zb coy. * idee a SOFTBANK / Official — E LU B PlaySt tation Magazine. OM MENACE EELS, 5 '9 Cana I Hl | DU 06968 Iiluctration bv ^1 USUALLY VISUALIZE THE THAT'S ABOUT ALL cL PlayStation PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. CRASH BANDICOOT: WARPED TM & © 1998 Universal Interactive Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. Find us JUMP BEFORE I TAKE OFF THE HELP | NEED.” After some hard-core training, he’s ready to warp through time and take on all-new worlds. Ride down Route 66 on a bike. Dogfight in a biplane. Swim through Atlantis. Orrun through the Jurassic era. You up for it? Crashis, He's got an all-new, supercharged body-slam, a double jump, a death tornado spin and a bazooka. You can even play as Crash's kid sis- ter, Coco. CRASH BANDICOOT; WARPED“ is here. And it’s his most insane adventure ever. OH YEAH...HE'S READY. www.playstation.com ed by Naughty Dog, Inc. All rights res Visit us at Sar cam neers ® PlayStation The price you pay for losing isn't just pride. It's your 396 hp exotic. Watch for nasty hairpins. Aggressive opponents who might damage your baby. Er And, of course, the cops. They all want to see you lose it in a very big way. I SS a ae 2 bes WWW.NEEDFORSPEED.COM Ahh aL 7^. o SS ELECTRONIC ARTS Editorial Play E A few unofficial words from the official editor-in-chief ayStatio Magazine Dale Strang Il Director J.E. Funk e joe_funk@zd.com -Chief Kraig Kujawa * kraig_kujawa@zd.com Managing Editor Dan Peluso * dan_peluso@zd.com Deputy Editor Joe Rybicki « joe_rybicki@zd.com Associate Editors Dave Malec * dave_malec@zd.com Mark MacDonald e mark_macdonald@zd.com West Coast Editor Wataru Maruyama © wataru@gamespot.com News Editor Chris Johnston Contributing Editors Kelly Bradley « Joe Gray Tom Ham e Ryan Lockhart e Johnny Masthead Senior Copy Editor + Gary Steinman Copy Editors Jo-El Damen « Jennifer Whitesides Creative Director Michael Stassus Senior Art Director Bob Conlon * bob_conlon@zd.com One Huge News Item At A Time, Please Art Director Donna O'Hara just don't get it. Why do two of the biggest things that have happened to TOMO BUREAU Uc the PlayStation—the official announcement of the next PlayStation and the E M Coe raRmest ue ; Star Wars: Episode I games—have to fall on the same darned issue? NowI "Matthew Galgari, rq. have to pick which topic to ramble about, instead of being able to indepen- Kiyomi Fukuyama, Editorial Manager dently ramble on about each topic on different months. Such is one of the Yutaka Ohbuchi, Japanese Correspondent many decisions that we editors-in-chief must face on occasion. Feel our pain. ENSUNRUSSNEBODUSTIONSISUECUESHNNM I was at Sony's little shindig unveiling in Japan in early March, and I must admit— Production Director Marc Camron I was floored. I've been covering the gaming business for six years (I got paid for it for reduction ies d pons only four of those, though), and I've never seen an event quite like it. I've seen systems Production Assistant Chris Melody get unveiled, launched, but never like this. Sony made it quite clear they weren't mess- Advertising Coordinator Mike Darling ing around at all. Project Leader Mark LeFebvre Analyst Scott Parus Just about every new “ hardware demo I've been shown before was done in the back of someone's The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine is the booth by appointment only Sony Computer Entertainment America-licensed only. They usually show a magazine and is published by ZD Inc. through few boring demonstrations MEEUEETTS TET METER T HT MARET LEO ECT LETTRE] geared toward highlight- independent from SCEA, and is a critical, autonomous ing the power of the new voice that helps readers get more out of their Vice President Jonathan Lane Business Director Cathy Bendoff Corporate Counsel Rob Kabat Circulation Director Joan McInerney Associate Circulation Director Shirley Viel Newsstand Sales Manager Don Galen Circulation Coordinator Ann-Marie Mrozynski o 8 hardware, so you can get PlayStation system by delivering the most current, Subscription Service Number: > an idea in your head what comprehensive and candid coverage of (303) 665-8930 (U.S, Only) E the games might look like PlayStation software and hardware. Witpsiisubécrtboplsyetounmaqupias conven a in the future, Well with Sony's E sates (e) PlayStation 2 demo, picture 1,500 people from all over the world crowded around. Group Publisher z Sony displayed those little technology demos, and then let the audience have a few Dale Strang * dale_strang@zd.com I a 2 A : Telephone (415) 547-8771 N minutes to surmise what they might mean in terms of gameplay. And then they ‘Account Executive Ej showed the audience what those demos meant, by having playable Tekken 3 and Linda Philapil e linda_philapil@zd.com = Gran Turismo on the stage floor. It's something I'd never seen before, especially the , Telephone (415) 547-8782 = Y 5 : A z z Regional Sales Manager, Northwest ry first time a piece of hardware was announced—it was an amazing sight. ‘Jon Yoffie « jon_yotfie@zd.com * Apparently, just about everyone else agreed. Following the conference, practically Telephone (415) 547-8773 A everyone within earshot could be heard muttering about how much trouble Sega is District Sales Manager, Soulitwest N ; ; A A 2 A Karen Landon * karen_landon@zd.com EN really in. And indeed they are. The next PlayStation, whatever it might be called, is Telephone (760) 942-6277 s truly an amazing piece of hardware—something that just about everyone now knows, District Sales Manager, Midwest & East Coast thanks to that well-orchestrated day. To the naysayers who think the hardware is too Aithony, bee PME LUE "i : à : d : à 3 powerful to be priced right for the public, consider this: Years ago, when Sony Marketing Manager 3 released the PlayStation, pundits were amazed at the low price it launched at. Ever Susan Carroll « susan_carroll@zd.com o : NOE 2 t € since then, Sony has been the leader in pricing when it comes to console hardware. Totphone (415) 84778778 o With so much experience at making hardware affordable, do you really think the ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: PlayStation 2 will debut at a less-than-affordable price? Of course not. And when it Ziff-Davis Video Game Group arrives in stores at the great pri think it won't and/or can't achi "ll all b Fea arrives in stores at the great price many think it won't and/or can't achieve, we'll all be San Francisco, CA 94105 in line waiting to buy a PlayStation. Again. I can't wait. Telephone: (415) 547-8000 "n 4 Fax: (415) 547-8777 Kraig Kujawa Editor-in-Chief Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (ISSN #1094-6683) is Changes Write to: Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, P.O. any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- published monthly by ZD Inc., P.O, Box 3338, Oak Brook, Box 55362, Boulder, CO 80322-5362. Call us: (303) 665- ing, or otherwise) without the prior written notice of ZD Inc. IL 60522-3338. Periodicals Postage Pending at Lombard, 8930 U.S. or (303) 604-7445 all other countries. Fax us: Copyright © 1999, ZD Inc. All Rights Reserved. TM & © for IL and additional mailing offices. 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Subscription Service Questions and Address into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by Red lights will be run. Cop cruisers wil be totaled. And barnk-robbhing low-lifes will escape. If you're arly good. YOU ARE THE WHEELMAN FROM THE CREATOR OF DESTRUCTION DERBY 1 & 2" driver.gtgames.com Driver™ © 1999 GT Interactive Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Created by Reflections Interactive Limited, a GT Interactive Software Corp. studio. Published & distributed by GT Interactive = GT Interactive Software Corp. Reflections and the Reflections logo are trademarks of Reflections Interactive Limited. ND. Software GT is a trademark and the GT logo is a registered trademark of GT Interactive Software Corp. PlayStation REFLECTIONS PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment MEX Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. i Hi BARS "PEL Pd ` M re s L] p í > 4 H e LI : T v 1: y i Here’s what readers are saying about ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY.. S rhe main reason | buy your magazine is because of your Unbiased opinions on all your video game coverage.? John Suter jdsuter@bellsouth.net si have read lots of differ- ent game magazines, but I don’t think they are half as good as EGM.°? Isaac Yim Irvine, CA $6 want to commend you for putting out Great Issues After Great Issues.” Scott E. Ostertag1@juno.com S vou guys are Funny.” Ed Zombie Hackensack, NJ Subscribe Today or Buy It on Newsstands! OM MEN ACI THE VIDEO GAMES Wintends 64+ Playstation « Dreamcast » 16-Bit - Hangnelas + Arcade i Multiperson Reviews! The First with Big Gaming News! The Latest Gaming Gossip! Exclusive Previews! Cool Tricks for All Game Systems! But Get It. Get It? Gti vas ZD INC. 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Miller Jim Spanfeller Nancy Newman Jonathan Lane John Dodge Roger Herrmann Peter Longo Eric Lundquist Bill Machrone Jim Manning Charles Mast Paul Somerson Mark Van Name Eric Hale Lauren Black Bill Catchings Glynnis Woolridge Ziff-Davis, A SOFTBANK Company NNAL Biage oF steel al Tournamentyit ma Ascension NFL Blitz "99 sin Academy Duke Nukem Time To Kill Quake ke T111SimCity 3000 Mortal Kombat Mythtilgie oe etal cee Aat B Bass Fishing opuious 1e eginoin Jon City 30 ations WWII dighier rk Grand Inquistitor, Mario Party Wario Land II se Wars Rogue E ddr L Blade of Steel Warzone ET: = NFL Blitz ose Combat II Army Men 3D Hi FaceOff T ETT WarZone Driver South Pa mand termina Warzone, 100 sat oaan Kemon Stadiutage of pires T Deer Avenger ar Craft Total Annihilation Resident Evil Quake HI Battle Zone Populous The Beginning "m on Acade SA NH Blade ol Steele real Tournament Kia Roll de Star Craft Wario Land II AA Final Four '9. /GHMEIJERLER.IZDM. sre Grand Inquistit E EverQuest ;.,get hooked up: 2: Seeds of E atender South Park Heretic Jedneck Rampag Sia Agee of MPiTes TT NFL Quarterback Club '99 L FaceOff "99 E = Lands of Lore Duke Nukem Zero Hou tal Annihilatiomopemon Stadium Barkatanc pomene [Eam Fortress 2 NCAA Final Four "99 Lander RE Avenge oe. fishing Rollcage WCW/NWO Thunder a scensrémitout 2 Cool Boarders. X:Wing Alhhanepuke N Nukem Zero Hour SimCity 300 Scar Baldur's Gate or es Seo of Evil- ees web Raider HI ntender P "NHL Blade of Steel S Sve quadron- 2 doin Ras? Soa eget Akujr- Datrkatane Fowerslide Duke Nukem Zero Hour KlingonAcaden Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped NHL Blade of £ am Fortress 2 NHL Blade of Steel Slave Zero i Pol Boarder: 3 Ultima Ascension d X-Wing Alliance ştar Wars: Rogue Squad edneck RampagM AD DEN NEG Nai ikem Zero HouSlave Zer: en Hic mieMers Street FL- Quarterback Club ‘99; St Cra | Starsiege Tribes ay ma milli d SIAE u 610-2614 Fax eon. diram ibid MEAS QU t Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped f Parasıte Eve — Why limit yourself to a dozen, hell even a hundred, different weapon choices when you can have thousands? It's time to remove the shackles of 2D, top down strategy games. Because in Warzone 2100, you have complete control over unit designs. As a result, it'll be your wits and ability to create an invincible battle arsenal that will save your hide from extinction. une 400 technologies allow you to design and build more than 2000 battle units. Turret, body and propulsion design options allow you to create anything from cyborgs to flamethrower tanks to V-TOL aircraft. esse bn SLUICE Oso recycle the experience of field units into bigger, better and even more fierce war machines. And as a Commander gains experience, the greater number of units he can control and the more accurate his laser designation becomes. user ieu - lightning fast, fully functional 3D game engine with rotatable « and zoomable cameras for fast and furious gaming action. Strategically placed radar units warn you of hidden enemy units and allow you to lob mortar shells over 5 mountain obstructions. IT'S NOW TIME TO TAKE YOUR FATE INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. SO GET INTO OUR VAST 3D WORLD: DESIGN, DEPLOY AND DESTROY. V UARZUÜIE dioe = apa, PlayStation _ The Phantom Menace |^ long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a movie that inspired video s] k| games for decades to come The latest is an adventure enti- | tled The Phantom Menace. Out 3 WipeOut has a new look, sound and feel. Find out what Psygnosis has in | store for fans of the 1 futuristic racing series. Not getting the most from | Spider-Man's Web Ball | attack? Check out this strate- gy to play better as Spidey mj and all the other characters in this fighting game Legaia is a vast world that requires much exploring. Find all the game's secrets, including the hidden Ra-Seru powers and much more in this strategy. Contents Letters Sometimes a joystick is just a joystick, or is it? Find out how a reader feels about the "shape" of a new joystick and other controversial issues, like what Kellogg's cereal has to do with OPM. News At long last, the successor to the PlayStation has been officially revealed. Read all about it in our in-depth report. Previews Sony unveils their upcoming lineup, including Gran Turismo 2, Omega Boost and Ape Escape. Also, check out our previews of 3Xtreme, Driver, MLB 2000, Ultimate Eight Ball and Evil Zone. International An update on Square's latest title in their flagship series (FFVIII) as well as a look at Combat Choro Q, Space Battleship Yamato and LSD (the game, not the controlled substance). Reviews Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, Need For Speed: High Stakes, Point Blank 2, Triple Play 2000, Army Men 3D and Hello Kitty’s Cube Frenzy all get rated. Tricks We dug deep into the OPM tricks vault to give you codes for past PlayStation Star Wars games, along with help for favorites like Tomb Raider III and Contender. from Lego sets to talking action figures—all Star Wars, of course. We also take a look at a Crash Bandicoot handheld game and the colorful new Dual Shocks. IBI Te DIETO Get your hands on Ehrgeiz, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, Legend of Legaia and Contender and find out how we rate the non-playable videos. e Uniquely immersive role-playing experience is limited only by your imagination. Collect over 150 creatures including rare and ultra-rare breeds. Then custom combine them into millions of powerful new monsters. que a Strategically use your monster's dominance of one of the four elements: Earth, Wind, Fire or Water. “TALE LM Meh LJ Welcome to the world of Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu. As Levant, a uu A Cocoon Master, you will engage powerful monsters in deadly one on one combat. 3 As the magic and talon clash of these titanic battles turn to your favor you can call A li on the mystic Cocoon powers and capture a fallen foe as they are on the brink of t death. Once captured these mighty creatures can be trained to fight for you and A ti. combined with other monsters to form millions of new beasts. Once created these creatures will be your key to surviving the perils of the forest. Pit your creation against a friend in the arena mode. | PlayStation LEARN THE SECRETS OF THE TAMAMAY LU. VISIT WWW.CRAVEGAMES.COM Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu, Crave and their respective logos are trademarks of Crave Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Crave Entertainment is a registered trademark in the U.S. © 1999 Crave Entertainment, Inc. Genki is a registered trademark of Genki Co, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. COMMS: JU LV. 1M. Te Letters A glimpse into the demented minds of our readers Letter of the Month Dear OPM, It’s come to the point now that the Letters section is turning out even funnier than the magazine itself. | seriously flip to the first few pages just to crack myself up sometimes instead of delving into the video game world first. Why? Take the whole gender issue thing mentioned in the February issue. Yes, maybe categorizing every girl as a non-video gamer might’ve been a bit harsh. However...it was funny! I got my kicks, and yes, I’m a girl—a girl who loves video games, but who can also take a joke. The fact that so many people took offense to that is—l'm sorry—hilarious! One of the reasons why this society, not to mention the video game genre specifically, seems so sexist is because PEOPLE LIKE TO MAKE A BIG Caption Contest Winner Freudian Stick Dear OPM, Did you guys mistakenly print an ad that was meant for Hustler or Playboy? This ad I'm referring to is for the “GameStick.” What a dis- gusting-looking accessory for a ter- tific system like the PlayStation. Did the inventor really think that a joy- stick that resembles a...well...you know...would be popular? Even my 8-year-old son said he wouldn't be “Mmmm...a Demon Baby Carver sandwich sure would hit the spot right now.” Congrats to Jason Walstrom of Fort Worth, Texas! ow you too can have your shot at history with the OPM Caption Contest! Every month, we run a game-related picture or screenshot. Your job is to write a humorous caption for it and submit it to us at any of the addresses on the following Letters page. The winner will be chosen by the following scientific method: We'll read them all, and the one that makes us laugh our asses off will get a sparkling new game or game-related item. Now, see what you can do with this pic: [You didn't really think those were the official rules, did you? For all the legal stuff on this and our other contests, please refer to page 77.] your input! caught dead with this thing in his hand. Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stick to the old-fashioned controller. | Karen Randle Thunder Bay, Ontario You know, our first response to this was, to paraphrase Freud, “Sometimes a joystick is just a joystick.” But then we took a good look at the thing, and... well...geez. You've got a point there. Somehow we doubt it was intentional, though. Sound Advice Dear OPM, I want to warn all PlayStation owners of the dance craze they are housing. Thanks to the CD format, PlayStation owners can play actual songs from the game on a regular CD player, and even some that aren't in the game. Even our favorite magazine has silently put songs in their demo discs. (For instance, if you put in the demo DEAL OUT OF IT! That’s my opinion anyway. Another thing | just briefly want to touch on: The nudity issue with that loveable green gecko and the oh-so-famous pose...It's not that bad, people. It’s really not. Just a word of advice to the main reading audience out there: Sit back and think about the whys and possibly the humor of things before you go to your computer or get your pen and paper and write down every possible complaint you can think of (and no, I’m not complaining). Even though it’s making the readers and the writers more aware of mistakes and offenses, it’s stepping over the line between humor and seriousness. Celene sky-rose@att.net We have to admit we're partly at fault for devoting so much space to these controversial issues; but hey, it's fun to discuss, and what other games magazine do you know of that throws open its Letters section to its readers’ serious concerns? But what do you think, folks? Should we keep a tighter reign on “Big Issues” letters? Do you think you have what it takes to write the Letter of the Month? Send us your timely, original, well-written video game expositions (you don't even have to agree with us!) and you too could win an official OPM Box or Joy. New surprise goodies every month! disc with the Dead or Alive demo on it, you'll get the in-game music.) If you put the Spawn game in, you get songs and an interview with Todd McFarlane. Other discs that include music are Destruction Derby 1 and 2, all the Twisted Metals, Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi and many others. You have to skip to the second song if there is one because the first track never has any sound. I urge everyone to try every disc they have. Dennis Goring dgoringevaxxine.com We'd just like to add a word of warning: It has been said that in very rare cases playing CD-ROM data tracks (which is what Track One is and why it never includes music; it houses all the game information) can damage your stereo, so we urge you to never play the first track on any data CD. These extra tracks show up in games using Redbook Audio; see our PlayStation Dictionary in the March ‘99 OPM for more info on these different sound formats. Oh, and speaking of which... How do you like the mag? What about the design? Are we leaving anything out? Let us know! To get special attention as far as design and content issues go, label your letters or e-mails with the heading: PlayStation Magazine suggestions c/o the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine at the addresses on the final Letters page. We can't wait to hear from you. FA must have NA ce PlayStation game... LR Move over Crash!" GO FROM THE HISTORICAL TO THE HYSTERICAL WHEN BUGS BUNNY™ TAMPERS WITH A TEMPERAMENTAL TIME MACHINE! Bugs visits the Stone Age! ENTERTAINMENT Official U.S. (HEVAAEL NOL [rosse ( S) May 1999 Letters id you buy a copy of our magazine that did not contain a demo CD? Simply send the receipt in an enve- lope marked “OPM Replacement Disc” to the address below with the name and address of the store plus your phone number and address and we'll send you the disc. Make sure you specify which month the corresponding disc belongs to in order to ensure you get the right one. Also, if you have a malfunctioning or non-working demo disc, call SCEA at 1-800-345-SONY. They will provide instructions to obtain repair or replacement ser- vices. For more information see this month’s Demo Disc section. A glimpse into the demented minds of our readers gra-ti«tude Dear OPM, Thank you, thank you, thank you for the PlayStation Dictionary! I have had a PlayStation since November 1997 and I have sub- scribed to OPM for almost a year. I didn't understand some of the words you were using...until now! The "PlayStation Unabridged Dictionary" will be forever used! Marc Abernathy via the Internet You're welcome. 0P^ M? Dear OPM, With all the new specs and info about the PlayStation 2 now surfacing, I've been wondering what's going to happen to my favorite PlayStation magazine when the PlayStation 2 finally hits U.S. shores. I know it's about a year and a half away, but that still leaves time for worry. Are you planning on changing the format of your maga- zine to the "Official U.S. PlayStation 2 Magazine" and following its games and news, and providing great demos of the games? Scott Iburg via the Internet Naw, we decided we'll just hang it up come next year. :) OF COURSE we'll extend our cover- age to the next PlayStation; we wouldn't miss it for the world! After all, we've kept you updated on all the PS2 info so far, right? And don't worry, we don't expect a name change, either. | Disc Krispies? Dear OPM, In my school we are writing to companies to request information about their products. I chose OPM. The product I would like to know about is Kellogg's Cereal. Can you please send me information on Kellogg's Cereal? Thank you. name withheld for obvious reasons Honest, folks, we don’t make these up. Err...April Fools? Apparently, evil babies crawled into our Silent Hill strategy last month and cut off the end of a paragraph on page 101. It should've read, “...a platform that will take you to the Basement Boss.” Mea culpa. Do YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO OPM? POINT YOUR BROWSER TO http://subscribe. playstationmagazine.com/service AND FILL OUT THE APPROPRIATE FORM. WITH A CREDIT CARD, YOU CAN EVEN START A NEW SUBSCRIPTION! Yikes, More Reader Art! Every month we'll be picking one exceptional piece as our Reader Art of the Month. The creator of the winning work will have his/her piece published and will receive a new game (a good new game) in the mail—so include your mailing address with all submissions. Runners-up (as many as we want, 'cause it's our magazine) are printed as well. Good luck! Check out this month's artists! Clockwise from above: this month's winner, Kara Hedge, Moravia, IA; Todd Adamson, Sandy, UT; Curtis Kent, San Leandro, CA; Steven Denten Zabel, Crest Hill, IL; Robert Sampson, El Cajon, CA; and at center, Christopher Dang, panda- man83@hotmail.com. Nice job, everyone! snail mail: P.O. Box 3338 PlayStation Magazine Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 If you need to reach us now 630 382 9010 opmezd.com and check us out on www.videogames.com IN STORES EVERYWHERE! “ja tasty meal for an adventerous soul.” Game Informer “Shadow Madness has story-line inked to near perfection.” PSM "m An incredible, dark story that combines fantasy, science fiction and humor. Intelligent run-time battles with innovative “twitch attack” and magic styles. exAllRights Re = ( asaid tradema F E ; Designed by the rtalians. wo wonder it’s aHialctad to anything with curves. Se ig i95 MN RIRIDGE RACER TYPE 4 © 1998 Namco Ltd: All Rights Reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association, AIO "The first great racer of 1999 could be a Gran Turismo Killer.’ - Official PlayStation Magazine, February 1999 It is speed incarnate. Its sexy sheet metal restrains a 3000 cc power plant that hits O-190 mph in the snap of a linguini. It is the Bisonte - just one of the automotive marvels that scorch the streets in R4. With over 300 new cars, 45 fantas- tic models, 8 thrilling courses, a 2-player split-screen mode and only one way to drive. Fast. R4’s asphalt gulping graphics and spectacular racing environments deliver racing speeds that were once deemed impossible. But not anymore. Now you've got R4. Ciao, baby. RIDGE RACER TYPE 4 Think fast. Drive faster. namco' www.namco.com "R4 has to be the bestlooking PlayStation racer ever (yes, edging out even Gran Turismo]." - Official PlayStation Magazine, December 1998 * Sensational graphics and lighting effects give every race a cinematic feel * Race at all times of day and night, even during dramatic sunsets * Relive your greatest moments through the dynamic-camera replay mode. * Watch your race with all-new motion- blur effects J * Battle head-to-head | in split-screen vs. mode / A e Speed-tuned physics keep the arcade-style action fast-paced * Championship performances unlock secret hidden supercars * Don't be afraid to bump the other car, it's all part of a winning strategy * Join one of four international race teams - each with individual strengths and weaknesses * Design original logos to customize your car { f N * Race on | ) gorgeous f cityscape, | countryside and racetrack courses = * Money can't bari) victory. You've got | to earn new cars with your race | performance | * Experience all | the ups and | downs of a full racing season in | the Grand Prix | mode | * Includes a Ridge | Racer Turbo Mode | bonus disc with 8 | 60 FPS tracks | j OE, o — PlayStation Official U.S MENSEM [ne X) May 1999 News layStation has become more than a tradi- Pe console game system. It's captured the hearts and minds of millions of gamers, both hardcore and casual, and provid- ed hours upon hours of electronic entertain- ment these past three (four, if you start from the Japanese launch) years. It's made the suits at Sony sit up and take notice ever since it became their most popular product in compa- ny history. But technology is always evolving, and what was hot five years ago is eclipsed by bigger, better and flashier graphics hardware. That's where PlayStation 2 comes in. On March 2 at an invite-only event in Tokyo, 1,500 attendees, including publishers, develop- ers and the media, witnessed Sony pulling back the curtain on its next big thing—the next gen- eration of PlayStation hardware. While Sony is reluctant to call it "PlayStation 2," for the sake of clarity we'll refer to it that way in this story. An official name for the machine and its appearance will be revealed later this summer. But don't get ready to sell off all your other games and systems just yet. PlayStation 2 won't be out for a while—Sony plans a release this winter in Japan (sometime before March 2000) and a U.S. and European launch in the fall of 2000. Gettin' All Emotional At the heart of Sony's next-generation system is the Emotion Engine, a 128-bit CPU co-devel- oped by Toshiba and Sony Computer A monthly wrap-up of all the information for your favorite system For up-to-the-minute gaming news, check out www.videogames.com PlayStation 2 Official Sony Takes the Wraps Off Their Monster System This fully playable Tekken 3 game demo featured hundreds of fully polygonal onlookers cheering on the fight. The graphics were absolutely amazing, and Namco even apologized that they didn't have time to do a crowd of thousands, like they originally planned to. Entertainment Inc. (SCEI). The chip's floating point capabilities are multiple times beyond the latest PC technology, and it incorporates MPEG2 decoding (the compression standard for DVD) and high-performance DMA controllers on one chip. Using Direct Rambus DRAM in two channels allows the system to move data at high speeds, achieving a 3.2 GB/second bus bandwidth, four times the output of PCs built using PC-100 architecture. Graphics Synthesizer Working in tandem with the Emotion on how quickly Sony can make enough of them. Here's a peek at the Emotion Engine (left) and Graphic Synthesizer (right). They're relatively big and fancy- looking. When they debut in the PlayStation 2 depends Engine is the Graphics Synthesizer, optimized to display the kinds of CG effects that previously could be turned out only by supercomputers. With a 2,560-bit-wide data bus, the Graphics Synthesizer can keep up with the data flow from the Emotion Engine, giving it a peak drawing capacity of 75 million polygons per second. In addition, the GS can render 150 million particles a second, which help to create effects like fog, smoke and haze. As more effects are added to the mix, the number of polygons that can be turned out does get lower. With Z-buffering, textures, lighting and alpha-blending (transparency) turned on, that number falls to 20 million poly- gons a second. The GS takes care of each ren- der pass, adding effects without the need for an additional push from the main CPU or bus. The Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer add up to what's called "Emotion Synthesis." SCEI executive vice president Ken Kutaragi's of vision for the new machine is to create in-game graphics that are very close to real life. "Our dream is to create a new form of computer- based entertainment," he said. Demos displayed at the conference showed that creating ultra- realistic rendered graphics is not as unbelievable as once thought (more about the demos later). To bring both the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer to market, Sony and Toshiba have joined forces, creating two new chip plants. One will be majority owned by Toshiba and will produce the Emotion Engine using new produc- tion lines and existing Toshiba clean-room facil- ities. The other will be wholly owned by SCEI to produce the Graphics Synthesizer. These new production facilities will help to keep the cost of the machine down. While a final price hasn't been announced yet, it will definitely be under $500, and most educated guesses put the price around $299. You might be thinking that with all this pro- cessing power, you'll have to sell your old sys- tem and games to buy all new controllers, new games, etc. But wait—you won't have to do (as much of) that with Sony's new machine, as it's backward compatible with the original PlayStation games and accessories, including peripherals like the Dual Shock, PocketStation and memory cards. PlayStation 2 won't enhance the graphics in the old games, but you will be able to play 100 percent of your current PlayStation game library on the new system. So, in other words, all your Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine demo discs will still be playable. Sony doesn't plan to create games that branch off—that is, are compatible with the standard PlayStation model but will play with enhanced effects when used on PlayStation 2. Crash 3 provided the proof of the PlayStation 2's backward compatibility. Backward compatibility is achieved by using the system's I/O Processor, developed with LSI Logic. The entire PlayStation CPU is located on that chip, with enhanced cache memory and a high-performance DMA architecture that gives it a bit of a speed boost with loading times. Official PlayStation 2 Stat Sheet CPU: 128 Bit “Emotion Engine” System Clock Frequency: 300 MHz Cache Memory Instruction: 16KB, Data: 8KB + 16KB (ScrP) Main Memory Direct Rambus (Direct RDRAM) Memory Size: 32MB Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2GB per Second Co-processor FPU (Floating Point Unit) Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, 6.2 GFLOPS 3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 Million Polygons/second Compressed Image Decoder MPEG2 Graphics: “Graphics Synthesizer” Clock Frequency: 150MHz DRAM Bus bandwidth: 48GB per Second DRAM Bus width: 2560bits Pixel Configuration: 2) Number of Voices ADPCM: 48 channels on SPU2, plus definable, software programmable voices Sampling Frequency: 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz (selectable) IOP: 1/O Processor CPU: Core PlayStation (current) CPU Clock Frequency: 33.8MHz or 37.5MHz (Selectable) Sub Bus: 32 Bit Floating Point Divider x 1 Vector Units VUO and VU1 Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 3 Floating Point Performance: Second Sound: “SPU2+CPU" Sony has created a platform that incorporates not only the latest in computer graphics tech- nology, but also select digital standards that will help PlayStation 2 climb above the next generation from the start. Of those standards, the most important inclusion is DVD. A single DVD-ROM disc can hold 4.7 GB of data, giving developers a lot bigger canvas to work with. Not only that, but with the Emotion Engine's ability to decode MPEG2 video, games can have high-quality video during gameplay or in cinemas. Initially, it's expected that developers will create games using the tried-and-true CD- ROM format, eventually moving up to DVD as titles begin to require the amount of space the format can provide. Sony hasn't decided whether or not PlayStation 2 will be able to play DVD movies—so don't throw away your DVD player just yet. Using DVD opens up digital audio, and Sony has made sure your ears will hear the differ- ence (if you've got the equipment). The machine will output Dolby Digital AC-3 and Digital Theater Systems (DTS), giving develop- ers the ability to create audio that surrounds the player. Sony's I/O Processor also has incorporated new PC technology to give it expandability for the future. It will feature the use of IEEE 1394, known as FireWire because of its speed, and Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology. Both of these give PlayStation 2 the ability to connect to any digital device imaginable, like a digital camera, VCR, printer, keyboard, mouse, etc. SCEI's Terry Tokunaka explained that the use of FireWire and USB will change the way users look at games, too. “Maybe you could take your own pictures through a digital camcorder through the IEEE 1394 port and modify charac- ters in games so that you can be the hero.” Now instead of imagining that you are Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, you could actually be him. um Polygon Rate: 75 illion Polygons per Interface Types: IEEE1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB), communication via PC-Card (PCMCIA) Disc Device: CD-ROM and DVD-ROM The system also uses PCMCIA, the PC standard for card-based modems and peripherals. Sony does have plans to include modem connectivi- ty, although it's not known whether Sony will set up an online service to go with the system. Kutaragi commented that "online gaming is very attractive—but the infrastructure of the Internet is not satisfactory at the moment. It is very easy for us to give the system communica- tion capabilities through the USB and PCMCIA Square's Final Fantasy demo was a jaw-dropper. At first, this scene looked like full-motion video, until they stopped the scene then moved the camera around, proving it was 3D rendered. They then dropped new characters into the scene and added special screen effects. News A monthly wrap-up.of all the information for your favorite system interfaces, but it will all be down to the applica- tion of the software in the end.” As Digital TV and HDTV become more accepted as visual formats, the new PlayStation will be able to adapt, including support for Digital TV and VESA display formats, and including NTSC and PAL display compatibility. It will be a few years before these new TV standards begin making their way into consumers’ homes, but when that happens, PlayStation 2 will be ready. As part of the presentation, Sony built a wide array of technical demos, showing off the sys- tem’s graphic capabilities. Each was created by p A e wa s 4 From Software's graveyard demo featured a fairy that would destroy these skeletons (left), top developers—Square, Namco, Polyphony Digital and From Software—and ranged from simple shapes created on screen to realis- tic effects and even, yes, game demos that were playable. Is this the end of the PlayStation? No. Sony is adamant that it will continue supporting the original PlayStation as long as it makes sense to do so. New games are being developed now and will continue to be even after the next sys- tem is launched. The company also said it will not launch the system until there are enough games to support it, currently estimated at eight titles. eee d CIXN which would then reassemble to create a huge beast (right). The future of boss creatures? A Question of Control One of the remaining questions regarding the new system is how many controller ports will be built in. When asked, Kutaragi replied coyly, "How many do you want?" It seems like a no-brainer that the PS2 will have four, but it probably won't be officially confirmed until the physical hardware is shown sometime this summer. 