ECTS September '96 report By Richard Hewison The ECTS has grown to be larger and louder than many of the major public shows that frequented the late 80s and early 90s. Judging by the number of spare entry tickets I received in the post (nearly 30!) it's difficult to say this is a 'trade only' event any more as anyone who wants to gain entry probably can, as long as they don't look under 18. The previous show in March was very disappointing, but with the Christmas market about to begin the September show was full to the brim of all the major players in the industry. Only a few still chose to do their business away from Olympia (Mindscape being the most prominent). The two most important platforms to most publishers are still PC CD-ROM (DOS and/or Windows 95) and the Sony PlayStation games console. The Sega Saturn console follows up a good few paces behind these two in Europe (although I'm sure Sega would try and disagree with me on that point). For RPG, Adventure, Strategy and Sim games, the PC still has the most to offer. Virgin's stand was very impressive. 'Stand' is really the wrong word to use, because what Virgin had was a mini Castle. Navigating the narrow stairs up to the battlements led to the products on display. Westwood Studios had playable versions of "Red Alert" - the prequel to their realtime arcade wargame "Command & Conquer". Superficially this game looks very similar to the original game (not that that's a bad thing). Unfortunately, the monitors labelled "Lands of Lore II" were completely blank when I was there, and a few mins of hovering whilst the guys from Westwood booted up Windows 95 failed to reveal any glimpses of this mythical game either. The latest estimate is for a first quarter '97 release, although don't discount a Christmas '96 launch. This game was first previewed at ECTS over two years ago, so it's about time they got it finished. Lucasarts had "TIE Fighter vs X-Wing" (a multi-player version of their two excellent Star Wars games TIE Fighter and X-Wing). Unfortunately, the monitors were showing a completely different game which looked like a cartoon beat 'em up set in the Wild West using the Dark Forces (a la Doom) engine. Another display showed off a very Don Bluth style animated intro to "The Curse of Monkey Island" - the third chapter in the tale of the pirate, Le Chuck. The game didn't seem to be on show, but the intro looked very good (but don't they always?). Sierra were found on the balcony, not far from the giant Sony PlayStation area. As usual, they have a large number of games in the pipeline. Amongst them are "Phantasmagoria 2" - another multi CD epic subtitled "A Puzzle of Flesh". As with its predecessor, this is a game steeped in the horror genre. If horror isn't your thing, why not take a look at "Rama", a sci-fi graphic adventure based on the series of books co-written by Gentry Lee and Arthur C. Clarke. This mixes rendered backgrounds and some live action video sequences."Lighthouse" is a 3D animated sci-fi / fantasy / mystery adventure. At first glances this looks in the same style as "Myst" but in 3D. Simulation fans can take to the ovals in "NASCAR Racing 2" from Papyrus. The original was distributed by Virgin in Europe, but Papyrus were bought up by Sierra late last year and this is the first fruits of their new working partnership. RPG players can look forward to "Birthright" - an exclusive creation based in the official 'Dungeons & Dragons' world. It will mix an RPG with a strategic wargame, allowing to travel through 17 different kingdoms adopting the role of a warrior, magician, priest or crook. "Betrayal at Antara" is the follow up to "Betrayal at Krondor" and looks like more of the same. Oh, and where would Sierra be without a new "Leisure Suit Larry" game? The seventh (or sixth, depending on your point of view) in the series is to be called "Low Laughs". Unique features include allowing the player to record his/her own dialogue (thus appearing in the game itself), and the first ever 'scratch and sniff' puzzles! "Lords of the Realm 2" is a strategy game using realtime 3D, set in medieval England. Blizzard Entertainment have got "Diablo" in the pipeline. The SVGA graphics are in a similar style to the last Ultima game from Origin (Ultima VIII), displayed isometrically. Up to 4 players will be supported over the Internet or network, or two player over modem or direct link. This is a Windows 95 only RPG with full red book CD audio. MicroProse were once again showing off "Magic - The Gathering" for Windows 95. The only difference this time around is that the version of the game being demonstrated was actually playable and looked very solid. Running in SVGA, the artwork from the original cards look very nice on a PC screen. Sid Meier's involvement in the project added another delay to the games ingestion period, having already been delayed once before after the switch from DOS to Windows 95 over a year ago. However, it's now quite close to being finished (although their electronic CD-ROM press pack deliberately avoids mentioning any actual release dates!). "Star Trek: Generations" was also on show again, but this game is too little too late if you ask me. By the time it's been published, the next film (Star Trek: First Contact) will be released in the cinemas. The animation looks jerky, and the 3D 'Doom' style engine looks outdated even in SVGA under Windows 95. For the first time in ages, Electronic Arts had a stand you could wander around. The main highlight was "Dungeon Keeper", which has had a few self-running demos appear on PC magazine cover CDs in the last few months. With an army of monsters at your command, you can spread misery and destruction throughout the 20 peaceful realms in the land of