockwave at the point of contact - slow but good for distant fragging. The pur¬ ple shockwave released is only on a 2D plane though (expanding out¬ wards to the side as opposed to a circular shockwave) so you really have to judge your opponents loca¬ tion carefully. The ASMD is also the only other weapon besides the Dispersion Pistol which can utilise the Power Amplifier - though a pow¬ ered-up pistol does more damage when using the Amplifier. A handy The Console Everyone knows what the console is right? If you’ve played Quake and/or Quake 2 then it’s the same concept - hit the tilde key (~) to bring down the console... it’s from here that you can do all manner of stuff to improve your game, or cheat if you so desire. Sometimes it’s handy changing your options here, rather than having to go clicking through menus, and sometimes it’s as easy as a one word command. Here’s a small list of some of the stuff you can do through the console. The real list is much bigger, but here’s the most obviously useful stuff... ALLAMMO: Cives you all the ammo for your cur¬ rent weapons. COD: Makes you invincible. INVISIBLE 1: Makes you invisible. KILLPAWNS: Kills all monsters. PLAYERSONLY: Pauses all the creatures, yet allows you to walk around. SAY "message string”: Broadcast a message to other play¬ ers in the game. SLOMO "number”: Sets the game speed, 1.0 is normal. SUMMON "class name”: Spawns a weapon, ammo or monster' - experiment! ADDBOTS "number”: Adds more bots to the game. OPEN "level name”: Loads the selected level. LOADCAME "number”: Load a game in position 0-9. SAVECAME "number”: Save the game in a specified posi¬ tion, 0-9. SHOT: Take a screenshot and save it in the System directory with a consecutive name like Shotoooi.bmp. CDTRACK "number”: Plays the specified CD track. BRIGHTNESS: Cycle through 10 screen brightness values. GHOST: NoClip mode. FLY: Let’s you fly about the landscape. WALK: Gets your feet back on the ground! BEHINDVIEW 1: Third person perspective. Use BEHINDVIEW 0 to turn it off. HYPER» 85 86 »HYPER PLAYGUIDE tactic with the weapon, is to use the primary fire to "push” your oppo¬ nents off ledges or into water if you notice they’re standing a little too close to a drop... Primary mode: rail-like beam - 30 damage Secondary mode: charged ball - 55 damage Combo: 150 damage at point of detonation IS) Everyone loves the Eightball. Though not as powerful as rockets in Quake 2, the Eightball is damn effec¬ tive - you can load up to six rockets by holding down the primary fire button which will then fire them in a horizontal spread formation, which is good for taking down a strafing opponent. The secondary firing mode launches grenades, and will also load six grenades by holding down the button, which is good for covering an area with grenades in one hit - backpedalling down a corridor whilst loading grenades can provide your oncoming opponent with a nasty sur¬ prise. If you load six rockets and then fire them with both primary AND sec¬ ondary fire buttons held down, all six rockets will fire in a tight clump mak¬ ing any accurate shot devastating. The Eightball can also fire a heat¬ seeking rocket, by keeping your crosshair directly on your target for a few seconds and acquiring a "red” lock-on and beep - they will then still be hit if they try to strafe away. Rockets are pretty useful on ail oppo¬ nents, though the Titan seems slight¬ ly less vulnerable to their damage. Primary mode: rockets - 85 damage Secondary mode: grenades -100 damage direct grenade hit ( 6 ) Cool weapon. Is very deadly at close range, but if used in enclosed spaces can backfire severely due to the bouncing flak - just make sure you’re not facing too close to a wall. The secondary mode lobs a Flak grenade which explodes with shrap¬ nel - perfect for spamming another fire fight or for getting at those dang Skaarj Troopers when they hold up their silly little shield. In general, the gun is useless for long range and should be saved for those up close and personal moments. Certainly the best close-range weapon besides the Assault Rifle and excellent to use whilst exploring suspicious areas. Primary mode: spray of flak -100 damage if all flak hits Secondary mode: flak bomb - ioo damage if direct hit m Interesting weapon which can decapitate an opponent who is not wearing armour if you aim at their head, though it can take a few shots to get the angle right - if you aim about one foot above their head you should decapitate them in some cases. The blades ricochet off walls and the angle can be altered by firing the weapon in secondary mode. In Secondary mode, it’s possible to add aftertouch to the blades in flight - simply move your mouse in the direction you want it to curve. This technique is useful only for blind shots around corners, and you will probably not find a situation where this is useful. The Razorjack is best used to spam a room contain¬ ing opponents in deathmatch (just don’t linger there yourself). The blades inflict a medium degree of damage, but you have to be accu¬ rate, and it isn’t terribly handy in the singleplayer game. Primary mode: shuriken-style razors - 30 damage per razor Secondary mode: vertical angle - 30 damage per razor (81 The "goop gun" is a bit of a favourite. Another good spamming weapon, which you can use to lay traps for unsuspecting players in deathmatch. Also good for leaving blobs around teleporters. The blobs pack quite a punch and can take down approaching Skaarj quickly thanks to it’s high rate of fire - even if you miss your target, the blobs land¬ ing near them will explode. In sec¬ ondary mode, you can fill the gun up for one large blob which does almost 100 damage, and lasts longer - good for using almost like a mine in death- match, though pretty useless in single player. Also, note that the goop from the gun floats on water, so another good technique to stop a player sur¬ facing is to pump it onto the surface of the water where they’re hiding. lust don’t fire this gun when swimming, as the goop simply floats to the surface - rendering it useless in water. Primary mode: small fast toxic blobs - 40 per blob Secondary mode: slow-loading, longer-lasting large toxic blob -100 damage ASSAULT RIHI (8) The weapon of choice for master players. Like the railgun in Quake 2, the Assault Rifle is a deadly weapon which is hard to aim but has the potential to kill with one or two shots. If you aim at your oppo¬ nent’s head, and they are unar¬ moured, you can decapitate them with one clean shot. Using the Secondary mode, you can zoom in and snipe at distant players. Again, it’s possible to get one shot decapitations in zoom mode if you have a steady hand. Slow loading, but if you have room to move, it’s worth persisting with. Primary mode: Accurate powerful shot - 45 damage Secondary mode: Sniper zoom ( 18 ) Chews through the ammo pretty quick, but is good at close to mid range on lesser targets. In Secondary mode, you can simply fire off rounds even faster, but the spread is wider and is only accu¬ rate at close range. Generally, monsters in Unreal are too nible for this gun to be terribly useful - shots generally miss and the ones that hit don’t do sick amounts of damage. Another weapon you may not use much, though it’s handy for emptying into a large, slow tar¬ get like the Titan if you’re confi¬ dent on your feet and prefer to save more useful ammo. Primary mode: chaingun-like spread of shots - fluctuating damage 17 per bullet Secondary mode: accelerated rate of fire Here’s a rundown of the creeps you'll meet whilst adventuring across the land of Unreal. Most creatures have a ranged attack (like the Titan’s rocks or the Skaarj’s energy projectiles) and also a melee attack (like a bite from the Devilfish or the Skaarj’s razor-sharp claws). Here you can get an idea of how much damage you’ll actually cop when hit by either attack, which is handy for assessing your tactics on the fly. We’ve also listed how much health each monster has - gotta love that. Some of the monsters (like the Skaarj) have multiple classes which have slightly different skins and offensive tactics, and unless you’re playing on the higher difficulty settings, you may not encounter them at all. NALI (1) These guys are your friends! You’ll notice that some of them sig¬ nal you to follow them - as long as they don’t get taken out by Skaarj. they’ll lead you to previously hid¬ den powerups or secret doors. If you shoot them, though, they’ll be less inclined to help! Particularly pay attention to the Nali spirit in the underground tomb. TENTACLE 12) You can see a tentacle just before they pop out, and they always make a squark too. lust strafe in-between shots so it can’t line you up. Health: ioo Attack: 12 (ranged), 30 (melee) MANTA (3) • These bird-like creatures will generally fly in a straight line at you, so stand your ground and