1000 2000 Release Games Ken Kutaragi stated that the hardware would not be launched in Japan until the games were ready, so here's our guess about what those Japanese release games might be. Don't you just love speculation? We sure do. Gran Turismo 3 - This is the sort of game that can easily launch a system. Tekken 4 - Namco already had Tekken 3 up and running to show things they would like to implement in the next addition to the series. Ridge Racer - It launched with the PS. Why not do it again? From what you know of PlayStation 2, what is the MOST you would be willing to spend on one? total number of votes: 15,192 poll taken by videogames c; 3000 4000 5000 6000 set. m | e puj fi E FS axi $ M T There were various demos demonstrating different capabilities (transparencies, physics, reflective surfaces, etc.) of the PlayStation 2. They were just the appetizers to the main course, which were the amazing game demos shown afterward. EVERYONE REVENGE K-71 REVENGE combines all forms of M in a raucus type of fighting simulation that combines the Sos moves and combos of the best fighting games with the gritty realism only possibla when the action is based on due true life capabilities of ACTUAL K-71 FIGHT 5 PlayStation NOW YOUR FAVORITE FINAL FANTASY? VII CHARACTERS ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES AGAIN (OD BLESS THE RIN¢ mm MAY 1999 SQUARE.SOFT' © 1997, 1998, 1999 Square Co., Ltd/DreamFactory Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered www.squaresoft.com trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Square Soft and Final Fantasy are registered trademarks of Square Co., Ltd. PlayStation Published by Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. EHRGEIZ is a trademark of Square Co., Ltd. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. News A monthly wrap-up.of all the information for your favorite system Though these pictures don't quite capture the complexity apparent in Square's demonstration, this facial animation demo put a face to the Emotion Engine's immense capabilities. How does what you have seen and heard so far of the PlayStation 2 meet with your expectations? Exceeds Expectations 69% Lower Than Expectations The two chips hidden under fans are the Emotion Engine and the Graphics Synthesizer (the Emotion Engine is on the left and the Graphics Synthesizer is on the right). Immediately to the top of the duo is a smaller processor bearing the LSI logo—we assume this is the 1/0 chip that will give the PlayStation 2 its ability to play current PlayStation titles. Inevitably, just about all (and maybe even more) of the PlayStation developers will end up developing for the next PlayStation— it's just a matter of when they'll make it offi- cial. Below is a list of the companies that have already publically made their intentions blatantly obvious. Namco - Long time Sony ally, and major contributor to PlayStation 2 Demonstration. Square - Strong ties with Sony. It was even mentioned in Q&A session that the compa- nies would on occasion discuss the new platform over drinks. Major contributor to PS2 Demonstration. From Software — Showed skeletal demo at event. Polyphony Digital — A playable Gran Turismo was up and running—what more proof do you need? Infogrames — After PS2 demo, the CEO of Infogrames announced his company's inten- tion to develop for PS2. Rockstar Games - They want to bring over a Duke Nukem game to the next PlayStation. Electronic Arts — Right before the event, EA was publically making a point of singing the praises of PS2. They should. The success of the PlayStation has helped EA become the power they are today. Ubi Soft — Ubi Soft has always been quick to jump on new hardware, and they've made PlayStation 2 noises already. In addition to the Tekken demo, Namco showed a fighting-game demo with four fighters duking it out in a huge two-story room. They threw each other off ledges and into objects, in addition to knocking the hell out of each other. The Phantom Menace will break Titanic's record for highest-grossing film ever. In the first weekend. Backward compatibility is a good idea. Colored Dual Shock controllers are cuter than colored iMacs. Cheaper, too. It's a good time to bea PlayStation fan. The only place boxers can ever be guaranteed a fair fight is on the PlayStation. Except for the one Don King owns. The Emotion Engine will break new ground in video games. It will make those Japanese girlfriend simulators more realistic than ever. Mr. Domino should be in those upcoming Star Wars movies. Fox Interactive announced a sequel to Die Hard Trilogy. Gamers just can’t get enough of that “Yippee-Ki-Yay, M*f*er” line. Jeff Gordon Racing was recently delayed. It’s the first time he hasn’t crossed the finish line on time. Sega’s screwed. We’re pretty sure about this one. News News Bits Cast Your Vote THE FACTS: Tecmo is polling gamers over the Internet to find out whether or not there's interest in a new Ninja Gaiden game. If all goes well, we might actually see Ryu Hayabusa in his natural habitat, fighting the scum of the earth (and not just in Tecmo's fight- ing game Dead or Alive). Want to voice your support? Send e- mail to tecmoinc@earthlink.net and tell them you want to see a new Ninja Gaiden game! THE RUB: Does the question even really need to be asked? Of course we would buy a new Ninja Gaiden game. It never left the confines of the original 8-bit Nintendo, and you've got to wonder what the possibili- ties would be for a new title using the PlayStation's power. ^. Big Sales, Little Glitch THE FACTS: Square's Final Fantasy VIII had an amazing opening day in Japan, raking in sales of 2.21 million copies between its own DigiCube dis- tribution service (1.65 million) and other retailers (560,000). Opening day sales are estimat- ed at 17.2 billion yen (about $145 million). Sales of the A monthly wrap-up,of all the information for your favorite system game have now reportedly topped 3 million. THE RUB: Unfortunately, Final Fantasy VIII has been scarred by reports of a software glitch in the game that messes with your game saves (ouch!). Square says that a little more than 1,000 cases of the problem have been reported—minuscule compared with the game's overall sales. Final Fantasy VIII will be released in the U.S. later this year, bug-free. Duke Debut on PS2? THE FACTS: Rockstar Games and the Gathering of Developers have announced a co-publishing agreement that will bring Duke Nukem to a next-generation console. Scheduled for a release in 2000, the yet-unnamed game will star everyone's favorite gun-totin' wiseguy in a third- person perspective game. THE RUB: While the two com- panies won't say which next- generation system the new Duke will be released on, we've been hearing that PlayStation 2 is the frontrunner, as the company said it would be for a soon-identified plat- form (and right after that, PlayStation 2 was announced). Question is, do we need anoth- er Duke game? Color Controllers THE FACTS:They've been avail- able in Japan for more than a year, but finally, Sony's multi- colored versions of the Dual Shock controller are making their way to the U.S. The con- trollers will come in various colors, including clear, black, green and blue. The pads will retail for about $30 and should be available by the time you read this. THE RUB: It's taken a while, but finally these colored Dual Shocks are coming out. While there's nothing different about them from the standard Dual Shock that's been available for a year, the new colors do pro- vide a new incentive for people to buy additional pads. False Start THE FACTS: Jeff Gordon's PlayStation debut is being held at the starting line for the time being. ASC Games has pushed back the PS release of Jeff Gordon XS Racing to the fall, saying that it will add additional platforms to the lineup, which may include a PlayStation 2 release later on. The PC version will be out in May. THE RUB: Jeff Gordon's a leg- end in NASCAR. Whenever this game does get the go-ahead, there will definitely be people poised to buy it—but hopefully they're doing some final tweaks on the game during the delay. Japan's Top 10-Selling PlayStation Games March sales rankings courtesy of The PlayStation Magazine Weekly, SOFTBANK: 1. Final Fantasy VIII Square - RPG 2. Option Tuning Car Battle Jaleco - Racing 3. Space Battleship Yamato Bandai - RPG 4. Beatmania Konami — Misc. 5. Simple 1500 Series volume 1 Culture Publishers — Misc. 6. Bass Landing Ascii - Sports 7. Armored Core: Master of Arena From Software — Action 8. Beatmania Append 3rd Mix Konami - Misc. 9. Crash Bandicoot 3 Sony CEI - Action 10. Tales of Phantasia Namco - RPG U.K.'s Top 10-Selting PlayStation Games February sales rankings courtesy of ChartTrack: 1. A Bug's Life Disney/Sony - Action 2. Premier Manager Gremlin — Sports 3. WCW/nWo: Thunder THQ - Action 4. FIFA '99 EA - Sports 5. Crash Bandicoot 3 Sony - Action 6. Cool Boarders Sony - Sports 7. Tomb Raider 3 Eidos - Action 8. Spyro the Dragon Sony - Action 9. Brian Lara Cricket Codemasters - Sports 10. Abe's Exoddus GT- Adventure Would you be interested in seeing Star Wars Episode | games come to the PlayStation? Sony filed three requests on March 11, 1999, with the San Francisco Federal District Court regarding 1500 Connectix's PlayStation emulator, Virtual GameStation, all of which were rejected. Those requests 1200 demanded that Connectix cease use Official U.S EWA GITON [vasezine( S) May 1999 of all copies of PlayStation BIOS, deliver all BIOS copies to Sony 900 counsel, and give Sony all proto- types for the Windows version of the software. The court has ordered Connectix to halt development on 00 the Windows version of the soft- ware for 20 days, when another court hearing can be held. 300 0 total number of votes: 2,993. poll taken by videogames.com illustration by Chip Wass wELcoMe Te SILENT py YARE HARRy MAson, Yoy Ens : E P Z i kS b. N : | es f to UR = "AN z lend? is i ae ak Use im USe-Your brawn. And What it Seems in this er 7 afraid of the Fire your lost daughter, before you Be afraid of what it's hiding. ago ie Your mind. fon lg aro raid demos aF Sony oops Entercom Int. The rang on o edenerk f e lel Dii Softvaro Icon. Konami D o gd nademak of Konami Go, d. © 1999 Kona o America, Inc. M tights reserved €> PlayStation | - A ‘Sent Hil is o trademark of Konami Cor EVERYONE E rj ESRB RARIOGE RACER TYPE 4 1998 Namco Lid: AM Rights Reserve iu on and tho PlayStation logos are registered warlemarks of Sot Born in the v.s.aA. Believes in every citizen's right to freedom of speed. attainment Inc; The ratings icon is a tradem: vf the Interactive Digital Software "The first great racer of 1999 could be a Gran Turismo Killer.’ - Official PlayStation Magazine, February 1999 oo QO p & 2 [c n = ir) ig It boasts an American stock car pedigree. Built Tallahassee tough and water-moccasin fast. Its muscle-bound V8 unleashes 317 stampeding horses, as well as unlimited “Yee-Haa’s!”. It is the Detector - just one of the auto- motive marvels that torches the streets in R4. With over 300 new cars, 45 fantasy models, 8 thrilling courses, a 2-player split- screen mode and only one way to drive. Fast. R4’s asphalt gulp- ing graphics and spectacular racing environments deliver racing speeds that were once deemed impossible. But not anymore. Now you've got R4. So long, pardner. Think fast. Drive faster. namco' WWW. ni'amco. corn "R4 has to be the bestlooking PlayStation racer ever (yes, edging out even Gran Turismo).” - Official PlayStation Magazine, December 1998 * Sensational graphics and lighting effects give every race a cinematic feel * Race at all times of day and night, even during dramatic sunsets * Relive your greatest moments through the dynamic-camera replay mode * Watch your race with all-new motion- blur effects d » Battle head-to-head EN in split-screen vs. mode} * Speed-tuned physics keep the arcade-style action fast-paced * Championship performances unlock secret hidden supercars * Don't be afraid to bump the other car, it's all part of a winning strategy * Join one of four international race teams - each with individual strengths and weaknesses * Design original logos to customize your car e Race on gorgeous cityscape, countryside and racetrack | courses * Money can't buy victory. You've got to earn new cars with your race performance * Experience all the ups and downs of a full racing season in the Grand Prix | mode | * includes a Ridge | Racer Turbo Mode bonus disc with 8 60 FPS tracks PlayStation Top 20 The best-selling U.S. PlayStation titles as reported by the nation’s top retailers WCW/nWo Thunder @O00O) PuBLISHER: THQ Last MONTH: 1 GENRE: ACTION ReLEASE Date: JAN. 1999 The masses have spoken. Thunder tops the charts for the second month in a row, proving that melodrama staring beefy men really is good entertainment. Frogger @OOCO) PUBLISHER: HAsBRO Last MONTH: 3 GENRE: ACTION Revease Date: Oct. 1997 Hop, hop, hop...Frogger just won't stop on its way to the top. This retro title is winning over yet another generation of gamers. Gran Turismo 3 PustisHer: SCEA LAST MONTH: 4 GENRE: RACING Revease Date: May 1998 We're all drooling over the pics of Gran Turismo 2 in this month's issue, but until that game comes out, this one’s still the best realistic racer out there. Metal Gear Solid (00000 PUBLISHER: Konami Last MONTH: 2 GENRE: ADvEeNTURE — RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1998 The only time this game should fall out of the top 20 is when every PlayStation owner out there has a copy of this masterpiece. Rugrats: Search for Reptar (000€O) PuBLISHER: THQ Last MONTH: — GENRE: ACTION Revease Date: Dec. 1998 More evidence of the PlayStation's broad audience: The ultimate kid game stakes out a spot in the top five best sellers. Crash Bandicoot 2 PUBLISHER: SCEA Crash Bandicoot: WARPED PUBLISHER: SCEA Last MONTH: 5 WCW Nitro PusLiSHER: THQ (00000 ReLEAsE Date: Oct. 1997 Last MONTH: 8 Retease Date: Oct. 1998 ©0000) Release Date: Nov. 1997 (000 60) Last MONTH: — Spyro the Dragon Presents As compiled by our attractive, intelligent readers Metal Gear Solid Just imagine what the sequel to this game would look like on the PlayStation 2... Silent Hill This genuinely disturbing game combines psychological terror with a satisfying dose of gore. Syphon Filter Sniper shots, great enemy Al, tough-to- beat missions and more make this a worthy game. Crash Bandicoot: WARPED Crash continues to crush the competition in the platform genre. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Some of you would probably sell your souls to play this game. Need For Speed: High Stakes Another opportunity to sharpen your skills at evading The Man while on the road. Tomb Raider III Lara can still steal the hearts of many a gamer, even though this isn't her best outing. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 Namco's incredible racer has many a heart racing in anticipation. WCW/nWo Thunder It’s ironic that the competition in this game is more real than its real-life counterpart. Ehrgeiz A true 3D fighter with loads of great charac- ters, including some fella named Cloud. Our monthly contest winner's top five picks Tomb Raider III Hey, Coral—you want that top- secret nude code? Heh, heh...just kidding! PuBLISHER: SCEA ReLEAsE Dart: Sept. 1998 (00000) Lasr MONTH: 7 NBA Live 99 Jeopardy! You'll need more than quick thumbs to beat your buddies at this brain-buster. PUBLISHER: EA Revease Date: Oct. 1998 ©0000 Last MONTH: — Namco Museum Vol. 3 Metal Gear Solid This instant classic is so good that it basically created a whole new genre of games. PUBLISHER: NAMCO Last MONTH: — ReLEAsE Dart: Fes. 1997 MediEvil Sir Dan has got to be one of the coolest Contender (00660 lesser" mascots out there. PUBLISHER: SCEA Last MONTH: — Release Dart: JAN. 1999 A Bug's Life PUBLISHER: SCEA ©0000) Last MONTH: 9 ReLEAsE Date: Dec. 1998 ©0000) ReLease Date: Auc. 1996 ©0000) ReLEAsE Date: Nov. 1997 ©0000 Release Date: Oct. 1998 (00000) ReLEAsE Date: Nov. 1996 (00000) Release Date: Oct. 1998 (00000) Namco Museum Vol. 1 PUBLISHER: NAMCO Last MONTH: — Cool Boarders 2 PUBLISHER: SCEA Last MONTH: 11 B Knockout Kings PUBLISHER: EA Tomb Raider PUBLISHER: EIDOS B Cool Boarders 3 PUBLISHER: 989 STUDIOS Last MONTH: 6 Last MONTH: 12 Last MoNrH: 10 (E) Twisted Metal 2 Gran Turismo Nothing's more satisfying than complet- ing a perfect race, then watching your own replay. What we've been playing instead of working PlayStation 2 movies We can't stop gawking at those videos showing Sony's supersystem in action. Phantom Menace trailers A week before deadline, the second trailer was released. Simply incredible. Driver Sure, the graphics aren't the sharpest, but so far the gameplay more than makes up for it. Final Fantasy VIII Who can wait for the translation when we've got a Japanese copy here already? Triple Play 2000 How can you resist a baseball game where you can make a 5-foot, 300-pound shortstop? PUBLISHER: SCEA Last MONTH: — Release Date: Nov. 1996 & Tetris Plus ©0000) Send your votes for the Readers’ 10 Most Wanted games to: Official PUBLISHER: JALECO LAST MONTH: — RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1996 PlayStation Magazine Attn: Readers’ 10 Most Wanted, P.O. Box 3338, Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 or e-mail us at: dan pelusoezd.com or visit the OPM section on www.videogames.com Source: NPD TRSTS Video Games, February 1999 (weeks one and two). Call them at (516) 625-2345 for questions about this list. Note: No games for competing console systems (e.g., N64, Sega Saturn, etc.) were included. Overall sales figures may vary. Game descriptions are written by the OPM staff. IP's anyone who starts a sentence, “When | was your age...” IFs your parents when they say, 7 “Why couldn’t you be more like your brother?” E es Ils all ihe Bis Who ever gave you a fake phone fiumber. Show them how you really feel. Wreak havoc in 40 different missions, in four unique, upgradable ships, using 13 different weapons against 30+ enemy craft. Experience wormholes, asteroids, cloaked planets, and kamikaze drones. Even play against that person you're ticked off at, head-to-head. d © 1998 Psygr aininent Irc. The ratings www.playstation.com A deadly mist grips the land. Jn its wake lies a decomposing herd of corpses. Jn its path are the last remaining outposts of civilization. 77o save them, you must fend off an army of mad beasts, a giant monster and a mysterious wizard who will stop at nothing short of total annihilation. 77he secret that you will discover lies in the Genesis trees. Can you find and save all the trees? Cr will you be taking one last breath before the long dirt nap? PlayStation © News A monthly wrap-up of all the information for your favorite system Clockwise from top left: Xena Warrior Princess, WipeOut 3, Knights of Carnage, Dino Crisis and Le Mans 24 Hour. E D> PlayStation Coming Soon Compiled by Dan Peluso with extensive verification by Johnny Masthead July All release dates are tentative and subject to change. More information on all future releases will be given as it becomes available.

PlayStation Next party, lose the pifiata. New Point Blank™ 2 allows up to 8 of your gun-crazed pals to unload on over 70 wild and wacky shooting scenarios - from fish and fowl to ninjas and gangsters. Blast through an all-new Arcade Mode, Theme Park Mode, Endurance Mode - plus a VS. Mode for the perfect head-to-head (no pun intended) party game. Point Blank 2. Time to get pistol whipped. www.namco.com Point Blank™ 2 & © 1994 1997 1998 Namco Ltd. All Rights Reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of Guncon for use with software that displays the Guncon icon. Point Blank™ 2 sold with Guncon and without. the Interactive Digital Software Association. Guncon™ & © 1996 Namco Ltd. All Rights Reserved. == Easily The Best Street Fighter Alpha (2 JJ OFFICAL U.S. y PER - GAME INFORMER GAME PURCHASE WORTH òà — 20 FIGHTERS EDGE” POINTS! : i | 1 Street Fighter Alpha 3 scores a triple K.0/ It's the © CAPCOM CO., LTD. 1999 © CAPCOM ES 3l USA INC. 1999. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. most accurate translation of an arcade game to ma ` j a tered t LTD. STREET FIGHTER grace the circuits of the PlayStation” game console... featuring all new enhanced modes of play, including 3 fighting styles for every character — plus the skill building, World Tour Mode. Maybe nobody's perfect. But as of today, at least PlayStation one fighting game is. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Driver Fight crime by committing crimes! Is this great or what? Official U.S (AEVAAE IOI] [scc ( S) May 1999 chase film, now's your chance. GT Interactive is preparing to release Driver, the newest automotive adventure from Reflections, the creators of Psygnosis’ I you've always wanted to star in a fast-action car Destruction Derby series. The game throws you into a nation- wide ring of organized crime as you take on the role of an under- cover cop working to bring the gang down. Set in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, the game is modeled closely on the actual cities. As you've no doubt heard by now if you're following the development of this game, the designers actually hit the streets of these four cities with a video camera in order to be able to reproduce the settings as faith- fully as possible. While the environments aren't per- fectly accurate (the streets, for example, are all arrow- straight), the game does include a number of instantly recognizable landmarks that allow players familiar with Action 1 6096 July the towns to easily find their way around. You'll need to learn to navigate these streets well in order to complete the dozens of missions. You'll also need to learn to watch out for the cops—who aren't aware you're working undercover and will be all too happy to take you out if they catch you doing something naughty. Run too many red lights, for example, and you'll find yourself with an unwelcome escort—and in most cases you'll need to find a way to ditch 'em if GT is careful to distance Driver although you spend much of the ers stress that your character is himself a cop, and thus your illegal activities are game is also careful to avoid serious vio- bad as it gets. You can't even run over out of your GT Interactive you want to complete your mission. from games like Grand Theft Auto; game running from the police, the publish- actually in service of the greater good. The lence; spectacular car crashes are about as pedestrians—they're programmed to dive Reflections You are the camera man One of the most interesting. features of Driver is its Director's Mode, which allows you to view the replay of an entire mission, setting camera views around the environments (and even in pursuing police cars) to design way every time. Even at this still-early stage, the nicely realis- tic car physics make Driver a blast to play. We can't wait to see the final version your very own custom replay reel. The boys at the body shop will love you after maneuvers like this. How gangsters unwind If the tense life of crime gets to be too stressful, Driver offers a number of short driving games to hone your automotive skills. First, in order to prove your worth for the mission-based mere of the game, you'll need to run an obstacle course of sorts inside a park- lin ing garage (above far left). Other games include Cross-Town Checkpoint (above center left), which requires you to find and hit checkpoints in the shortest time possible; Pursuit (above center right), in which you p—— need to chase and destroy a fleeing gangster; and Trailblazer (above - far right) in which you need to follow a difficult path of checkpoints in a very limited amount of time. Each challenge is sure to work wonders for your driving ability. = * ke ke ™ yk ke ke am x* zm A You're a low-level street hood, working your way up the corporat S ; ladder of crime, taking on 200 missions in order to show the Ic] crime bosses what you're capable of. Car-jacking, Mob-Hits, in e Random Assault. All on your first day! [s An Equal Opportunity Destroyer £A, Now also available: for the first time ever on PlayStation» game console. Mission Pack Technology! i ij GRAND THEFT AUTO PlayStationit PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved. The Rockstar logo, GTA London, and the GTA London logo are registered trademarks of Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. ©1999 All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. raAREN TAL ADVISORY = EXPLICIT CONTENTS ei T Ai Poystaton |. ROCKSTAR Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow 3Xtreme Racing t2: 80% 989 Studios April 989 Studios Extreme racing gets an extreme overhaul s a sequel to one of the As original U.S. launch titles, 3Xtreme follows ESPN Extreme Games as a "freestyle racing game." Licenses are added this time around, along with the option to buy and sell equipment with points earned in the game. Santa Cruz, Toy Machine, Creature and GT join a long list of name-brand manufacturers of skateboards, in- line skates and BMX bikes—but, sadly, the luge from the first game is nowhere to be found. The graphics have gotten a major overhaul: The choppy and inconsistent look of the 1995 game has been replaced by a more solid pre- sentation and a steady frame-rate. Also, each of the characters you choose from—there’s a total of 13—has his or her own equipment, look and style. A total of 27 tracks are presented from five u:s GENS elated) [oo ( 8) May 1999 new locations—Aztec Island, Seacliff, The Metro, Lakeside Park and Arroyo Grande. All the tracks consist of long stretches of banked pave- ment, with ramps, drop-offs, rails and objects that can be used to propel you above other players and to perform stunts. Hidden courses and racers can also be found within the early stages of the game. Racking up points and winning races are quite challenging due to the placement of the various obstacles and point gates along the tracks. Adding to the challenge are CPU-con- trolled players that block and punch you and each other in classic Road Rash style. 3Xtreme has four modes of play. Freestyle allows you to practice stunts for points, while Time Trial is simply a race against the clock. Exhibition and Season modes make up the bulk of the gameplay, though, so you'll need to get good at both to B win. All but Freestyle may be played in two-player split- screen, which can be configured either hori- zontally or vertically. Spankin’ Sounds The sounds of bone-crushing and pole-thumping are accompanied by the music of Ultraspank. The group's latest video is even includ- ed as a movie on the disc—a mar- keting strategy we're sure we'll see more of in the future. Nothing says good morning quite like cracking your skull on a metal beam at 60mph. KONAMI. EVERYONE ize of your skill, with Fisherman’s how on PlayStation® Two player lets you feel the bass biting Can you land a lunk Bait you can prove versus mode - fish PlayStation Fisherman's Bait is a trademark of are registered trademarks of Sony C: fal Software Association. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos onami Co., Ltd. ©1999 Konami of America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow RPG 1 60% Sony CEA June Enix Star Ocean: The Second Story Star Ocean will finally cross the oceans to reach U.S. gamers he original Star Ocean was a treat for T game players. It had a long and enthralling quest, graphics that were noth- ing short of stunning, and a musical score that swayed with power and adventure. In short, it was an epic RPG. The recently released PlayStation sequel, aptly titled Star Ocean: The Second Story, follows its predecessor in nearly every detail, except one. It's coming to America. In Star Ocean: The Second Story you'll pick one of two main characters, and shape their destiny throughout a great adventure. A strange meteorite has fallen on the planet of Expel, and you quickly discover the chaos it causes goes far deeper than the monsters it has created or the earthquakes that have begun—something dark is taking over this once peaceful land, and it's up to you to stop it. The basic story may lack original- ity, but this isn't where Star Ocean shines. Instead, the game focuses more on litter- ing subquests and back stories into the main scenario, and succeeds in delivering a tale that starts off 7^ being shallow and slightly tedious, but then thrusts you into a twisting plot full of surprises. Most of the graphics in Star | š Ocean are a combination of May 1999 hand-drawn sprites over preren- dered backgrounds, with a fully polygonal world map to explore. The overall look of the game is quite impressive, with characters that scale seamlessly through beautiful environments § that challenge Final Fantasy VII in quality. Most of the renders in this game were done by a company called Links, one of the main teams behind the backgrounds in Square's masterpiece. The overworld map is also very similar to FFVII's, if not more dramatic. Giant structures and mountains fill every island on the world of Expel, and although you'll see a bit more pop-up in the distance, you'll have the plea- sure of having more realistically sized towns and temples covering the landscape. Times are certainly changing. A few years ago, Sony's announcement to bring out Enix/tri-Ace's latest ven- ture to the States would have been unheard of, but now it's just a pleasant sur- prise. These games are finally getting the recognition they deserve. What a great time to be an RPG fan! Y Tune Sani Encounter a wide array of characters and monsters as you explore the planet Expel. How do you take your battles? Star Ocean offers a unique take on classic RPG fighting formulas by allowing you to pick from three different styles. Do you enjoy the classic turn-based conflicts found in most console RPGs? Or do you want to try something with a bit more speed and chaos? Standard, Semi-Active and Full- Active all have their own attributes, from the amount of free movement you have Official U.S. PlayStation Nageine( &) to the way you target and launch attacks. Great stuff! Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow MLB 2000 Can 989 Studios’ baseball title stay on top? game on the PlayStation, but this year it's going to be even more difficult to retain that title, due to EA’s much-improved Triple Play 2000 (reviewed on page 84 of this issue). With such a good game already in place, MLB 2000's updates mostly consist of minor tweaks in gameplay, sound and graphics. The biggest change is that MLB is going to a two- man commentary, with ESPN Baseball analyst L: year's MLB '99 was the best baseball Dave Campbell joining Vin Scully in the broadcast booth. Right now, the commentary is quite good: The play-by-play is steady, and the color commen- tary provides some interesting bits of information Infield colli- sions are an unfortunate yet amusing occurrence on the field. about the players up to bat. Graphically, the game has been just slightly enhanced. New player animations have been added (check the sidebar to see which players and the graphics have been improved. Unfortunately, MLB 2000 won't be using the players’ actual faces, but the player body types often look parts, thanks to some keen- looking 3D polygonal models. Also, the action from the bat- ter's box to the field moves quickly and fluently, much like the MLB before it, despite the improved aesthetics. As for depth, well, MLB is fast approaching Triple Play 2000 in terms of features and options. Everything important has been implemented in the game, including a Home Run Derby, season play, player creation, farm system recruiting and trades. There's no doubt that MLB 2000 will be a fun game with plenty of depth, but we won't know whether it will top Triple Play 2000 until we get the final version in for review. That won't be until the following issue, so be sure to check back next month. 70 player were used for motion-capture), similar to their real-life counter- The number of statistical categories used for each Sports 12 9096 March 989 Studios 989 Sports Spring Training In MLB 2000, you can relive the experi- ence of fighting for a spot on a big league roster with the game's Spring Training mode. You get six games to earn enough points to make it onto the team of your choice. «MB. HomeRun Derk HR DERBY LINEUP |. Albert Belle . Will Clark . Barry Bonds . Mark MoGwire. | M. McGwire | ankford E. Davis F. Tatis D. Bragg S PLAYERS 4) MO VAUGHN - Anaheim Angels SHAWN ESTES - San Francisco Giants BRETT TOMKO - Cincinnati Reds DARRYL KILE — Colorado Rockies RAY DURHAM - Chicago White Sox BENJI GIL - Chicago White Sox MLB Players Motion-Captured DARRYL HAMILTON - Colorado Rockies KARIM GARCIA — Arizona Diamondbacks 4 MS speed, awesome competition and the pulse-pounding exhilaration of flying by cars at speeds in excess of 300 MPH. DEVELOPED BY Windows® 95 Du E PlayStation n ® WWW.aScgames.com « WWW.jeffgordonxsracing.com ASC Games® is a registered trademark of American Softworks Corporation. © 1998 American Softworks Corporation. Jeff Gordon® XS Racing™ is a trademark of ASC Games. © 1998 JG Motorsports Inc. Developed by Real Sports. ® PepsiCo, Inc. 1998. FRITOS @ is a registered trademark used by Frito-Lay, Inc. © 1995 PEG Limited Partnership and PEG 97 Limited Partnership. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Windows® 95 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All rights reserved. 900%" 00:30:78 è Official U.S. EWS CUT [jocos 2) May 1999 Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Sports 116 70% June THQ Mirage Ultimate Eight Ball More billiards action than you can shake a stick at Ever wanted to play pool with a supermodel? Well, take a look at that cutie with a pool cue (top). More shocking pool facts!* * Billiards ranks second in fre- quent participants behind bas- ketball. Can you believe it? This country is going to seed. e Over 9 million people play pool more than 25 time a year. Most people don't see a dentist more than once in a whole year. Must be a lot of toothless pool players out there. * 4.5 million Americans consider themselves "afficionados." Meanwhile, 70% of Americans are overweight. Maybe they should become afficionados of exercise. (*Actual stats courtesy of THQ. Smarmy remarks courtesy of OPM.) ou walk into a smokey pool hall and find Y in a high stakes game of nine ball. Normally you'd be nervous because geometry was never "your bag," but tonight's different. Tonight, there are guidelines on the table telling you where every single ball will go. Tonight, you'll pull off trick shots that will leave jaws dropped and put money in your pocket. Tonight, you're playing...a video game. Melodrama aside, Ultimate Eight Ball is shaping up to come closer than any pool title on the PlayStation yet in simu- lating all aspects of the game. In its current form it's already impressive, with tight physics models that move balls with striking (no pun intended) realism. The AI, which is still rough at this time, actually thinks through shots and is said to be incredibly good but fair. Right now, it hasn't learned to be fair and will often beat you without letting you get a single shot in (which, when you think about it, is more realistic than not). Ultimate Eight Ball features 14 different games, million Americans play billiards at least once a year including standards like eight ball, nine ball and rotation; also included are cut throat, straight pool, 10 pin, 10 ball and various other games with U.K. rules. But it's not just game styles that are different; there are 15 unique tables that come in various shapes and sizes. Don't worry, the basic game revolves around that tried and true rectangle—only specialty opponents playing on their home turf use the odd-shaped tables. To keep things visually stimulating, there are 10 separate environments in which the action takes place. The game also supports up to 16 play- ers, so you never know who might show up to play a quick game. The most prominent and easily the coolest graphical treat is being able to see your fully rendered 3D opponent taking his or her shot from across the table. No more watching a drone stick and an occasional face in a window repre- senting your challenger. It seems gimmicky, but in practice you can't help but feel more immersed in the game when your opponent's physical presence mir- rors what you might see in real life. Still, most peo- ple's lives don't involve shooting pool with gorgeous models, so you may have to suspend some disbelief when Eight Ball hits in June. Along with the familiar rectangle are 15 other odd-shaped tables, like the hexagon above. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Fighting 1-2 80% Evil Zone Exaggerated anime-style action finds a home inspired character designs, but no fighter has ever gone to the lengths Evil Zone does to cap- ture every aspect of an anime show. Starting with the opening animated movie, it feels like you're watching anime rather than preparing for a game. The Story mode does a good job of mimicking the setup of an episode of your typical show, but the fighting action is where Evil Zone really shines. It's very hard to describe, but the way your character moves, executes and reacts to attacks is very stylized. You often wonder why no devel- oper has thought of doing as much cool stuff as Yukes has with their characters. Sometimes the camera angle will change to highlight an attack, but that angle will be different the next time you do that same move (they do repeat after a time, though). It's no stretch to say Evil Zone is drip- ping with style. I: not new for a fighting game to have anime- Hair, beautiful hair One of Evil Zone's fanciest tricks involves some of the characters’ hair. As you can see from the pictures below, a few fighters have flowing hair with individual strands being visible. Two have pony tails that become unfurled as they take damage. How cool is that! Yukes obviously didn't want to alienate anime fans who are attracted to the title but may not be too adept at fighting games, so the control scheme is extremely simplistic. You have an attack button and a block button—and that's it. Variations in attacks occur when you press the directional pad in conjunction with the attack button, such as Forward plus attack or Up plus attack. While this simplicity may seem like a turnoff to some hard- core gamers, there are a surprising amount of moves and combos, some being obvious and others not so apparent. About 75 percent of your attacks are of the projectile nature, which can be tricky, as critics of Psychic Force can attest. So far, we've found that almost everything has a counter and cheap patterns can be avoided. The depth and overall bal- ance are things we can't give a definitive word on until we get a review copy in, but our fingers are crossed that Yukes will get the job done. "| was going to beat you silly, but I broke a finger- nail. See, it's glowing." Titus Hidden art Once you beat the game in Story mode, you'll. gain access to the Gallery. Some really cool character sketches and full-color pieces await the skilled gamer. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Demolition Racer A follow up to Destruction Derby a la Rogue Trip fter Destruction Derby 2, no other car Ac game was able to match that wild auto smash-'em-up, mainly because none has tried. Enter Pitbull Syndicate, which is coming off a strong stint with Test Drive 4 and 5. Pitbull, which hap- pens to made up of some of the core team members behind Destruction Derby 1 and 2, has had a lot of time to think about new features. The result is Demolition Racer. Although they're building on the great Test Extra attention was paid to making the tracks more cohesive. Drive 5 engine, they've totally customized it for this game. One of the biggest features is head- to-head two-player split-screen action, Racing 12 4096 03:99 Accolade Pitbull Syndicate are 20 tracks that are designed specifically to allow for a variety of spontaneous action that will be unpredictable from race to race. Other new additions to the series, Shao Lin You'll never defeat my drunken fist OPM lamenting the death of Thrill Kill, which would have been PlayStation's first four-player fighter. Perhaps because it lacked the same controversial themes and had a later release date, Shao Lin was sort of over- looked. THQ's brawler was first unveiled at last year's E3, but it has undergone some major changes, no doubt to capitalize on the lack of competition. The character builds have been reworked, resulting in beefier models and greater texture detail. There is also extensive maximizing of the engine, which we aren't able to speak about in R n unbelievable number of letters came pouring in to detail yet—but we can say it's yet another first for a PlayStation fighter. The meat of the game and the feature that further distin- guishes Shao Lin is Official U.S. EWastend tela CHO May 1999 even with 16 cars on the track. There which are becoming almost standard for all racers, are branching pathways and shortcuts. One of the more popu- lar obstacles from DD2 was the corkscrew jump, which Pitbull also wanted to somehow incorporate into this title, with the possibility of an even wilder obstacle in the works. Demolition Racer has five modes including Demolition Racing, Bowl Match, Suicide Racing, Career Mode and Stock Car Racing. The soundtrack is looking promising, with exclusive tracks by Fear Factory and Empiron. OPM recently attended a recording session for the game and came away impressed. If nothing else, the game will at least sound awesome. ! Fighting t4 l 40% 02 '99 THQ Polygon Magic its RPG mode, which requires you to take a fighter from youth and raise him or her to become a champion. There will be towns where you can talk with people, leading ultimately to two different endings. Along the way, there are various events that happen which change depend- ing on the martial arts style you choose for your character. There won't be a shortage of appealing characters since you have more than 30 fighters to choose from once they've all been unlocked. Even though the total number of selectable fighters is high, the char- acter design remains solid thanks to famous anime artist Hirotoshi Sano (Gundam 0083, NAZCA, Vision of Escaflowne). Even at this early stage, Shao Lin already looks better than Polygon Magic's previous fight- er, Vs. We're looking forward to see- ing more Grab a friend or three and mop and beat each other senseless. Yup, sounds like a typical Friday out with your buddies. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow All-Star Tennis 99 Ubi Soft looks to serve up a solid tennis game f all the sports out there, the one that rarely gets O= in console gaming has got to be tennis. Even though it’s a pretty popular sport throughout the world, game developers have yet to embrace tennis as much as they have football or baseball. Last year, Ubi Soft released a very forgettable Tennis Arena—sporting average graphics, weak gameplay and no official license. All-Star Tennis 99, however, looks promising. Boasting licensed players and improved graphics, All- Star Tennis 99 may have what it takes to bring the excitement of tennis to the PlayStation. All-Star Tennis 99 features eight licensed players—Michael Chang, Jonas Björkman, Amanda Coetzer, Richard Krajicek, Gustavo Kuerten, Conchita Martinez, Jana Novotna and Mark Philippoussis—plus four fictional athletes. Players can compete alone or go head-to-head with up to four friends on center court. In addition, there are eight different courts, including Wimbledon, California, Paris and Japan. Three gameplay modes, six different shots and progressive levels of single and doubles competition round out an impressive list of in-game fea- tures and options. The Next Tetris Yet another version of the greatest puzzler of all time Play on one of eight different actual courts, like Wimbledon, California or Paris. aT REAN Sports 12 80% April Ubi Soft Ubi Soft The look of All-Star Tennis 99 is currently a bit rough. The graphics were sourced from 3D motion-capture video, instead of being actual animations, so the motions look kinda stiff and forced rather than fluid and smooth. Hopefully, Ubi Soft will address this issue before releasing the game. Aside from the graphics, All-Star Tennis 99 looks to be a promising tennis game. Everything else is in there, from the official license and tight control to a good variety of gameplay options. Puzzle FE 85% June Hasbro Int. Blue Planet Soft. borrowed, something blue...Sure, wed- ding season is just starting, but what's that got to do with Alexey Pajitnov's classic puzzler? Well, in the grand journalistic tradition of stretching an unrelated theme throughout a story, let's see what we can do with this one. Something old: All the classic one-player stuff is here. Four basic shapes. One objective—clear away lines by creating a solid row across the board. Simple, elegant and addictive. Something new: Cascading blocks. While the four basic shapes in TNT remain the same, some pieces come in several segmented col- Se old, something new, something pan: 2 ors, allowing sections of a piece to break away and fill in empty spaces below. These sections can continue to cas- cade down as lines are elimi- nated. However, like colors will bond with each other, so if, say, a blue piece touches another blue piece, a solid chunk will form, preventing the piece from sliding down. TNT's two-player game offers its own twist on head-to-head puzzle combat. Rather than dropping “garbage” blocks on your oppo- nent's board after you clear a few lines, TNT Blocks fuse together, wiggle and jiggle, and even explode. throws your foe's playing field into a spin, making it hard for him to see what he’s doing. The more lines you eliminate, the more your opponent's board whirls and twirls. Graphics have been tweaked a bit as well, with blocks that now jiggle, gyrate and explode. Something borrowed: That classic Tetris music is back, only now it's set to a groovy techno beat. Something blue: Oh yeah, TNT was devel- oped by Blue Planet Software. Clear a few a lines and your opponent's board will go into a wild, wacky spin. if ju "Very impressive indeed." EGM As Raziel, stalk the shadows of Nosgoth hunting your vampire brethren. Impale them with spears. Incinerate th torches. Drown them in No matter how you destro them, you must feed on the souls to sustain your quest — the ruin of your creator, Kain. : + Seamless gameplay: No loa: i t Shift real-time between t : _and spectral planes rk gothic story “Vampire fans get ready — Soul Reaver could be the ultimate thriller...” PlayStation -GamePro EB Action 1-2 Previews m us An early look at the games of tomorrow = : Psygnosis Psygnosis WipeOut 3 Psygnosis updates their PlayStation classic once again with better visuals and gameplay hen the first WipeOut appeared, it showed mode). WipeOut 3 will Were: the technical prowess of the also support the PlayStation, boasting incredibly fast gameplay, ^ PlayStation link cable. even for a first-generation PlayStation game. For WipeOut 3, the Continuing to push the PS even more, the Psygnosis development team development team now presents WipeOut 3. Psygnosis wanted to give the has respected the heritage of the original in creating this | game a completely third title, with key members of the original WipeOut new look and feel while still maintaining the heart and soul of the original game. With respect to the teams, each one has been totally redesigned to give them a distinct look. In addition to the structural differ- ences of the racing crafts, each team will have its own unique weapon. The tracks in WipeOut 3 have been given a face-lift as well. Instead of tracks going through canyons and cities as in previous games, the developers have gone with a heavy industrial look with multileveled plat- forms, jumps and even an impressive downward spiral. Graphically, WipeOut 3 is beyond words. Even at this early stage in development, the frame-rates are impressive, moving at a smooth 30 fps, even in two-player spilt-screen mode. The new weapons sport cool lighting effects, and the pop-up problems from previous games seem to have been addressed. Another key advance- ment is that WipeOut 3 will play in high-res mode throughout the game, even in spilt- screen mode. This feature alone is fantastic. The WipeOut 3 team contains mem- bers from the original WipeOut game. team involved in the project. Designers Control has always been tight with the WipeOut Republic will once again be responsible for the art direc- games and with the inclusion of Dual Shock analog tion of the game, which will ensure the look of WipeOut support, the control has just become tighter. The will be maintained. additional level of control you get with the analog WipeOut 3 will feature eight completely new tracks and stick is astounding. It's also great to now be able to three new racing teams in addition to the five available in — feel the controller vibrate in your hands when you WipeOut XL. There will also be seven new weapons, bump into walls or when you receive a weapon shot including five from the previous game, for a total of over from an opponent. There is also a new Hyper 12 weapons in all. Gameplay modes will include arcade, Thrust, which gives players a quick turbo boost at time trial, tournament and one-on-one (spilt-screen the expense of a bit of energy. A Psygnosis game wouldn't be a Psygnosis game without cutting-edge music, especially a WipeOut game, for that matter. DJ Sasha, one of the most prominent DJs in Europe, is acting as musical director for the Official U.S (Ga E WS] TST [vasi R) May 1999 Like previous WipeOuts, dps H WipeOut 3 will be loaded project. That will involve his pro- to HE hilt with fancy ducing exclusive music tracks for lighting effects (above). WipeOut 3, as well as working with several international guest acts for the project. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Omega Boost This isn't exactly the sort of game you would expect from the same company that makes Gran Turismo, but it definitely looks amazing. In this game, you pilot a huge robot in space, armed with two standard weapons and a huge weapon called an Omega Boost. The graphics are absolutely topnotch and the freespace environments can make you dizzy with all the fast action. Action 1 50% N/A Sony CEA Polyphony Dig. Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Gran Turismo 2 Here’s some more new shots of Gran Turismo 2. The game will feature more than 400 different cars, and you can expect that there will be many more U.S.-licensed ones. Already, we can confirm there will be nine Chevys, 11 Dodges, seven Ford/Mercurys, five Shelbys, one Vector and six Plymouths, in addition to some muscle cars. There will also be a drag racing mode and 20 dif- ferent tracks, one of which is a dirt track. The makers of GT2 said they want this to be an encyclopedia of cars— looks like it's already damn close. T [ Racing 1-2 70% 02 ‘99 Sony CEA Polyphony Dig. Knights of Carnage Ready for a good ol'-fashioned hack-'n'-slash game? If so, perhaps THQ's new action game is the one for you. Armed with all sorts of medieval weaponry, your male or female warrior must bludgeon and slash his/her way through hordes of gargoyles, hellhounds, giant spi- ders and other creatures just aching to be hacked to bits. Various weapons like swords, cannons and axes will aid you in the quest. May 1999 Ape Escape Control Jake or Spike in their quest to stop the evil Spectre and his band of monkeys gone mad. Ape Escape is a very innovative title that can only be controlled with dual ana- log sticks. One stick is used for move- f - 1 ment, and one aims the gadget being [ = 1 Action r2 used (slingshot, propeller, net) to catch Action 1 60% June the monkeys. This is a very promising N/A 03°99 THO Rushware title, and we'll have more on it soon. Sony CEA Sony CEA Official U.S. GIEMSLEM TT] sone ( 3) Black Bass with Blue Marlin Featuring Hank Parker Hot-B has a reputation for doing fishing games and this will be their seventh one. The developer touts that this will be the first game that combines freshwater and saltwater fishing. Let's hope the PlayStation can handle such a whale of a feat. Warrior Princess Here’s some updated shots from 989 Studios’ forthcoming game based on the TV show. The game has been oft-delayed, but looks like it's finally coming together. Action 1 65% 03 '99 989 Studios USDA Le Mans 24 Hours Infogrames is trying to make the complete Le Mans racing simulation, so they have spared no expense, licensing the Le Mans name, race teams, circuits and ACO rules. The game will be a test of endurance, where retrogressive and collision damage simulate the wear and tear that affects a car during a 24-hour race. Outfitting your car correctly and making the right pitstops can counter that. Racing 12 50% 03 '99 Infogrames Eutechnyx Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Action 1 40% 04 '99 Acclaim Iguana May 1999 Official U.S. (AEEA ETT [iss (8) After a voodoo priestess plants a spiritual mask in his chest, a for- mer hitman becomes the voodoo warrior Shadow Man. A third-per- son shooter of sorts, Shadow Man involves puzzle solving, black magic and "flesh-wasting" weapons aimed at wiping out legions of undead serial killers and other vermin. Multiple game endings and various cutscenes move the game's plot along. Action 1 04 '99 Capcom Action 1 4096 TBA Namco Namco Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere To be quite honest, not much is known about the latest sequel to Namco's popular aerial game, except that it's going to come to the U.S. at some point. The game will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show in March, so expect us to have a lot more information for you after that show. In the meantime just enjoy this one, solitary screenshot. Dino Crisis It seems that Capcom's next Resident Evil-style game will involve dinosaurs, not zombies. Dino Crisis takes place in the near future on where else but an island. You assume the role of Regina, a member of a special forces team, and your mission is to capture Professor Kirk, whose lab has unleashed the dinos. The sheer size of the dinosaurs should add something new to the genre. You can look forward to being stalked by huge T-rexes, raptors and other monsters of the like. When you're injured, you'll leave a blood trail, and your character will be more cau- tious when she suspects danger. It should be a chilling adventure from Capcom, the company that revitalized this sort of game. Rotary Call Accepted Younger than 18 years old must have parents’ permission 1 (900) 773-8439 ELECTRONIC L— 72 | GAMING PER | REMOTE WIZARD WIRELESS FOR PS X = AR Recent Winners!!! Nick Simpson, Sandy, UT * Morgan Tryst, Detroit, MI + Lavell Johnson, Pittsburgh, PA + Nathan Miles, Hobbs, NM » Bret Heckler, Independence, VA * Nicholas Sesner, Pine Bluffs, AR + Mike Townsend, Strum, WI + Dorothy Rich, Essex, MD * Irvine Wade, Country Club Hills, IL + Joe Bees, Taylorville, IL + Paul Anderson, Proctor, WV + Jason Brown, Moro, CA + Jim Pappas, Taft, CA * Thomas Antroll, Knoxville, TN * Mike Sherman, Mount Joy, PA «Alvin Smith, Bonaire, GA - Jason Ruffels, Quitman, TX + Michael Oak, Denver CO + Marco Brownmark, Lacey Springs, AL Brandon Manze, Dearborn, MI * Derrick Roeback, Central, UT * Anthony Barrineau, Hollywood, FL + Dave Gregory, Hazard, KY * Allen Thomas, Los Angeles, CA * Kevin Taylor, Elizabeth, NJ * Dan Saenz, Howard City, MI « David Landis, Tiro, OH + Greg Bennet, Tipp City, MI « Alex Latham, Rocky Mount, NC + Chirs Young, Toledo, OH + Jonnie Wright, San Jose, CA *, Kile Rhines, Allentown, PA + Justin Johnson, Covington, KY + Danny Wiler, Arkdale, WI * Bobby Fennington, Dothan, AL « Preston McGee, Pilot Mountain, NC * Chris Hunt, Rochester, IN. BOOMERANG 64 Correctly Answer a Series of Video Game Questions & Win! Listen to Quartermann Gossip Before It’s in EGM! Call and Test Your Knowledge of Video Game Trivia! Get the Latest Expert Gamer Codes & Tricks Hear Review Crew Members’ Game Ratings! Only one winner per household per month! TRIVIA CONTEST RULES: 1. Entry. To enter, correctly answer six consecutive trivia questions and leave your name, address and phone number as instructed. Winners will be determined by judges whose decisions are final. One winner per househ month. Zif-Davis assumes no responsibilty for unintelligible, incomplete or misdirected responses. 2. Prizes: Winners will receive one (1) of the following at Zifi-Davis! sole discretion: Remote Wizard, Boomerang64, Reality Vest, X-Wire Wireless Con Prizes have an approximate retail value of at least $25.00. All prize winners will be notified by mail. Prize(s) are non-transferable. No substitutions of prize(s) are allowed, except at the option of Zif-Davis should the featured prize(s) become unavailable. 3. Eligibility: Contest open to residents of United States and Canada. Void in Maryland, Non-compliance with the time parameters contained herein or return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqui guardians shall return a signed affidavit of eligibility/release of liabilty/prize acceptance within 5 days of receipt or forfeit prize. Employees of ZD Inc., NUBY HOLDINGS CORPORATION and their respective affiliates are not eligible their respective affliates, subsidiaries, divisions or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes or expenses resulting from this contest. Winners acknowledge that ZD Inc. has neither made nor is in any manner res ranty or guarantee, whether express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to any prize including but not limited to its quality, mechanical condition or finess. Winners accepting prizes agree that all prizes are awarde ndition that ZD Inc., its resentatives and employees will have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind resulting from acceptance, possession, or use of the prizes. 4. Winners List: For a list of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed en Line Trivia Contest,” PO. Box 3338, Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. 5. Restrictions: Void where prohibited or restricted by law. All federal, state and local regulations apply Product names are registered trademarks of NUBY HOLDINGS CORPORATION International Previews An early look at the games of tomorrow Cybernetic Empire Wolfteam, Availability: June Once-famous Japanese developer Wolfteam returns with this exciting- looking action/adventure. Set in the future, CE puts you in the role of both male and female task-force members on their mission to stop a group of terrorists. With real- time levels and gameplay that includes a grapple beam, swimming and shooting elements, CE looks like it could be hot. Monster Rancher 2 Tecmo, Availability: Now The original monster-raising sim returns in this sequel just released in Japan. All the key elements from the first game are back—creating a mon- ster based on any game or music CD you insert, training it and then fighting your pet against others—but the sequel includes refined graphics and a few added tweaks. Among them is a PocketStation numbers minigame to earn money you can use back in the PlayStation game to buy food and other items. No word yetona possible US. release, Still the No. 1 selling game in Japan and likely to remain so for quite some time, FFVIII has already sold almost three million copies after just its first month in stores. For the latest edition to their flagship series, Square Soft wasn't afraid to alter some key areas of gameplay, and it seems to have paid off. Here are some of the biggest changes you can look forward to when FFVIII comes out here this fall. Spells in Final Fantasy VIII are handled very differently than in most RPGs. They are treated more like regular items—you get them by drawing (basically steal- ing) them from monsters, or find them lying around at certain spots in dungeons. You can store them, equip them and even trade them between charac- ters. More than any Final Fantasy before it, part VIII concentrates on summoning magics, now called "Guardian Forces" (or GFs). These pow- erful creatures have appeared in previ- ous games in the series (remember Ifrit, Shiva and Leviathan from FFVII?), but now they have added impor- tance. First is their ability to be equipped, or "junctioned," to your party. A character without a Guardian Force is basically naked, and can't even use items or magic. Once you equip a GF to any of your characters, it not only can be used as a spell in battle, but, as a Guardian gains experience, it also gives that character extra skills and abili- ties (increased magic power, hit points and battle avoidance, for example). Best of all you get to decide which skills your GFs learn, so you can customize them to suit your own tastes. Another benefit of equipping Guardian Forces is that they allow you to enhance your character's attributes by connecting the GF with specific spells. For example, if you link a heal spell to the hit points attribute, you can increase your HP total. Or by con- necting the thunder GF to some- one's magic power, you can increase the effects of his/her spells. How much you benefit from these links depends on both the number of the spells you have stored and the strength of the spell. Instead of all the different minigames in FFVII (Chocobo raising, snowboarding, etc.), part VIII involves only one, but it's a big one—the card battle game. Almost anywhere you go in the game you can challenge strangers to this one-on-one match to try to win some special collectable cards from them. But there's a larger purpose for this highly addictive game-within-a- game beyond just being a fun diversion; later you can change some special cards into items that can be traded to improve your weapons. # of Players 1 Developer Squat complete stop. Why? Good ques- tion! Here’s how it plays out: You tion get hit, you slow to a stop. By the time you finally start to move again—boom!—you're hit once more and stopped. Repeat until your controller lays smashed into The first Choro Q games were car racers, then came speed- boats, and now we have tanks. With its stripped-down graphics and cutesy look, Combat contin- ues the Choro Q tradition of toss- ing reality out the window in favor of quick controls and simple fun—at least in theory. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way this time; the tanks in this game steer with all the speed and grace of a # of Players.1-4 Now Developer Taka some interest- ing features in its one-player game. You battle through a series of missions with different objectives, like protect a train, destroy a plane before it can take off and, of course, good ol’ kill-everything-that-moves. After each mission you receive a rating and money based on your performance. You can use that cash to customize and improve your tank in every area, from the weapons to the exhaust to its paint job. Nice, but not enough to make it worth your time. dead elephant. Your top speed is roughly five miles per hour, and each time you're hit by enemy fire you are brought to a tiny pieces at your feet. All these control problems are ashame, because CCQ does have know it. As the damage begins to approach the point of no return, a com- munication is received from the far-off planet Iscandar, which promises technology that can save Earth from its fate, but only if a ship from Earth can make the 148,000 light-year journey to Iscandar to retrieve it. Luckily, the message also includes plans for a faster- than-light starship engine, but even so the voyage will take a full year—which, of course, is exactly how long the earth has before the radiation destroys everything. Your job is to command the Yamato, complete the journey, and save the world (of course). Along the way you'll encounter plenty of hostile aliens and other space hazards, but never fear— you have full control over every key position on the ship. You'll conduct battles both in space and on strange planets, all in real time. Fans of the old animated series Star Blazers are no doubt aware that it was based on the Space Battleship Yamato series from Japan. Now, Bandai has based an extremely faithful RPG on this potent license—one that can be appreciated by U.S. gamers (at least for the feelings of nostalgia it evokes in Star Blazers fans) as well as Japanese consumers, who have already pushed the game to the top of the charts in Japan. The plot of the game is a time- honored one: Earth is under attack from hostile aliens bent on colonization, and it won't be long before the radiation from the bombs puts an end to life as we The game is quite complex and also rather text-heavy, so let's hope that some publisher picks Yamato up for a U.S. release. PG # of Players 1 ty Now Developer Bandai LSD Asmik Ace, Availability: Now Take a first-person shooter, remove all the enemies as well as the guns, the items, the keycards and puz- zles—and just about. any point to the game at all, for that matter—and you've got a good grasp of what this super-freaky import is like. The idea behind the game, if it can even be called a game (it’s labeled a “dream emulator”), is original at least. There’s no text and no real actions to perform in LSD (other than walk and look at stuff). You simply wander around different bizarre dream-world landscapes until you bump into an object, then the game melts into the next dream. Once you wake up (usually after you fall into a pit or stay in one place for too long), your dream is rated on a chart that ranks it in four categories: upper, downer, dynamic and static. The disappointing part about LSD is that, even though it tries to be surreal with its crazy colors and moody, ambient soundtrack, it’s hard to look very dream-like when the worlds are made up of huge blocky polygons, all chugging along at about 10 frames a second. This game looks like it was made in some- one’s basement in Japan, its creation fueled by instant ramen noodles and powerful psychoactive drugs. It’s fun to see someone try something different, and if LSD is anything, it’s most definitely dif- ferent. But if you can’t spend $50 for novelty, just say no. O9IWYNAQO Driving on the ground is so 90’s. PSYGNOSIS c o z [E dee va > a [2 Break every law. Including gravity. BEST RACE 01:22:19 Drive any of 6 indestructible vehicles anywhere and everywhere, from the sides of walls to the roofs of tunnels. Blast away at the scenery with 8 innovative weapons to slow down your opponents. 3 v a eee Race through 20 different tracks spread over 4 distinct environments. 2-player split-screen, head-to-head racing action with 4 specially designed tracks 313... Official U.S. GM EVA EMMY) [vaseane( R) May 1999 can't easily be explai fact that in spite of th films, the ongoing story is, a familiar one. Perhaps it ters are equally familie 'es. More likely, ars universe is many times I'v trailer for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, | still get chills every time (and I know I'm not the only one). And it would explain the countless fans worldwide who wait anxiously for each new drop of carefully rationed information that comes out of Skywalker Ranch regard- ing the new film—and the countless others who refuse to hear a single word about The Phantom Menace for fear it will spoil the surprise, lessen the magic. Being more a member of the former camp than of the latter, I jumped at the chance to visit LucasArts in San Rafael, Calif., to get an early look at the first PlayStation game of the prequel trilogy. And being familiar with former Star Wars- licensed games, I admit that I went with a certain trepidation. Yes, the Star Wars license produced gems like X-Wing and TIE Fighter for the PC, but it’s also respon- sible for the uninspiring Rebel Assault games and Masters of Teräs Kasi. Thankfully, it appears that the develop- ers of The Phantom Menace (formerly known simply as Star Wars: Episode I, The Adventure)—the first game to appear on the PlayStation—are as concerned about creating an involving, rewarding game experience as they are about being faithful to the license. The result appears to be a Star Wars game unlike any other. STAR WARS: EPISODE Ladies and gentlemen, may we present the first PlayStation Phantom Menace s "ens seen any- where. Note the sight distance and che many layers of detail on the Theed levels (two center shots above); the transla- tion from the PC version looks surprisingly good. RISE OF THE APES he Phantom Menace'is being developed first for the PC, so our first stop was the offices of developer Big Ape Productions. In case the name doesn't ring any bells, Big Ape developed Konami's 16-bit B- movie spoof Zombies Ate My Neighbors, as well as LucasArts’ Herc's Adventures for the PlayStation and the Saturn. Both games were roaming adventures viewed from an overhead perspective, and both showed.a keen sense of humor and sharp character development. Although at first this may seem a strange choice for the designers of a Star Wars game, it soon becomes clear LucasArts was specifically in search of developers who would take the license in a new direction. What they wanted was a group that wasn't going to bow to conven- tion. And they got it. Dean Sharpe, project leader, explains: "There are certain rules you have to break when developing a game for a film. I would normally never have a game where you play multiple characters. Why would you? You want to familiarize yourself with a single character. And in normal video sca Every saga has a beginning... games you start out weak and slowly get better, get new skills, get power-ups, get new weapons. But here, you start out as a bad-ass. You begin the game playing as Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon [pronounced "Kwai-Gahn," Liam Neeson’s character in the film] is there to help you through the level. And when these guys start out in the movie, they're just bad-asses. They start out kicking the crap out of every- body. Bad guys come up and they're like, ‘Yeah, whatever, get out of the way.’ So you have nowhere to go; you're already a tough guy." This setup is intriguing, because it forces Big Ape to shift the focus of the game from the standard formula of collecting bigger weapons and nastier power-ups, and instead concentrate almost exclusively on the more essential elements of an adventure game, like puzzles, exploration and character interaction. Why JEDI Kick Ass Of course, Big Ape hasn't abandoned con- vention altogether. Sharpe continues: "We do have some of your normal power-ups. You do get blasters, thermal detonators Below you can see Qui-Gon in the Tatooine city of Mos Espa, home to junkyards, Pod Races, and a certain overweight gang- ster named Jabba the Hutt. you have to break game for a film." Dean Sharpe and the like. You also have what's called the Force Push, which basically knocks everything out of your way. But we don't go crazy, because you'll find out quickly that the Lightsaber is pretty much your weapon of choice. From the beginning you can use it to block shots as well as to just hack people down." To illustrate, Sharpe gave an extremely» eloquent demonstration of the power of the Jedi. In one level, Obi-Wan must help Queen Amidala of Naboo elude an invasion force of Battle Droids. Rather than following the Queen's lead, Sharpe instead turns and faces the horde of attackers. The confrontation starts impressively, with Obi-Wan facing 10 or so Droids, deflecting blaster shots and even reflecting some back into the group. But reinforcements soon arrive, .. bringing the size of the horde up to per- haps 30 or 40. Unfazed, Obi-Wan wades into the group, Lightsaber flashing and whirling almost too fast to follow as the screen fills with explosions and Droid bits. Obi-Wan ends up hacking the group down to about a fifth of their for- mer size before he's forced to retreat, PRELUDES TO A PREQUEL The Phantom Menace won't be the first Star Wars game to make an appearance on the PlayStation. We first saw ports of the PC titles Dark Forces (top, a crawling-frame-rate first-person shooter) and Rebel Assault II (middle, a severely limited FMV- based shooter "on rails"), as well as the silly, but entertaining, console fighter, Masters of Terás Kási (bottom). None of these, of course, was developed in sync with a film—a distinction that may prove very important. Force Pushing the group backward to keep them off his tail as he and the Queen make a clean getaway. The moral of the story: Don't mess with a Jedi. "YOUR WEAPONS...YOU WILL NOT NEED THEM." bout firepower. What about The Phantom eally distinguish Star Wars titles. he game is plenty of scenery. Although players pri- marily control Obi-Wan, during parts of the game control will switch to Qui-Gon, Queen Amidala or the Queen's General, Panaka—though Sharpe indicated that the Amidala and Panaka roles are more or less cameos, included to help develop the story. As you might guess from this, the game does indeed closely follow the story line of the movie. “The only differ- ence,” says Sharpe, “would be in the places we've expanded to make them work for gameplay. And, of course, because we're developing the game at the same time as the movie, sometimes things may end up on the cutting room floor that we've already put into the game. It's not that big a deal, because if we were just to follow the movie, well, you could probably get through the game in about two hours. So we obvi- ously had to expand on just about every little thing in the movie. For example, there was one scene in the script where the Queen and Panaka have to take a taxi to the Council Chamber on Coruscant. That whole scene got nixed for the film—at least, I think it did—and we still have it in the game. It’s not a huge deal; people aren't going to say, ‘Oh my God, that wasn't in the movie,’ but there are a lot of things like that.” And what about any bits taken from or constructed to resemble the actual film, like those found in other Star Wars continued on page 72 Official U.S EMBLEM [sss ( S) May 1999 Get reacquainted with an all-new GEX. And his Miss Adventures. e All-new intuitive camera system guides you through hazardous 3D missions ve. Eidos tteactvo is trademark of EROS PLC 1908 EDOS- AN rights reserve. Praia * Over 25 all-new disguises with new abilities like scuba diving and snowboarding * Baywatch's Marliece Andrada stars as Agent Xtra in all-new full-motion video e An all-new GEX spits fireballs, controls tanks, crocodiles, burros and more * Over 1,000 all-new celebrity impressions and wisecracks "...the most in-depth platforming game on the PlayStation.’ characte are trademarks of Crit Dynamics ©1999 Crysta -Official PlayStation Magazine www. crystald.com www. eidosinteractive.com Official U.S. EMS Eka ey [iasezine( N) May 1999 Leading Apes: PC project leaders Mike Ebert (left) and Dean Sharpe (right) titles? This appears to be another area of departure for Big Ape. “The cinemas at the beginnings of the levels are verbatim from the movie,” says Sharpe, “but we probably only have about three minutes of FMV; we tried to do a lot more in- game cutscenes using the game engine.” This allowed Big Ape more freedom to direct the scenes in a way that's better integrated into the game, and gave them the ability to write longer and more involved scenes without the limits of time or storage space that come into play with lots of rendered cinemas. “I AM FLUENT IN OVER SIX MILLION FORMS OF COMMUNICATION.” And it's a good thing, too, because they needed the space for the 4,000-odd lines of spoken dialogue that carry the story of the game. Recorded using some of the actual actors from the film as well as some sound-alikes ("A lot of the time,” chuckles Sharpe, “the sound-alikes photo by Jay Blakesburg Apes in Space: the Phantom Menace team at Big Ape “The general feeling could do it, it sound more like the actors than the someone who's hiding there." actors themselves, because the actors Of course, actions speak louder than just aren't into the game as they are into words, and your conduct—and how it's the movie."), the spoken script will be perceived by the inhabitants of the Star absolutely essential—this is, after all, an Wars universe—affects the game every adventure game. Although perhaps 30 bit as much as your conversation. Sharpe to 40 percent of the dialogue will be for offers an example: "The town of Mos the purpose of helping players through Espa has about 150 people who are just the level, the majority of the dialogue is going around, doing their business—it's interaction between characters that a whole living town. And if you want to, actually does affect the game. you can go up to them and hack 'em “How you react to characters will down, but the town doesn't like it very change how the game plays," says much. There will be consequences. And Sharpe. "You won't necessarily hurt the Jawas really don't like it if you mess yourself, you're not going to answer with their horses. wrong and all of a sudden lose the “But it also depends on who sees you. game. But it will change the game. For It's very much a living town, and if example, in one level you need to guide someone sees you hack down somebody, the queen from one side of the area to they'll tell the rest of the town, the the other, and at times she'll ask, 'Do guards will come around, and, well, you you want me to stay here, or follow you?’ probably won't live. There are also so If you tell her to follow, sometimes you'll many people who you need in a level go right into an ambush and she'll get that if you just start hacking them down taken out. Other times, if you leave her you probably won't be able to complete where she is, she might get taken out by the level anyway." THE SPOILER MENACE What's the worst part about working on an Episode | game? “I read the script about a year and a half ago," says a glum Dean Sharpe, z E: i $ g z z Ei S Fi E 7] $ A 8 E “and | saw the movie in an early incarnation, so | pretty much know how it goes." Not every LucasArts employee has suffered the same fate, however; in fact, Nick Pavis tells us he's *managed quite well so far" to avoid ruining the secrets of the films. Even with an in-house resource room filled with everything you ever wanted to know about the film, most employees we talked to have managed to restrict themselves to only the information needed for their projects. But will they have the willpower to wait until the film's street release? GAT COA SCIPS CORVEREION “Well...” says Pavis, “we will be seeing the final film before the street team (l. to r.) Pat Costello, release.” He grins. “...At a top-secret location.” John Menzies, Nick Pavis MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES f courseyithe!game, isn’t just about slashing roids, talking to townspeople and eluding guards. So just what exactly is the focus of the game? Well...that depends. "It's an equal distribution between just about every type of game you can think of,” says Sharpe. “In order to allow you to do every- thing they do in the movie, we had to have just about everything. But each level has a specific focus; one may be an action level, one may be more of à puzzle level, and one may be very.dialogue-oriented, where you're really just talking to people." So each level serves as sort of a game unto itself. In one level the player will need to travel around a town in search of a shady character from whom to buy some specialized machinery. In another the play- er needs to find his way through a com- plex submarine city in order to locate a friend being held prisoner. Yet another sees the player driving a STAP (the small repulsorlift vehicles piloted by Battle Droids) through a dense swamp. But one seenees photo by Jay Blakesburg thing is constant: If you see it in the movie, you'll see it in the game. And then some. THE SAGA CONTINUES But for The Phantom Menace, as with most multiplatform games, the design is only part of the story. So we left Big Ape and headed back to LucasArts to talk to the folks in charge of making The Phantom Menace happen on the PlayStation. “Big Ape was doing the PC version with the PlayStation in mind,” says PlayStation g programmer Nick Pavis, "but I think they misjudged what the PlayStation was capa- ble of; as they started putting the PlayStation bits together, it wasn't fitting very well. But John [Menzies, who, along with Pat Costello, makes up the remainder of the PlayStation programming team] and I have quite exceptional experience with what the PlayStation can do and what it should be able to do. So the general feeling was that if anyone could do it, it would be us. So we said we'd give it our best shot." ` enes from the PC version offer a glimpse of the character design, which is best shown off when the camera cuts close for an in-game cinema. As we've already seen, the Play. ation version is doing an admirable job of reproducing these complex settings. In these additional PC screens, we see interac- tion between the char- acters, both friendly (above left center) and hostile (right). Don’t worry about ol’ Obi- Wan here at right—he can handle about 10 times as many of those pesky Battle Droids. Because of the gruelling development schedule, it was crucial to find a develop- ment team with PlayStation experience. At the beginning of January, Pavis was taken off the team working on the PlayStation conversion of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. At that point, no work at all had been done on the PlayStation version of The Phantom Menace. Due to be released concurrently with the film in mid-May, The Phantom Menace needed to be completed by early April in order to leave enough time to pass Sony's approval process—meaning that Pavis and his team had almost exactly three months to turn a PC game into a PlayStation game. “The PlayStation version involves a very strict plan as to who's going to do what, when it's going to be ready and how it will interface with the PC code,” Pavis says calmly. “Because we have such a short time to do this conversion, we "| have to do it in a very specific way. f We're maintaining the PC code as far 9 as gameplay and logic is concerned; that’s C code that will run and compile on the PlayStation. But graphics and interface and so on need to be reworked specifically for the PlayStation. So we've taken A each individual unit—the rendering of the world, the rendering of the objects, the animating of the objects, the sound—and worked on them to make sure they're identical to how the PC version works. Assuming that we've done everything cor- rectly, then we should be able to slot all the different elements into the PC code." That's the theory, anyway. Of course, you can never quite plan for every contin- gency, and this project has already had its share of challenges. One of the more prominent of these dealt with the PlayStation's handling of music and sound files. "There are 4,000 lines of voice," says Pavis, "and we wanted to make sure the voice stayed in for the PlayStation version. And we also had to incorporate the iMUSE System [LucasArts' interactive music engine that customizes the game's sound- track to the level of action onscreen]. This sort of dynamic soundtrack is usually done with MIDI. But we're not doing MIDI, because we have John Williams' orchestra in there. So we wrote a system that allows us to blend CD music from one track to another seamlessly, and loop seamlessly as well. We thought the music was very important. It's a Star Wars game; you have to have John Williams' music blasting out of the speakers!" In Mos Espa, the Pod Racing arena has its own band (bot- tom center). Look familiar? Wonder what other familiar figures might be involved... A demonstration of this system proved extremely impressive; apparently Pavis and company flagged segments of the music tracks so that when a new track needs to be loaded the music can switch smoothly at a sensible transition point, avoiding the more abrupt cuts that char- acterized LucasArts’ first iIMUSE titles. The result—in the case of this particular demonstration, at least—was an almost imperceptible transition from one track to another. THE DEADLINE MENACE tion schedule so that the most important features were completed first. That way, if the time constraints proved too much for the project, only nonessentials would be left out. "We can't miss the movie release," Pavis explains. "We're definitely going to have something by that time, and we're doing our best to ensure it's as much as can be done. But there may be a few things that we just don't have time to put in, little things. For example, there are two different animations that happen when a Battle Droid explodes in the PC version; perhaps we'll just use one. It means that there may be just a few things that you're not going to really notice. We've chosen carefully what needs to be done such that it's all about the game experience, and we have all the components there. "The worst is definitely behind us, because we have the worlds up and run- ning. Getting these levels to the stage where they're running at a good frame- rate, that was major. And getting every single model in and running at frame- rate, running every animation, running every sound, that was quite a hurdle as well. We've solved the memory issue by breaking the levels up into smaller bits. We've done the music, which I thought was quite important. That's all behind us. The pressure work is done." PHANTOM FANATICS What's most exciting about this project is that The Phantom Menace, the game, ON THE HORIZON When LucasArts sat down to decide what had been under devéfBpment by people for whom Star Wars is an inseparable part of their culture. Like many of us, these folks have been Star Wars fans from elementary school or before. Most can't remember a time when they didn't know what Star Wars was. And now they're helping contribute to a new gen- eration of fans. They're helping to build a new empire. “I look at clips from this movie," says Pavis, "and I realize it's got that thing that the original Star Wars had. It puts you in this world that's fun to spend time in. I'm definitely a fan of Star Wars, and of this movie. "I'm also definitely a fan of this game. The first week we spent on this game, we just loaded up the PC game and played it for a week straight just to find out what it was all about. And I found it fun to play. I think that counts for a lot." Considering the gruelling schedule they're putting this guy through, we think so, too. Any further doubts were quashed when Pavis brought up the teaser trailer as a demonstration of the game's video compression. After it ended and we all caught our breaths, he smiled. "Gets me every time." games they wanted to create with the Episode I license, the Pod Racing scene (seen first in the "teaser" trailer) was an obvious choice for gamehood. Enter Star Wars: Episode | Racer, under development for the PC and the N64 (seen here) and slated for the PlayStation in “the not-too-distant future." The game will fea- ture 23 tracks on eight different planets, on which 23 distinctive vehicles piloted by all man- ner of bizarre creatures will race at top speeds exceeding 1,000 mph. That's all we can tell _ i E he Official U.S (MEVAGA Toli] cuo May 1999 w On Sale Everywhere THE ONLY MAGAZINE WITH 2. >i I AYABLE sei vid DIS EACH ISSUE! R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, Bust-A-Move 4, NFL Blitz, Elmo's Letter Adventure, Abe's Exoddus, Bloody Roar 2, Star-Ocean, MLB 2000, Jade Cocoon, sb EW LG Aat Official Contest and Sweepstakes Rules TOP 10 MOST WANTED SWEEPSTAKES Official Contest Rules: 1. No Purchase Necessary: To enter, send a etter or standard sized postcard containing your name, address and phone number together with your list of 10 most wanted video games to “Top Ten Most Wanted" Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, P.O. Box 3338, (ak Brook, IL 60522-3338 or e-mail it to dan pelosoezd com or fax it to (630) 382-9010. No purchase ar payment af any money is nec- sary to enter. 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(Note: Vol. 2 Iss. #5 is completely SOLD OUT.) Issue #1- $15 October 1997 Ghost in the Shell, Final Fantasy VII Strategy Demo Disc includes: Blayables: Intelligent Qube, PaRappa the Rapper, Ace Combat 2, Fighting Force non: pi ables: Tomb Raider II, NFL GameDay Issue #2- $10 November 1997 PaRappa the Rapper Bushido Blade Strategy Demo Disc includes: Crast landicoot 2, Croc, Armored Core, Madden NFL 98, Cool Boarders 2, Colon) Ware : NHL FaceOff 98, Ghost i in the Shell Issue #3- $10 December 1997 Cool Boarders Strategy Deme. Disc includes: plavables: layables: Bushido Blade, 's., Star Wars: Masters of Terás Kasi, Jet Moto 2, Cardinal SYN, Ghost in fhe Shell, Moto Racer, Issue #4- 510 January 1998 Resident Evil 2 Feature Tomb Raider II Strategy Demo Disc includes: : NFL GameDay 98, CART World Series, Frogger noneplayables: Spawn, Final Fantasy Tactics, Pandemonium 2, Gex 2 Issue #5- *10 February 1998 Dead or Alive Feature 1997 OPM Editors" Awards Demo Disc includes: playables: NCAA GameBreaker 98, Tomb Raider II, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Crime Killer non-playables: Pitfall 3D, Resident E Issue #6- $7.99 March 1998 Demo Disc Only! playables: Bloody Roar, Monster. ucc Shipwreckers non-playables: Alundra, NBA Shoot Out 98, Saga Frontier, Mega Man Neo Issue #7- *10 April 1998 10 Overlooked PS Picks Resident Evil 2 Strategy Demo Disc includes: : Hot Shots Golf, fall 3D, WCW Nitro, INE non-playables: EAD The Granstream Saga Issue #8—*10 May 1998 Psybadek Feature 'ekken 3 Strategy Demo Disc includes: playables: Einhánder, Gex: Enter the Gecko, Klonoa non-playables: Dead or Alive, Gran Turismo Issue #9- *10 June 1998 Metal Gear Solid Preview Gran Turismo Review Demo Disc includes: playables: Cardinal SYN, Vigilante 8, Forsaken, N20, TOCA, Dead or Alive. mn playables: Tomba, Jersey Devil Issue #10- July 1998 Demo Disc Only! : Gran. Turismo, Tomba!, The W Granstream Saga, Jersey sim Devil, NBA Shoot Out, Blasto, Speed Racer. non: NEL Xtre Xtreme, MLB 99, Tekken 3 Issue #11- 515 August 1998 Metal Gear Solid Vigilante 8 Strategy Demo Disc includes: ables: Tekken 3, Turbo Prop Racin ; Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Ninja: Shadow of Darkness, Metal Gear Solid Issue #12- 510 September 1998 PlayStation's Birthday Elemental Gearbolt Strategy Demo Disc includes: bles: Spyro the Dragon, Duke Nukem: Time ill, WWF War Zone, The Unholy War, S.C.A.R.S. on playabl les: Metal Gear Solid, Rival Schools, Test Drive 5 Volume 2- *10 Issue 1 October 1998 Spyro the Dragon Strategy PlayStation: Demo Disc includes: y of Ka Reaver, ‘est Drive 5, Devil Dice, Brunswick Bowling, Ninja, NFL Xtreme, Cool Boarders 3 non-playables: Parasite Eve, Rival Sc NFL GameDay 99 Issue 2 November 1998 Tomb Raider III Metal Gear Solid Strategy Demo Disc includes: playables: MediEvil, WarGames: Defcon 1, G. Darius, Dragon Seeds, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Future Cop LA.P.D., non- playables: Crash Bandicoot: WARPED, Abe's Exoddus, Brave Fencer Musashi, Rugrats, T'ai Fu, Tenchu, You Don't Know Jack December 1998 Metal Gear Solid Crash Bandicoot: WARPED Strategy Demo Disc includes: al : Tomb Raider III, Crash Bandicoot: WARPED, Bomberman World, A Bu Life, Running Wild, Invasi dorem Beyond, Kagero: Deception II, Metal Gear Solid Gran Turismo, bles: Silent Hill, Knockout Vo Big Air Volume 2- 510 Issue 4. January 1999 Gex Deep Cover Gecko Tomb Raider III Strategy Demo Disc includes: bles: Silent Hill, Mato ees: 2 Brave Fencer Musashi, Apocalypse, T^ non-playabl Test Drive: Volume 2- 510 Issue 6 March 1999 PlayStation Dictionary Syphon Filter Strategy Demo Disc includes: playable: Syphon Filter, lust A Groove, Shadow Madness, Fisherman's Bait, Akuji the Heartless, No - One Can Stop Mr. Domino, Street SkBer non-playables: NCAA Final Four '99, Guardian's Crusade Volume 2- 510 Issue 7 March 1999 The Year of the RPG Silent Hill Strategy Demo Disc includes: : R4: Ridge Racer ype 4, WCW/nWo Thunder, Rollcage, Warzone 2100, Rugrats: Search for Reptar non-playables: Legend of Legaia Reviews The final word—official and unbiased Meet the Critics Editor-in-Chief After playing a mock-up of Gran Turismo on the next PlayStation (or whatever they're gonna call it), every- thing else just seems insignificant. It's too bad the flu sent Kraig crashing back to reality. Sports, Strategy Triple Play 2000 Omega Boost, Gran Turismo 2, Tomba! 2, Dino Crisis Deputy Editor Having managed to so far elude the superflu, Joe spent this month gloating that he knew more than anyone else about The Phantom Menace. But unlike certain colleagues, he’s not trying to spoil it for anyone. Adventure, RPG, Puzzle Driver, Hydro Thunder (arcade), and my new C64! PlayStation 2. Duh. West Coast Editor Wat is normally a healthy lad, but this year’s flu strain had him out for the count. Perhaps the superflu is right around the corner, along with Y2K—or perhaps Wat is just out of shape. Fighting, Racing, Adventure Silent Hill, R4, Point Blank 2 FFVIII, the games I talk about in the review intro Associate Editor With the Tokyo Game Show, Star Wars movie and game, then E3 and a new PlayStation machine around the corner, Mark just realized this month that his next moment of free time will probably be sometime in August 2001. Action, Adventure, RPG Final Fantasy VIII, R4, PocketStation everything, green peppers Jade Cocoon, Dino Crisis In the Year 2000 by Wataru Maruyama have to admit that all the talk about I the "next generation" PlayStation got my head stuck in the clouds. I thought about what games would come out for it and what I'd like to see on it; but the funny thing is, it got me thinking about what I'd still like to see on my trusty PlayStation I've got in front of me. So, here is my wish list of titles that I feel would kick ass on the 32-bit workhorse: (Capcom) - Come on, Capcom! Will we ever see a follow up to this awesome title? I'd like to see it handled in sort of a 2.5D deal like Klonoa. The PlayStation is great at han- dling stuff like that. I would have put Strider on this list, but it looks like the forces of all that's good in the world have already convinced you of that title's worthiness. (Capcom) - This would Y include Black Tiger, r+ Punisher, Aliens vs. Predator and the original Final Fight. Another set of classics that would keep me warm at night. 