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release their Saturn conversion of the coin-op Decathlete in the UK, and bar a name change, the Saturn version remains exactly the samel Take your pick of competitor from all the participating countries, but watch out for the UK contender - he
VIRTUA FIGHTER KIDS The Vlrtua fighter pone have gone plnt-siz.ed this month In this all-new kid die version of the most popular fighting game on Saturn I Find out exactly what Shun looks like when he's squashed down to a fraction of his former size and discover the
Most of Sega 's coln-op titles are now making their way to Saturn, but there are a few that have slipped through the net over the years. We round up most of the big titles from Sega's vast arcade portfolio and earmark the ones we demand to see on Saturn in the future I
58 Core have been responsible for some
release by Sega , and features some of the most stunning 3D ever seen on the Saturn I We take a look at the first playable version of the gamel
62 After a wait of something like eleven months, the first playable version of Alien Trilogy is finally herel We take a trip down to developers Probe's headquarters for a first look at this brilliantly gory shoot 'em up! Plus, we get to quiz
In the best which Is why _ 'ft dedicated eIJht paps to It t.te, on In the " suel lt's been. pretty good month for softw. re.1I round rellly, with both AM)'s Athlete Kings . nd AM~'s Virtu. Fighter Kids fu turl!d this month - the good news Is th.. t both oft hl!'Se tltll!'S will see i UK release later on ln theyen MOfe .. boutth.. t I.. ter on In the issue though -In the mu nt lme, rud on for debils of howt o win t he very first UK copy of NiGHn .. nd .. 30 controllerl each~,
DARK SAVIOUR NEARS COMPLETION!
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Segaweresoimpressed with thegameth attheyhavedecidedtosignitupfor release themselves mu ning t hat .. UI( reluse should be defi nitely on the cards. Created byClim.... Dark Saviour has bee n in development for over ayea r now. and Is probably the most ambitious RPG ever seen on the Saturn. Played from an Iso· metric perspeclive.theg.. me includes much mOle ..clionth.. n hn been sun in previousRPGSon theS .. turnsuch .. sMysbli ..... nd technic .. lly.it.sloads more Impressive. For Instance. there's transpa rency effects. Impressive bos ses. 'oadsof nice 30 bits and a great storyl;ne too - one which DOES N'T Involve wandering around landscapes eJctermin.. t ing trolls. 8nically.you·re stranded 0 naboatwith .. Clewa nda huge big monsler. Unfortun .. tely. the monsler has escaped. lea ving .. trailofde ..dbodiesa ll around th eshl p.althoughth emonst eritselflsnowhereto be fou nd. Obviously. it'syou r job to track down the monster and save all the people on the bo.. t. which is why you've been decked out in .. suit of armou r and beengivenapetblld low youaround.Westillhaven·t wo rked out the significance of bird. but it's probably very import .. nti ndeed. In ..ddition to the great gr.. phics of the game. this is un ique in th.. t you ca n change the perspectives asyou're playing. ena blingyo u toseea rou ndbloch and revealing parts of the game that would otherwise be obscured.