keep firing and you’ll be fine. Don’t turn your back and use an accurate weapon like the AutoMag. Health: 100 Attack: 20 (melee) CAVE MANTA Health: 50 Attack: 15 (melee) GIANT MANTA Health: 400 Attack: 40 (melee) FIT (4) In yer face pest that attacks quickly and is best blasted by your gun quickly - use an accurate weapon like the Automag. They fly in a straight line, so you can pop a few caps in them first. Health: 45 Attack: 15-25 (melee) DEVILFISH IS) Look out for those teeth! Swim away, swim away! If you can’t get out of the water and dispose of them from the safety of the ground, then swim away if there are more than one of them and try and get some distance. If you get surrounded, you can’t swim and will get chewed up pretty quick. As soon as you enter the water, they will close in if they see you, so do a quick check before you begin swimming off in one direction. Also beware of the small "goldfish” that swim around in schools - these little fish can actual¬ ly start biting at you if you invade their space, but you can’t actually kill them because of their size. Health: 70 Attack: 15-25 (melee) SQUID |G) A friendly underwater surprise. Health: 260 Attack: 30-35 (melee) GASHAG (71 These floating heads are very slow to approach you. but can actually strafe out of the way of your rockets, so don’t waste eight- balls on them unless you get a lock. More effective is the Assault Rifle. The Giant Gasbag which you will encounter, is generally a little slow¬ er, but all the nastier. Health: 220 Attack: 40 (ranged), 12-25 (melee) GIANT GASDAG Health: 600 Attack: 40 (ranged), 40-65 (melee) BRUTE (SI These guys fire more than one rocket at once, so don’t linger in their line of fire. If you get close, they’ll rush you, so don’t get trapped against a wall or in a cor¬ ner. If you keep your distance and strafe lots, they’re a nice slow tar¬ get. The Lesser Brute is the first Brute you meet in the game, and the Brute and then Behemoth just get pro¬ gressively bigger and tougher. The ASMD and Eightball don’t seem as effective against Brutes as simple weapons like the Flak Cannon in secondary mode. Health: 340 Attack: 30 (ranged). 20 (melee) LESSER RRDTE Health: 210 Attack: 30 (ranged), 20 (melee) BEHEMOTH Health: 500 Attack: 30 (ranged). 35 (melee) SKAARJ WARRIOR (9) There are different types of Skaarj, though it’s usually hard to tell in the thick of it if they’re a scout or soldier etc. These guys are damn fast and like the Brute, will take you down quick if you get trapped in close quarters. Keep your distance, and try to keep back-pedalling as the Skaarj are the most aggressive enemies in the game and will run at you every time as their melee damage is higher then their projectile attack. The Flak Cannon seems pretty useful against these guys at close range, whilst rockets are excellent if you have some distance. Generally, Skaarj Warriors will close in on you, so try not to be stuck with the Eightball or a slow-loading weapon in cramped areas. Incredibly, the Skaarj will sometimes play dead, so it’s handy to gib them to be sure. SCOOT: the basic Skaarj Health: 180 Attack: 16-32 (ranged), 14-30 (melee) HYPER» 87 88 »HYPER PLAYGUIDE UNREAL ASSASSIN Health: 200 Attack: 16-32 (ranged), 14-30 (melee) BERSERKER Health: 320 Attack: 16-32 (ranged), 20-40 (melee) LORD Health: 320 Attack: 16-32 (ranged), 20-35 (melee) ICE SKAARJ Health: 210 Attack: 16-32 (ranged), 14-30 (melee) SKAARJ TROOPER (10) The ones who crouch and pull out a shield, aren’t completely invulner¬ able and are a sitting duck - they can still take lesser damage if you keep hammering them with a weapon like the Flak Cannon in secondary mode or the ASMD. Different classes use different weapons, though you find out pretty quickly what they’re using! Like the Skaarj Warrior these guys will strafe out of the way of your attacks, though they will generally prefer to keep a little distance between you, so more powerful weapons can be used against them, like the Assault Rifle and Eightball. GUNNER Health: 220 Attack: varies - uses Eightball gun, 10-20 (melee) INFANTRY Health: 170 Attack: varies - uses Stinger, 10-20 (melee) OFFICER Health: 140 Attack: varies - uses Razorjack, 10- 20 (melee) PUPAE (11) These annoying little buggers jump at you, so don't get too close! You can hear their evil hissing noise if they’re hiding in the dark, and in the dark is generally where you’ll stumble across these pests. Whatever you do, don’t let them get too close, because their jumping attack is beyond annoying and it makes them hard to hit. The ASMD will actually push them away slightly, so this is a handy weapon if you want some elbow room. Health: 65 Attack: 10 (bite), 20 (lunge) SLITH (12) These guys hurl green globs of acid at you and can chase you on land as well as through the water. Their toxic shots are similar to shots from the BioRifle, and thus the BioRifle is pretty useless used against them. If you see them coming at you underwater, retreat and get back on land if it’s possi¬ ble. You may also find yourself in situations when you can snipe at Slith from land before they can get a handle on you - but they can shoot you from the water so stay nible. Health: 210 Attack: ao (ranged), 25 (melee) MERCENARY (13) These guys have a powershield which makes them invulnerable, but it also stops them from firing, so hold your fire until they expose themselves. Be wary though that the Elite class can fire whilst using the powershield. Their weapon is a chaingun/rocket combination, but they don’t have the agility of the other monsters and will pretty much provide you with a steady target. Their heads make nice target prac¬ tice for your Assault Rifle! Health: 180 Attack: 60 (ranged), 20 (melee) MERCENARY ELITE Health: 240 Attack: 60 (ranged), 20 (melee) KRAI! (14) These guys can sometimes still attack you once chopped in half - they claw around and keep shoot¬ ing at you with their laser-spears! Again, make sure you gib these guys to be sure they’re not going to shoot you in the back. In general, keep your distance as their laser shots are slow and do less damage than their spears up close which can throw you into the air. They seem to be the dumbest and least worrying creature of the lot, so don’t stress over a sudden Krall attack. Health: 180 Attack: 15 (ranged), 20-30 (melee) KRAU ELITE Health: 240 Attack: 15 (ranged), 28-38 (melee) TITAN (IS) These creatures take an enormous amount of damage before they go down. They may be slow, but the Stone Titan can throw a spread of huge rocks - so stay as far away as possible and keep moving. Strafing is a must, but the rocks are thrown in a spread, so be careful not to strafe into them. They’re swing attack is deadly and if you’re too close when they stomp the ground, you’ll also be thrown into the air. You need tons of ammo to down one of these guys, so if you have a power amplifier and your Dispersion Pistol is upgraded, it’s worth using your rechargeable resources first. Health: 1200 Attack: 70-80 (melee) STONE TITAN Health: 1800 Attack: 40 (ranged), 80-85 (melee) WARLORD (10) These guys look cool, but they ain't much fun to be around! They can fire fast multiple rock¬ ets, and stay airborne. Because they fly around, they can strafe out of harms way... like the Titan, try an amplified Dispersion Pistol first and then whip out the Assault Rifle. Health: 1500 Attack: 35 (ranged), 40 (melee) QUEEN (17) Youch! Things to look out for when tackling the Queen... she can teleport, so when you see her start to fade out, be prepared for a rear attack. She can also shoot multiple balls of energy which are extreme¬ ly fast, and you’re really going to have to keep moving when taking her on. When you enter her lair, use the lump Boots to get up to the high center platform where you’ll find a nice stash of ammo and a bit more light. Health: 1000 Attack: 16 (ranged), 40 (melee) One of the greatest things about Unreal is that it comes with Bots (oppo¬ nents controlled by the computer) with even greater AI than the creatures in the game. Throw a whole bunch of Bots into the map, with whatever skill level you so desire and you have an instant Deathmatch without having to have an Internet connection. Tackling Bots is an excellent way to polish up your deathmatching skills - learning how to use the variety of weapons and more importantly evade them during the action can all be done in the pri¬ vacy of your own Bot environment without the humiliation of real human players watching you stumble. Playing Bots will do wonders for your tech¬ nique and confidence - preparing you for the real challenge of those guys down the phoneline... footwork Anyone who has played a deathmatch in Quake, Quake 2 or any other first- person shooter will tell you that one of the most important skills to perfect is your footwork. Namely strafing, jumping, back-pedalling and