4 4 (Capcom) - They've been on the tentative list Games Reviewed Army Men 3D . Hello Kitty.. Monster Seed...... Jacme ROOTS 99... | for sooo long. This Christmas season is lacking in fighters, making it an ideal time for these two overlooked arcade gems. (Square Soft) - Who could resist another go at some sword-slashing action? Not me. (Koei) - Who would have thought a sim game about running airlines could be so addictive? I'd even put aside my Civilization IL...at least for a little while. (American Technos) - One of the greatest games of all time. It was basically Final Fight RPG for the NES and was way ahead of its time. Come to think of it, no game has EVER come close. The PlayStation could be the system to bring it back. (Vic Tokai) - Another one that was ahead of its time. Smoking, assassination and sex on the NES. Metal Gear Solid is close, but Snake was a pussycat compared with the iron-willed Duke Togo. Golgo would be a great addition to the growing list of mature PlayStation titles. E: $ (EA) - F T They finally fixed their j frame-rate problem! It'd be a crime if they moved on without building on this great achievement. Point Blank 2.... = R4: Ridge Racer Type 4......80 Shanghai: True Valor.......... TR.A.G.. Triple Play 2000. It doesn't get much more simple yet effective than OPM's five-disc rating system. Very few games are lucky enough to get our golden five-disc salute, but if one does, be sure to pick it up! We'd rather watch old Designing Women reruns than play this game. Below average. There are fundamental flaws with this game; get something better. jo00 A good title. It’s a fun game with some flaws that can be overlooked. Definitely a topnotch game. Very good and well worth your time. Fabulous! These are the games that really make you proud to own a PlayStation. Reviews The final word—official and unbiased Memory Card 1-6 blocks | Analog Control ge» Compatible Crystal D. Eidos Vibration Function Action Compatible PlayStation his game scored major points with me a few hours into gameplay when I entered the Ghost Town level and the game displayed the mission objectives, one of which was “Visit the world’s largest mound of poop.” And so I did—I walked right up to the steaming pile of excrement, hopped right on top of it, and picked up some power-ups. If I saw that in any other game, I would probably be shocked, but when it comes to the Gex series, such an event is right up the alley of these games. Any game that can make me laugh at something other than horrible gameplay deserves at least some credit, right off the bat. Most of Gex takes places in various themed worlds, be it a Christmas- style wonderland, a pirate ship, a desert island or a mansion (there's a ton of levels). Most of the humor is derived from some obvious as well as subtle pop-culture gags placed throughout the environment, and less effectively through Gex's wisecracks. It gives the game a flavor all its own—which is good, because Gex: Deep Cover Gecko can't stand among topnotch platformers, although it is an above-average one. Part of the problem with Gex is that it relies too much on explo- ration, and there's not enough combat with enemies. Most of the fight- ing involves running right up to one and hitting the tail-whack but- ton—yawn. Thankfully, the environments are interesting enough to make you want to forge on to see what the next one looks like. Unfortunately, the game has many of the same technical problems that plague most 3D platformers. There are plenty of camera glitches that make it hard to maneuver around tight spots in addition to some polygonal clipping that adds some annoyances to navigation. None of the problems are by any means fatal, but they are noticeable, and they will piss you off here and there. If you want a 3D platformer, this is one of the better ones. Just be prepared to spend most of your time looking for things, instead of having fun killing them. —Kraig Kujawa Remember that mound of poop I was talk- ing about earlier (above)? Here's the damsel in distress you must save (left). Box Score On the Sherlock Holmes level, you must use your magnifying glass to find places where you can play minigames (above). The crocodile is just one of many animals and vehicles you can ride (left). "Any game * Tons of levels that can make * Lots of secrets me laugh at * Nice graphics something other than * Enemy combat is pretty horrible shallow gameplay * Gex's comments get deserves at repetitive least some * Plenty of camera problems Se credit. Magazine, 0000.) Rating Official U.S. EWEN Cog [roses 8) May 1999 Reviews The final word—official and unbiased acer Type RA: Rid zt 1or2 Players pea Memory Card 1 block ‘Analog Controller ‘Compatible Vibration Function Compatible Namco Namco a PlayStation! + Racing e PlayStation s one of the few initial launch titles for the PlayStation, the original Ridge Racer stood out as both a technical feat and a great-playing game. Even with that first game for the sys- tem, Namco managed to squeeze more power out of the PlayStation than any other developer and set a standard against which other racing games would be judged. Now, almost four years and countless imitations later, Namco continues that same domi- nance with their fourth Ridge Racing game, R4. If you thought Gran Turismo was the best-looking PlayStation racing game, you would have been right—until now. With tons of scenery lining the tracks, no pop-up on the horizon, a smooth, constant 30 fps frame-rate, and none of the little white lines and other graphical glitch- es that plagued earlier Ridge Racer games, R4 is a technical marvel. But more than that, the game is drop-dead gorgeous. From the huge office buildings and bridges of the city courses to smooth rolling hills and cottages in the countryside, R4 is visually exhilarating, making you feel that you're actually behind the wheel better than any other PS racer so far. Incredible lighting effects, like a sunset illuminating the road and other cars as well as streaking taillights, help lend the game a feeling of speed and style like no other. This game has been polished down to the smallest details. Like previous games in the series, R4 features two very different styles of cars for you to control—grip and drift. Grip cars hug the road and force you to wind your way carefully through turns, while drift vehicles swerve and skid sideways, letting you corner sharply at top speeds. Unlike the earlier games, however, it's not nearly as difficult to control your car and outrun the computer opponents. In previous Ridge Racers, powerslides were difficult to execute properly, and harsh penalties for bumping the side of the track or other cars (which were controlled by an almost flawless AI at later levels) made the courses hard for players Directional dativos: Sect | Cutten:0X. | Button: — The split-screen two-player mode (up to four players using the link cable) is the best new addition to R4. to finish, let alone master. This difficulty level and tough competition kept the player racing even though there were only a couple of differ- ent tracks to choose from. R4 eases up on this philosophy with both good and bad results. The good news is, there are now more totally unique courses than ever before (four, with two variations each), and powerslides are easy enough to perform that almost anyone can pull them off (although mastering them is still another story). Novice play- ers will also appreciate the fact that they can make a few mistakes in each race and still finish well enough to go on to the next. The bad news is that this ultimately makes for a much easier, and shorter, game overall. After a few days spent getting used to the con- trols and courses, it isn't very tough to beat the computer opponents even on the expert level Grand Prix circuit. R4 tries to keep your inter- est with a huge number of different and secret cars you can earn (321 in all), but that payoff just isn't enough to motivate real long-term replay. Faster computer cars to keep the challenge level high as the player becomes experienced would have worked far better. * More tracks and cars than Included with R4 is an extra bonus CD containing movies of past Namco PlayStation releases (and some footage of the upcoming Ace Combat 3), as well as the entire playable Ridge Racer game and a new Turbo version (above), which runs at an incredible 60 frames a second! What R4 does have that somewhat makes up for this loss in replay value is a split-screen two-player mode. Playing against a friend is always more fun than racing with faceless computer drones, and as the first RR game to feature a same-screen versus mode, R4 does an excellent job. The graphic details remains high, and best of all the frame-rate doesn't seem to suffer one bit. The few of you who can use a link cable will also be happy to know that it is supported in R4, allowing up to four people to play at once. At its heart, R4 is still pure Ridge Racer—solid controls, unbelievable graphics and fast-paced arcade-style gameplay. Although softening the difficulty and learning curve may have hurt its long-term value (especially for more experienced players), this is still one wild ride that shouldn't be missed by racing fans—and their friends. —Mark MacDonald Box Scor “At its heart, Outside of their legacy for making great PlayStation games, Namco has also built a reputation as the makers of some of the finest peripherals available for the plat- form; their NegCon and GunCon are still the best racing and shooting controllers on the market. Now gamers have the option of buying Namco's latest creation with R4, the ever before * Incredible graphics * Split-screen multiplayer R4 is still pure Ridge Racer— solid controls, support unbelievable graphics and * Computer opponents are fast-paced too easy d l * Earning all the different cars | arcade-style is more trouble than it's gameplay. worth JogCon. The JogCon is basically a standard controller with a large rotating disc in the middle that provides realistic feedback and resistance, like an actual car steering wheel. A neat trick, but even after you adjust to using it, the JogCon never feels as smooth or as natural as its older brother, the NegCon. My advice is to buy the JogCon package only if you don't have a NegCon and do have the extra money to spend. It's a fun little diversion, but not useful enough that you can't race without it. Reviews The final word—official and unbiased 10r2 Players Memory Card 1 block FY Analog Control S| Compatible Vibration Function Compatible Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Racing NFS: High Stakes PlayStation fthere's one thing I've learned in the past few years, it's that as long as new cars keep rolling out every year, there will be a new Need For Speed game to follow. Need For Speed III was a great racing game, and I really didn't think EA could possibly find more things to pack into a sequel, but indeed they have—and Need For Speed: High Stakes came out pretty damn well. The big improvements in this year's sequel are the various risk/reward elements that include the risk of losing your car in a pink slip (if you beat your friend, you get his car saved onto your memory card!) and the necessity of repairing car damage. I like both of these new features, as they force me to drive honest when I'm playing in those new modes. Honest? Well, one of the things I would always do the minute I'd boot up a new NFS game is start ramming my expen- Sive car into oncoming traffic. Now, the game makes me pay for my sick fetishes. But don't fret too much if you're like me—there's plenty of plain-vanilla test-driving modes that let you turn the interstate into a death trap without any worries. NFS also has a ton of cool new tournaments that segregate car types. One might be a Corvette-only race, while another might only let you race upgraded BMWs. Yes, upgrades. Not satisfied with the obscene horsepower in your new supercar? Well, now you can make it even more obscene, provided you have enough cash winnings to add consid- erably more pep to your pickup. But be careful—make your car too fast and the highly detailed tracks become nothing but a passing blur. The only minor problem with Need For Speed: High Stakes is the jit- tery frame-rate during the game's Hot Pursuit Mode (where cops madly chase you around). The rest of the game is very smooth, but when it comes to this play mode, there are some problems here and there. Still, it's a really minor flaw in the grand scope of things, and in no way should deter you from picking up this fun and well-round- ed game. —Kraig Kujawa © car select RAC AUD 0.0/0.0 SLC499 Go to different dealerships and find a car that fits your style and pocketbook (above). The Hot Pursuit Mode pits you against a pack of very irritated cops (left). Box Scor “As long as new cars keep rolling out every year, there will be a new Need For Speed game to follow." * Tons of modes * Excellent gameplay * Lots of cars * Jittery frame-rate in Hot Pursuit Mode BMW MS 275400 at Magazine, 60000 Rating Reviews The final word—official and unbiased Namco Namco Action oint Blank tor2 Players Memory Card 1 block sk any 10-year-old, hunting enthusiast or psychotic killer difficulty settings, you won't be getting tired of this game anytime and they'll all agree: Shooting things is fun. That's the soon. Its simple theme and ability to handle up to eight players (not all overall idea behind the Point Blank series—quick thinking, at once, of course—two at a time) also make Point Blank 2 a perfect fast reflexes and simple fun. This isn't a game that will party game, even for beginners and non-gamers. mee your problem-solving skills or make you think differently So what problems does PB2 have? The way the game scores in multi- about the world. Point Blank 2 is basically just a huge collection of vari- player could be balanced better, and a few of PB2's 70 games could ous shooting-gallery minigames, but it's packed with enough ingenu- be improved—there are some unfair tricks and cheats to some of them ity, humor and variety to make it worthwhile for any GunCon owner. that can spoil a multiplayer game. The one major complaint most people have with gun games is they Whether or not you'll like Point Blank 2 comes down to a simple never seem to last. Once you know exactly where and when every ski- question of what you're looking for in a light-gun game. If you're look- masked villain or duck is going to pop out, it’s just not challenging ing for impressive graphics, innov- anymore. Point Blank 2 avoids this problem with the sheer number of ative gameplay or a deep, serious different games it has (more than 70 in all) and by including random game, look elsewhere; if you just elements in almost all of them. want to have fun and a laugh or Even more variety can be found in the various game modes in PB2. two shootin’ stuff, look for Point With Practice, Arcade, Endurance, Theme Park and three different Blank 2. versus modes (Tournament, Team Battle and Turf War), plus four —Mark MacDonald napped princess. Simple and addictive Two-player game almost anyone can enjoy Large variety of different games, play modes, and options Really need two GunCons to fully enjoy it Many of the games are basically the same The Practice Mode introduces new players to the basic rules of the different games and even charts their progress as they improve. For an added twist to the one-player game, Point Blank 2 includes the new Theme Park Mode. You have to complete four challenges (the haunted house maze is pictured above) and survive numerous minigames to gather clues and eventually save the kid- Box Scor “If you just want to have fun and a laugh or two shootin’ stuff, check out Point Blank 2.” Reviews The final word—official and unbiased J| 1or2 Players. za -|Memory Card =| 9-12 blocks Analog Control | Cog. Compatible EA Sports Electronic Arts Sports May 1999 Official U.S GIEMSLEM Tyg) (iasazine( R) Triple Play 200 PlayStation have always said that if EA could ever find a way to improve the frame-rate and game speed in Triple Play, they would have an excellent PlayStation baseball game on their hands. Lo and behold, after years of messing around, they've finally done just that. Triple Play 2000 might come as a shock to those who are used to the previous clunky versions of the series. The game has been redesigned with simplicity in mind, making gaudy menus and complex controls a thing of the past. The game is much more intuitive now, at the expense of very little. The only item I wish they hadn't removed are the useful team categorical rankings (offense, defense, overall) at the team selection screen. But I suppose if you have a favorite team, those don't matter too much anyway. What matters most, however, is the tremendously improved game- play. Everything happens at a feverish pace (relative to baseball) in Triple Play, but the beauty of it is that the game's realism isn't harmed in the process. For example, the batting is very fun and has an arcade ——ereate-player en PEYE Ist Base [3 Poop The scouts said our five-foot, 300 Ib Ist baseman would never make the big leagues, but he defied the naysayers to make it into the pros (above). feel to it, but is still quite precise and realistic if you play on a higher difficulty level. Once the ball is out of the batter's box, the frame-rate is excellent as you move your players around to make a play. One particular thing that struck me is Triple Play's mastery of the “Tv-style presentation.” The way the cameras track a ball as it's launched out of the park or simply follow a bloop single into the out- field is the best I’ve seen in any baseball game. It gives TP2000 a flair for the dramatic, something that might be a little overemphasized when coupled with the Fox-esque light trails that shine behind every ball that’s hit or thrown. There aren't many weaknesses at all in Triple Play 2000—the atmos- the best I've seen in a PlayStation baseball game. And you can even pick it up right on Opening Day. —Kraig Kujawa Various fielding aides pop up to help you quickly chase down those hard-hit balls (above). Box Scor x “Triple Play Great game pace ) * Fast frame-rate 2000 might * Lots of options and come as a features shock to those Excellent atmosphere SUME k who are used to the previ- * The different Home Run ous, A Derby is bizarre versions oft e cance * Light trails should be series. able to be turned off Official US. Play Reviews The final word—official and unbiased ) 1 J| Player | Memory Card 1 block F| Analog Control PlayStation! è Sunsoft Compatible Sunsoft Vibration Function Adventure Compatible esident Evil meets sci-fi Die Hard—if you had to sum up T.R.A.G. in 10 words or less, that would just about cover it. Unfortunately, comparing it with that classic Capcom hor- ror title and excellent action movie might give you unrealis- tic expectations; T.R.A.G. (Tactical Rescue Assault Group, in case you were wondering) isn't a terrible game, it's just terribly average. The year is 2046, and terrorists have taken over the hi-rise headquar- ters of Machinery Gear, Inc., a major player in aerospace and weapons development. You start the game as two SWAT team members who sneak into the building to rescue hostages and find out what the ter- rorists are after. Told through real-time and prerendered cutscenes, T.R.A.G.'s story and setting are interesting, but it's not enough to really suck the player in. Some awkward dialogue ("People who lie really get up my nose.") and uneven voice-acting doesn't help matters. Gameplay is mostly standard adventure-game fare: You battle through enemies, find items and solve puzzles to progress. One idea T.R.A.G. adds to the mix is allowing the player to switch between four As you explore the Togusa office building you'll need to avoid the building's automated security forces as well as the invading terrorists. characters at any time, each with different weapons and varying speed and power. Some parts of the game even have you split into two sepa- rate teams, exploring different sections of the building at the same time. An interesting idea, but T.R.A.G. never really develops it, and only rarely does it matter which character you are playing with. Another area that could have used more attention is T.R.A.G.'s con- trols. Despite a good number of different moves, with special attacks, combos, backflips and more, turning and maneuvering precisely in T.R.A.G. is difficult. Most of the enemies are ridiculously easy to kill anyway, but when trying to fight bosses and dodge some of the booby traps you really start to wish the controls had been handled better. In the end, it's hard to really love or hate T.R.A.G; it meets all of my minimum expectations but rarely exceeds any. —Mark MacDonald E d Time to kiek some butt! Like Resident Evil, T.R.A.G.’s story is told through both real-time and prerendered cutscenes. Unfortunately also like Resident Evil, the voice-acting is often laughable. Box Sco * Interesting premise * Four playable characters to switch between Some good puzzles “In the end it's really hard to love or hate TR.A.G; it meets all of my minimum expectations but rarely exceeds any." * Controls need improve- ment Dialogue and voice-acting doesn't let you take the game seriously Average graphics with occasional slowdown o00 . GES Reviews The final word—official and unbiased Sunsoft E Player Sunsoft Monster Seed Official U.s GEMS ELOI [ieszrine( R) May 1999 PlayStation here's nothing quite like the tried-and-true story of a young man raising assorted monsters in order to save his land from evil. It reminds me of my youth, when I would gather local insects and battle them against other bugs. Of course I wasn't saving any land, and perhaps the only evil was my meddling with the littlest of God's creatures, but you get my drift. As with most monster raising games, you'll go through a great deal of trial and error with your creatures and spend a considerable amount of time building them up before you can advance. This is usually half the fun of this genre, but the pacing and odd dialogue in Monster Seed make for a grueling and mind-numbing experience. I really can't say enough about the awful dialogue in this game. It usually make no sense at all and oftentimes contradicts what the character or creature had said earlier. It's somewhat excusable for a strict monster raising title, but you can imagine how much it hurts an RPG. The music, though, is good enough that it doesn't annoy you—except during very long mon- ster encounters, which will have you reaching for the volume nob. The monster designs range from interesting to just plain ugly. Oh Pikachu, where are you, my friend? On the bright side, hatching the eggs is quite fun, and the ability to mix solutions to influence the strengths of the final product is pretty cool. The option to buy pre-hatched monsters is also very helpful since they'll be your most powerful fighters until your newer hatchlings gain more experience. The diversity of monsters is great—they can even have different characteristics within the same species. You'll rapidly learn which personality types work best for your team, so you can quickly sell monsters that didn't "come out right." Monster-raising is such a specialized genre that the only comparable titles are Monster Rancher and Dragonseeds. MS blows away Dragon- seeds but doesn't come close to Monster Rancher. It's not even in the ballpark when compared with strict RPGs like Final Fantasy VII or Legaia. This is a game for fans of monster raising only. —Wataru Maruyama Most of your monsters can perform magic attacks...when they feel like it. And that's only when they want to attack at all. Try to dump monsters with selfish personalities. ox Score * Not bad for monster raising fans “It blows * Lots of creatures away * A long game Dragonseeds but doesn't * Unsatisfying as a hybrid come close to RPG * Horrible dialogue Monet * Barebones story * Average character designs Reviews The final word—official and unbiased 4or2 Players Memory Card 1 block ~ ‘Analog Control 3DO oU» Compatible 3 DO Vibration Function Action Compatible PlayStation ike many other PlayStation adaptations of PC titles, Army Men 3D is a seriously simplified action-game version of a strategy-oriented title. This being the case, and having seen the game in its early stages, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. I'm happy to report that Army Men 3D left me pleasantly surprised. In bringing the game to the console market, 3DO severely narrowed the focus of the original Army Men, shifting it from large-scale strategy to single-unit mission-based play. Thankfully, in doing so they didn't lose sight of the original goal: to remind us why we enjoyed “playing war” when we were kids. Your character (with the mind-bogglingly generic name of "Sarge") is in most missions a lone soldier struggling against tremendous odds. And these aren't throwaway Rambo enemies; these guys are equipped with the same weapons you are, and can put an end to your little crusade real quick. This forces you to think and move strategically, rolling out of cover to squeeze off a few shots and then diving for the nearest foxhole. It's surprisingly entertaining. Also amusing is the ability to drive different vehicles, including a giant tank in which you can go one-on-one against an enemy tank, Combat-style. All this is driven by a fairly solid engine. Although the frame-rate can be a bit shaky when a lot of enemies are on screen (and in two-player mode the game is almost unplayable), Army Men generally runs at a surprising 60 frames per second. Unfortunately, the game as a whole feels as if it were rushed out the door—or perhaps thrown from a drop plane without a 'chute. Spotty controls, whacked camera angles, flat or nonexistent sound effects, lots of serious pop-up and a general graphical blandness give the game an unfinished feel. That's too bad, because a little extra effort spent on polishing the product could have upgraded it from a good rental choice to a good purchase choice. Nevertheless, it's still worth a look. —Joe Rybicki The game begins with an entertaining spoof of old propaganda films (above), keeping the citizens up to date on the whereabouts of the evil Tan empire. Box Sco Not only can you take control of one of four differ- ent vehicles, but you can also control the vehicle’s weaponry (above), which is perfect for traveling a long distance quickly—and in one piece. * The game retains a lot of “A little extra strategic elements effort spent * Surprisingly fast engine on polishing * Solid challenge * Tank battles!” GS puectuss could have upgraded it * Spotty controls fromiacood * Some bad camera angles I F : * Lots of pop-up and other rental choice graphic errors to a good * Weak sound effects purchase choice." Reviews The final word—official and unbiased Publisher NewKidCo Genre Puzzle Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy Say hello to the PlayStation’s cutest game NEXT WORLD Y uddenly, Hello Kitty realizes she is. wearing her school uniform. Developer Culture Pub. nce again proving that it's really tough to make a great kid game, Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy is an unusual mix. The O game claims to be aimed at girls six to 13 years old, and this target audience (the low end, anyway) is evident in the ultra-cute, ultra-simplistic Picture Book, which traces Kitty's adventures, joining the different costumes and locales into an only semicoherent story. But the game itself seems (to this 20-something male reviewer, anyway) to be far too complex for even the average 13-year-old. A convoluted rule scheme makes it extremely hard to predict the results of your block placement. This wouldn't be a problem if you didn't have to arrange the blocks so carefully, but you can't just drop blocks at random and expect The Picture Book (above left) assembles itself as Kitty progresses through all the game's possible story choices. to get anywhere; you need to carefully maneuver Kitty around the board to pick up all the items. The good news is that for an older crowd—or at least for those of us who can put up with the excessive cuteness—this is a reasonably enter- taining puzzle game and a new take on the falling-block concept, espe- cially in two-player mode. It's worth a rental. Developer Pitbull Syndicate Publisher Accolade —Joe Rybicki May 1999 Expect to get into plenty of scrapes when more than one other character appears onscreen (right), since the frame-rate will drop to somewhere around negative three. Official U.S. PlayStation Mmagazine( 88) Pros Cons * Extensive board | è Sluggish and clothing controls licenses * Inconsistent * Challenging physics trick system * Shoddy graphics * Tired genre OCOLO Pros Cons e Interesting take | ¢ Probably too on falling-block challenging games for its target * It’s just too audience cute! * It's just too cute 60000 Big Air Big frustration ou know what I really don’t like about the PlayStation con- troller? The way the handles are set up, it would be all too easy to grab each one, twist in opposite directions and tear the whole damned thing in half. And when it comes to games like Big Air, the possibility is almost too tempting to resist. It's not the glitchy, clunky graphics that make this game so frustrating. It's not the awful soundtrack (usually the one thing that can be counted on to be really above-average in most "extreme sports" games), or the baffling slowdown that sets in seemingly at random. It's not even the fact that Big Air is YET ANOTHER snowboarding game in a genre that's man- aged to produce few superlative titles. No, the problem is the control. See, Big Air not only suffers from the most ridiculously sluggish controls in the genre, but mixes these nasty controls with incomprehensible game physics—and it's a deadly combi- nation. Why is it that it's sometimes possible to land a jump when you're tilted at a 45-degree angle, but other times impossible to land a jump straight up onto level ground? Argh! Only those who can appreciate the extensive board and clothing licenses need apply. —Joe Rybicki Reviews The final word—official and unbiased OT ter2 (| Players A Memory Card 1 block Shanghai: True Valor hanghai is best described as a mixture of solitaire and memo- ry with some of the trappings of mahjong. That may sound confusing, but the important thing is that it's one of those games that's easy to learn and hard to master. Don't let the mahjong tiles with Chinese writing scare you away. A vital part of any Shanghai title is a game's ability to serve up unique tile placements every time, which is a sure sign the engine behind the game is solid. True Valor achieves this (50 games and I swear no two have repeated yet). There's the standard Classic Mode along with several varia- You can play with the Chinese Kanji charac- ters or change them to the alphabet or household items. I suggest you stick with the Kanji and learn something for a change. Box Score tions to round out the package, with my favorite being the Battle Mode, * Challenging * Dull music in which you pick one of several ancient Chinese warlords and throw * Endless hours * Just a few play down Shanghai style. In this mode, certain tile combinations can be used of gameplay modes ; P ; : * Neat special as weapons against your opponent, like creating a fire attack that makes Gia it impossible for your foe to create combinations until the effect wears off. In a game where you sit for long periods of time matching tiles, you really need some catchy tunes to either pump you up or relax you in that Eastern sort of way—and here True Valor comes up a bit short. Overall, a very nice distraction, but it lacks ambition. —Wataru Maruyama OPM Rating OQ 1or2 Players LZ [Memory Card Cot) 4 block Vibration Function Compatible Magneta Soft. Psygnosis ji Ua a ARIES Eliminator n a roundabout sort of way, Eliminator is like the classic arcade game Smash TV. You fly about from room to room, not allowed to move to the next room until you've cleared the current one of enemies. The magical thing about Smash TV is that somehow it never got boring—a magic that Eliminator clearly lacks. Everything about this game—from the graphics to the gameplay and, oh lord, especially the horrific sound—feels like an amateurish effort. The The two-player mode is the best thing about the game, but it gets pretty boring a little too quickly (above). ox Scor EUMANN * Bad graphics aesthetics of each level are as grainy and dull as the one before it, and * Hmmmmmm © Bad sound many of the end bosses are exactly the same, save a few different colored * Hmmm * Bad gameplay textures here and there. The regular enemies are even less impressive, * OK, the usuelly consisting of very low numbers of polygons and looking like the two-player most rudimentary of shapes. This game resembles a first-generation nomble PlayStation game, and makes no bones about it. But worst of all are the sounds, which are a collection of some of the most annoying bleeps and bloops imaginable. With better aesthetics and sound, Eliminator might have been salvage- able, but as it stands now, it's just an utter waste. —Kraig Kujawa OPM Rating Official U.S. GEMS CUO] [rosae 8) May 1999 Review Recap The final word—official and unbiased Brave Fencer Musashi Square ventures out of the cozy turn-based confines of the traditional RPG and ends up with a fine action/RPG, with the emphasis on action. Young Musashi has at his command a wide range of moves that he learns by defeating his enemies. The game can feel a bit linear at points, but the good graphics, excel- lent control, and variety of action, puzzles and minigames make Brave Fencer well worth a look. OPM Rating (O6 960 Civilization Il This is a rare thing in the world of PC-to-PlayStation ports: a completely faithful translation of an incredibly complex game. Civ II has everything strategy fans could ask for, allowing players to manage every facet of an entire civi- lization. Whether your goal is technological supremacy or simply global domination, you'll find plenty to whet your appetite for power. OPM Rating ©OOOO Contender In contrast to Knockout Kings’ statistic-heavy simulation, Contender is a genuinely fun boxing game that takes cues from classics like Punch-Out! and Ring King. Sure, the baloony characters may look a bit goofy, but no one ever said boxers are supposed to be attractive. OPM Rating @©OOOO Crash Bandicoot: WARPED The third time's the charm for Naughty Dog's immensely popular marsupial. The latest game includes some much- needed variety in the form of widely different areas and gameplay mechanics, as well as graphics that are simply without peer. OPM Rating FIFA 99 It's amazing what a difference a year can make. This time around EA