game fo r you next mont h. bu t in the meantime. he re's some shots flom t he I;ltest version for you to have a look at
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SEG.A. SATURN
TORleo
Thtilctlon adventure title h.u been largely une.路 plo red on the Saturn, unlike the PC, where theft'S an avalanche of titles tvery month-and vtty popul .. rthey are too. (iaml/:S like 0 hilve proved to beprettysuccenfulontheSilturrl,buthallebeen criticised for not being long or Innovative enoughwhich we think Is probably fair enough iJlthough D was pretty enjoyable. Anywil)', TOf leD lookl set to chil nSI! the Im;JIBt of Interutill!! movie style games forever, with OiIn inuedibly dark seWns and very inllolvinBSameplay.In fact , althoulhthe Bilmeisn't out for.anothef couple of months, the Japanest are illrudy 80lng mad about It, which (In only mun that once tr30nslaled. the title will be biB over hefe too. 8.ulull1, the m;lln aim of the game Is to discover the mystery behind a lIery spooky Spanish town , which you somehow end up In after esuplns from jail. Elleryone In the town Is incrediblyweird,and thecharaderyou play ends up settins stabbed rishtatthebeslnnlnsofthe same, which leads to some ellen more stranSe Anyway, Torlco see ms to be pushinsthe Interact ive adllenture much further than anythlns hn bdore, with punlestosollleandactlonscenesuwellutheusu,l wanderins 'round ,lien enlllronments looklns at pretty obJects. In fJet , the entlre,dllenture hu a flIm feel to It, espedally n most of the ch,rJeters look like something out of, Quentln T,rantlno film. Sesa halleslgned upthe IItleforreleaseollerhere.,lthoughthere'snofirm teleasedate at the moment. look out fotmote Infoo n
GET YOUR WORMS OUT...AGAIN
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trickery and a wicked sense of humour, Rumours ofa Saturn-only conversion were flying around a coupiI!' of months ago, but it see ms this ve.sion of EWJ will be rele ased across aU formats In the (oming months. The l!Vf!'ntual publish er is likely to be Virgin , but even they haVf!' remained un(haractl!.isticaliytight·li pped OVf!"the
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Anyway, from what ~ saw of the tiUe .. t the E3 show, the Saturn version (in fad all the 31bit versionsj is not aduilUy illI that diffe,ent from tht 16·bitve.sion,
whith is iI bit diuppointing really when you think Oibout what (ould have been done with the game. Even so, anyone who mined out on the second game bl!(ause they'd already bought a Saturn will no doubt jump at the (han(e to get hold of this one-it's certainlyutellent fun even though it's not ua ttlypushlng the Saturn's tKhnical (apabilitles. A nice stop gap until we getto SH some 3l-bit product from Shiny.
SEETHE CROW!
BOMBS AWAY!
8ombermon~
coming to Saturnl And with ony lucl;. he'll becoming 10 thl' UK too/
This onc has been in development for IC long, that almost everyone has forgotten that the film ever existed Every one that IS except for Accialm who aft determined to get the game out on tht Shtlves by tarlyAutumn.Appa renllythe tltlt will tie in with the second Crow movie which will
Thl' Soturn version o/thl'gomt IS olreadycompll'ttond olthough It hosn't btl'n signed upfor reltore in thiscountryyet it's btl'n rumoured thot Stga wlilSlgn the gomtupforreltostunderthtifownnomt 8ombermon hos alvouys btl'n extreml'ly populor on console, ond thiS vemon should be ooexception either-espeClally smll' it Incorporotes 0 ten player opflOnl ~p; In hord to imogine ten people ploylng Bombermon ot once. but beloeve us, thiS will beobsolutely brilliontl Another bonus POint/or the titll' is thefoct that It will only be releosed on the Soturn -you won'tjind developers Hudsonsojt pottmg thos ocross to tht P1oystal lonITherl"soospt!Cl/!Creltoredotesjorthttltltytt.althoughoslt'5olmost jirtl5hi'd,it'5thoughtthotitcouldbeonthesheIvesWlthino couplto/months. Wt'lIkef!p~postedl
bereleasedthissummer(conven~nt.
eh1)and will take the form ofa 3D cornbat game, where the player can fight up to four opponents at any one time This is anothertltlethatiscurrentlyunplayable al I he moment. but a video of the game wasupand running at the E3Show The verdictrWell,if thisooe'sgoingtobea hit. the programmers stili have a lot of worl: left to do. More soon
ICAME, ISAW,... As r/'Vto/I'ri by SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE in our losl illUl', smosh hit Commond and Conquer will be releosedon thl' Soturn soml'tome lotl'r in theyear, woth a whopping slx·manth Itod over the Ploystotoon version. which IS uni!kl'lyto b rl'il'osl'ri at 011 hlsyear Anyway. losl manth, we brought you nl'ws a/ thl'convl'r5!on,bulnaoctuoISoturnscrel'mhots.BLlt, thosmonthwl"vl'monogl'ritogetholdo/aoonojidl'Soturn shOI As you con see, the two verSlam (Soturn ond PC) ore prOCl!collyidl'ntKolondwortonlhe50lurnversionlsstormingoheori,w/thlhe goml' currently stanrimg 01 oround d 30% complete This title is gomg la ~ abso/utl'ly mossive coml' ChristmOS/lme ond haS mony owards/rom the PC wmmunityfor Its e)(cellentgoml'play Will~osurejirehit
wothollstrotegy/an5 onriiS5Uretowm buctets%ther
08
SEG.A. SATURN
won
BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO CHARTS TOP TEN VIDEO GAMES
TOP TEN RENTAL
AM2UNVEIL NEW VF3 CHARACTER!