circle-strafing. Moving erractically from side to side not only makes you hard to hit but it can confuse your opponent - just make sure your strafes are fairly long so that you’re not just jittering about on the one spot. Learning how to circle-strafe (strafing whilst keeping your view fixed on your opponent, so that you can rotate around them) is a basic skill which is pretty essential to learn - this technique can get you behind players of a lesser skill. We all know the most important rule of all though, is to play using Mouselook - that is, using your mouse to look and turn. This is all pretty basic stuff, but you’d be surprised how many players have migrated from Doom playing these new 3D shooters on the keyboard. Never back into a wall either, as you’ll just get hammered by splash damage from rockets that don’t even hit you but hit the wall behind you. Interestingly, if you use the Skytrooper player model, you can jump a little higher and have slightly more maximum health than the other players - but you are a bigger target. Using your arsenal Weapons of choice would be the Eightball, Flak Cannon and Assault Rifle. The Dispersion Pistol is excellent in levels which have pistol upgrades and an amplifier, whilst the Automag is not as effective in multiplayer. The other weapons - Stinger, ASMD, BioRifle and Razorjack are all fairly balanced and are of medium desirability. Of course, players may develop their own prefer¬ ences and successful techniques for various weapons so this is not gospel, but a basic overview. Camping with the Assault Rifle can be quite successful (though annoying for other players) if you can find a nice high and dark spot to sit and zoom in on busy areas. Switching your crosshair on will make it easier to target people’s heads. Remember, if using the Eightball, that focusing your crosshair on a target will give you a ”lock-on” which is handy for hitting a strafing target. Firing the rockets in a spread also foils a strafing opponent, and if you have a spare moment, try loading up as many rockets as you can. The ASMD is handy for pushing other players backwards off ledges, whilst doing them damage too. Keep in mind that it’s possible to set weapon preferences in your Options menu, so that Unreal doesn’t switch to the Minigun when you’re carrying the Eightball for instance, or any other weapon when you’re using a fully-powered dispersion pistol. As you play a map. try not to hang around in one particular area - make "laps” or ’’rounds” of the map, passing by spawning points for weapons and items like the super health and armour, fragging targets as you go. This way you’re not only always on the move, but hopefully keeping the best weapons and items in your own hot little hands. If you have scored a power amplifier, remember to switch to an energy weapon (Dispersion Pistol or ASMD) when you use it. Jump boots are great in outdoor areas, or when you want to reach a high ledge without going the long way around - just remember that the boots only last for about 30 seconds. Playing aggressively will usually pay off over being a defensive player, as even if you’re outgunned, rushing your opponent can keep them guessing and if they’re using the Eightball they will be paranoid about splash damage. I D E HVPER» 89 90 »HYPER CHEAT MODE tliUrtte - Fcr hot tips and expert technical support call... Frenzy PSX Level Passwords LEVEL i: BECIN LEVEL 2: ADRIAN! LEVEL 3: CORRODE LEVEL 4: CLUCCLUC LEVEL 5: SNOWBALL LEVEL 6: FLATPACK LEVEL 7: SPOOKY! LEVEL 8: BOSSMAD! LEVEL 9: RUNAWAY! Hybrid PSX Cheat Codes: Pause the game while playing then quickly enter the appropriate cheat. To activate smartsight and light intensifier goggles quickly press: Down, Downright, Right, Square. To activate renewal of health quickly press: Right, Down, Right* Down, Square. To increase amunition quickly press: Left, Down, Left* Down, Square. NB: If you use these cheats then the game will recognize this and will not provide you with any passwords. You will then have to use the Memory card to record and save your progress. Secret Level: There is a secret level in Hybrid. This can be accessed by completing the game with all 4 characters without using the cheats. Jeremy McGrath Supercross ‘98 PSX To use the cheats first save a driver to the memory card, with the name ’www.atodse’ (all lower case). Once you have done this start a game and pause it. You should now have a cheat option in the pause menu with a swag of obscure adjustments to use at your leisure. After enabling the cheat try selecting SINCLE RACE and holding down the Square (rear brake) button. This will give you access to Mirror mode, Master 82CC mode and give access to all the tracks in Single player mode. Spiceworld PSX Oh yes! The cheats you’ve all been waiting for. . . SOFT RESET Sega 1902 555 444 Calls charged at a rate of .95c per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Sega PC 1900 142 100 Calls charged at a rate of St.jo per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Roadshow Interactive 1902 962 000 Calls charged at a rate of f1.00 per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Microprose 1902 262 667 Calls charged at a rate of $r.jo per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Sony Powerline 1902 262 662 Cells charged at a rate of S1.50 per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Electronic Arts 1902 261 600 Calls charged at a rate of .95c per mm. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. Virgin Interactive 1902 220 058 Calls charged at a rate of .95c per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. GT Interactive 1900 957 665 Calls charged at a rate of .95c per min. A higher rate applies from public and mobile phones. CHEAT MODE Press Start 4 Select 4 Li 4 L2 4 Ri 4 R2 Try any of these on the Clobe screen. FAT SPICE. Hold down the START button and press Circle, Square, Circle, Square. HANDBAG MODE. Hold down START and press Square, Triangle, Circle, Triangle. Check out the new moves in the Dance Studio. NAKED SPICE (semi-naked actually thank you!) Hold down START and press Circle, Triangle, Triangle, Circle, then do the Soft Reset (see above). Now check out the title screen. wcw Nitro PSX Secret Codes To find the hidden arenas, go into the options screen and quickly press: Ri, R2, Ri. R2, SELECT. Now each time you press the select button the ring will change. Check out the cool disco ring! Swelling head mode: Go to the select mode screen and quickly press: Li x 7, followed by L2 ♦ SELECT. Now your opponents heads will swell every time you attack them. Big Head Mode Go to the select mode screen and quickly press: Ri x 7, followed by R2 ♦ SELECT. This will cause the wrestlers to play their matchups with the biggest heads possible. Big Heads, Feet and Hands Go to the select mode screen and quickly press : R2 x 7, followed by Ri ♦ SELECT. This will make the wrestlers have Big Hands, Feet and Heads, funny matches ensue! Spawn PSX Cheat Codes Enter these codes while the game is paused Invisibility: Hold Li*Ri and press Square, Square, Circle. Circle, Triangle, X Invincibility: Hold Li 4 Ri and press Triangle, Triangle, X, X, Square, Circle All power-ups: Hold L2*R2 and press Triangle, Circle, Square, X, Triangle, X All Inventory: Hold L2 4 R2 and press X, Square, Circle, Triangle, Square, Circle Reset Physical: Hold Li 4 Ri and press X, Circle, Triangle, Square, X, Circle Reset Magic: Hold Li 4 Ri and press Triangle, Circle, X, Square, Triangle, Circle Level skip: Hold Li 4 Ri 4 L2 4 R2 and press Triangle, X, Square, Circle, Circle, Circle By the way, try playing track #15 in a normal CD player. It’s an excerpt "from the Todd McFarlane (the creator of Spawn) interview on one of the Playstation Underground CDs. Magic Attacks: Keep an eye on your magic meter while you’re using any of these. If it gets too low you’ll die. FireBall: Back, Back, Down. Down, X Magical Blast: Back, Forward, Square Hell Gauntlet: Back, Forward, Triangle Ice Blast: Forward, Forward, Down, Down, Circle Refill Health: Li ♦ L2. (This only works a limited number of times) Special Attacks: Right Cross: Forward, Forward, Triangle Elbow Smash: Forward, Forward, Square Right Power Kick: Forward, Forward, Circle Left Power Kick: Forward, Forward, X Cape/Chain Attack Right:Half- circle back to front ♦ Circle Cape/Chain Attack Left: Half-circle back to front ♦ Square Arm Rip: Half-circle front to back 4 X Waterworld PC For a stack of extra goodies go to the DOS prompt command line and type water -tooledup -twinky -freestuff While in a mission hit the W key to go to the next mission. Lords of Magic PC NB: These codes only work with version 2.0. Press CTRL- to bring up the cheat dialog, then type: jackpot (gives you 200 gold, crystal and ale) Marathon (gives 1000 movement points to the selected party) Puff (gives you a dragon!) Hocuspocus (grants you all spell knowledge, and gives 1000 mana to the selected party) Create a God: Choose the Life Warrior. When you get to the playing field, double¬ click on him and move The Peacemaker artifact from his hand to his backpack. Notice his defense keeps going up. Do this until he becomes a GOD. This also works with the same artifact that you get when you conquer the life great temple with the Life Mage Lord. Chopper Attack N64 Level Select: At the "Press Start" screen, press C-Up seven times for level select. President Bails: While playing, press Z 4 C-Up 4 C- Down, then launch a homing cluster at your opponent. If it hits, you will see the president jump out of the plane. Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 PC Cheat Codes: To enter these codes, press ENTER, type the code you want, then press ENTER again, lushee - increases resources infrared - reveals map combustion - kills enemy units zipper - speed build (computer also benefits from this code) World Cup ‘98 PC Cheat Codes: Change the player’s name to one of the cheat codes and press ENTER. After entering all the cheat codes you want, press back to undo the changes so that player’s real name is not changed. Now go back to the main menu and press Scroll lock to activate the cheat menu. Zico - . Enable 1982 Classic Match HYPER» 91 92 »HYPER CHEAT MODE Hurst: Enable Classic Match Kenny: Flaming Ball Cabo: Big heads Kyle: Skeleton players Cartman: Take a dive Conzo: Hot potato Mr Hat: Crazy Ball Powder: Silly Moves Neila: Alien Mode Vigilante 8 PSX Level Passwords: MONSTER_WHEELS REDUCE.GRAVITY CO_SIGHTSEEING LWILL_NOT_DIE SEE_ALL_MOVIES SAME_CHARACTER HARDEST_OF_ALL Cardinal Syn PSX All codes must be entered on the title screen. Alternate characters: KAHN: Up, Up, Down, Down,Triangle STYGIAN: Left, Right. Left, Right, Triangle REDEMPTOR: Down, Up, Left, Right, Circle JUNI: Up, Left, Right, Up, Square MONGWAN: Down, Down, Down, Up, Triangle VODU: Left, Left, Left, Up, Circle BIOMORPHIA: Right, Right, Right, Down, Square MOLOCH: Up, Right, Down, Left, Square SYN: Up, Left, Down, Right, Circle, Circle, Triangle, Triangle,Triangle,Ri KRON: Up, Down, Up, Down, Triangle, Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle, Ri, R2 Cheats: Access to all Characters: Up, Down, Down, Up, Left, Triangle, Right, Square. Down, Circle, Li, L2 Always dismember opponent: Left, Left, Circle, Right, Right, Square Infinite Magic: Right, Right, Circle, Left, Left, Li, R2, L2, Ri See end sequence: Up, Square, Triangle, Circle, Square, Trinagle, Circle, Down, Circle. Triangle, Square, Circle. Triangle, Square Reset end sequence: Down, Circle. Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, Square, Up, Square, Triangle, Circle, Square, Triangle, Circle Colin McRae Rally PSX PASSWORDS: All cheats are entered in the name entry field. OPENROADS: Unlock Tracks SHOEBOXES: Unlock Cars (expert only) SILKYSMOOTH: 60FPS KITCAR: Turbo Jump (use select) BACKSEAT: Nicky Driving (use in car view) MOONWALK: Reduced Gravity MOREOOMPH:Double Power DIDDYCARS: Micromachines SKCART: Reverse Tracks FORKLIFT: Rear Wheel Drive WHITEBUNNY: Mirror Tracks PEASOUPER: All Fog NIGHTRIDER: All Night BLANCMANGE: Jelly Car HOVERCRAFT: Hover car BUTTONBASH: Track and Field Mode T 1 NFOILED: Chrome Car HELIUMNICK: High pitched co-driver TROLLEY: 4WD DIRECTORCUT: Replay Camera Transitions Circuit Breakers PSX CHEAT CODES: Unlock every single player circuit. Go to options, in the ingame menu, select the sound options. Then highlight the "fx volume' 1 option , select this and then press Li + L 2 simultaneously, all tracks should now become available. Upside down tracks. On the track selection screen, press L2 + R2*down*X.Now all tracks played will be upside down. To turn off this cheat repeat this code on the track selection screen. Bean Cars. As soon as the circuit has loaded and the 3,2,1,go countdown has begun .press 8*left buttons. If you get this right the cars will turn into the bean cars.This is only available in multi-player mode. Reverse Tracks. On the track selection screen .choose the track you wish to race on then hold down the select button. As the cars start to drive into the tunnel .quickly hold down o*X and while holding them down press left or right. If the cheat is successful the cars will spin round and drive into the tunnel backwards. This cheat does not stay active like all the rest and you must use this cheat each time you wish to play a track in reverse. This cheat is available in multi player only. Night time. On the track selection screen press Li*L2*Ri*R 2 simultaneously. Turbo Circuits. On the track selection screen press (♦o*X*8 simultaneously. This will speed up your cars. This is only available in multi player mode. M.A.X. 2 PC To access all of the missions, change the MAX2.INI file to read like this: current_campaign_i_mission=50 current_campaign_mission=50 last_campaign_played=n Entrepeneur PC While playing press TAB, type in the desired code and press ENTER zeropercentinterest: gives $10,000,000 canyouspareadime: gives $100,000,000 nomoneydown: gives $100,000,000 iseelondoniseefrance: researches all regions feelthatmojorising: gives 10 of each resource idkfa: gives 99 of each resource hitmeagain: gives one action card upmysleeve: gives full hand of cards i clip mode toggle rdkeys: get all keys rdjoseph: get the motorcycle rdwoleslagle: drunk mode toggle (if only it were that easy in real life!) impressme: current research project completed Pro Bass Fishing PC Mech Commander PC Create a file in the directory you installed Mech Commander to called buymechcommander.2 You can do this using Notepad. Once this is done type one of these during a game: to replenish ammo: lorrie to toggle god mode on/off: osmiu Redneck Rampage Rides Again PC Type any of these during gameplay: rdhounddog god mode toggle rdall: get all (guns, ammo, inventory, keys) rdmeadow###: warp (# - episode, ## - level) rdunlock: lock toggle rditems: get all items rdshowmap: show all map toggle rdclip: Enter any of these as your name. If the text disappears you have entered it correctly, pbxray - Shows all of the fish in "fishing” mode, pbpowerpole: Unbreakable line pbsuperbait: Mmmmm! Tasty bait! All-Star Baseball ( 99 M64 Victory Dance: After the opposing team scores, have your player stroll over home plate. The player who just scored will be doing the YMCA or the Macarena. Easy Single: To get a runner on first base press C-Down to bunt. Hold C-Down and aim your bunt toward third base. Smaller Strikezone When you create a player, choose a batter with a crouched batting stance. This player will have a smaller strikezone making it will be easier to hit the ball and harder to get struck out. Enlarged players: Co to the "Enter Cheat” menu and type: gothelium. Paper Players: Co into the Cheat Menu and type prppaplyr Robotron 64 N64 Try these while playing .. (Dexterity is an advantage) Flame Thrower: Down, Right, Down, Right, C- Right. Four-Way Fire: Down, Down, Up, C-Right. Radiation Spray: Up, Down, C-Right, C-Left. Shield: Down, Left, C-Left, C-Right. Speed Up: Left. Left, Right, Right, C-Up. Three-Way Fire: Right, Right, C-Left, C-Down. Two-Way Fire: Up, C-Up, Up, C-Up. And try these on the Setup screen . 50 Extra Lives: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, C-Left, C-Right, C-Left, C-Right. GameBoy Mode: Up, Down, Right, C-Left, Down, Up, Left, C-Right, Up, Down. Level Select: Down, Up, C-Left, Down. C-Left, C- Right, Down, C-Right. na Lisa and the American Flag. Bravo Air Race PSX Extra planes: Using the second controller, hold Ri And L2 and tap Select 20 times CHEAT MODE 1 at the main menu. If you perform it fast enough it will beep and you get 2 new planes. Hold R2 And Li while your race is loading to change the colour of your plane. Warhammer: Dark Dmen PSX Chapter skip: Press R2, Ri, L2, R2, Ri,R 2 at the main menu then select the "Resume" option. Enter any of these on the deployment screen then select the Resume option. Skip battle: Select, Ri. Ri, L2, Li, Ri, R2. Money: Select, Ri, Li, Ri, L2, Ri, R2 Instant death: Select, Ri, Li, R2, R2, Ri, Ri Select opponent: Select, L2, L2, R2, L2, Ri, Ri Small heads: Select, L2, L2, L2, L2, Ri, R2 View FMV sequences: Enter these on the Main menu. The Black Grail: Left, Li, Circle, L2, Triangle, R2 Carnstein and jewel: Ri, Triangle, R2, R2, Square, Ri The Hand of Nagash: R2, Left, R2, Up, Down, Left Liber Mortis: Circle, Triangle, Square, Right, Ri, R2 Victory: L2, Right, Square, Right, Ri, R2 Long March: Ri, L2, Triangle, Square, Left, R2 HYPER» 93 94 »HYPER LETTERS HYPER » Full review of one off the most heavily anticipated N64 titles yet... Mission Impossible. Also, look out tor the bonus cover mounted Tekken 3 Guide, with every move and combo in the same! HYPER Letters 78 Renwick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 Fax: (02) 9310 1315 E-mail: ffeakscenecDnext.com.au NZ. LAND OF NO 3DFX. Dear Hyper, Your mag is the greatest in the world keep up the good work. I live in NZ which is quite pointless cause I own a Nintendo 64 and PC and it's really pissing me off that in NZ we cannot get 3dfx cards or anything to do with 3D accelerators and the games sometimes come out about a month or two after you review them. Why is this? 1) Will Turok 2 be 4 players 2) Will the 64DD be released in England on PAL? 3) Where is Kirby’s Air Ride, Mission Impossible, and Rev Limit? Have they been canned or just delayed like most of the other games on N64? 