News

AD&D role-players will find this handy - core rules on CD-ROMs,
two of 'em in fact. And, that's what the package is called - AD&D
CD-ROM Core Rules, coming from TSR as you'd expect. It contains
lots of goodies for the avid Dungeon Master. These include a 3D
map maker (create maps using standard AD&D conventions and then
render them into 3D), a character generator, an encounter
generator, a treasure generator, a monstrous manual database which
can be customised, a player's handbook, Dungeon Master guide, Tome
of Magic, and an arms and equipment guide. You can get a demo from
the Internet at ftp.mpgn.com/Gaming/ADND/CD-ROM-demo

Still on AD&D, the Forgotten Realms sage returns with Interplay's
Descent to Undermountain. This is a 4-character party RPG using a
3D, 360 degree view and contains 20 dungeon levels beneath the
well-known city of Waterdeep. Interplay are also bringing out an
on-line multiplayer games system called ENGAGE Games On-line.
Planned titles include Descent, Castles II, AD&D Dragon Dice and
MUD II.

Games linked with films continue to appear at regular intervals.
One of the latest mentioned is Ace Ventura, Pet Detective from 7th
Level and Morgan Creek Interactive which is to be made into a
graphic adventure. It will feature 30 locations around the world
and 25 NPCs.  Ace will have to solve 4 cases, following clues that
he discovers on his way. Look for it at the end of the summer.

Return to Krondor is now to be produced by those busy people at
7th Level, in collaboration with Raymond E Feist. This time the
story, which takes place in Midkemia, will be played through 9
chapters with 50 speaking characters, good AI and a large range of
spells and weapons. Your party, investigating a murder, discover
the theft of a religious relic called the Tear of the Gods, which
has been stolen by a mercenary called The Bear. Your team must
recover it and return it to Krondor. The game will run under
Windows 95 and may not be released until next year.

Look out for the intriguingly named The Dames Was Loaded from Beam
Software, an adventure game running under DOS. In it you play a
1940s private eye called Scott Anger. The game features good
acting and visuals.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine : Harbinger is now out but is evidently
highly structured. Rather than using video it features 3D
characters and it also has arcade sequences which won't appeal to
all.

This sounds my sort of game - and might be yours too if you're a
sims fan. Having managed a city and a tower, not to mentioned a
farm and a planet, how about managing Heaven AND Hell? Yes, in
Afterlife you can take over from God and dole out the treats or
disasters to keep those souls on their ... erm ... toes (if they
still have them!). As with many other sims, you need to zone areas
(using sins and virtues rather than domestic, commercial and
industrial zones), then watch your souls float in. There are
nearly 300 tiles and buildings to add to the atmosphere. It will
run under Windows 95 or DOS and comes from LucasArts.


More info on Nemesis - no, not the Zork adventure, the new RPG
from Sir-Tech. It's been a long time coming and let's hope it's
worth the wait. It will come on 4 CDs and contain over 2.5 gig of
data, 10,000 frames of original 3D art and SVGA animation. The
game will be played in real time. Sir-Tech can be contacted at
www.sir-tech.com

On the follow-up side, look out for Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
- with new mercenaries, weapons, terrain and missions plus over
6000 lines of speech.

Those who missed out the first time around should look out for The
Lost Adventures - 8 classic games from Legend on CD - the
Spellcasting and Gateway series, Eric the Unready, Companions of
Xanth and Time Quest.

Finally, Meridian 59 from Archetype Interactive is a multiplayer
CRPG currently in betatest. It is a Doom-alike in the way it moves
and feels, but is actually an RPG with traditional character
creation and combat, the multi-player aspect enabling messages to
be passed between players. Objects can also be manipulated like a
traditional adventure.  Up to 50 players can play the beta-test
version but the full one will hold many more.

Coming soon:

summer - Daggerfall, Master of Orion 2, Shadows of Riva, SimGolf,
Star Fleet Academy, Star Trek :  Generations, Voyeur 2

autumn - Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Leisure Suit Larry 7, Magic
of Xanth, Myst II, Noir

winter - The Shrinking Character






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