Lut month, AM2 r~~,1sa:1 details on .mother (h;Jr~el that wiU appeal in the awesome VirtUiI fighter 3-lCnown as Tab Afashl, this huge surno wrest~f will pfOYe to bt more than,1 match for
the other competitors in tl'le gilmc, and this ~dltion to the title meilns that there's two new
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se,....... AMIope JoJpH will IN Oft NlIe.t tM UI_ time as NIGKTS.
whkh.t tt.. montent It KhHuled for. s.,t-Iter S rMaM. A pack. ln ch" mnblnlnl both the ca- ,1Nl the joypN It thoItafrt to N pillion NI" for '5'.", 1"""',- hK '14,." DemIIIHI for tit. McI_ Is Ably to ... "'1 hip. fO If J'OIO want to ... sure to pt)'OUr....". own pad, INIU HlnI)'OU
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INTERACTIVE MOVIES
SEGASAT\.JR:N
LOADS OF NEW TITLES TARANTULA
8MG hilote just announc:ed their Autumn/ Winter line up, ;lInd OImong the vast amount of Ituff on offer Is a b lr few Saturn titles. And here they ;lA!:
Sortofa shoot 'em up but with iiI big deadly spider instead of a submarine or something. Pit your creepy crawly agillnstloadof othernilstylnsects aod sec who comes out 00 top. Our bet. afcourse,lsonthe big~styspider.
Obviously,thls is a g.ilme about iI tank. Takeyouf tan k
afou ndvilrious urban environments and smack the living daylights out of just about everything. The graphks are alreiKly looking very sophisticated on this one, attnough it's stili pretty early in development. More ilS soon as
we can get anything on the title.
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Guide thest two grocJYefS through Vilrloos scrapesintheirO'MlpsychcdelicversiOnofthf! wor1d atb~. It路sa sortofilrade~Ure. but theft'S iI fewatker styles in t~ too. Ignore the purple loons and big pink shacIes-lhrs rould bt: big although there's not much to sce on the title just yeti
WEAR ASILLY HAT FoIlowinlj.m Jlbout every other ~jof JoOftw3re publisMr, SesJl illl! spomonogtheir Yef)'own festival this summer, whkh will uke pI;ace between 1-4 August. The Earth Enefl)' Musk ffltlv.il will be held;rt 8eddlngton ~rk. East Ctoydon, and hils t hrft Jep;lr.Jte d~ #of .bD, Da~ ilnd Soul. Featurlnl names such as COurtM)' Pine, Mia Paris, ilnd,fJkofI Umerick, plus cbnce ~ Orbib~.L1h Wobble, LTJ BuWn, DJ Rap and Fabio, wItt! licemed Nrs, wind powered m.lIrquees ..nd of COUIW, Interxtlw! ent~颅 bllnment from Sqa, should be one of the bluest festMI e..ents of ~ wmmer. Tkkets CO$l;JIn ;IIrmand .. lqtothe ;wenge guy on the strtet, but_~ thrftp;llrsoftkkmtoglve;l~totheflrst 1'I!*n who ilnswer this question
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IN THE FlElDS, SlGA SATURN MAGAZINE, PRIORY
COURT,)o-J2 FARRINGDON lANE, LONDON EC,I JA,U. The first read! our offkes will recriw the t kkets. 1f)'OU~nttobuytkketsforthenoent. aIITic~milrte<'on
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CHEER UP!
Ust issue, we ilnnounced that Philips wilt be bringing their back utillogue of titles tatne Saturn in the near future. ~f. thq-also have .. bunch of new games up !Of release 0Yef the next year too. Down In the Dumps is a point-and-diet adYenturl!: mrring iI famityofalleos whoare about as big as iI thumbnail ThtycIK~ tota~iI hoIidayonEilrth,butfindttlatthingsilren'tquite~the'f'retraCkaluptobe-infact, thloygdinto~lsortsd5cr.Jpes. ~won路tbeoutuntilrll"Xt)\"iI,.but_路\Ie~lreadyseenildemodthetitle(onPC onty)-hefe路silfewch.J~~unt~_GlngetholddsomeptOpefpics.