4) How much would a subscription be for someone who lives in NZ? 5) Can we enter comps? From RORY. M Rory, / hope that's net the case throughout NZ. aa 3D games on PC become a whole new thing once you have an accelerator. Some answers for you. Oyup, four player action. 2) As we've said, it sounds like it's only going to be released in Japan. 3) KAR was canned (to cur knowledge). Mission Impossible will be in next month's issue (we have played it. it locks good). Rev Limit should be cut very soon. 4) AUS$55 S>yes DON'T COMPLAIN! Hi again, Lately while reading Hyper I’ve noticed that a lot of people are always writing in and saying , oh this game only got 45%, or this game was on the cover and it sucked, well who gives a flying freak, it’s your MAC, you created this MAC so you can give the game whatever rating you like. I bet it annoys you (HYPER TEAM) to read that some people are complaining about your judgement, it pisses me off!! So if you (The C 0 MPLA 1 NER) don't like the rating while reading this great mag, keep it to yourself and don’t think you can put down the HYPER team for what they think is the appropriate rating, because it annoys a lot of people, OK! OK! ADAM BISHOP. QLD Adam. Well, we don't let it get to us too much. Hey, it everyone agreed on everything, it’d be a pretty boring world. The only thing that ever gets our goat is criticisms about things that the critic has no intormed knowledge on. Like "J^ou need to play the games longer bet ore reviewing them.". Are these people spying on us with stopwatches? The other one is being criticised on issues where the situation has changed between the time we put it to print, and the time the mag is out. The V-Rally review was a classic example. Our review was right, the game we reviewed was analogue controller compatible... The problem lay with Sony or Intcgrammes. A lot of people chose to blame ua. NINJA PCS? To all the fellahs in the big "H" mag, I am a happy subscriber to your extra cool mag and I have been one for 2 years now. When I read your review on Unreal 1 said "I gotta get this!!”. The only thing standing between me and 3d amazement was a computer. So I checked a couple of stores and found out that I was after a Pentium II 266. I have a few questions for you to answer about this. 1. I’m not a real computer wiz, so would 1 be buying a top notch computer with a Pentium 266 (II)? 2. I heard 3D cards (like voodoo 3D cards) go up in groups of 4 Umb, 8mb, i2mb, etc) so what would be the best and cheapest card? 3. This will probably sound stupid, but in your review of Unreal you said "only Ninja PC owners will get the real deal" What does this mean? Is Unreal hard? Anyway better go. Thanks for your time fellahs Your Sincerely JOHNNO Jchnno. your answers J-man. 1. It’s not the absolute top of the line, but it's certainly hast enough to run any of today’s games very smoothly, you'd get great performance with games like Quake 2 and Unreal (with a 3D card). LETTERS 2. Voodoo cards ccme as either 4MB or 6MB (like the Canopus). Voodoo 2 cards ccme as either 8 or 12 MB. More memory means more textures can be used without slowing things down. 12MB Voodoo 2 is the best. 4MB Voodoo 1 is the cheapest... you need to decide tor yourself how much you’re willing to pay. Remember that today’s Voodoo 2 cards won’t be running at peak performance until CPUs are running at around tGhz (toco MHz), sc basically, the cards will be a good investment for a couple of years at least. 3. ’’Ninja PC” is an expression that came about when everything that was high tech and flashy was thought of as ’’Stealth”, sc I guess that was the connection. Basically it means ”Fast powerful PC”. Unreal is a lot harder than Quake or Quake 2. but like all 1st person shooters, the more you get into it and used to the controls, the easier the game becomes. CALM DOWN! Dear Hyper, I would like to congratulate you on an excellent and highly informative magazine but I would like to voice my disgust at hardware manufacturers around the world. I am angry because I was recently looking at your website and was amazed to hear about the new SECA console (The Dreamcast) But my initial amazement turned to anger when I looked at the hardware specs only to find that it will have two voodoo 2 cards as well as a CPU 4 time faster than the current Pentium 2’s all for under $500. My question is how can a hardware manufacturer create such a beast for under $500 yet when it comes to the PC it costs you just $600 just for one voodoo 2 card and probably another $1500 dollars just for a Pentium 2 chip which would pale in comparison to SEGA’s console. Really what is the point in Spending $2000 on upgrading a PC when you can just buy the latest console in a year which plays all PC games and is far superior. 1 would also like to reply to Will’s letter last month about realism in games. I totally agree with you. just look at Goldeneye!! I believe it would be the most realistic first person shooter ever invented. It has a heap of different animation : realistic damage depending on where an enemy is shot and I believe is far better than Quake 2 in all aspects. Thanks cockroach. Munster, WA C. Roach. Let’s clarify exactly what we’re dealing with here. Firstly, they aren’t not two Voodoo 2 cards in the machine... it’s just that the chipset in the Dreamcast can move more polygons, etc. There’s all sorts of things that PCs have going for them that make if a more even playing field. By the time the DC is cut. Voodoo 2 cards will have ccme down in price. The ability to store information on a hard drive is also something that allows for much greater flexibility. Image quality too. A Voodoo 2 card will give you 8 00 x 600. which your monitor will support. The DC will do 640 x 480 on a TV. PC gaming is not for the financially challenged, but if you have the cash, you can always have a system that’s ahead of the rest. Also, keep in mind that it’s not just system specs and abilities that maketh the gaming platform, you need the games too. Cven when we see games like Starcraft getting converted to N64. you won’t be able to get on Battle.net and play the thousands of folks getting into the multiplayer side of it. The thing we are curious to see is the networking capabilities of the DC. as this has always been what puts the PC ahead as the multiplayer platform. If you can get online and play a to player Bomberman game with good graphics with the DC... I’m there! I dunno man. >ou port Goldeneye to the PC. and people aren't going to stop playing Quake 2 to go play it. Quake 2 on PC. and even more sc Quake 1, are faster games, they run smoother, allow for mouse and keyboard (much better analogue control method), and networkability makes them stand cut a mile. Goldeneye may well play better than Quake 64. but this I guess is .5 that reason the PC will always be relevant. Some types of games just work better on certain systems. Goldeneye has that excellent single player thing going for it. but multiplayer split screen isn't anywhere near as cool as networking or online multiplayer experience when it comes to 1st person shooters. As to why you’d be angry... Um... Relax. If it’s good, buy It. I certainly icon’f be ignoring my PC once the DC is out. Use the different systems for different games. PHILOSOPHIES OF PORTING Dear Hyper, I don’t normally buy your magazine as 1 only own a PC. Recently I found out through a friend’s copy of your magazine that you do PC game reviews as well as your previews for the other game systems. The review covered hardware requirements and had great screen shots to boot. 1 really like your manga previews. Do you get the tapes yourselves or does the distributor lend you a copy for previews? Either way. don’t ever get rid of the manga previews. What is your philosophy on games that come to PC but have already been on another system? Ie- Virtual On for PC. Will you still preview them as well? Thanks for taking the time to read my letter LAWRENCE KOK Lawrence. Okay philosophy goes like this. Above all. remain open minded, some conversions are better than you expect, and others worse. But to generalise, the type of game generally determines how the conversion wilt go. Final Fantasy