gets their act together to put out their best soccer game ever. In-depth features, improved graphics and phenomenal multiplay make it the soccer game to beat. OPM Rating ©OOOO A roundup of the most notable games of recent months Guardian's Crusade Although Activision's new RPG has a lot of great ideas (like the ability to train your little porcine sidekick, Baby), it fails to truly exploit any of them, resulting in a game that offers the illusion of depth but doesn't deliver. The entertaining char- acters and dialogue are dulled by the too-simple graphics and the short play time. Not bad, but not great by any means. OPM Rating @OOOO Madden NFL 99 Simply the deepest, most real- istic NFL football game on the PlayStation. No, it may not have the graphical punch of its major competitor, but it's got the stuff where it counts. This excellent pigskin simulation is the ideal choice for the die-hard football fan. OPM Rating @OOOO Metal Gear Solid Some have said that this game doesn't live up to its prerelease hype because it's just too short. We say the game is so packed with extras, secrets and "holy-crap-that's-cool" innovations that the 10- to 15-hour completion time doesn't hurt it enough to matter. The story is wonderfully engrossing, the graphical style topnotch, and the voice-overs are the best yet. It was our Game of the Year for a reason. ] S Fa Ed z FJ a You need to own this true classic. orm rating (86008) NBA Live 99 EA's newest installment in the Live series sports AI improved from the previous version, loads of options and features, and improved graphics that actually show the players’ emotions through an almost creepy use of facial expressions. The frame-rate could use some work, though, and because of the NBA lockout, the rosters are woefully out of date. Still, it's one of the best b-ball games yet. OPM Rating @OOOO NCAA Football 99 A development team all its own has made NCAA 99 one hell of a college football game. Excellently challenging AI, loads of options and great polygonal graphics make this one a winner on all counts. And although its frame-rate could use a boost, EA's 32-bit football games have always been about realism over action. Nice job! OPM Rating @OOOO© NFL Blitz "Oh, that HAD to hurt!” To everyone's surprise, the console version actually more than does justice to Midway's arcade hit. Throw in Dual Shock support and Tournament and Season modes and you've recap pick of the month Legend of Legaia SCEN's newest RPG is a solid, entertaining game that punches a lot of classic RPG buttons while rarely sliding into cliché. The com- bat engine employs interesting hand-to-hand and magic systems: For hand-to-hand attacks, each character has a set number of slots with which players can create custom attacks, planning out each strike. The magic system is also unusual, requiring characters to dispatch magical enemies and absorb their powers for even the most basic spells. Where Legaia really shines are in the writing and char- acter development. Both are exceptional, with the writing being especially surprising given the translation problems | that tend to plague native Japanese RPGs. hs While the too-frequent (and too-lengthy) random battles can be frustrating, Legaia should offer a satisfying quest for any RPG fan. PlayStation} got one excellent port on your hands. Fast, addictive, brutal and just plain fun. OPM Rating NHL 99 In an unfortunate example of why you shouldn't try to fix something that ain't broken, EA made some changes to thei stunning NHL 98 engine and ended up with a slower, choppier game than last year's version. The inclusion of some new coach- ing strategies, a shot power meter and the Coaching Drill Mode almost compensates for its flaws—but not quite; last year’s is still better. OPM Rating @©OOOO Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus The loveable Abe returns in what amounts to little more than a collection of new levels to add to the excellent Abe's Oddysee. Further variety in environments helps differentiate between the games, however, as does the ability to possess more creatures, the increased GameSpeak vocabulary and the vector of Mudokon emotions. The much-needed Quiksave eliminates the pesky checkpoints of the previous game. An all-around topnotch title. OPM Rating @©OOOO© Rollcage Psygnosis' insane racer features indestructible vehicles in a world where gravity don’t mean jack. It's an extremely entertaining racing experience (especially in two-player mode), marred only by the unbalanced levels of challenge, too-short tracks and occasional graphics glitches. OPM Rating ©OOOO Silent Hill When Konami decides to do a horror adventure in the vein of Resident Evil, they don’t mess around: Silent Hill is perhaps the most disturbing game on the PlayStation. Although the controls could have used a lot of work, the creepy story, multiple endings and assortment of extras make the game worthwhile. Buy it for the sheer atmos- phere and you'll find yourself leaving a light on at night. Not for the faint of heart. OPM Rating (©0000 Street Sk8er The PlayStation's first dedicat- ed skateboarding game leaves quite a bit to be desired. Although EA manages to come PYN through on most elements of skater atmosphere, the trick system is far too simplistic and the game in general simply isn't challenging enough to warrant more than a rental. Great soundtrack, though. OPM Rating (OG OO Syphon Filter This game of high-tech espi- onage has drawn more than a few comparisons with Metal E Gear Solid, but stands easily on a its own merits. Although the game suffers from minor graphics and control issues, these pale in comparison to the imagina- tive level design and spectacular AI. A good bet for those seeking a thinking man's action game. OPM Rating (OO OO Tomb Raider III It's frustrating that two full years after the original title this game still looks and plays fun- damentally the same. What was Py revolutionary back then is get- Mi ting a bit tired. Still, this episode features the most realistic levels yet, most notably the city levels (light years ahead of the Venice levels of the previous game). But the controls are irritat- ing, the levels are very unbalanced, and the game is loaded with bugs. Patience will pay off with this one, and you'll need a lot of it. OPM Rating OOOOO Twisted Metal Ill Without SingleTrac at the helm of this beloved franchise, the game is far less imaginative than the previous versions. If you can't stand being without the familiar characters, this is for you. Otherwise, V8 and Rogue Trip are much more entertaining. OPM Rating (OO COO. re z Ei 8 2 [3 = a Vigilante 8 This game of vehicular combat | takes the formula set forth by f Twisted Metal and runs with it. Gigantic, realistic environments are the arenas, funky ‘70s char- E acters are your enemies, and your vehicles range from a school bus to a (hidden) alien spacecraft. The powerful engine even allows huge craters to be blown in the ground. It’s a blast! OPM Rating @©OOOO WCW/nWo Thunder This is the unfortunate result of all the faction-and-alliance melodrama that's made wrestling so popular of late. Thunder includes lots of treats for the die-hard fan, but fails to deliver anything resembling fun. Bad AI, horrible controls and a useless camera make this one for avid fans only. OPM Rating (OO OOO K PlayStation} Xenogears Square proves they still got it with an immense RPG with an entirely unique engine and loads of other innovations. A great story, a necessity for any good RPG, is complemented by great graphics. A worthwhile experience for any RPG-er! OPM Rating (OO 9C Ratings at a Glance Ace Combat 2 Activision Classics Batman & Robin Blasto Breath of Fire III C: Contra Adventure Castlevania: SotN Col. Wars: Vengeance Crash Bandicoot 2 Dead or Alive Final Fantasy VII Forsaken G.Darius Gex: Enter the Gecko Gran Turismo Heart of Darkness Hot Shots Golf Judge Dredd Kartia The Lost World: JP Micro Machines MLB 99 Mortal Kombat 4 NBA Shoot Out 98 Need For Speed III NFL GameDay 99 NFL Xtreme OW: Abe's Oddysee Parasite Eve Pitfall 3D Point Blank Rogue Trip Rugrats SaGa Frontier San Francisco Rush Soul Blade Spyro the Dragon Tekken 3 Tomb Raider Tomb Raider II Tomba! Triple Play 99 ©0000 ©0000 Q@0O00O0 ©0000 ©0000 OO©OO0O ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 0000€ ©0000 00000 ©0000 ©0000 00000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 @0O000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 00000 ©0000 00000 00000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 ©0000 @0©0O0 Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine! Strategy Acquiring new spells can become quite time-consuming. You may need to fight an enemy several times before you actually absorb its attack into your Ra-Seru. The key thing to remember when you are trying to obtain the new spells is to not use magic. Killing a creature with hand-to-hand combat is the only way to receive the new Seru powers. The game rewards you for using magic, even though it is pretty time-consuming. After so many uses with a specific magic spell, its level will increase. There are a total of nine levels any one Seru can raise. As your spells increase in their levels, they will gain extra effects. For example, when you use Vera [Light] a lot, eventually it will begin to cure more than just your health. It will begin to remove rot and numb plus poisons. The more attack-oriented spells will do extra effects as well. This takes a lot of time, though, and should only be done when you are not pushing forward in the game. Try to do this in areas where you can rest for free, like at the spring west of Rim Elm. COMBO SYSTEM The enemies you face will sometimes be weaker in the upper areas of their bodies rather than the lower. Some may also be floating or flying creatures. In those cases, any attack directed at the lower area will definitely miss. Just look at the enemies with a little common sense and plan your attacks accordingly. The best way to find new techniques is to just experiment. There are a pretty good amount available for each charac- ter. If you really want to know the combos for each, there are complete lists of each character's combinations. Keep in mind that equipping certain weapons on certain charac- ters may change the number of different commands that can be entered. egaia is a vast world, requiring a great deal of exploring, as all self- respecting RPGs do. The hero, Vahn, must save the world from devastation using the mystical powers of the Ra-Seru. The following walk-through has been bro- ken down into the main events in the TM story line. Included to aid you on your journey is a comprehensive moves list for all three characters. To top it all off, you will find a list of game secrets, hints to the various minigames and locations of the hidden Ra-Seru powers. Now, prepare to delve into the mon- ster-strewn world of Legaia. * The beginning of your adventure. There is not too much to do here, so walk around and talk to everyone. Be sure to speak to Tetsu on the southern beach. He will teach you the basics of fighting and combos. * Soon after you start resting, you will be awakened by a banging sound coming from the outer wall. Before you examine the wall's gate, use the memory statue to save. There will be several battles to fight soon, which can be a little challenging at the start. * When the battles start, head quickly over to Mei's home. Take her with you to your home and then head to the Genesis Tree in the cen- ter of town. Touch the tree and then accept the Ra-Seru. Head back to Vahn's house and talk to your father. * This is a great place to stop and replenish your health and magic for free. You should use this place as much as possible in the beginning to build some levels. * All the people in the kingdom have locked themselves in cages to prevent the Seru that are controlling them from doing much harm. * You will have to find a key for each door you get to. The keys for these doors will always be in the immediate area. Your ultimate destination is Mt. Rikorouku. Don't be afraid to travel back to the Fresh Spring to recover lost health or magic. * The forest itself is not too hard for a party of three—just be sure to have a good supply of Healing Leaves. You will need to find the Weed Hammer in order to get all the treasures and get to the end of the forest. The hammer can be found in a treasure chest on the east side of the East Forest. * At the end of the forest you will face a pair of bosses. They are not too difficult and should be easy to confuse with Nighto. * After heading up the last set of stairs in Drake Kingdom, you will switch to Noa. Use her early training battles to get used to her. She will be your fastest fighter. * After following the story you will get to run through the mountain a little. Be sure to check in all the little nooks and crannies to acquire some useful healing items. Also in the beginning areas, try to take advantage of the wolf as much as possible, since when you are defeated in a battle she will revive you for free. * Once you get to the top the game will switch back to Vahn and you will have a short run up. Save before you head to the top, because a somewhat tough battle will shortly follow. * The monastery is where all Biron monks come from. Here you can learn a few new techniques (one for each character) and meet your future rival. To get to the next Genesis Tree you will have to talk to Zupo, the head monk. He will give you access to the East Forest and give you Gala as another party member. Gala will be pretty weak, and you will have to baby him throughout the forest. * This is the source of all the mist. It is a pretty easy dun- geon with some moderately difficult enemies. There are two save points inside the place, so don't be too afraid of losing your progress. * Here you will have to battle Songi in a one-on- one with Gala, so be sure to have him prepared with the Vera Seru beforehand. Once you put Songi down you will have to continue down- stairs and take on Zeto. Zeto uses a big wave attack that damages the whole party for a lot of hit points, but he must charge it one round beforehand. When he does charge it, be sure to use Spirit for the next round, or you will take a lot of damage. Keep your party healed and con- tinue to dish out damage to take him out. * When you enter Jeremi you will notice that the whole town is filled with Seru-controlled citizens. You can talk to them and they won't attack you. But for the most part, try to examine the houses scattered throughout the town and collect as much treasure as you can before heading to the center-north- ern building. * In this building you will get access to the Sky Garden. This is a somewhat simple area with a little treasure - Rim Elm - Fresh Spring - Drake Kingdom - Mt. Rikuroa - Biron Monastery - East Voz Forest - West Voz Forest - Zeto’s Dungeon - Ancient Water Cave - Jeremi - Vidna - Octam - Gate of Shadows - Dohati's Castle - Ratayu - Mt. Letona - Karisto Station - Buma - Nivora Ravine - Usha Research Center - Uru Mais - Mt. Dhini - Soren Camp - Conkram - Jette's Fortress Spirit up when Zeto uses the Call Wave. The next turn you will receive much less damage when the Big Wave hits. scattered around. One piece of advice to find all the treasure here is to be sure to enter every elevator. When you reach the top, go through the maze and enter into battle with the Seru chomping on the Genesis Tree. * This boss is pretty tough because he can—and will—dish out an enormous amount of damage. Try to use big Spirit-charged combos and high- level magic. Make sure to designate at least one fight- er as your healer. Strategy A EY NOV k Super Arts t Miracle Arts Basic Arts > eERERDY€& Vahn's Craze € « Rolling Combo 3 Tri-Somersault b. Maximum Blow Fire Tackle Power Slash Burning Flare Fire Blow Tornado Flame Cyclone Hurricane PK Combo 3 € Spin Combo W-Upper Cross-Kick Power Punch Slash Kick Somersault Tackle Crush Hyper Elbow * This town is located north of Jeremi and is free of the Mist. Here you will meet Zalan's son and also get some hints on where to go next. From here you can go back to Jeremi and deliver the item to Zalan or head north and east to Octam. If you return the trinket to Zalan, you will receive Zalan's Crown in return. Once you're done, head to Octam. * Explore the town. There are a few things here and there you can pick up, but the main clue is in the east house. In the cup- board you will find a note giving a clue as to what happened to the people. Official U.s. PlayStation (iazezine( ] May 1999 CON N PPreay «44423 PF 4 Po * Once you finish, head to the center door and go down to the lowest level. Read all the books and another staircase will appear. You will then learn that you must go back to Jeremi and collect the Star Pearl from Zalan. Once you do that, head to the Shadow Gate. * To activate the correct sequence in the gate, remember the hints given back in Octam. In case you forgot here they are: North Gate, the Key is Earth. East Gate, the Key is Wind. South Gate, the Key is Water. West Gate, the Key is Fire. * When you enter into the gate, go to the right path (the left only leads to a Healing Flower), then go left. The right path leads to a Life Ring. Next go left (the right path leads to a Wonder Elixir). These paths all lead to one place, Lower Octam. Xain: Don't interrupt me! something important ord Hyper Arts €» V €» NosasArk MOVE N Love You Super Tempest Triple Lizard Dragon Fangs Super Javelin Hurricane Kick Vulture Blade Frost Breath Tempest Break Rushing Gale Tough Love Swan Diver Bird Step Dolphin Attack Mirage Lancer Wind Strike Sonic Javelin Beast Fangs Lizard Tail * Here you will meet Hari and get some direction for the future. After talking to Hari head to the northwest side of town to get into the fire path. The fire path itself is not complicated. Follow the pathways and you will get through. * Be sure to check the pillars with yellow light coming out of them. This means there is a room inside with a treasure chest. * Once you hit the lava area, be careful of the stronger enemies. You will face Xain, who is the one creating all the tremors. After beating Xain, he will freeze the lava and give you the Wind Book II. Head back up to the surface. ob ok 4 «« Biron Rage REED Neo Rising Heaven’s Drop Back Punch x2 Super Ironhead Rushing Crush Explosive Fist Lightning Storm Thunder Punch Bull Horns Hand Fangs Neo Raising Black Rain Side Kick Head-Splitter Guillotine Back Punch Tronhead Battering Ram Flying Knee Attack * In the town you can find a treasure chest in just about every building. You will need to go to the east side to get to the Genesis Tree, but in order to get through the checkpoint, travel to the palace. Head all the way to the back of the palace and talk with Saryu. He will give you the key to the east side. The east-side area is pretty small, but there are some strong creatures there. * At the top of the mountain you will find a Genesis Tree covered by a force field. You can't get through this force field, so after collecting the treasure chest on the west side of it, you'll have to leave. However, when you try to leave, Songi will attack. You must defeat him in order to lower the force field. Once you beat him, head back to the town, but be sure to save along the way. * When you get into town, rest and upgrade your weapons and armor. Head to the inn and talk to Eliza. Talk to her again and have Noa go in her place. After a moderate dialogue, you battle Saryu. He is somewhat strong and only gets stronger as the game progresses. After beating him you will free all the town's daughters and get the key to the west area. * After the Mist arrives in Rim Elm and before Vahn puts on the Ra-Seru Meta, talk to the lady in the weapons/items shop and she'll give you Healing Leaves. * Check the tree in Rim Elm that's near one of the windmills. You will be attacked by a swarm of bees, but if you defeat the bees, you will get Honey! Honey increases all stats by four. Careful—if you talk to Nene with Honey in your possession, she will take it from you to bake a cake. * If you leave Rim Elm once and then go back to the town, the drawer that was locked on the second floor of the shop will be opened. Inside there is a Poin d. The Point Card earns points worth 5 percent of the price of is, etc. when you shop. Exchange points for items at thi prize-exchange counters in Sol, at the slot machines or at the fishing holes. * When the Mist arrives in Rim Elm, go to Mei's house and take her to your house so she won't be alone. Mei will give you her Pendant when you leave Rim Elm. (Otherwise you won't be able to get this item until you talk to Mei in the final area, the Bio Castle.) * When Noa is training in Mt. Rikuroa, talk to Terra after two battles. She will teach you an art move. * After reviving the Genesis Tree at Mt. Rikuroa and the Mist has cleared from Drake Castle, the people of the castle open shops in the castle's front area. Noa gets all excited and will run off to the weapons shop, items shop and inn. If you follow her to the weapons shop and talk to her, she'll ask you what money is. Answer that you don't know and you'll get the Fighting Robe for free. Follow her to the items shop, and of the three questions, answer two to three questions correctly to receive five to 10 Healing Leaves. Answer all incorrectly, and you'll get a Magic Leaf. * When Vahn, Noa and Gala have learned all their art moves, travel to the Genesis Trees where each respective character obtained his/her Ra-Seru to unlock the hidden Terra, Meta and Ozma spells. * After defeating the final Songi, pick up the Dark Stone at the base of the Genesis Tree in West Voz Forest. Go to Jeremi and talk to Zalan. Get the Dark Talisman to be able to use the hidden Dark Ra- Seru Jedo spell. * With all characters’ levels at 99, head to Ratayu and talk to Saryu. Get the key to the basement to enter the Juggernaut Room. Here you'll obtain the Evil Talisman in order to use the Juggernaut magic spell. * After the event where you visit the Soren Camp, if you go to Mt. Dhini again, a hidden boss enemy—Lapis—appears. If you defeat him, you get the Evil Medallion—an item that is otherwise only available by defeating the final boss character. You will not be able to control a character wearing an Evil Medallion (Berserk status), but that character will be able to attack enemies with learned art moves 0-15 times at a certain percentage rate. However, Lapis is extremely strong; he will always attack first and leave you with zero MP. u.s. PlayStati "CHO May 1999 Strategy DANCE FEVER When you get to Sol you can go to the Muscle Dome and win a prize called the Gold Card. With this prize, you will be able to go to the Dance Club. With 500 gold pieces you can enter the dance con- test. Before you do that, go up to the guy with the big ‘fro on the dance floor and ask him to teach you how to dance. * Once you have the timing down try to enter. You have to go through two rounds to win the contest. The first round is pretty easy, and as long as you don't miss many steps, you should be able to progress to the next level. In the second level, you will need to bust out some special moves in order to win. The easiest way to win is to use your Triangle specials on the first three moves. This gives you a good lead, and if you don’t miss any steps, you should eas- ily win. * What do you win? Well, you win some gold pieces and a swimsuit. You'll also earn the respect of some of the Sol resi- dents. You also should definitely check out the lady in the Jazz Club sitting next to Grantes. Dohati’s Castle preme fecl the power of my wrath! * When you enter the castle, take the left branch first, because every hall leads to a treasure box. The right hall will take you to the next level by escalator. Each time you see an escalator, take it up. The generator is on the top level of the castle. * At the top you will have to fight Dohati. His attacks do an enormous amount of damage, and his Chaos Breath can inflict venom on your fighters. Try to keep a medium-level orb in your spell list and have it ready to use. He takes a lot of damage but you should be able to dish out a good amount of damage on him each round as long as you keep one of your fighters dedicated to healing. * Once you beat him the generator will be destroyed and the flying trains will be back in service. You need to go to Octam to use these trains. Sol * This extremely large town has a bunch of attractions for you. One thing you should be sure to check out is the casino. You can play the games for coins or fight in the arena. The Baka Fighter game is a pretty easy way to earn coins. For the first fight, all you need to do is press Square, the second fight is X, and the third is Circle. The fourth match is Square and X, and the fifth is Circle and X. * Travel to the top floor and talk with the leader of the Biron monks. After talking with him, you fight Gaza. He is very tough to beat, because his Astral Sword attack can easily: deplete all your HPs. Keep one or two of your fighters healing the party and the rest laying into him. * After beating him, go to the lower levels. Obtain eight loaves of Soru bread—this can be done easier if you go into the Muscle Dome and play the games to acquire enough coins to buy them. Once you have the bread, head to each treasure chest and exam- ine them and use the bread on them. The Stone, Stage awai * Once you get to the bottom level, manipulate the switches for the elec- tric grates to get to the center. Start by going to the right and then to the middle. Hit the top-mid- dle switch and go to the Dohati is a powerful adversary to face. top-bottom switch. Follow the switches until you can flip the bottom big switch. * Once you get to the center, prepare for a big battle. Songi will show up with Gaza again, and you will have to fight a much tougher version of Gaza. Keep your guys' health over 1,100, or you may fall victim to Gaza's huge power attack. Once you beat him, plant the Genesis Tree, and you'll be able to go on your way. Usha Research Center * To get into this tower, you will need the password you should have received from the Emperor. He is in the lower floor of the inn that's in Sol Tower. The doctor is on the top floor. He will say you need to go to Uru Masi to get the much-needed Fire Droplets. * To get the key for the city, the doctor's wife will test you. She will ask three questions, and you will need to answer all of them to get the key. The questions are simple, and if you were paying attention throughout the discussion with the doctor, you should get them easily. Uru Mais * Here you will need to examine the book in the smaller house area. Once you do that, you should examine the center of the machine. Once the doors on the sides open, go through each open door to light up the center. When the center is lit, you will get some more infor- mation and then the fire droplet. Upon getting the droplet, leave and head back to the research center and Dr. Usha. Nivora Ravine * To get through this ravine, split into three groups. Each group will have to help the other to get through their respective areas. If you play them in order until one of them gets stuck at an area and can't go any farther, the first person to get to the end will be Noa, followed by Gala and finally Vahn. The key to beating Che is to know when to avoid his Megaton Press. He will attack normally twice and then perform the Megaton Press. The key to beating Lu is the same as Che. She will do two normal attacks and then her special power attack. The same strategy also applies to Gi. After beating the Delilases, you will get a short opportunity to rest and recover. You will then have to battle Koru in a certain amount of time (under four turns). To beat Koru unleash everything you have on him, and if you have Kemaro, use him. Otherwise, use your new Level 3 Hyper Arts a lot. Once you beat him, head to Buma. * Here you will make the three Genesis Trees recover and then you will meet with Cara. She will ask you to give her sheet music to Grantes. In order to get him to listen to it, talk to the pianist and have her play it. Once Grantes hears the music, he will head back to Buma and to Cara. You need to leave Sol and go back to Buma and talk with the two of them. Cara's house is the one in the northwest corner of the village. * This is the home of the Soren. You will need to push your way through the mountain and get to the top, so you can use the flute and call the Soren for help. * After talking to the Soren elder, visit the floating castle. The dungeon itself is pretty easy. There is one spot where you can pick up. some free life water. After taking the elevator down, in the first hallway, you can go down the right-hand side. A secret tunnel lies there which will lead to the treasure chest. * The Soren secrets that were mentioned back in the town can be found inside the horrible machine. You need to open the machine. To get into the Throne Room, activate both switches that are outside the door. * When you enter this town, you will notice that it is actually one big Seru. You need to go SLOT MACHINES When you get into Vidna, you will get your first chance to play a casino game. Buy some coins in order to play the slot machine. It costs 100 gold coins to get one game coin. * In Vidna you can win some good prizes early in the game, if you want to spend the time. In Sol you can win much better prizes and can get some free coins, if you play the Baka fighter game. e There is no real good way to win at the slot machine. You simply need a lot of luck to get a good match. Try to get the three punches or three kicks to match up. When you do this, you will get to go to a bonus game that will give you massive coins if you get high numbers on the spin. * If you want to get some more coins for free, fight in the Muscle Dome contest. It takes 100 gold coins to enter and the con- test is very challenging, even on the begin- ner level! Try to enter once you have Kemaro and some good armor. You should be able to win at least the beginner level. If you win that level you will be rewarded with 818 free coins. ee : Power Elixir Shield Elixir Speed Elixir Phoenix Heavy Lure Normal Lure to the back of the town and enter the Throne head to the west side with the guards. You Room. Go all the way to the back and talk with Will now be able to get past them and into Light Lure Noa's mother. After talking with Noa's mother, ^ the basement. head back to the courtyard of the castle and Finally reaching Conkram, your party will discover that it has been completely taken over by the Mist. * In the basement you can talk to the king and acquire the Seru flame. Once you have the flame go back upstairs and into the room to the right of the queen. From there you will be teleported into Conkram's past. In the past you should do whatever business you can and talk to all the people, then go to the inn and spend the night there. After watching the new demonstration, make your way to the basement. Evil God Icon Lost Grail Life Armband Deluxe Rod Vitality Ring Magic Ring Healing Berry Incense Fury Boost Soru Bread Gold Card Official U.s. PlayStation (acezine( $ | May 1999 Strategy THE ROGUE TOWER * In the tower you will have a good old-fashioned teleporter maze. See the map to find the correct path through. You will need to face a couple of upgraded bosses here, so be ready for anything. At the end of the third level, you will face the head rogue. The key to winning is to attack one round then block one round. Every other round that passes the rogue will attack. * After beating the rogue tower you will be teleported back to Conkram in the past. Finish any business you have in the shops, talk to all the people again, and then go to the mirror room and head home. Once you get back to the present time, head to the Absolute Fortress to the north of Conkram. . The Rogue Tower itself is a big teleporter maze. To read the maps just follow the numbers (i.e., 1 leads to 1, 2 leads to 2, etc.). Also keep in mind that you should only go through a tele- porter when the tower is like a castle, or you will be teleported back to the beginning. Some teleporters have more than one destination. * The fortress maze in the beginning is not complicated. Usually there is only one way you can go, and that is the way you have to go. There is an occa- sional treasure chest thrown around for good measure. Try to always col- lect these things as they are usually high-level items that cannot be acquired anywhere else. * Your first major battle will be with The path to battling Rogue at the top of the tower is a treacherous one to take. Jette. His most dangerous attack is his Shadow Break. This will cause a good deal of group damage. Keep one of your fighters ready with an Orb or Spoon Seru, and you shouldn't have too much trouble. * The path to the end of the fortress is pretty straightforward, but be ready for a great challenge at the end. Right as you reach the Mist Generator, you will encounter Cort. His first attack will be his Mystic Shield. While his shield is up, only Arts attacks will do any damage. To get the most damage on him, use your Miracle Arts (see moves list). * After a brief rest in Rim Elm the story continues with Songi making a return appearance. After his cinema, head to Uru Mais. From there go to the Seru's world. It is a simple labyrinth with some valuable treasure scattered around. * At the end of the path you will find