,2
SEGA SATURN
hen R~ymJn WJIJ teluled .Imost J )lUt
W Jlo, therewiilsn'tmuc:hlnthewIYof platformlamHilvai~bll!forthI!Saturn . lnfact, thl!restllllsn ·t.Buteven~, b)'man stillrKelved.
nltherstern r«eption from the games PI'e'SS, probably b«;JIUR despite looking the piilrt, the 'ilmeplil)' rl!milined disti nctly 16-
blt. lu(kllyth.t',allilbouttochJngeforthesequel, wlthbyman m.klns much mOfe of an effort for his SKond advtnture. So, while the sequel is still a platformer, there's quite a lot that's new for this httle goblin type guy. For example, much more use is made of)Dthan in the fifst title and the action 15 far more fast pacedthilnbefore.Onilfirstplayt~t,thiss«medtobemuch
more in·depth than befa/e ilnd dare we SJ'j it, actually 5~med funl This is another one d~ for alate Autumn release, although ifs already in a fa irly
advanced state-expect to see a previtw next month.
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t h:: even hOld a four player split screen option . There wu urblnly nothi ng else like It on the 16-blt machine . There·s nothing else like iton the Saturn at the moment either. e specially when you conSider that Ubisoft are planning to Incorporalean elghl player spllt·scleenopllon inlolheSalurnversion of even Is. Nowthat"s what we call ambitious. The screen will be split into eight horizontal strips, and will need the useofa Sega tap to get 8 players on screen at once - flom these screenshots. it certainly looks like it will be very chaotiC! As for the rest of the game, the 3D Is much Improved over the pbit version and the graphics are already looking very nice indeed With any luck this should be a welcome addItion to Ihe Saturn's portly portfolio of racing games, and it's probably the first humorous take on the
gente that t he Sat urn's seen. How it will stand up to Codemaster's excellent Micro Machines 3 is anyone's guess. but at the moment It's certainly looking like it will be a high profile title. Mo re in a couple of months.
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licenu:, and thbt lme they're lum lng up top buketballplayerswithWarner8rothercartoon chatactef5tomakea - wacky - bukttballslm, Actually,there's a bit more to It thanth~t Sp~ce J~m is ~Iso $et to be one of the year's biggest movies (in the States at least),starring Magic Johnson, loads of other NBA stars and all th e looney Tune classic characters. The general theme of the film, a syou would Imagine, Is to create the best basketball team of all time in a most hllaflous manner. And as far ~s the game goes. it probably means that you gettodo~1I sorlS of things with the players that you can't do in real bas, ketball-producing mallets, bashing people over the head,that sor tof Ihlng Anyway, although there's not much to see on this one at the momenl, development Is coming along ~t ~ very SWift rale and should even be ready fOf plevlew nelft month. All being well, of course
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ell,you'yt gol 10 hand 1I lolhem, They sure know how 10 make the most out of OIlieenR, Yep, we've!lftn Morbi Komboih I3.Z on jusl OIbout every mOlchlne known to mitn, but you know whOlU We've never sten bDtho/them, togelhetOltonce, Nowwhydldn'tOl nyonethlnkofthatbtfort10h, thOlt ', euctly whOlt A芦IOI;m hOlve done here In 11'11, double-tht-gOlmepiOly-half-tht-price pitckilge. Not Oil all 01 euh in, simply a chante for all those Scaturn owners wi'to mlued out on the first two Morblltombats 10 gel a look at whOlI it wu like In Ihe old days , With arcade'perfect graphics on both of the versions and all Ihe se<ret bits andpi~esirn:luded,thisissuretobeahltwlthallthecompletedie-hard MK fans oulthere,allhougholhers may be a bit miffed by it-especially when they can '-lib f~ '" go out and buy MK3 for the same price