VII was a great conversion, but Street Fighter Alpha 2 was not. With 3D games like Virtual On. there's been a lot of dependency on owning certain chipsets. Sega games were often only offering acceleration for users of Power VR cards, which isn't most of us. Wipeout 2097 was a good conversion, although that heavily depended on your PC. On my old Pi66 with a Voodoo 1 card it ran okay, varying as it got to certain bits of certain tracks. On my current PC (P2 with 2 voodoo 2 cards), it actually runs too fast to be playable (although there are ways to stop this)! Console to PC conversions basically require you to lock at it as though it were a whole new game, because hardware issues and sc forth can make ONCERNED FOR THE KIDS Dear Hyper (Dan? Eliot? Who am I writing to?), I’m just writing to comment on a reply you made to Connor’s letter in the July issue. You mentioned that you were about to take out a loan to buy a 400MHz Pentium 2 with two Voodoo2 Cards. May I say good luck with your purchase, it sounds awesome. However I think that you might have been a bad influence on some of the readers. I think that for the average person to take out a loan to buy an ass kicking computer purely for games is ridiculous. However if there are some other purposes, such as work in your case, it may be reasonable. Another thing is that you did not mention is that the :es are significantly higher for brand new technology ike a 400MHz P2 chip. You can save heaps of money by for a mid range chip like a 300MHz P2 chip, whose ife is really not that much shorter. It’s better to let sinesses pay the high R£D and initial production costs. Anyway 1 just thought that you had some responsibility to r readers. You know that loans are really only for people who have a steady income. 1 have seen people who have been really stuffed up by loans. You really shouldn’t be encouraging a 13 year old into a life of loans and loan Otherwise everything is ace. Keep up the good work. LIEW. L 1 ns nice to see you're concerned here. The point also that riding all this money on a machine just to play games is advisable to those that can't really afford it. People need to be able to make these decisions for as to whether or not they can afford something, bottom line though, if you can secure a loan, then you be able to pay it off. 13 year olds can't get $3000 1 k loans. We have yet to suggest people try loan ks... We certainly wouldn’t, you say loans are only for le with a steady income... the bottom line is. sc are end PCs. Very few teenagers with PCs paid for them by I ended up getting a P2-333. as my deal to get a 40c at a per low price fell through. For those interested a $3500 bank loan, paid off over 2 ars requires repayments of roughly $i8c a month. A nger term would mean smaller repayments. HYPER» 95 96 »HYPER LETTERS or break the same’s success, especially in a same that's fast paced. NINTENDO ABSENTEE ANGST Hey Hyper, I like your mag and all. but there are several things which annoy me. Firstly I'm a Nintendo fan. and I think probably everyone else who is a Nintendo fan thinks exactly the same thing I am. Why don’t you stick more Nintendo reviews, or play guides etc, in your mags? Secondly, you guys reviewed (issue 56) games on the 64 which are not at the top of the list. Like Auro Cauge and Wetrix, why not 1080 Snowboarding or WCW/ NWO? FRANK Frank. We review sames as they ccme in. We can't help it if one month there aren't any seed N64 sames around, it's not like we can hop into a time machine to set a seed title that’s due in a ^ew months. We've set a version oft Mission Impossible here, but we’re told there’s some chanses that are going to be made, sc we’re waitins ter next issue to set the supposedly tinished version. Please keep in mind that monthly publications aren’t tinished. then masically printed and on the street the next day. The whole film-proof- print-distribution process takes about three weeks. We’re reviewins every N64 game that comes cut. The only reason the N64 specific magazines do 4 page reviews on sames like Wetrix are that they have sc tew sames to lock at that they have to do these huge reviews on rather dodgy or simple titles. We were thinkins ct do ins a Forsaken playsuide. but due to the game being different on N64 compared to the PC and PSX versions, it was impossible to choose who to cater tor. Games like Zelda 64. Banjo Kazccie. and Mission Impossible are the kind ct Sames that need a playsuide. so that’s probably what you'll see in the ccmins issues. SWEDISH PORN? Dear Hyper. About 3 months ago I bought a PSX (previously owning the N64). I wanted to some real good PSX ’only’ games such as WO2097. DD2 and Cran Turismo. Thinking that both the systems were good and had their obvious software advantages in that one system had a game the other hadn’t...WRONG!! WO.2097 and DD2 will be released on the N64! SHIT!! So I’ve just gone and spent over $2000 on consoles, games and accessories and to my very limited knowledge have learnt that the PC has all these games at cheaper prices!! Where have I been the past two or three years watching Swedish porno or something? Anyway I wanted to know if it was worth selling the consoles to get a PC and the good games it has to offer? Is it true..are consoles just the scum of the PC society? Please tell me as I know many are in the situation I am so please advise me as to what I should do? Your great fan P.C (1 mean P.S) Keep up the good work from issue *57, looks nice and techy!! Bjcmscn. It tinances are the issue, don’t SC and set a PC. Getting a decent Samins PC is very expensive. Games like WO2097 and DD2 are Platinum releases now. sc you're only lockins at $40. Cven though your letter doesn't say so. it sounds like you also cum a N64. Between the N64 and PSX. you should set a great selection ct game*. Titles like Gran Turismo will remain PSX only, as will others like Tekken 3. Soul Blade. Ghost in the Shell etc. A seed somins PC with a 3D card etc will cost you at least $2500, and that will probably devalue quite fast. To set a PC that will remain up to date tor 2 years, you’re lockins at spendins at least $4coo. SOME Q'S AND A'S Dear Hyper, I think you are one of the best magazines around, because you cover heaps of systems, not just one. I have a few questions: 1. I was reading a Super Mario 64 review in issue *41, and you said the bad thing about the game was that once you finish it, you won’t be going back, I have no idea what that means could you please explain it to me? 2. Do you think the new Sega system (the 128 bit one) is going to beat the N64? 3. Does the editor of Hyper have his N64 yet? If so. what does he think of it? It’s amazing how old systems are forgotten quickly when new ones come out, the 8 bit Nintendo used to be as famous as the Nintendo 64 is now. Thanks Hyper and keep up the good work BEN. NSW Ben. 1. Really simply, once you’ve gone to the trouble ct finishing it. there's little point in play ins it any more. Nothing to discover or do. 2. Tech spec wise, easily. That’s not really opinion based, it's just simple nen-biased figure comparison. As ter "Beating”, this won't be clear till we see how Sega markets the machine, and how much everythins costs, etc. you can have a great product, market it badly, and have no one buy it as a result. 3. yeah. I set one age* ago. I don’t use it. but that’s really because the games available don't suit me. I got bored halt way through Mario 64. but considering I never liked any platform games before, I think the fact I played it that lens says it’s a really good game. My consoles get more use when I have friends over after clubbing and stuff, but when Saming alone. I spend almost all my time on my PC. so I can get online and game with others. I think the N64 is a good console, but the only game on it that really kept me playins for long was ISS64. More than anything. I enjoy fishtins game* and RPGs on console*, and these are the two areas the N64 has yet to prove itself. I think Zelda 64 will be the first N64 game / really lose myselt in. BUSTING FOR ZELDA Dear Hyper, First of all I would like to congratulate you on an outstanding guide for Resident Evil 2, even though 1 don’t have a PlayStation, 1 still enjoyed reading what 1 missed out on when me and my friend borrowed it and clocked it. I am faced with a big decision. I don’t know if I should sell my N64 and 2 games and get a playstation and Final Fantasy VII? I would keep the 64 if Zelda 64 wasn’t taking so long. What should I do? Also, please answer these questions. 1. Will games like KKND 8 Starcraft ever make it to console? 2. What is your favourite RPC? (I wonder!) 3. How come Goldeneye 007 is 1st on the charts, what about Quake 64. 4. Will Namco ever make a game for the N64? 