the great Genesis Tree and Songi. To rescue the tree, you'll fight Songi, and he is much more power- ful now than before. His normal attacks are the biggest problems. He can easily do more than 2,000 points of dam- age in one combo. Juggernaut * After beating Songi you will be back in the normal world. You must now enter Juggernaut and finish it off from the inside. The maze inside Juggernaut is pretty easy, but expect some strong resistance as far as general encounters go. * Before you enter into Juggernaut you should check a couple of the Genesis Trees, namely the one in the east Voz Forest and the one on Mt. Rikuroku. You should be able to get a cou- ple new Seru from there. These will aid you immensely in your upcoming battle, but they MP EFFECT (Earth) Ra-Seru Palma (Water) Ra-Seru Mule (Thunder) Ra-Seru Ozma < w = 2 S N Š a Juggernaut [Ra-Seru Palma —— Ra-Seru Meta do suck up a lot of magic points. If you can, train them outside of Juggernaut, where you can rest. Juggernaut on the inside is a pretty easy labyrinth to navigate. * When you get to the end you will face the ultimate boss. You must keep your fighters at max hit points at all times. Cort can perform an attack that, if your fighters are slightly weak, can wipe them right out. Keep your party healed and use high-level combinations like the Miracle Arts. This is also a great place to use your point card, if you collected it (see secrets). TARGETS (Evil) Unknown (Dark Eclipse) SECRET RA-SERU LOCATIONS | pem 1 Ra-Seru Terra —— There are two places in the Legaia world where you can fish for a while. As you go through the world you will find a total of three different rods. The first rod is found at the beach in Vidna when the Mist enters the town. The second can be won in the Sol casi- no. The third can be obtained from Dr. Usha after you open up Nivora Ravine. You will also need to get some lures before you can fish. To get the much-needed lures, play the slot machine in Vidna (see casino sidebar). * When you are fishing, cast into places where the fish can hide, like behind rocks or in the brush, There you will find some of the larger fish that are worth more points. * After you cast try tapping your line in to lure the fish to bite. The heavier the lure the deeper it will stay and the heavier the fish you will catch. Fishing Prizes - By VIDNA Mettle Armband 1,500 Power Ring 1,000 Healing Fruit 500 Lippian Flute 200 Spikefish Flute 200 Fishing Prizes - By BUMA Life Grail 6,500 Magic Grail 6,500 Spirit Talisman - 4,000 Lippian Flute 200 Spikefish Flute Strategy An Expert Gamer Strategy by Pat Dolan As the name implies, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter allows you to use characters from the Marvel Super Heroes game and characters from Street Fighter in head-to-head combat. You choose your Getting Started earn to combo! Go into the Training Mode Lis practice linking your chosen character's moves together to form deadly combos. The goal is to land a single blow on your unblock- ing opponent, then take advantage of that to do severe damage with a big combo. Be sure to set the CPU opponent to auto blocking, so you can judge whether your attempts are suc- cessful. If you want to land the maximum number of blows, concentrate on air com- bos. They're a little easier to execute than ground combos, since the victim remains help- "main" character, then choose a partner who can assist during certain Super Moves. Combat is fast and furious, with spectacu- lar, over-the-top attacks and effects all around. In other words, it captures the feel of comic-book combat quite well. As in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, the "tag team" feature of the arcade game has pretty much been eliminated from the PlayStation version. In the basic game modes, you can't change between your main character and his/her partner. However, a new play mode, Cross Over, allows you to switch between characters at any time. The catch? Both play- ers must use the same two characters. Still, this does give you some variety, and is a wel- come inclusion. - character with distance attacks, use them to tick off dam- age slowly, but be ready to deal with a jump-in attack at any time. Most characters have good moves to counter this. If your character Team-Up Attacks Hes oS less for a longer period of time because of the launcher, allowing you to fudge the timing of your blows a bit more. Also, most characters can link a larger selection of moves during air combos than they can on the ground. AZ the CPU, if you’ve got a oncentrate on mastering quick 2- to 4-hit combos, preferably ending in a Super Move. Many char- acters are capable of doing 5- to 10- hit combos, but those tend to be useful only in very specific circum- stances, or require extremely fast reflexes to pull off. If you mess them up, you're a sitting duck. Plus, the longer the combo, the less dam- Vs. the CPU has aerial missile attacks, use them. The CPU does a poor job of blocking these attacks. Once the CPU gets in close, it’s quite good at unleashing combos off of hits that you don’t block, so be on your guard. Unless it’s executing an he bread and butter of this game is found in the combo system. Each character can link moves together in such a manner that if the first move hits an unblocking opponent, the rest will also connect before the victim has a chance to recover. Each character has a slightly different pattern that he or she can follow while creating combos, but in general you can always follow weaker attacks with stronger attacks. © Another element of combos involves the use of Super Moves and Super Combos. Basic moves and Super Moves can be interrupted by trigger- ing a Super Move or a Super Combo, resulting in both the initial move and the newly activated move hitting the victim. The progression for this is as follows: Regular move ¢--interrupted by Super Move ¢~interrupted by Super Combo age each blow in the combo will do. As a result, you can often do as much or more damage with a 4-hit combo as with an 8-hit one. attack of its own or is still eed ing from one of your attacks, the CPU will almost never fall for your Super Combos. Use your Super Combos only when you’ve got a clear opening; otherwise you're just wasting energy. © If you're doing a regular move, you can interrupt it with either a Super Move or a Super Combo. If you're doing a Super Move, you can only interrupt it with a Super Combo. This is an ideal way to maximize the amount of damage done to your opponent, and helps to make sure you connect with the powerful Super Combos. * Another key feature in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter are the launchers and the associated Air Combos. Each character has one or more moves that will hurl his or her opponent straight up into the air. If the attacking character immediately taps Up after executing this move, he/she will follow the victim and can launch a combo while that opponent is flying upward through the air, help- less. The air combo must be delivered before the victim starts falling back to earth, though, or he/she will be able to block. Secret Characters! * There are at least six secret playable characters in the game. They are accessible at any time, by simply highlighting the appropriate charac- ter, holding Select and then pressing any Punch or Kick button. The secret characters, and the characters that must be highlighted to select them, = ‘Super Moves NAME 1 Shield Slash 1 Stars 'n' Stripes 1 Charging Star 4 Cartwheel Best Combos are listed on the right. e The only really "new" character is Shadow, a version of Charlie from Street Fighter Alpha, who's been brainwashed by Bison. The rest of the characters play pretty much, or exactly, like their counterparts. Bison Blackheart Spider-Man Dhalsim Omega Red Hulk U.S. Agent Mech. Zangief Armored Spider-Man Shadow Mephisto Dark Sakura CAPTAIN AMERICA Captain America! DAMAGE 15 26 19 LP, LK, #, LP, LK, MP, MK, HP Super Combos se the shield to harass opponents at a distance, but try to get in close enough to nail them with the Charging Star (V, A, >, K) or a good combo. When jumping toward an opponent, use HP to attack as you come in; it has excellent coverage. Captain America can Double Jump; use that to get clear of powerful Super Moves or Super Combos while jumping in on an opponent. Use the Hyper Charging Star Super Combo (V, à) ®, KK) when you've got the energy and your opponent leaves an opening. If he/she is jumping in, or just missed a close attack, use the Hyper Stars 'n' Stripes (P, V, 4, PP) 1 1 1 1 nt LK, MK, HP 1 1 1 1 1 I Hyper Charging Star |, 54 ‘Hyper Stars ^n' Stripes e, — 9, 1 Final Justice *, 4 | Launcher Use Captain America's Heavy Punch when jumping in to an opponent. It's not only quick, but covers a substantial portion of the screen. We Spider-Man the basic idea is to sim- ply jump around and keep moving. His ability to absorb an opponent's blow ranks among the lowest in the roster, so stay a moving target. Dart in and attack when your opponent has his/her guard down. When at a distance, annoy your opponent with Web Balls (V, &, ®, P). Once you're in close, nail him/her with a Web Ball, then combo him/her or unleash the Maximum Spider Super Combo (V, 4, *, PP). Use his ability to stick to walls to avoid your opponent's Super Combos. Use Spider-Man's ability to stun his opponent with a Web Ball to set up his usually difficult-to-connect-with Maximum Spider Super Combo. ARMORED SPIDER-MAN xactly the same as Spider-Man, Eeexcept with armor. As a result, Armored Spider-Man takes less damage, but is quite a bit slower, and all his attacks do less damage, making him dif- ficult to use. Without Spider-Man’s speed, you need to rely more on baiting opponents into coming to you. Throw Web Balls (¥, %@, ®, P) to goad opponents into jumping toward you, then nail them with the Spider Sting (>, ¥, *& P).Also, his armor allows him to ignore single hits—so long as they are weak—allowing you to often counterattack through an oppo- nent'’s attack. = Super Moves I——————9 4 [i 1 Web Ball ! Spider Sting 1 Web Swing | Web Throw | Best Combos 1 1 L g 1 Spider-Ma 1 | Web Ball (V, s&, 9», HP), MP, Wf, LP, LK, MP, MK, HP 1 Jumping HK, MP, Spider Sting (M, ¥, %, P) [1 i Super Combos | Maximum Spider v a, *, a >, PP I Crawler Assault > KK Launcher 1 ! MP or Crouching HK Fighting Apocalypse Just keep hammering. Get ready to block when you see his gun ports opening, and use your most powerful Super Combo or team-up attack whenever you've got enough power levels. You need to aim for his arm or his head to inflict damage, but everything you connect with will do damage. Use your Super Combos as soon as you have enough power to activate them. | Fighting Cyber Akuma A very difficult opponent, Cyber Akuma’s fast, has overwhelming mis- sile attacks, and does a lot of damage when he hits. Play very defensively against him. If he lands a single blow on you, he'll combo it for heavy dam- age. It's critically important to take advantage of any openings he leaves to deliver a powerful combo. Build up your Super Combo Meter, then hit him with your longest-reaching attack when he leaves an opening or while he's advancing (often the CPU won't block while advancing). BLACKHEART Blackheart 1 DAMAGE ie 1 Super Moves NAME 1 Dark Lightning " 5 5 y 4 Dark Inferno E E 27 I Best Combos o win with Blackheart, you must capi- talize on your opponent's mistakes— and hope he/she makes a lot of them. Stay at a distance and hammer your opponent with Dark Inferno (>, M, ¥, è, @, P (use HP for best results)) while you build up your Super Meter, then unleash Heart of Darkness (#, 4, P, KK) as soon as he/she leaves an opening. If he/she gets in close, use HK to spawn demons that will paralyze your opponent, then launch him/her and hit him/her with an air combo, or nail him/her with Dark Inferno. 22 6hits 1 | HK, MK 26 6hits 1Crouching MK, MP, W, LP, LK, MP, HP [i | Super Combos +, PP >, PP >, KK i Judgement Day I Armageddon Heart of Darkness 1 i Launcher I The best way to play with Blackheart (and Mephisto) is to play defen- sively. Wait for an opening in your opponent's strategy and counter. T: get the most out of Zangief, you've got to master the trick of performing a uc x TT — — rm 360-degree motion on the joypad to per- uz A + WN Oe ic Siete UE form his Spinning Piledriver. It's his best 1Body Splas Super Move, and the same motion is used iJumping Grab for the Atomic Piledriver, his only Super Green Glove Combo. Get close to your opponent and unleash QUEE Throw one of these moves to cause some heavy dam- | Suplex age. Use his Body Splash (, HP, while jump- 1 Spinning Lariat — ing) when jumping in on opponents, and follow | Short Spinning Lariat it with a combo. When close to an opponent, 1 Spinning Piledriver use his Walking Throw (#, f, ¥, 4, ®, K). When activated, Zangief will walk through single-hit attacks without being knocked down, allowing him to throw an opponent who's trying to attack him. = 1 Super Moves (throw) 360 on joypad, P ! Best Combos I | Body Splash (&, HP while jumping), ¥,MP, 4, LP, MP, HP | Jumping MK, HK, Spinning Clothesline ! Super Combos PlayStation [Maenan 6] May 1999 I 1 Atomic Piledriver | 360 on joypad, PP Launcher I 1 Crouching MP You're not going to achieve any degree of success with Zangief until L you learn to master and perform his 360-degree commands at will. MECHANICAL ZANGIEF V, P) on opponents trying to keep their distance, but spend most of your effort Mechanical Zangief can be played simi- larly to Zangief, but some adjustments have to be made. Mechanical Zangief is much slower, has some different moves and cannot be knocked down or stunned by any attack your opponent can throw at you. Use the Flame Breath (V, , trying to get close enough to pull off a Spinning Piledriver (360 on joypad, P). With Mechanical Zangief you've got to concentrate on taking your opponent out before he/she takes you out. SAKURA Sakura ump around and try to get in close to r l ‘Super Moves your opponent to combo him/her. Use the Hadouken (V, #, @, P) to take out opponents who try to jump in on 4 [i 1 you, and use the Dragon Charge 1 Hadouken 20 (V, *$ ®, P) to rush a close | Dragon Charge E 3 23 opponent who's missed with an attack — 1 Senpyu Kyaku » 19 or is activating a missile attack (the charge — | will go through the missile). The Midare 1 Best Combos Zakura(W, 4, >, PP) is her best 1 Super Combo, but use it only when your opponent leaves an opening. {Crouching HP, f, LP, LK, MP, HP, Dragon Charge (V, 44, P) | 32 10 hits 1 Crouching LK, Haru-Ichiban (¥, 28, 4, KK) 48 19 hits ! Super Combos I 1 Shinkuu Hadouken v, | Haru-Ichiban v, I Midare Zakura + 1 ‘Launcher Utilize Sakura's Hadouken as an effective air counterattack. Use her VCrouchin HP Midare Zakura combo only when there is an opening for it. L 3 DARK SAKURA {Super Moves Dark Sakura | NAME DAMAGE | Hadouken ; P 1 Dragon Punch Q9, AP \Teleport , ¥, 4, PPP or KKK 1 Hurricane Kick ; , K 'Best Combos ark Sakura plays differently than regu- lar Sakura, mainly because she has an effective missile attack to keep opponents away. Plus, a couple of her Super Combos do a heck of a lot more damage. Play pret- ty much the way you would with Sakura, but use the Hadouken (V, t, >, HP) to nail opponents at a distance, and try to connect with the Haru-Ichiban (V, Jè, Æ, KK) or Midare Zakura (V, &, », PP) when you've filled your Super Meter. Be more careful up close, as Dark Sakura takes more damage than regular Sakura. 1 {Crouching HP, W, LK, LK, MP, HP, Dragon Punch (®, ¥, 4, P) 1LP, MP, Shinkuu Hadouken (V, #,@, — PP) 1 1 Super Combos 'Shinkuu Hadouken 1 Haru-Ichiban l Midare Zakura 1 Shun-Goku-Satsu [i i Launcher I 1 Crouching HP L Watch your life bar when playing in close! Dark Sakura takes more damage than her counterpart. se ground or air missile attacks to nail oppo- U from a distance, then jump in and do some combo damage. If your opponent fires a missile attack, counter with the Messatsu Hadouken (V, J, @, PP). Use the same basic strategy as you would with Ryu, but concentrate on staying a little farther away, as Akuma takes more damage than Ryu. Use his ground and air Messatsu (V, &, >, P) to keep opponents away, and use Gou Tatsumaki Senpyuken (V, J, @#, K) when you get up close. Once you've got Super Levels built up, use Messatsu Hadouken or Tenma Gou Zankyu (V, &, ®, PP, air only) when your opponent drops his/her guard. Akuma is still an effective air fireball thrower, so use it to your advantage to keep advancing enemies at bay. 1 Messatsu ! Gou Retsuken 1Gou Tatsumaki Senpyuken | Demon Blade Kick 1 Teleport ! Best Combos (air only) PP or KKK Jumping MP, crouch HP, LP, MP, ¥, 44, * , PP. 54 17 hits LP, MP, HP, Gou Tatsumaki Senpyuken (¥, IE, & , K) 40 6 hits Super Combos M essatsu Hadouken ; D 40 Messatsu Gou Shoryuu 5 5 P 35 P (air only | 40 (level 3 only) | 52 l'TenmaGou Zankyu | Shun-Goku-Satsu | Launcher 1 1 hing HP 1 Croucl ing 1 Psycho Shot 1 Scissors Kick 1 Psycho Palm I Head Stomp i Levitation \Teleport {Best Combos 3 Ale difficult character to use, Bison requires a lot of practice to be mastered. Use his Scissors Kick (4, A, *, 4, ®, K) while jumping over missile attacks to take the opponent by surprise. Jump around, use the Head Stomp (charge V, 4, K, P) and Psycho Palm (charge ¥, &, P, P) to keep your opponent on his/her toes, and Teleport (>, , ‘4, P or K) to avoid his/her Super Combos. Use the Psycho Crusher (V, %, *, PP) whenever you fill your Super Combo Meter. HP, W, LK, HP, Scissors Kick (#, I, V, %,®, MK) LP, crouching HP, Psycho Crusher (9, 4, , PP) Super Combos l Psycho Crusher 5 Koen -Kick Nightmare| *, | Launcher 1 Use Bison's Psycho Crusher whenever you have the energy for it, especially before landing from a jump to take opponents by surprise. his is Charlie, from Street Fighter Alpha, after being corrupted by Bison. He plays pretty much the same as he did there, with some new vs. powerhouse moves thrown in for good mea- sure. Constantly keep the pressure on your opponent by throwing Sonic Blades (charge @, V, P), then follow them in to attack your oppo- nent from the air or the ground. If you want to play defensively, charge the Flash Kick (charge ¥, — 4, K) and be ready for jump- in attacks. By holding Æ on the joypad, you can charge the Sonic Blade and the Flash Kick at the same time, simply by completing the second two motions of whichever move you want to activate. Use the Blade Slice (&, W, ®, K) for defense while jumping; you can also use it to hit while jumping in on an opponent. erage + >, P charge*, 4,K 4, W, *,K(aironly) 1 SUE Blade l Flash Kick 1 Blade Slice !Best Combos l {Crouching LK, crouching MK, #, K (Flash Kick) 1 Crouching HP, 4., LP, LK, MP, MK, Blade Slice (4 Wf, %, K) | Super Combos 16 3hits 33 6hits 4 Shadow Break I Shadow Justice | Cross Shadow Blitz I Final Mission The Cross Shadow Blitz (V, %, >, KK) is Shadow's most useful Super Combo—it comes out quickly, hits from a pretty good distance and does heavy damage May 1999 | Launcher Don't get into a fireball fight using Shadow's Sonic Blades or you'll lose {crating HP. every time. Instead use them to set up a couple quick-hit combos. CHUN-LI T. 1 se her Wall Jump, Triple Air I Super Moves Jump and Air Dash i5 avoid your opponent's attacks KES and drop in on him/her p Vertical Spin when he/she least expects 1 Mini-Kikosho it, then hammer him/her į Kikoken — with her Head Stomp (9 + iLigntumg Kicks MK while jumping) or à 1 Head Stomp Jumping Kick comboing into Usos a Lightning Kick (tap K). If ‘Best Combos your opponent meets you in N the air, throw him/her or use a 1 LP, MP, HP, Lightning Kicks (V, 4, >, KK, tap K) | Jump, Air Dash (®,®), Lightning Kick (tap HK) MOVE >» *, AK + > y 4 DP charge 4, *,P tap K rapidly * + MK while jumping VT RP. PlayStation ‘Magazine! (3) Lightning Kick to knock him/her down. ! Super Combos | Lightning Kicks r Hazan Tenkyo Zaku *, a pu > o *, AKI | Launcher Chun-Li is a refined character in avoiding enemies' attacks with her off-the-wall and triple air jumps hittle your opponent down with the Optic Blast (W, 4, ®, P), and nail him/her with Gene Splice (>, , A, P) if he/she tries to jump in and attack. When you see an opening, dart in and unleash a combo. Cyclops can jump again while in the air, so use that ability to get clear of powerful Super Moves and Super Combos when jumping toward your opponent. Use Cyclops’ HP punch to fire quick blasts, then follow them immediately with an Optic Blast for maximum harassment. If you see your foe start to throw a missile attack, use the Mega Optic Blast (V, à) ®, PP) to cancel his/her attack and hit him/her for some heavy damage at the same time. The closer you are to your opponent, the more damage the Mega Optic Blast will do. It's also great for nailing someone after you've blocked an up-close attack. Cyclops' optic blasts are the fastest projectiles in the game. Use his standing HP to set up an unexpected strong Optic Blast. P ‘Super Moves 1Gadoken , I Kouryuken 3 1 Autograph 1 Tornado Kick 1 Rolling Taunt | Best Combos [c E |o KOTISSES 1 Optic Blast | Optic Sweep 1Gene Splice l Sweep Kick t Rushing Grab ! Combo Punch iBest Combos 4944 wees Cyclops = DAMA 13 14 24 28 27 33) E] LP, LK, MK, Sweep Kick (V, iè, @, K) LP, HK, Optic Array (>, 4 , 2,4 PP) 34 Shits 50 9 hits Super Combos M v, 4 «=» PP > A, v, B PP lega Optic Blast Optic Array auncher joke character who requires an extreme amount of skill to win with, Dan doesn't have any strengths, so you basically have to hope your » a *, a kK * > ,selector¥ M « 1 Crouching HP, LP, LK, MP, HP | HP, Tornado Kick (¥, Jt, 4e, HK) l | Super Combos 1 I Kouryuu Gadoken +, 1 Kouryuu Reppa +, 1 Hissho Murai Ken N I ! Launcher P opponent makes mistakes you can sl? exploit. The Tornado Kick (V, è, 5 *, K) is really his only offensive EK! weapon, and the Kouryuken (P, ¥, M4, P) provides some defense against opponents jumping in. When you've got a Super Combo level ready to go, use the Kouryuu Gadoken (¥, s, 9», PP) after getting close to your opponent. Don't use the Otoko-Michi (MP, LK, @, LP, LP) unless your opponent has only a tiny amount of life left (less than 20 points) and you're right on top of him/her, as it leaves Dan with practi- cally no life. l 1Crouching HP L ED a a mal Mu cH MUR RE IPM |. Avoid using Dan's Otoko-Michi unless your opponent is nearly defeated and you're in relatively close range. DHALSIM rimarily a defensive character, Dhalsim lacks the combos to be used well offensively. Hang back and hammer your opponent with his long-reaching attacks, then nail him/her with a Yoga Blast (P, *& *, Æ, @, HK) as he/she tries to jump in on you. If your opponent is close and throws a missile, use Dhalsim's Sliding Attack (V + K) to go underneath and attack. When jumping in, use the Yoga Drill (V + K) or Yoga Mummy (* + HP). For Super Combos, use the Yoga Inferno (¥, *4, >, PP). You can aim it with the joypad to take out jumping opponents, or just leave it alone to hit an opponent on the ground Riemer ent Dhalsim returns as a defensive fighter. Use his long-range Yoga Flame not only as a counterattack, but to keep opponents away. z 1 Super Moves 1 Yoga Fire 1 Yoga Flame 1 Yoga Blast 1 Yoga Mummy | Yoga Drill 1 Levitation | Teleport i Best Combos Li 4*44*44 | MP, 4, LP, LK, HP 1Yoga Fire ( ¥, 4, >, LP), HK as Yoga Fire hits opponent ! Super Combos 1 Yoga Inferno 1 Yoga Strike I ! Launcher et in close and do some damage! Hulk can ignore single-hit attacks, allowing him to attack through an oppo- nent's attack, which makes him hard to stop once he gets in close. Jumping in on your opponent works better than dash- ing, and don't forget you can hit from a distance with the Ground Wave (¥, %, >, P) if your opponent tries to keep out of reach. Once you get in close, start a combo; your opponent will have to hit Hulk twice before he/she can stop it. Use the Spinning Throw (P, 4, ¥, Æ, Æ, P) when you're right on top of your opponent. Use the Gamma Wave Super Combo (¥, $$) >, PP) when you've got the energy for it; if your opponent is right on top of you, he/she will take more damage Jumping in on your opponent works better than dashing when playing as Hulk, but you can still attack from a distance with his Ground Wave. I Super Moves NAME MOVE 1 Ground Wave *, 4 *P ISpinning Throw >, 4, 4 B «P (close) 1 Gamma Charge (horiz.)| charge #, ®, K, any direction, K | Gamma Charge (vert. | charge V, 4, K, any direction, K iBest Combos 38 3 hits 39 3hits Jumping HK, LP, HP VHP, Gamma Charge (charge ¥, #, K) Super Combos 4 >,PP 66 B, €, PP (aim with @ +>) 40 Gamma Wave *, Gamma Crush v, L aunchers HK or Crouching HP r- --2 Bes of his weak Hadouken (V, 44, >, P) attacks, Ken can't keep opponents at a distance as well as Ryu, so he's got no choice but to get in close and combo. Use EL PlayStation [ecazne( 8 ] DEVE his Shoryuken (P, , 1$) P) to take out jumpers or to punish an opponent who misses an attack; it's got a terrific range, so you can often surprise opponents with it. For a Super Combo, use Shoryu Reppa (V, *à ®, PP) because of 1 Hadouken | Shoryuken 1 Tatsumaki Senpyu Kyaku ! Best Combos LP, MP, HP, Shoryu Reppa (V. à, 9, PP) its reach. If you can get close enough to an Um with your meter maxed, use Ken's Shinryuken while tapping K for devastating damage. z 1 Super Moves S SMON 3 MES : 1Carbonadium Coil Ww, % >, P (Kin air), tap P or K | Omega Strike Ww, í, $, K (MP+K to cancel) 1 Coil Slam any direction +P after Coil 1 ‘Best Combos 1 ILP, Crouching MP, HP, Omega Strike (V, *&, 9, LK) I Jumping MK, LK, MK, HK, Omega Strike (V, 4, >, LK) I Omega Red 45 4 hits 40 5 hits i Super Combos >, PP 9», PP (only while in air) ] Omega Destroyer *, 4 | Carbonadium Smash |, $4 | Launcher i Super Combos 60 24 hits | I Shoryu Reppa 1 Shinryuken l Shippu-Jinrai-Kyaku 1 1 Launcher 1 Crouching HP L 1 1 L B: used at a medium distance from your opponent, Omega Red has decent reach with his HP, HK and Super Moves, so take advantage of this range. Try to hit your opponent with a Carbonadium Coil (V, *& >, P,tapP)ifhe/she misses an attack, or if he/she launch- es a missile. Once you've grabbed him/her, his/her missile will pass through Omega Red harmlessly. Use the Omega Destroyer (V, 4, ®, PP) when your opponent has left a clear opening, or he/she will just Like Dhalsim, Omega Red has excellent attack range but is relatively Slow and ineffective in close combat. d a | Uz the Hadouken (V, 4, ®, P) to keep an opponent at a distance, then nail him/her with a Shoryuken (P, ^ *, 4, P) when he/she tries to jump in. It's an old tac- tic, but it still works. Once you've got some Super Levels built up, try to get close and activate the Shinkuu Hurricane (V, Jè, **, KK) for maximum damage. If your opponent launches a missile while you've got super levels, nail him/her with the Shinkuu Hadouken (V, — s, ®, PP); it'll cancel the incoming attack and damage your opponent. Try to sucker possible fireballers with Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken Super Combo. If done right it will nail them before they can recover. Shuma Gorath ! 1 DAMAGE >, 4 *, XR 4K 20 charge #, >, P 36 charge, >, K 16 of ®, MK or HK 15 ! Super Moves NAME 1 Devitalization t Mystic Stare ! Mystic Smash ! l Regeneration iBest Combos hep: HK, MK, #, LP, MP, MK {Jumping HK, crouching LP, crouching HK | super Combos Ww, a * KK BY, 309, PP (3 SC levels), P |The Spawning H Chaos Dimension Launcher ! Super Moves NAME 1Hadouken 2034, >P | Shoryuken > €, WP 1Tatsumaki Senpyu Kyaku *, A, @,K | Best Combos LP, MP, HP, Hadouken (¥, fà, * , P) Jumping HK, crouching HP, 3f, LP, MP, Shinkuu Hadouken 1 1 I I 1 1 1 Super Combos 4 hits 20 hits | Shinkuu Hadouken |, 4, >, PP 1 Shin Shoryuken >, *, WX PP 1 Shinkuu Hurricane v, B «KK 1 ! Launcher [i | Crouching HP huma Gorath is very difficult to use, due to his poor combo abilities. Concentrate on hitting your opponent with his long-reaching attacks, then throwing him/her with Regeneration (€ or ®, MK or HK) when he/she gets close. His Mystic Stare is very use- ful, both for the damage it does and the combo potential it gives you. Try to hit your victim with HK as the eyes explode to really rack up the hits and damage. While charging a Mystic Stare, if your opponent advances or jumps, try to hit him/her with a Mystic Smash (charge 4, >, K). Don't waste your Super Meter on anything except the Chaos Dimension, and try to activate it when right next to your opponent to ensure you can catch him/her. While charging up Shuma Gorath's Mystic Stare, if your enemy advances or jumps, try to nail him/her with a Mystic Smash instead. WOLVERINE est used up close, 7 Wolverine has the speed to get on top of any opponent who tries to keep him at a distance. Jump in or dash toward your opponent when you see an opening. Try to tack a Berserker Barrage (V, 4, ®, P, tap P) or Tornado Claw (f, ¥, 4, P) onto the end of any string of moves you get going. Above all else, keep attacking! Wolverine has some of the easiest Air Rave combos in the game. Launch your foe with HK, then jump and hit LP, LK, MP, MK and HP. I Super Moves NAME E * *,P(tapP) > v «P MP+LK+any direction 3 - HK while in air I Berserker Barrage l Tornado Claw 1 Drill Claw I Head Stomp iBest Combos H Wolverine i ! DAMAGE 28 22 21 8 Lp, MP, crouching HP, Berserker Barrage, Berserker Barrage X THK 4. LP, LK, MP, MK, HP ! Super Combos 69 26 hits 25 6 hits 1 1 Weapon X i Fatal Claw 1 Berserker Rage ! ! Berserker Barrage X ! Launcher i I Standing HK 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 F 1 1 1 1 i Tricks of the Trade Our support resource for cheaters May 1999 orca Us ET... (8) Cool Codes On the Title Screen when “Press Start” is flashing, press and hold the Select button and press the following buttons in this order for the results as shown: Unlock Classic Asteroids - Circle, Circle, Circle, Triangle, Square, Square, Circle Unlock the Fourth Ship - Triangle, Circle, Circle, Triangle, Square, Circle, Square Level Select - Square, Triangle, Circle, Triangle, Triangle, Square, Circle. Once you are in a game, you can change levels and zones and turn the colli- sion off by simultaneously pressing Select+Start. Then choose the option you want and press L1 to activate that cheat. Classic Asteroids Codes The following codes will work once you pause in the middle of the classic Asteroids game. Add One Life - Up, Down, Left, Right, Circle, Square, X, Triangle 99 Lives - Up, X, Down, Triangle, Left, Square, Right, Circle Invincibility - Down, Down, Up, Up, Circle, Square, Triangle, Triangle Secret Moves Perform these moves in order during your dancer's “solo” to score big points. HEAT: Up, Down, Up, Circle Down, Up, Down, X Right, Left, Right, Circle Down, Up, Down, Circle FRIDA: Up, Down, Up, Circle Right, Left, Right, X Down, Left, Up, Circle Up, Right, Down, X STRIKE SIM: Up, Up, Left, Circle Left, Left, Right, Circle Right, Left, Left, Up, Circle Left, Up, Down, Right, X HAMM & BURGER DOG: Down, Right, Up, Circle Up, Left, Down, X Up, Right, Up, Circle Down, Left, Down, Circle KELLY: Right, Left, Right, Circle Right, Left, Left, Circle Left, Right, Left, X Left, Up, Right, Circle SHORTY & COLUMBO: Down, Down, Down, Circle Left, Right, Up, X Up, Up, Down, X Up, Down, Left, Right, Circle Debug Mode and Invincibility Debug Mode Press Start to pause the game, then hold L2 or R2 and press Left, Up, Up, Triangle, Right, Square, Left, Triangle, Up, Down, Right, Right. Then press X for the Debug Menu to appear. You can choose many options, including your starting level! Many Cool Codes Press Start to pause the game in the mid- dle of play and enter these codes for the results shown: Fill Health Left, Right, Left, Right, Square Fill Mana Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle Invincibility Press Start to pause the game, then hold L2 or R2 and press Right, Right, Left, Triangle, X, Up, Circle, Left. Akuji will be invulnerable to all hits. When the invincibility code has been entered, Akuji will be unstoppable. Fill Ammo Left, Right, Up, Down, Circle, Square Power-Up Weapons R1, L1, R2, L2, Left, Right, Up, Down Raise Abilities Square, Circle, Triangle, Select, Left Fill Experience Circle, Square, L1, L2, R1, Select Turn Off Monster Energy Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, Circle 50 Lives Triangle, Up, Circle, Right, Select, Square Raise Level for Each Spell Down, Triangle, Select, L1, R1, Select Enter a variety of codes, including Fill Ammo, to enhance the game while playing O.D.T. Do you have a trick that you, and only you, know? Don't hold back—write us at: Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine P.O. Box 3338 Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 Sorry, we cannot respond to individual letters asking for codes or tricks. Many Cheats and Hidden Characters: The following tricks are to be done during the. Character Loading Screen and can be done in the Versus and Practice Modes only. Big Head - Hold the Select button during loading. Super Deformed - Hold the Select, Down and X keys during loading. Tiny Mode - Hold Select, Down, X and R2 buttons during loading. The following characters or arena select fea- tures can only.be unlocked if “Player Change at Continue" in the Options Menu is set to "No," which is the default setting. Unlock Darth Vader - Play through Arcade Mode with Luke Skywalker on “Standard” or “Jedi” difficulty. Unlock Stormtrooper - Play through Arcade Mode with Han Solo on “Standard” or “Jedi.” Unlock Jodo Kast - Play through and win against seven or more characters