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As Acclaim OIlready hitve the rights for the fi rst two games it shouldn't take them too long 10 convert the titles to Saturn,whichhopefully~ansthe
double pack will be out on the shelves bylhe end of summer Looic out for lhe forthtomingrevltw
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T:){7r::::~!e~:0I~:;;~!::::i~;::~~::r:~~~ ::dit:o;;~::~:::ner" strilnge gill Ihlngs loo. But,despile bting one of 100st yeOlr's most high pro fi !e IMm" Ihe u,uill temptation 10 rush out a gOlme.of.the,fllm wu pustd cwr, a nd OCUn, who hOld bought the lieenR when tht film WIl ln dtvtlopment, bqOln Ihlnll OIbout efeOlUng their own venion ofevenls. One year lalel and Ihey'Tf' stili going Tht inalproject WOls destintd r the
The game Itself follows the WatetwOrld theme, With you taking charge of your ve ry own battleship ilnd ehilrglng ilround a vast expilnse of water Obviously, the main aim is to tMow the hell out of everythIng that mOYts and ktep )'Our own ship out of troubie. At the moment though. it's difficult to ~ how thiS is gOIng to work ilS the YefSIOfl we saw hild no enemies programmed into il ilnd WilS only run路 ning on one I~L However. Ihere should be much more progltsS milde on thiS tlll~ In the very near futur~ ilS now the bilsic engine of Ih~ game has been progroimmed
Megadflve,buloncelheSaturnwurel~a sed. tht!)' decidtdto deYtlopforthe
in,irseaSI~rtocom plete therestofthelevels
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Anyway, provided lhe gameplil)' Is up 10 scratch, this should prove populoir amongst shoot 'em up fans. More nearer Its rel~ase in the Autumn
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(o upl e of mont hs bacll,slupld ly thinkingthott it would be out on the sheivl!s;a few month s latef_ Howt stupid Wt wete to listen to thoSl!l!vilprOB'itmmefswhoatwotys lie about when their ,00me! w ill be fi nis hed. If they·dbeentetlingthl!truth, the)'wouldh ....e
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said Ih .. t for the tOlst few month s ,1I they'd been
do ing wa s plOlylng footie down the p;lfk,nt lngiceloUlesilndgl!ttinB
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whizzing about all over the plOlce, in dire need ofrescue.lnfOlct. unless sh e finds the evil mOln behind the eOltlon of 0111 the s,lhe ttombwrll explod e OInd Iheonly living hopelhe entire h rth has Will cease to ellist . BII of 01 sc~ry prospect isn'lll1 Anyw~y. ~s you'ye probOl blygu essedbynow.youtake on the role of professor Klm berlyStride Shedoesn't weOlr very many clothes for a scientist Iype. but she does hOlve good intentions, Her ulti· mOltegoOlI is to re<lch <lnd destroy the huge evil comput er/humOln known ~s I he m~chineheOld . The game tOlkesplOlCeonOl much·devaslOltedearthwhere
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blewltht helr bosses. Anyway, the point of all IhlslsthatBlamlstillisn', finlshedandpfObablywoo't be out until around
September Thlsmt"ans Ihill in additiOn 10 finishing the origln.. 1code, the pfOgramml't'S have had tlmeto<ldd a few little extras inlo the game (ilnd,take a few out that theythoughl weren't wor kingquileproperlyJ. For anyone who didn'l gel to see Ihe preview the fi l st time around, BlamlMachlneheadis a3DblOlslerqulleslml· 100rtoPOInzerDIOIgoon 2 except IhOlI insludof lidingOlbigSCOlrydr<lgon. you get to Ilde a bombinsteOld And there's actually a good reOlsonforthls - ~ PlOfessor,in~nOltlemptlo
save the world from a madscienlist.hOlscre· ated a bomb whrch will blow all evil mllt~nls offthefOlceof t he earth UnfortunOllely, while enlisting the help of 01 feUow professor. she hn somehow mOln _
hugemulant5pidersroOlm~roundbarren I~nd
scapesandnormal human bclngs~reverythinon the ground. The OIctu~1 gOlmeplOly. ~Ithough t~king ~ slan· dOlrdfirst· person pelspectlveshool'em up view, involvesquite<lhuVYOlmountofslrategy. To complele eOlch level.you' lI have 10 fulfilveryspecificmlssionobjecl.ves. such as rele<lslngOl Iraln from 01 st<lhon (you'lIget to see it moving ~roundthelevel)sothOltthepowel