Velouria. Build up your dungeon and fill it with traps and inhuman henchlings who will mercilessly maim, torture and slaughter the heroes who come after your loot. Watch the massacre come to life in a fully rotatable 3D environment, or possess one of your ungodly servants to fight it out from a first person perspective. This game is due for release before Christmas for PC CD-ROM with versions for the PlayStation and Saturn following in the New Year. Let's hope this game turns out to be as interesting as it looks. The demos I've seen run a little slowly on a 486 DX2 66 when lots of characters appear at once, but on a DX4 and above it moves very well. The VGA graphics can look a little duff at times, but otherwise this is looking good. "Syndicate Wars" is a follow up to the original "Syndicate" (which I felt had some very basic flaws in the game design). The graphics in the sequel look rather naff from the demos on show. They use their 3D engine (as found in Magic Carpet) rather than display the crisp SVGA graphics found in the original. This means that the detail and look of the backdrops and the characters are very blurry and somewhat shapeless. The way the 3D engine works in an isometric display gives the 3D world the impression of it being made out of flimsy rubber (or at least that's the impression I got). "Theme Hospital" looks similar to "Theme Park" but in a hospital! Seeing how (a) I hate hospitals, and (b) I didn't like "Theme Park" either, I didn't give this one much of a look. Bullfrog fans will probably love it. Origin's "Ultima On-line" looks very nice indeed. SVGA 16-bit colour graphics and isometric 3D terrain coupled with Day and Night time cycles should ensure this is a success, especially when (allegedly) thousands of people can be playing at the same time! However, I can't afford to play games over the 'Net. Just two mins every other day downloading my e-mail is about all I can muster! "Wing Commander IV" is already out. "The Price of Freedom" uses the same cinematic sequences with Mark Hamill and crew as found in the third outing. New though is "Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga" which is an all-in-one Windows 95 only collection of the first 3 games in the series and their various data disks etc. No sign of "Ultima 9" in Origin's literature though. Maybe next year? Warner Interactive have already unleashed "Z" - a mixture of Dune II and Command and Conquer. The SVGA mode looks nice, but the in-game graphics (presumably done partially by age old Bitmap Bros stalwart, Dan Malone) look a little out of date. As I mentioned in the last show report back in March, Warner's line-up of products look average to say the least. This might account for why the company is up for sale at the moment - a situation which might have been resolved by the time you read this. "3 Skulls of the Toltecs" is a western graphic adventure in the old 'Lucasarts' mould. The graphics are very bright but a little too cartoony for my liking. "Deadlock" is an isometric god game which can be played by up to 7 people over the Internet or a network, or solo if you prefer. "M.I.A." is a Vietnam flight sim featuring 8 different aircraft. Simis have a reputation to rebuild after the very poor "Werewolf - KA 50" simulation which was published through Virgin two years ago. "Safe Cracker" is a graphical adventure along the lines of "The 7th Guest" but using QuickTime VR (which allows complete camera movement within the rendered 3D environment). "Star Control 3" comes from Legend Entertainment, and is the third in the series (apparently). Details on this game were scant at the show, and the publicity bumpf I took home seems to have trouble whipping up some enthusiasm for the game. Not a good sign. Eidos Interactive (an amalgamation of US Gold, Domark and a few others all rolled into one) were failing to convince anyone that "Deathtrap Dungeon" is anything other than a dodgy looking beat 'em up in a quick but creaky looking 3D engine. How much 'adventure' is in this game remains to be seen, but the 3D engine was falling apart quite often when I saw it running on their monitors. I still have the original Fighting Fantasy paperback somewhere in the loft. I think I'll stick with that. Of course, the number of very flash looking arcade games for the Sony PlayStation continues unchallenged. The F1 game (with Murray Walker commentating) looks amazing. A number of adventure and strategy inspired games are also due to appear on this console in the near future: Panzer General, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (which has a very well written manual if I don't say so myself!) and Broken Sword (speech dissected by yours truly). All these are also available for the PC, but at least the scope for different game genres is opening up a little as the PSX enters its second year. Over all, this was a much more interesting show than the last few put together. I still think it's a little too busy for a 'trade only' event, but otherwise it was worth a visit - especially to see some of the women wandering around handing out "Phantasmagoria II" leaflets from Sierra (sorry Sue!). The big multi-media companies like Warner, BMG and CIC have finally realised that they really don't know much about games and are all experiencing difficulties or are pulling out of the industry completely. Virgin still had the best PC product on show, but the F1 game from Psygnosis for the PlayStation might just convince me to finally buy a PlayStation. One of the reasons I left Sony so quickly was that the initial batch of games just weren't my cup of tea. Now it looks like things might be improving a little in that area. The PC is still the King when it comes to adventure and strategy though. - o -