in “Survival Mode.” Unlock Slave Leia - Play through Arcade Mode with Princess Leia on “Jedi” difficulty. Unlock Mara Jade - Hold the L1, L2 and R1 buttons às you enter Team Mode on "Jedi" difficulty. After the computer selects the characters, you will see “Battle for Mara Jade." Win and she will be released. Unlock the Ability to Select Arenas ~ (Practice and Arcade only) Play through Arcade Mode with Chewbacca on "Standard" or "Jedi" difficulty. Chapter Cheat In order to access all the chapters in the game 7. just go into Options.and then into the Password Screen and enter this password: X, Square, X, X, X, Triangle. Then when you go into the Chapter Select Screen you will be able to select all the chapters in the game, including the finale! Choose your chapter and begin playing! Cheat.Menu and Level Passwords In order to access the Cheat Menu, begin your: `~, game. During play, enter the code: Left, Circle; X, Right, Circle, X, Down, Circle, X. If-done cor- rectly, the Cheat Menu should appear. Now, select the options you wish to use in.your game by turning them green. For Level Skip, select the Game Won Option and then exit the menu and pause within the game. A new menu should appear with the option to advance to your Next Mission. The Level Passcodes are as follows: Level 2- Y785T75183; Level 3- 3WKKVMKHWZ; Level 4- 9WJHBLCNOO; Level 5- 8XKGBKDPZ1; Level 6- 7YBKBJFL22; Level 7- Y7C4L70193; Level 8- X8D3L6R2C4; Level 9- W9F635SZB5; Level 10- VIQ534TOF6; Level 11- NVHL4LFQIR; Level 12- MYGMIKBR2S; Level 13- LXFN4JCSZT; Level 14- 205F6HJTOV t, Up, Down, Circle Up, Left, Right, X Left, Left, Down, Circle Right, Right, Up, X PINKY: Up, Left, Up, Circle Right, Left, Down, Circle Up, Down, Right, X Left, Right, Down, X GAS-O: Left, Down, Right, Up, Circle Up, Left, Down, Right, X Right, Down, Left, Up, X Down, Right, Up, Left, Circle KITTY-N: Down, Down, Right, Circle Up, Right, Right, Up, X Right, Up, Left, Down, X Left, Right, Up, Left, Down, Circle CAPOEIRA: Right, Up, Right, X Left, Down, Left, Up, X Right, Up, Right, Left, Circle Down, Up, Left, Down, Circle. ROBO-Z: Up, Down, Left, Right, Circle Up, Left, Down, Right, X Down, Up, Down, Up, Circle Down, Down, Right, Left, Left, Circle Bust-A-Move 4 Another World You'll get an entirely new set of levels when you enter this code. At the Title Screen, press Triangle, Left, Right, Left, Triangle. You will hear a sound and see a little green spinning icon in the lower-right corner of the screen to confirm that it worked. From the Game Menu, choose Puzzle and then pick Arcade. Choose your difficulty level and then you'll be able to play a plethora of new stages! Colony Wars: Vengeance Password Cheats Here are some password cheats for CW:V (all are case-sensitive): Invincibility: Vampire All weapons: Tornado Primary weapons available: Dark Angel Infinite secondary weapons: Chimera Infinite afterburners: Avalanche Infinite money: Hydra All ships: Thunderchild FMV and mission select: Demon All missions, all ships, infinite secondary weapons, etc.: Blizzard Disable Cheats: Stormlord Contender Main Event Characters in Two-Player Mode Start a new boxer in thé Main Event. Pick one of the boxers and immediately save him to your memory card. Exit, then repeat with another char- acter. When you have saved each boxer start a two-player match. At the Character Select Screen Our support resource for cheaters Official U.S. GEMS EMT [sn ( 2) May 1999 press Square to pick one of the other boxers from your memory card. Free Apples When you are playing a level that has the rock- throwing monkeys, after you have destroyed the vases that they occupy you can jump on the monkeys and get free apples. Hidden Characters These characters can be used in any mode of the game. For Armored Spider-Man: Highlight Spider-Man, hold Select and press any button. For Dark Sakura: Highlight Hulk, hold Select and press any button. For Mephisto: Highlight Omega Red, hold Select and press any button. For Shadow: Highlight Dhalsim, hold Select and press any button. For Dark Zangief: Highlight Blackheart, hold Select and press any button. For U.S. Agent: Highlight M.Bison, hold Select and press any button. Cool Cycle Codes Faster Bikes: Press Up (3x), Right, Left, Triangle, X at the Main Menu. Higher Jumps: Press Left (2x), Up (2x), Right (2x), Down (2x), Square, Triangle, X at the Main Menu. Other Racers Limited to 50 km/h: Press Circle, Square, Right, Left, L1, R1, X at the Main Menu. Blitz Cheats These codes worked on the arcade, and now they also work for the PlayStation version! Enter the fol- lowing codes during the Vs. Screen. Some codes may not work in one-player games and some two- player codes may require both players to enter the code. For No CPU Assist press: Jump (1x), Pass (2x) and pad Down. (Note: Only works in Two-player Mode.) To Show More Field press: Jump (2x), Pass (1x) Tricks of the Trade View Arenas Enter these passwords to do a "flyby" of the following stadiums: ANA: Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (Anaheim) BOS: FleetCenter (Boston) BUF: Marine Midland Arena (Buffalo) CGY: Canadian Airlines Saddledome (Calgary) CAR: Greensboro Coliseum (Carolina) CHI: United Center (Chicago) COL: McNichols Sports Arena (Colorado) DAL: Reunion Arena (Dallas) DET: Joe Louis Arena (Detroit) EDM: Edmonton Coliseum (Edmonton) Gane st OP ott E Sp contro! Password to Advance SELECT FLO: Miami Arena (Florida) LOS: Great Western Forum (Los Angeles) MON: Molson Center (Montreal) NAS or NSH: Nashville Arena (Nashville) NYI; Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (New York Islanders) NYR: Madison Square Garden (New York Rangers) OTT: Corel Center (Ottawa) PHI: CoreState Center (Philadelphia) PHO: America West Arena (Phoenix) PIT: Civic Arena (Pittsburgh) STL: Kiel Center (St. Louis) TOR: Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto) VAN: GM Place (Vancouver) WAS: MCI Center (Washington) and pad Right. For Fog On press: Jump (3x) and pad Down. For Fast Turbo Running press: Jump (3x), Pass (2x) and pad Left. For Huge Head press: Jump (4x) and pad Up For Thick Fog press: Jump (4x), Pass (1x) and pad Down. For Super Blitzing press: Jump (4x), Pass (5x) and pad Up. For Big Ball press: Jump (5x) and pad Right. To Hide Receiver Name press: Turbo (1x), Pass (2x) and pad Right. For Tournament Mode press: Turbo (1x), Jump (1x), Pass (1x) and pad Down. For Random Play Choice press: Turbo (1x), Jump (1x), Pass (Sx) and pad Left. For Super Field Goals press: Turbo (1x), Jump (2x), Pass (3x) and pad Left. For Big Players press: Turbo (1x), Jump (4x), Pass (1x) and pad Right. Invincibility and Level Select Invincibility Pause the game at any time and press L2, R2, L2 3 times, R2 3 times, then Circle, Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle and Square. Listen for a chime to verify that you entered the code correctly. When you unpause, you'll now be a skeleton with infinite lives, energy, smoke bombs, magic potions and full scroll power! To revert back to a ninja, simply pause and re-enter the code. However, when you do, you'll get to keep all the maxed-out items you got when you were the skeleton! Level Select Remove your memory card and turn on the PlayStation. When the screen says “Checking Memory Card” quickly press L2, L2, L2, R2, R2, R2. The words “DELS LEVEL CHEAT ON” will briefly appear. Start a new game and you'll access the Level Select menu. Cool Codes Level Select: At the main menu hold R1, then press Down, Up, Left, Right, Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, Square, Circle, Down, Up, Left, Right. View all FMVs: At the main menu hold R1, then press Up, Down, Left, Right, Square, Circle, Triangle, Circle, Square, Circle, Up, Down, Left, Right. Invincibility: While playing a game, hold R1, then press Circle, Triangle, Square, X, Down, Down, Down, Circle, Triangle, Square, X. Game Cheats Level Select: Highlight either the "R-Type" or "R-Type II" option at the Title Screen. Quickly press L2 (10x), R2 (10x). Begin gameplay and press Start to access the Stage Select and FMV sequences within the Menu options. Choose your stage and then press X to begin Slow Down Ship: Pause game, hold L2 and press Right, Up, Right, Up, Down, Left, Down, Left, X. Speed Up Ship: Pause game, hold L2 and press Right, Up, Right, Up, Down, Left, Down, Left, Circle. Cheat Codes To make any of these cheats work, you must first enter the Enable Cheats code while in the middle of a game. Then put in one of the other codes as shown: Enable Cheats: Press L1+R1+R2+Select at same time when you first start the level Invulnerable: Press L1+R1 at same time, then press Up, Down, Left, Right Hornet's Nest: While stingers are selected, press Triangle+L2+L1+R1+Left. Hold these buttons until you see the text confirmation that it worked a bi- 0 ango, a lotsa top mang price of $24 Babbages. Can’t find Blow Up Earth: Lay an upgraded lob bomb in the back corner within 100 feet of the UFO wreck. Transport up to the moon, then detonate the bomb. Debris from Earth will pummel the moon. Eventually you'll be in weightlessness. It ruins the game, but it's fun! Incredible Cheats In the middle of the game, without pausing enter any of these cheats as shown: All Weapons: L2, R2, R2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, R2, R2, L2, R2, R2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, R2. You will hear a scream. Fill Energy: R2, R2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, L2, L2. You will hear Lara grunt. Level Skip: L2, R2, L2, L2, R2, L2, R2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, R2, R2, R2, R2, L2. Lara says "No." All Secrets (access All Hallows): L2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, R2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2. Lara will sigh Get Race Key at Laura's House: R2, L2, L2, L2, R2, 12, L2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2, L2, L2, L2, R2, L2, L2. Laura says, "No." PETSA UI ay er S f.e.a.r. adgets, electronics, arts and recreation : a Build Your Own Since it's not likely we'll ever pilot an X-Wing Fighter, we figured the next best thing would be to actually build one. That'll soon become possible, thanks to these Lego Star Wars kits. Here's a sneak peek at the five Star Wars Classic construction sets, which range from the 47-piece Landspeeder ($5.99) to the 407-piece TIE Fighter and Y-Wing set ($49.99). Lego will also be releasing eight Episode I sets around the same time the movie comes out. There are no plans yet for a Death Star kit, but that's surely high on everyone's wish lists. May 1999 Lego (prices vary, depending on the set) Tatooine Two Who are Muftak and Kabe? Well, other than being a pair of thieves who made an appearance in the first Star Wars film, they're also nifty action figures that you can't find anywhere in stores. Head over to STARWARS.HASBRO.COM and be the first one on your block to own a set of these Internet-exclusive toys. Official US. PlayStation tagazire( 2) Hasbro $13.99 56 No question, this should be in your home 4G Recommended, very cool 36 Pretty good, check it out 26 Below average 16 Very lame Muttering Mace Remember when the only way to get your action figures to talk was by pulling a string in the middle of their backs? Well, Hasbro will be introducing in May a line of Episode I toys with a COMMTech chip built in to their stands. The chip will allow the figures to recognize and interact with each other and even re-enact scenes from Phantom Menace. Set these figures atop a COMMTech Reader (pictured at left, with Mace Windu on top) and listen as they jabber away. Small Star Nobody would ever accuse Battle Droids of being cute—at least not until they see the 3 millimeter figures packed in with this Star Wars Episode I Gian Speeder & Theed Palace action set. Along with the diminutive droids are Capt. Panaka and a Naboo Foot Soldier, plus a Gian Speeder with missiles that actually fire. Hasbro (price TBA) Galoob approx. $20 Flashers These may not be the best Star Wars figures out there, but they certainly satisfy some of our appetite for any Episode I product—at least until the flurry of new stuff is unleashed. Each Power of the Force figure comes with a FlashBack Photo card showing an "after/before" image, like / the two faces of C-3PO, shown on the right. Hasbro $6.99 and recreation with Color Picking the best PlayStation controller just got a bit tougher. While most would give the nod to Sony's Dual Shock, gamers now can choose among four different Colored Dual Shocks in addition to the standard gray one. Our current fave is the clear controller, which offers an unfiltered glimpse into the inner workings of the Dual Shock mechanism. And there's nothing more colorful than watching technology in action. Sony $29.99 April 1999 Crash Minigame Hey, check this out: One of the world's most pop- Wlar video game characters is now starring in his I'll show you a own...handheld video game. With scrolling dot colored dual shock! matrix graphics, the ability to connect two sys- tems for mutiplayer action, and a link cable to upload high scores and download codes from a dedicated Web site, the Crash Bandicoot 99X game offers more depth than the standard single-title handheld—but that's countered by its relatively high price. Official U:S CERE Mey itagazine( 2) Tiger $29.99 zow GAMER Formerly EGM? : Essential Playing he Your What Is Expert Gamer? e 1,0005 of tricks and codes for all systems! 9 Incredibly detailed Maps reveal every secret and item! e Playing Tips and Strategies from the experts themselves. © Features on special Controllers and Peripherals. FE DAVIS, Apri s AÍSQ: Vigilante 8 N64 « Tai Fu © NHL Blades of Steel © NBA In the Zone ‘99 NEED EXTRA CHEATS & CODES? e Expert Gamer's Codebook Vol.2 On Sale Now! & Demo Disc If a picture is worth a thousand words, a playable demo is worth a million Ehrgeiz € kick @ Projectile Weapon (8) Ja (^) Punch Jump Jump GD Block (3 Block Grasping Attacks To reach out and grab your opponent (assuming he is within range), tap both high and low attacks while guarding. Once you are holding him, what comes next is up to you. You can do nothing, which will execute one of several different throws; tap H or L repeatedly for a series of beatings; or (our personal favorite) push the D-pad in the direction of the closest wall or object to slam your opponent into it. Ooof! If you grapple your opponent as you are running at him (G+H+L while running), you can hold him down and dish out some serious hurt with mul- tiple H or L attacks, then toss him over. There are also different throws depending on where you grab your opponent (like from behind), so try 'em all. Players Availability Analog Compatible Yes 1-2 Developer DreamFactory May Publisher Square EA Genre Fighting A free-roaming 60fps silky-smooth all-out brawl from the same people who brought you Tobal No. 1 and 2. For the demo you can try out the standard fighting mode alone (against three computer oppo- nents) or with two players, with only one playable character avail- able for either—Godhand. Eight main characters and six secret characters (including Sephiroth, Yuffie, Tifa and Vincent from Final Fantasy VII), minigames galore (Othello-like puzzle game, several track-and-field style footraces), and an extensive action/RPG-esque Quest Mode, com- plete with a town, swords, shields, monsters, bosses and a randomly generated dungeon to explore. Moves List (NOTE: Since there are several different controller setups and you can configure your own, we won't refer to specific buttons but instead igh attack, L=Low Attack, G=Guard, =Special Attack.) EXPANDED CONTROLS: Roll: twice in any direction while guarding Strong Upper Attack: G+H Strong Lower Attack: L+H Triangle Jump: H while running toward a wall Blade Catch: G as opponent attacks with sword Body Press: H+L when standing on a level above opponent GETTING UP AFTER BEING KNOCKED DOWN: Get Straight Up: G Roll: D-pad Jump Rise: G+S Rotational Kick: H+L (opponent is near character's legs) Head Spring: H+L (opponent is near character’s head) There is a lot more to Ehrgeiz than first meets the eye. This is no ordinary fighting game, so don't treat it like one. Run and jump around the environ- ment a bit. Get a feel for blocking and long-range fighting via the Special Weapon attack. Once you get used to the controls you can really pull off some amazing-looking combos, so be patient and practice. Check out our moves lists and keep a close eye on the action—when characters turn blue it means their back is turned to their opponent and they can't defend. On the other hand, when characters turn red they are powered up and their attacks cannot be blocked. "Probably the best-looking fighter for the PlayStation, and all the extra modes in the final version are great (especially the Quest Mode), but the Special Weapons are too powerful!" Godhand knocks the hero of Final Fantasy VII off the top floor of the air- ship level. Sephiroth, eat your heart out. NATIONALITY: Japanese OCCUPATION: Ex-mercenary; president of Mishima Construction Co. SPECIAL MOVES: One-Two-Three Kick: H, H, H Rising Uppercut: H--L Arm Gun: $ Triple Arm Gun: Hold down $ Grenade Toss: $ while jumping Mach Punch: H, L, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H Shoulder Tackle: H+L while running e Jump e Tongue Lash (8) Tail whip [^ First-Person View Rotate Camera Left Random Gesture Rotate Camera Right Duck Look for the spinning magni- fying glasses and tail whip them to shrink down for mini (literally) game fun. BUBBLE BUSTER: Break five bubbles while avoiding the nasty fishies. Make sure you have enough air when you hit the last one—it continues to run out while the camera pans to show you your prize. POOL HUSTLER: Atop the pool table on the second floor, eight pool balls stand between you and another coin (and don't fall into any pockets, either!) FLEA FLICKER: Nail all 10 fleas off the bear's head and grab the coin before time runs out. Look for three on his nose, three on top of his head, and two by either ear. Demo Disc If a picture is worth a thousand words, a playable demo is worth a million Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko PlayStation Players Availabi Analog Compatible Yes Genre 1 Developer Crystal Dynamics Now Publisher Eidos Action lity What is it? The latest in the Gex series of action/platformers. For the third installment, Gex once again travels through a series of TV classics and clichés, all to save his sidekick Miss Adventures from the evil Rez. The demo level is "Clueless in Seattle," with Gex taking on the persona of Sherlock Holmes. What to expect in the full game: More than 25 different costumes for Gex (only two are in this demo), more minigames, Baywatch babe Marliece Andrada helping you out, vehicles and other things you control like tanks and crocodiles, and over 1,000 of Gex's trademark wisecracks. Our advice: Gex isn't one of those games you just tear through once and never go back to. There's a lot to be done in any one level—including getting all 100 flies, minigames, secrets and more. First, just walk around to get the controls and basic layout Use this map to find all the secrets and minigames on this level. The one part that will probably give you the most trouble is the hedge maze—just get in, find the statue there, and get out. Remember to hit the statue heads to open new locations and the secret room, and use Dracugex's gliding power to get all three of the blood tanks. LEGEND: y Blood Tan = Minigame To become Dracugex, knock over the statue in the hedge maze and a secret room will open back in the main section of the house (see map). Flip the switch here and you are transformed into Dracugex! Now you can glide using your cape (jump and hold the but- ton) and make it to that paw coin in the first room within the five seconds. (OK, it’s pos- sible without being Dracugex, but it’s much harder.) of the level; then go back and pick an objective and try to complete it. After you do everything you can on your own, there are a few hidden rooms and secrets (see sidebar) that you should make sure you don't miss. Did you try: Hitting everything—and we mean everything—with your tail? Anything you see that stands out (TVs, paintings, etc.), smack it. You may just uncover a secret. What the hell is the English hunter saying? “Hold still.” OPM psychic sez: “See the review on page 79 and you tell me!” k = Statue Head | = Secret Room Demo Disc If a picture is worth a thousand words, a playable demo is worth a million PlayStation Players Legend of Legaia Availability Analog Compatible 1 Developer Contrail Now Publisher SCEA Yes Genre RPG e Action A small taste of Sony's giant new RPG from the same e Cancel ys i people who brought you Wild Arms. The story begins @ Not Used in the small village of Rim Elm, as a young hunter Menu named Vahn is prepar- ing to embark on his first trip outside the village walls. Map (when outside) E Cancel Dash (w/direction) Not used Enough towns, dun- geons and countryside to fill a huge (roughly 60-hour long) quest, lots of great minigames (dancing, slot machines, fishing), 20 special Hyper Arts attacks per character, awesome spells and more The Legaia demo is pretty straightfor- ward, but here's a tiny walk-through for our less patient readers. 1) Talk to and train with Tetsu on the beach. 2) Go home and meet Mei, then leave your house. 3) After the cinema, head back home and talk to Val to sleep. 4) Another cinema and your first real combat. Now head to the Genesis Tree in the center of town. 5) Wander around to fight ene- mies. (You can also open the chest in the cave now for the Wind Book and check out the lady at the shop above your house for some weapons.) 6) When you've had enough fighting, return home and talk to Val again for a nice closing cinema and the end of the demo. By the way, if you needed a walk-through just for this tiny section of Legaia, you're definitely going to need our full walk-through in this issue for the real game...you wuss. "Graphics are a little rough and combat takes too much time, but a solid, quality RPG that fans shouldn't miss" Players 1 Developer JVC Contender Availability Now Publisher SCEA Analog Compatible Yes Genre Sports Lower Level Punch e e e e May 1999 Sony's entry to the (finally) emerging PlayStation boxing genre. The demo is one-player only and just one round long, but you can choose between two different fighters. Upper Level Punch Guard Lower Level Guard Upper Level Clockwise Sway Counterclockwise Sway Special Punch EB Special Punch Checking out all the cool replay modes? You can slow the fight down (even make it go backward), speed it up, freeze frame and more—all from any camera angle you like. Also don't miss all four of each fighter's lame taunts (hold Select and hit any button). Official U.S PlayStation Magazine( 3) LESTER YOUNG EX + 190lbs. Uy “the animal” “old nickname: í NT attribute: "nipples? "fast ang Well, a two-player mode and 12-round fights, obviously. But also the chance to build your own boxer to fight against friends, and special punches you learn as the game goes on. First of all, pick Lester if you want to win. He's faster than Marvin, but they're exactly the same in all other attributes. Then if you play the demo enough that you want a bigger challenge, switch to Marvin. Tap your buttons frantically to get up before the count reaches 10. vs. MARVIN WOODS SI.. 249lbs. Demo Disc If a picture is worth a thousand words, a playable demo is worth a million PlayStation 1-2 989 Studios April 989 Studios No Racing A hell of a lot better looking than 2Xtreme, for one thing. The new all-polys-all-the-time engine brings this extreme gaming festival out of the Stone Age graphically. But then, having read the preview on page 44, you knew that already, didn't you? Because extreme gamers break the rules, including the rules of spelling. "While I'm not a big fan of the extreme games (not enough Surge, snowboarding off build- ings or cliff diving, I guess), the movie is all gameplay. Scenes with biking, skating and "blading give you an idea of the game's variety and what the courses are like. Thumbs up." 1-2 Leaping Lizard April Hasbro Int. Yes Action Yet another 3D update of a classic arcade game. This one comes with a free-roaming 3D shooter interpretation as well as a polygonal presentation of the original Well, about a gazillion of you picked up Frogger when it was first released, so the market for updated nostalgia is a thriving one. Why, we're not quite sure. "I still have my doubts about the game itself (the Frogger remake may still be selling well, but the game is a disaster as far as I'm concerned), but the movie here is solid. Some FMV starts things off and a lot of in-game footage shows you what the game will be like, both the classic mode and the new stuff. Thumbs up." 1 Reflections July GT Interactive Yes Action Full-throttle cops-and-robbers car-chase action. Check out the preview on page 42 for more info. This one comes with extremely limited violence (severe car damage is the worst of it) and a slightly (in our opinion, very slightly) less sinister theme: You're actually an undercover cop, only posing as an evil gangster in order to bring down a crime ring. Seems a lit- tle thin, guys, but it just might work. "Man, does this game look sweet. The movie loses points for showing only replays, but the real game engine actually looks identical. Great car-chase action. All that's missing is some wah-wah guitar funk. Thumbs up." 1 Psygnosis May Psygnosis Yes Action The sequel to Psygnosis' excellent but oft-over- looked sci-fi action flight sim. The original G-Police was a nicely atmospheric game with a great flight engine and a well-devel- oped story; this looks to be every bit as good. Expect lots of nicely rendered cinemas, as well. "The movie is a bit blurry and dark, but there's a lot of action going on and you get a good idea of what the game itself will be like. Big explosions (always a plus), lasers a-flying, and all sorts of futuristic sci-fi vehicles fighting it out in an immense futuristic city. How could you go wrong? Thumbs up." 1-2 Blam! Q2 '99 Midway Yes Action might just be put off by Legends' complexity. "As much fun as it is to see the demon play patty-cake with some wizard's body, what the hell does it have to do with the game? I've played the arcade ver- sion quite a bit and I still have no idea. Without game footage the FMV doesn't give you any idea of what Legends is about. Yet another 3D update of a classic arcade game. Legends adds to the Gauntlet formula huge, complex levels, a character level-up system and lots of power-ups. Well, we've played the arcade version of Legends, and as far as we can tell, it depends on whether you were a fan of the original. Part of the attraction Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) warrants to the original purchaser of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine that the demo disc included is free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. SCEA agrees for a period of ninety (90) days to either repair or replace, at its option, the SCEA product. You must call 1-800-345-SONY to receive instructions to obtain repair/replacement ser Tri waranty shall not be apoticable and shall arisen through abus treatment, neglect or breakage during ship- ment. THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND NO OTHER REPRE- SENTATIONS OR CLAIMS OF ANY NATURE SHALL BE BINDING ON OR OBLIGATE SCEA. of the original Gauntlet was its simplicity; fans of the classic ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES APPLICABLE TO THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND. FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED TO THE NINETY (90) DAY PERIOD DESCRIBED ABOVE. IN NO EVENT WILL SCEA BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSE- QUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM POSSESSION, USE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE SCEA SOFTWARE PRODUCT. Some states do not allow limitations as to how lona an implied warranty lasts and/or exclu- sions or limitations of consequential damages, so the above limitations and/or exclusions of liability may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. Color me unimpressed. Thumbs down.” DEMO DISC PRODUCERS Jon Manahan Gary Barth Perry Rodgers PRODUCT MANAGER Shelley Ashitomi EXEC! PRODUCER Andrew House AUDIO Buzz Burrowes MUSIC COMPOSITION Nathan Brenholdt TEST MANAGER Mark Pentek LEAD TESTERS Ben Briones Kenneth Chan Charles DeLay PROGRAMMING AND INTERFACE ARTWORK BY LIFELIKE PRODUCTIONS, INC. LEAD PROGRAMMER Alex Peck. 3D ARTIST Sonia Ivonett PRESIDENT Katherine Williams TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Tim Edwards CD INTRODUCTION BY CINEMA DIGITAL IMAGING, INC. PRESIDENT Dave Fisher ANIMATOR Kurt Rauer CG MODELLERS Chris Burnbaum Matt Eskew EDITO! Ryan Ramirez SPECIAL THANKS Karen Borowick David Greenspan Kerry Hopkins Ninalei Morrison Michelle Manahan Riley R. Russell OPM Demo Disc is published monthly by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., 919 E. Hillsdale Drive, Foster City, CA 94404. All titles shown herein are trademarks of and copy- rights of their respective publishers and/or their licensors. See individual screens for details. 91999 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Please submit all related demo disc inquiries to: OPM Demo Disc, Inquiries, 919 E. Hillsdale Drive, Foster City, CA 94404 Next Month Advertiser Index A look ahead at our next issue Official U.S. EJ PlayStation Magazine Action World ............e. eee 11 IASG:GaMes? ares A ise ced 48-49 On sale May 18 UmJammer A — : CAREM erea epe rers 40-41 Lammy! = : | Next issue check out our review of the latest d > ES E 5 Crave Entertainment retro-game, Centipede, in addition to Rampage £ ; [ Universal Tour, Baseball 2000, MLB 2000, Big Bass with Blue Marlin and Monaco Grand Prix i - We'll also have previews of Xena Warrior Princess, fc GAS Eldos 2. 12-13, 54-55, 70-71, 124! Jet Moto 3 and the sequel to PaRappa the Rapper, A zi Xp FE UmJammer Lammy! Plus, we'll get you through Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko with our complete walk-through Electronic Arts «esee eee 45 Check Out Our Next Demo Disc! GT Interactive Ent ........ esse 7 PLAYABLES Bust-A-Move 4, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, NFL Blitz, Abe's Exoddus, Elmo's Letter Infógrames.. 5. scirent 19 Adventure NON-PLAYABLE Jade Cocoon, Tony Hawk Skateboarding, Bloody : Roar 2, Star Ocean, MLB 2000 Interact Accessories ........... 8-9 On sale June '99 Jal8Qos SS VV e reu RI T rie 27 We'll blow out Gran Turismo 2 in a 10-page feature. With over 400 cars and many more V | tracks, we'll have plenty to gg Konan ases 1 os rated ie 31, 45 talk to about. Also, look for a review of 989 Sports' MLB 2000. / MidWay- is sss ite nosles sedo c 122-23 Namco. 5a kn 22-23, 32-33, 39 PSYBNOSISS zo serrer hs 35, 64-65 Expert Gamer's June issue will be chock full of strate- Sony Computer Ent ...... 2-3, 36-37 gies on some of the best sequels released this spring. It's been a while since we saw the limbless hero of ( r Rayman. However, he’s back in Rayman 2: The Great Escape, and XG Squaresoft ......... cs cece eee 28 will provide a lot a of tips on this frantic-paced game. Also in the issue will be the much-anticipated Soul Reaver guide with detailed maps and a level-by-level walk-through. And Quake fans shouldn't miss the guide on the title's sequel, which will help them enjoy the full experience of this awesome game. Take 2 Interactive .............. 43 It’s All You Need to Know ELECTRONIC™ n eame Da PlayStation —— MONTHLY SM aSOFTBANK company www . videogames .com 4 el g -i jin "opuajuN Áq pesueor ouj eoueuiv jo opueiuiN 66610 2U) eoueuiy jo opuejuiN Jo syreuepex 21e CBO] .N, Q-€ eui pue p9 opuajuiN *opuejuiN u) puawueyazug Jejnduio? Áuog jo sxreuiepej pejejsi6e! ese soBoj uoneis eld Əy} pue uonejS/elg “UI ‘SAOL qoojeo uj paee 1ou s! "2uj jueuiureueju3 euo Áempiy *esueoi| e oj juensind jonpoud Siy} 10} YEW seuru2ejoJory eu Duis quawureyajuy euioH Aempiyy ^2uj ‘shoy qoojeo Aq paumo xeuiepen pajersibo. e si seuluoejNoJoI "uj SEWED AEMpIW\ jo »euepen pareisiei e si AVMQIIN "oui jueuiureueju3 OWOH ÄEMPIN Aq OXON pue epeue») “S'N euj ur esueoi| jepun peinquisip Áje'snjxe pue sjejseuepoo Áq pedoje^eg ‘siasewapog jo xreuiepen e si ,Aejdaweb end, ‘payu siajsewaepog Aq paumo »ueuepej pejejsi6e1 e si sIaJSEWAPOD "peaiesed siubig IV Pwr AuedwoD eJewyog sjejseuepoo 6661 © 1u8uÁdoo MIDWAY first of eight gigantic worlds. Pick one of 32 vehicles and put it in gear. Who knows? You might catch a whole inch of air! Kick up some sand as you race against up to eight players and Get your elbows off the table, pal And put your wheels on. Welcome over a bikini or two. tothe e => PlayStation |@ Codemasters" NOW ON LE SCE CT. WC TEE TOMB RAIDER is a trademark of Eidos, plc. alid Core Design Lid: 1999 Eidos plc. and Core Design Lid. Eidos Interaktive is a registered trademark of Eidos plc. @'1999 Eidos ple. GEX9: Deep Cover Gecko, Geckland. and the GEX character, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Omikron: Tlsilllgmad Soul are trademarks of Eidos, plc. © 1999 Eidos plc. Urban Chaos, Developed by Mucky Fool. © & Published by Eidos'Interáctive 1999. AlrRights Reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registerem Watemerks of Sony Computer Enfertainment Inc. The products in this advertisement ar@rated "T" to "AP" by the ERSB. [Xe SY T LO 9)