News

French software house Coktel Vision have been acquired by Sierra.
As a result of this Digital Integration will no longer be
representing Coktel's new line-up of products (Goblins3, Lost In
Time) which will be released by Sierra. Digital Integration will,
however, continue to represent Coktel's back catalogue games like
Gobliiins, Gobliins2, Ween, Inca and Fascination.

Syndicate was one of the big hits of 1993 and there's already a
data disk out for it - The American Revolt. The people are
revolting, to coin a phrase, and you, as the leader of a
controlling Syndicate, must bring them into line. There are 21 new
missions on the disk and lots of new weapons and gadgets.
One, a clone shield, allows you to disguise your agents as
ordinary citizens. The game has network support too, so up to 8
players can take part in specially-designed multi-player missions.

Captive 2, Liberation, is still on its way. The good news is there
will also be a CD-ROM version ... or maybe there will ONLY be a
CD-ROM version - it's hard to tell from the current write-ups.
We'll find out in the summer when it will be released.

In fact, it's great to see some CD-ROM games coming out which
have been written especially for that medium, not 'shovelware'
disk adventures or ones which merely have added speech and music.
Two I've been playing recently are Dracula Unleashed and The
Labyrinth of Time.  Dracula Unleashed uses full motion video to
give some of the most effective graphics I've seen in an
adventure. (A bit too effective for me - I'm not a fan of horror
and, especially, anything with vampires in it!).  The Labyrinth of
Time, in contrast, has 3D ray-traced graphics in the main body of
the game. Essentially, a labyrinth has been constructed for King
Minos which reaches right through time and space. His aim is to
use it to conquer life, the universe and everything; your aim is
to stop him.

A Windows CD-ROM only game being advertised now is Iron Helix - an
SF point and click adventure from MicroProse. Evidently it will
feature cinematic 3D graphics with live actors and fully digitized
voices, a crisp and atmospheric movie-quality music soundtrack,
fast real-time action with no irritating gameplay-delaying loading
times. Iron Helix is a virus which has attacked a space craft,
altering the DNA of the crew and making them unrecognisable to The
Defender, a robot that stalks the corridors of the ship. The ship
is on a course which will make it crash into a heavily populated
planet. You have just 90 minutes to stop it, by manoeuvring a
probe through the ship to the computer which controls its course.

MicroProse are also working on another adventure to use their MADS
system - as seen in Rex Nebular and Return of the Phantom. The
third game will be Dragonsphere, set in a fantasy world of
dragons, wizards and shapeshifters. It's due in February and is
said to have a high difficulty level.

They also have a cyberpunk/gothic horror adult RPG called Bloodnet
due out at the end of January. At the start, you are bitten by a
vampire and turn into one too, so will need to keep up your
strength during the game by biting people periodically. The only
thing that can save you is defeating not only the arch-vampire,
Van Helsing (sound familiar?) but also a large corporations,
TransTechnicals.

On the footie sim management side, Domark have released a data
disk for Championship Manager showing all the 93/94 transfers,
management changes etc. The price is a meagre œ9.99.

Silmarils, authors of Ishar 1 and 2, are working on a new RPG
called Robinson's Requiem. You play an ex-government agent, the
afore-mentioned Robinson, and are being held on a prison planet.
Your aim is to escape. Locations vary from jungles and lunar
volcanoes to alien villages; characters range from cyborg prison
guards and fellow prisoners to aliens and monsters.

The follow-up to Legend of Kyrandia, Hand of Fate, should be out
in the New Year from Virgin/Westwood Associates. This time you
play Zanthia but other people will be recruited on your travels.
The sound and music will be digitized and the graphics look
excellent.

Meanwhile, there's a rumour that The Dig, the forthcoming
LucasArts game from Brain Moriarty and Steven Spielberg, may be
CD-ROM only. Don't panic, Activision said that about Return to
Zork too! What ISN'T a rumour is that the game's release
has been delayed for 6 months, until Winter 1994. Ah well, that
gives time for more players to purchase CD-ROM drives, if
necessary, I guess!  However, the latest LucasArts extravaganza is
Sam and Max Hit the Road, which features two unusual detectives, a
dog and a rabbit. The characters are taken from a comic series by
Steve Purcell.

New from US Gold/SSI comes Dungeon Hack, a first person
perspective RPG. The storyline is hackneyed (search out and kill
the baddie deep in the dungeon); what IS new is that the dungeon
is randomly generated and you, the player, can use a set-up screen
to choose the difficulty, type and number of monsters you'll face
and the number of levels.

Did you enjoy SimCity? What about Populous? And Civilization? If
you liked all three, look out for Genesia.  which promises to
contain the best features from all of these.  Produced by French
designers, Microids, it will be a 3D isometric game released
through Mindscape. You must recover 7 jewels but while doing so
you must expand your fledgeling empire, control the economy,
progress technologically and manage an army.  The Amiga version is
already out; the PC version should be available RSN.

Some more games to look out for:
The Lost Kingdom, part one of the Armaeth series, from Real World
Software.
A space trading, combat and empire building game from Grandslam,
called Reunion. The game comes from Hungary.
Another X-Wing follow-up, Tie Fighter, due out in April.
Perihelion, an Amiga game from Psygnosis. This is a Cyberpunk RPG
where you are in combat against 'the most ancient and terrible
power the universe has ever seen.'
Civilization 2! Yes, it's being worked on now, and should be
available in August.
Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger due out in the summer.

Recent Releases
---------------
(1) Software

Black Crypt - Hit Squad (Amiga, œ13)
Cruise for a Corpse - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ15)
Dungeon Hack - SSI/Forgotten Realms (PC, œ40)
Eye of the Beholder trilogy - SSI (PC, œ46)
Future Wars - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ13)
Genesia - Mindscape (Amiga, œ30)
Hoyle's Book of Games - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ13)
Inca:Wiracocha - Coktel Vision (PC, œ50)
Kingmaker:Quest for the Crown - US Gold (PC, œ38; Amiga, œ36)
King's Quest 1 - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ15)
Leisure Suit Larry 1 - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ15)
Leisure Suit Larry 6:Shape Up or Ship Out - Sierra (PC, œ40)
Loom - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ15)
Lord of the Rings (enhanced) - Interplay (CD-ROM, œ45)
Lost in Time - Coktel Visionn (CD-ROM, œ50)
Maniac Mansion - Kixx (PC, ST, Amiga œ13)
Master of Orion - MicroProse (PC, œ45)
Merchant Prince - QQP (PC, œ45)
Might and Magic:World of Xeen - New World (double CD-ROM, œ50)
Railroad Tycoon - Action 16 budget (PC and Amiga, œ17)
Sam and Max Hit the Road - LucasArts (PC, œ43)
SimAnt - Hit Squad (PC œ18, Amiga œ15)
SimEarth - Hit Squad (PC œ20, Amiga œ18)
SimFarm - Maxis (PC, œ35)
Simon the Sorcerer - Adventuresoft (Amiga joins PC, œ35)
Star Trek:Judgement Rites - Interplay (limited edition packaged
                            with video of Wrath of Khan (PC, œ45)
Subwar - MicroProse (PC, œ45)

(2) Books

7th Guest Hint Book - Prima, œ18.50