News PC owners, who are fans of Laurence Creigton's games on the Spectrum, will be pleased to hear that Laurence is working on his first PC adventure, written using AGT. It's at the playtesting stage so, with any luck, we shouldn't have long to wait before it's released. I don't have any information about the title or plot but will let you know as soon as more info comes my way from sunny South Africa. Dark Legions is a new game coming from US Gold in April. It's being compared to chess but even though there are only 8 pieces to move, evidently there are limitless possibilities in terms of moves. Not many details yet but it sounds quite a bit like Chaos, the ST PD game reviewed a few issues ago. Another game which rings a few bells in the 'sounds like ....' department is Diggers. Shades of Lemmings and Humans as you guide the diggers through a series of screens, collecting treasure or dealing with enemy miners. It's due out from Millenium at the end of March. Work is still progressing on 11th Hour, the sequel to 7th Guest. Evidently it is very similar to the original game which seems a bit of a shame as I found 7th Guest rather disappointing as a game though it looked brilliant. Under a Killing Moon sounds a much better bet - it will be a 2 CD-ROM package and features 30 actors including Margot Kidder, Russell Means and Brian Keith. The game will contain over 3 hours of video footage and is a detective-style adventure. Space trading games are big news at the moment with Elite II and Masters of Orion getting a lot of coverage. Another similar game out now is Nomad from Gametek/Papyrus. Priced at œ29.99 it sounds a real bargain but the graphics and gameplay aren't as good. Armaeth is a new title to me; so are its publishers - Real World Software. It should be out by now and, again, retails at œ29.99. It is yet another graphic adventure in the style of Monkey Island, DOTT et al. The graphics look more primitive than the LucasArts adventures. I reckon I'll wait for Hand of Fate. Interplay have brought out a 'best of' CD-ROM which covers ten years of their titles - one game from each year. That makes ... oh, must be ten titles! There's Mindshadow, Tass Times in Tone Town, Star Trek 25th Anniversary, Lord of the Rings (the original version, not the enhanced CD-ROM one), Battle Chess, Castles, Dragon Wars, Wasteland, Bard's Tale and Another World. Something for everyone there, and just œ49.99. UbiSoft have also brought out a compilation called 'Golden 7'. This contains Great Courts II (tennis), King's Quest V, Larry 5, Heart of China, Sargon V (chess), Shanghai II (Mahjongg) and Red Baron (flight sim). Again, you'll get a penny change from 50 quid. Having recently played Legend's new Xanth game and been disappointed with it, I was even more upset to read that it has sold better than any of their other games so they are sticking with the graphic interface. The next two games will be a Meretzky one called Superhero League of Hoboken (part adventure, part RPG) and another based on the Death Gate novels. LucasArts' The Dig will definitely be CD-ROM only! And don't expect it before Christmas ... Still no sign of Ultima VIII ... New Releases: (1) Software ------------ A-Train - Hit Squad (Amiga joins PC, œ18) B17 Flying Fortress / Silent Service - MicroProse (CD-ROM, œ45) Critical Path - Media Vision (CD-ROM, PC, œ50) Gabriel Knight - Sierra (CD-ROM, œ50) Goblins 3 - Coktel Vision (CD-ROM, œ50) Hand of Fate - Virgin/Westwood (PC, œ40) Heirs to the Throne - QQP (PC, œ45) Iron Helix - Spectrum Holobyte (CD-ROM, œ40) King's Table - Gametek (PC, œ30) Lawnmower Man - Sales Curve (CD-ROM, Mac, œ55) Police Quest 4:Open Season - Sierra (PC, œ40) Quantum Gate - Media Vision (Mac CD-ROM, œ50) Quest for Glory IV:Shadow of Darkness - Sierra (PC, œ40) Starlord - MicroProse (PC, œ35) Strike Squad - Mindcraft (PC, œ40) (2) Books Return to Zork Hint Book - Prima œ14 - o -