5. Except for WWF Warzone are there any plans for any more N64 wrestling games. Thanks, you’re the best JOHN (SPYDER) CAIL Spyder. Kevin says thanks re the playsuide. Zelda 64 is LETTERS supposedly going to be here in November. Nintendo had it on show at the Cameboy Camera launch, so it's actually happenins (Assuming it was the Japanese version). It's up to you if you can wait till then. 1. Well there’s another reason to hold onto your N64. Starcraft will be out later this year tor the N64. 2. The Ultima series. I hope you didn’t expect me to say FF7. 3. Goldeneye 007 is a better game than Quake 64. Maybe it Quake 64 ran like a PC version did with 3DFX. the punters would love it... but it doesn’t. 4. They already have in Japan. They did a dinky little baseball game. There won’t be a Tekken coming to N64. 5. yeah. WCW vs NWO: Revenge. Locks good, but mostly more of the same. HE WHO HATES FF7 Dear Hyper, I hate FFVIl!! How’s that? 1 confidently admit that quote is true. Yes, I hate FFVIl and bitterly make faces each time I see ANYTHING to do with the so called 'game'. My reasons being 1. Bad bad bad sound and music 2. Mediocre graphics (leaving aside the splendid rendered sequences) 3. Ultra repetitive gameplay 4. One cannot skip those pointless cut scenes of dialogue 5. Every second word mentioned is Sephiroth 6. Magazines keep quoting "It is like reading a good book" If I read a good book as repetitive and boring as that, I’d bum the bugger! For starters, the almost turn based, combat is great to LOOK at- for a while. Once you’ve seen every summon a hundred times (due to the fact that you move an inch, fight, move another inch, fight again etc) you get sick of the fact that they cannot be skipped. How on the face of earth can anybody make a quote like "the music and sound isn’t great, but it still does the job" (official Aussie mag) when the sound of explosions and fire remind me of the days of Famicom? How 'bout the music played after winning a Chocobo race? Or whilst flying the Highwind? There is also the way the media made the game sound good by saying "The game is so good that once the intro is done through, you are immediately in control” Sounds like great in¬ game graphics, doesn’t it? Bzzzzzz the background picture is nice- it's when cloud jumps in that you gawk at the game. He’s a 2 foot cutie with large eyes and a small mouth, not to mention the fact that he isn’t textured. It sure makes the game run faster, but it looks crap the whole way through. The beginning of the intro is the REALLY bad bit. You get the privilege of watching stars on a swaying camera for at least 30 seconds before getting a full view of Midgar. I should’ve taken the advice ’try before you buy’ (AKA rent a game) but the media feedback was so (way) overwhelming that 1 couldn’t stop to think about it. I ended up reaching the 3rd disk, before stopping, and thinking to myself "I’ve done nothing but wak around, fight and travel form town to town for the last sixty hours of my life- why bother?" At that 1 swapped the game and the buyer, Alfredo, is begging for me to swap the game back. I guess it’s the sort if game that is attractive at first, but dull in the end. lust one question 1. I read about a game called "UEFA Cup" in a British mag. It looks fairly similar to the coin¬ op Virtua Striker (which has brilliant flags waving around in the background.) Will there be an Australian release? Regards DAN, Nerang, QLD I ended up swapping FFVIl for Total Driving which is a cheaper, but greater game. Dan. Well, you ’re welcome to fly in the face ct public opinion. While I’d never preach to you to like a game (why bother, you either like it or you don’t), you sound a little pre occupied with details that really shouldn’t determine whether or not you like the game in the end. Textured or not. 30 second star swirly or not. they matter little in the scheme ct the whole thing. It’s easy to pick at pretty much every game it you want to. but obsession over details should give way to the tun had playing the game without thinking about it when trying to tell it a game is good or not. It someone ever asks me it a game is tun. and I answer with. " Well. the polygon characters aren't textured. ” Then I need to be sacked. It you got 60 hours into it. you must have been enjoying it in some way. unless you were held at gun point or something. Ask ycurselt the "What am I doing?" question during any video game... It’s always bloody pointless, but this dcesn ‘t matter it you were just trying to have some tun. Super Mario 64... What am I doing? Oh that’s right. I’m collecting stars so I can save the Princess, who’ll then give me a kiss on the nose and a cake. Stupid, but it’s a great game anyway. LOOKIN' SHARP C’day Dan, I am writing to congratulate you on the new look to Hyper. Tres Legendary!! You have succeeded to retain all the fun you would expect form an issue of Hyper and add so much more!! The addition of a hardware guide was an absolute must. Pure Genius! The additional review stopped it off and I was totally stunned. "What have these guys in Redfern been up to over the last month?" I was thinking "They have managed to turn a great mag into an even more excellent mag!” I can see you have "borrowed" elements from your also legendary sister mag PC Powerplay. What does Ben have to say about that? After all this praise 1 must point out something that needs improving. The covers being made into posters Issue 57’s posters were (what can I say) shit. Oh well you are about 98% there to creating the Ultimate Gaming mag but as you said yourself there is always room for improvement. I turned to the Unreal review immediately upon discovering it has been given the highest score in Hyper ever a whopping 97% looked to the top of the page and worried what has happened. Dan Toose did not review a new hyped-up 3d game! Maybe you felt so sorry for Eliot? All I can say is thankyou guys and keep up the great work Also, could you please settle an argument between two devoted Hyper fanatics and tell me is Eliot Fish- Lord Seafood? ADAM CAMILLERI P.S. Kate Winslet is the most gorgeous woman of all time A poster of her wouldn't hurt! (Don't tell me I have to wait for a Titanic game) P.P.S. I was not sad to see the FreakoMeter get the arse. Why would anyone buy Hyper unless they were a game freak? Adam. No conscious borrowing 0 1 ideas trcm PCP. We just wanted to think ct a way that could cover treakiness and multiplayer, but only when they were needed. and that turned cut tc be a plus/minus kind ct situation. The scoring system should be remaining this way tor yonks tc come, as it really caters tor anything. While you mightn't have liked the posters much, there are a whole mess ct ftcifcA w hc are always asking tor pictures ct fighting game characters. The tlip side was the result ct a lot ct requests tor an anime poster through the years, and the generosity 01 the distributor. Unreal. I lett that one tor Clict. I guess I’m getting generous in my old age. Clict gets called a lot ct things, and Lord Seafood is one of them... P.S. you have tc wait for a 71 tanic game, and even then... It we were going tc sell out and put a poster of an actual woman in the mag. I don't think Kate would be in the running. P.P.S. Keep in mind that video gaming is now a lot better and more accessible these days, sc there are a lot of newcomers tc gaming. HYPER» 97 HYPERMART Advertising in is free for private advertisers, and make sure you include your phone number (inc. area code). Send them to: HYPERAAART, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016 FOR SALE I am selling my Street Fighter Alpha 2 $40 ono. If interested please call (08) 93452479- If I’m not there leave a message and contact no. 6 Megadrive games available in one cart for one crazy price. Titles include: World Cup Italia’90. Colden Axe, Streets of Rage, The Revenge of the Shinobi, Super Hang-on and Columns. All 6 for only $40. Also available as separ Sony Playstation games: Crash Bandicoot ($25), NBA Live"97 ($25) and Die Hard Trilogy ($25). Also Predator Dual Format Cun (use for Die Hard ) - $50. If you want to buy the lot $100! Ring Cene on 0413740768. Sydney area only. Super Nintendo: Everyhting in excellent condition, less than a year old with cables, control pad. plus 4 games included: Jurassic Park, Another World, Super Special Weapons Interdiction Vehicles and Donkey Kong Country 3. Call Greg on 03 9531 5793. $200 for the lot Sega Saturn, 1 pad and a Virtua Cun. 9 games including Virtua Cop 2, Street fighter Alpha. Virtua Fighter kids and more great titles. Only $280 call Tan after 3.30pm on 02 9604 1519 Hyper mags: 50c each issues *I2-*i8, 75c each issues »i9“ # 26, $1 each issues 27-*38 (excluding *31), $1.25 each # 39 _ *50, $1.50 each Issue*si-»55. Or $40 for the lot Call james after 5pm on 07 3345 6596 (Brisbane only) Goldeneye 007 $55, Doom 64 (US version) $30, grey N64 controller with box $25. SNES- Killer iNstinct $15, 2 controlers $10. PC - Doom 2 $10. Buyer must send money first. Call Chris on 08 9409 7733 Playstation stuff for sale: Mad Catz Wheel/ Pedals with V-rally $100, ASCII Arcade Joystick $40, Nuclear Strike $50. Rapid Racer $40, Return Fire $15, Fighting Force $40, Abe’s Odyssey $45, Crusader$25, Bushido Blade $40 or the lot for $350! Please call Vaughn or Bob after 5pm on 02 9558 1425 PC Carnes-10 games in 1, Die by the Sword. Grand Theft Auto, Hexen 2. Puzzle Fighter, Starcraft, Tomb Raider 2, Total Annihilation. Virtual on and Diablo all for $120. Call David after school hours on 02 9724 0841 Playstation Carnes- Formula One, Tomb Raider, Battle Arena Toshinden, Assault Rigs, Krazy Ivan. Jumping Flash and Independence Day will sell for $30 each or the lot for $200. Call David after 4.30 on 02 4296 6290. (Illawarra area only, cash only). I will sell my N64 mako pad for $45 not even opened. Call Peter on 08 8449 9185 or Email on bayfolk@iweb.com.au Mario 64 $60, Goldeneye $70, Forsaken $90. The lot for $200. All boxed with instructions and in excellent condition. QLD prefered. Call Crant Lomman on 07 4779 4643. Bargain!! Saturn with 2 controllers .demo disk 12 games include: Fighters Megamix. Panzer Dragon Zwei. C 6 C (with codes). Doom (with codes). Spot goes to Hollywood. Nights and more all in good condition with cases and manuals. $335 0.n.o. For the lot OR sseparately. Call Jordan after school hours on 02 9913 2156. PC Games - Quake II $40, Dark Reign $30 or both for $60. Box and manuals included. Must be able to pick up from melb. Call William after 6pm weeknights on 03 9877 1595 Doom 64 and Wayne Gretzky's 3D hockey $50 each. Both haven’t been played and are in excellent condition. Call Daniel after 3.30 on 02 9672 4304 Sega Mega Drive with 2 controllers with 10 games. Sonic 1.2, Doctor Robotnik, NBA Live with case, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage. Super hang-On World Cup italia ’90, Shinobi S Columns all in great condition with instructions. Call Rhys on 03 9740 7939 I want to sell my SNES with 1 controller, Mortal Kombat 3, Killer Instinct 6 U.N Squaldron for$8oo.n.o. Call Jezz on 02 4997 0229.. EDGE magazine Issues 1-25 in mint condition $100. Buyer collects. Call Pete on 9523 5627 Playstation 4 months old. Can play both PAL and NTSC games. 2 controllers, 2 memory card plus 30 playstation games. Include Tomb Raider II, Final fantasy 7, Streetfighter EX, King of fighters 96. All for$535. Call Kevin after school on 02 9869 2580 2 games- Sim City 200 for Macintosh $35 o.n.o. And Mac Simulation pack for Macintosh §25 o.n.o.. OR $50 for both. Call michael Thomas on 02 6624 2442. TombRaider for Saturn almost mint condition $40 OR will SWAP for Virtua Cop 1 or 2 OR for any other good game. Call Tim on 03 5231 2725 after 4pm. Will only pay postage to Vic areas. SWAP I want to swap 3 PSX games for 1 Nintendo 64 game. Crash Bandicoot, Die Hard Trilogy (with Dual Format Cun) and NBA Live '97. Goldeneye preffered but other games considered. Also I want to swap my Nintendo 64 game (pal version) Yosh’s story for any other Nintendo 64 game. Ring Gene on 0413740768. Sydney area only. Will swap for Playstation or for sale - Sega Saturn with 1 control pad and 2 games; Clockwork Knight and Daytona USA Circuit Edition ($200) Ring 924987. P S. Playstation must be in good condition as is Saturn. I want 1080 Snowboarding, will swap for either Diddy Kong Racing, Blast Corps. Top Gear Rally or Snowboard Kids. If you are interested call (02)0 62810353 and ask for Andrew. I will swap a Mega Drive II console with 2 controllers and 4, working good condition games for the playstation game ’Final Fantasy VII’. Call shayne on 07 3206 3499 - Brisbane only. I will swap my Playstation with 6 games, 9 demos, 4 controllers and multi top for a N64 with 4 or 5 games, 2 controllers and accessories. Call Kurt after 5pm on 02 9661 8508 Has anybody got Dracula Unleashed on Mega CD. Will swap PSX OR Mega Drive software. Call Mick after 4pm weekdays on 07 4775 2956 Atari Lynx 2, 4 games and power adapter for Duke Nukem 3D on N64 or sell for $50. Ring Daniel after 4pm on 02 4384 6987. Super Nintendo in perfect condition with 2 controllers, five games- Killer Instinct, PAC Attack, Super Mario Allstars, Loony Tunes Adventures and Battletoads and I'll chuck in a game boy converter with a gameboy game. SWAP for a PSX with 2 controllers and a couple of games. Broadmeadows tr-state prefered. Call Anthony on 03 9309 6639. Mario 64 and Blastcorps to swap for Diddy Kong Racing. Other N64 games considered Call carl on 07 4168 9843. N64 with 4 games, i controller and controller pak for $350 or will SWAP for playstation with 2 or more games. Call Andrew on 02 62810353 I will swap Jurassic Park, Sonic. Columes, Altered Beast and Pac mania for any of these Playstation games- Gran Turismo, Time Crisis, Point Blank, Worms. Pete Sampras Tennis, Soulblade, Wipeout 2097, Croc, return Fire and Micro Machines VJ Call Craig on 08 9444 8717 Playstation Honey Bee control for $30. It has auto turbo feature. I also want to sell Need for Speed for a cheap price with all its cheats or I will SWAP it for any game. Call Jackson on 6231 0615 (Tasmania) PC Games: Command 6 Conquer $30, Dark Reign $40, Abe’s Oddessy $40, Moto Racer $50. N64 games: Bomberman 64 $40, Yoshi’s Story $50 or will SWAP any of these games for PC or N64 games. Call Chris 07 3269 3985- WANTED A copy of Bomberman for the SNES. Whichever as long as it’s boxed with instructions. Call Matt on 0414 348 118 and leave a message. NSW preffered SNES console possibly with Super Metroid, Zelda or other good RPG’s. Contact Carl on 07 4168 9843- On the ball.PC very old game. Willing to pay. Contact Peter Northey at 9 Eric St, Taree. NSW, 2430. Grand Theft Auto . Call chris on 07 3269 3985 PSX games NFS III, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil 2. Jet Rider 1 or 2, Tomb Raider 2 and Crand Theft Auto. Will pay $$$$$. Ring Zo on 08 9437 3585. PENPALS Any gamers 30-40 plus welcome, M/F. I need the feedback, there must be some older gamers out there somewhere!! Will respond to all letters. I have an N64 and Playstation and enjoy all types of games. Write to Pete, 15/16 Waratah St, cronulla, NSW 2230. Hey, I’m an 18 year old guy looking for a mature and hopefully attractive female penpal of a similar age to talk about whatever the hell you want. Write to Aaron,142 Marine Terrace, South Fremantle,WA 6162 .Pis don’t send cheats! Howdy people! Hi. my name is Seiko, and I’m a isyr old girl who loves PSX, horses, animals and Final Fantasy VIII. I’m looking for a penpal aged 14-17. All letters will be replied to! I own a PSX, CD Rom, Megadrive II, Master System and game gear. I like platform games and Warcraft II, and Diablo. If you’d like to meet me, start your pens. Write to Seiko, PO BOX 271, Cleveland, QLD, 4163. Hi, I’m a 14 yr old male looking for everyone who is anyone to be my penpal. I enjoy all types of music and I have an N64 8 Playstation. All letters will be replied so if you want your mailbox choccas, wTite to Shane. 12 Dellwood lane, ballajura, WA 6066. Hi, my name is Kai. I'm a 16 yr old male and I'm looking for a penapl (M/F) who likes laystation. Aqua and outdoor sports. If this sounds like you write to Kai Frith, Lot 3 Frenchs Creek Rd. Boonah, QLD 4310 Hi, my name is Darren. I’m an uyr old male looking for a male penpal aged 10-11. I own a playstation and would like to chat about anything. We could also exchange playstation cheats. I enjoy playing soccer and drawing. Write to Darren Whelan, 10 Detling St, Stafford Heights, QLD 4053. Hi, my name is Simon and I am 12. I’m looking for a male or female penpal between 10-15. I own a playstation and my brother owns a Nintendo 64 and PC. I enjoy skateboarding and playing tennis. I will write back. Address is 20 Yorrell St, Algester, QLD, 4115. WE BUY AND SELL all computer games »The largest range of new and used games • Huge titles • • NINTENDO • SEGA • IBM • CD • GAMEBOY • SONY PSX • SATURN ACCESSORIES • • A BIG VARIETY OF RPG • FIGHTING • ADV • OLD & NEW • , M M Nintendo * 4 CASH MONEY FOR YOUR GAMES, SEND YOUR USED CARTRIDGES. MAIL ORDER FROM ANYWHERE IN AUSTRALIA Located near the Station 94 OLD TOWN PLAZA BANKSTOWN 2200 Phone / Fax ( 02 ) 9793 7707 m Yoirhrave a PlayStation. You want the latest games. Y6u need the OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE [Official Australian. auo Magazine Free exclusive PLAYSTATION DEHO CD every month ■ree < Phis reviews, news and cheats for all of the Infest games. IT NOW! PlayStation 2 Analog Foot Pedals Digital, 2 Position Stick 8 Digital Action Buttons NOW AT LEADING RETAIL OUTLETS ❖ Distributed by Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd. 4/92 Bryant Street Padstow NSW 2211 Ph: (02) 9773 0044 Fax: (02) 9773 006i r 1 u 169, y