can be reslored toan electricity gen · erator, Thele's also keys dotted ~round each level. the collection of wh ich will allowYOll to access new lerrains.lt·s ~Iso essential to collect 0111 of these if you wOlnt l oget through lothe next level. Although the ultimOlte OIim is 10 meet Tony "fl<lbby" Defrescoand save Ihewolld. 5ub missions must be completed simply 50 your co·professorOrvllledoesn·tde<idetodeto·
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. . . SEGA SATUf.lN
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he·sOlbltofaper~rtyousee.OIndOlftelrejecting hisOlffectionshe'sdeCldedth~themightwanlto
kill you insle~d. Nice guy, eh~ Obviously, to meet 0111 the specific mission objectives I he presence of some pretly awesome filepower will be required tucklly. more powerfu l weapons can be be picked up as you progress throughthelevels,OInde~nOllthislncomplete
stage. some of the we<lpon effects OIre OIbsolutely stunning. FOI instance. there's 01 "storm" weapon th<lt can be picked up which pl oduces a lightnlngstOlm and kills everything In ItSllicinity OIctual effects OIre very rullstlc. OInd really most of the SOItUln's capabililieseven going to be some Iranslucenl in the finished lIersion At the moment. thele's only a cou pleof lellelsofthe game that areaetu OIl1yplOlyable, bul COle are hoping to g<lmeflnishedwlthinthenelll orso.ThisshouldhopefullymeOln we gellhe game In fOI review next month Well.lhal'swhallheyre<kon
11:A:J i1J 1'~J ~I The guy behind;lt! the evil goings-on is one TOO1 -Flabby" Defresco. After work-
ing for research company Sendair for some years, ne de<ides to use their research for his own ends. While Sendalr has developed micro ffiachifleS to
complete everyday tasks. Oefresco used them on himself, to develop his own body - in a vain attempt 10 Clttrilct the laydees. unfortunately, this didn't work
ilnd the DNA began to mutate. Eventually. lOlly became even more twisted ilnd generated iI virus that would wipe out everything on the planet. Except for him of COOlse. After he let it loose, almost everything on the planet WiIS destroyed. But Tony began to Ie.)nimate things and all the b'MgS Idt on the earth began to have a huge fight, obviously making it a very dangerous place to be. As you an imilgine, thilt's why scientist Kimberly Stride wilnts tile carnage to stop. That's why she's built a huge bomb to, cr, blow everything away.
<Q> SEGA SATURN
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OiInywhefe ntilrthl! standud s of all the
US shenanlgan5 seenonTV,but hey. whenthou;lrtcrapatsport, tilhth
p;art In exer(lse of the videocame kl ndlYou UlIIOiIlwil)"S pretend that you 're just ltiltnlnsthe rules. Actuillly,lhl!ll!'silheildy~nilnjrf_basket
ball offerings on the Saturn, and one in partiwlar, N8A Jilm Tournament Edition was just about as
good as it gets on console. But luckily. if you're into b.lsketball. thenthissummefisgOin8Io~
ilbsolutely great fOI you, beuuse therc's loads more b;uketball sims on Ihe way. Howeve r, there's neve r beenonede~IOpedbySegabefofenow. h asthefe1
_tIIis is away more realistic irterpretation of baskBtbaI than say, IlIA Jarn or IlIA Jarn TOIn1arnef1t Etition _ "
"
Ahahah ... Well, not on Sat urn 'Jnywily. Unt il now, obviously. 5ega'sfirstSaturnbasketbaUeffortis
lose ~ry gilme. YOU! pI~rs' statistics may drop <IS the gilmes progress. Wh,ch obviously ma kes th,s more re .. llsticth.. n ot her b..s ketball slms
a rather fancy littlenUmberthat 8":'4.l;ti=~lr::tI~"'fiilable. by the n.. me of NBA Action. The version shown here is Fe.. t uring all the players and .. Imost 100" complete, with very teams from the re .. 1NBA few ch.. nges to be m..de befole tourn .. ments, .. pparently it it ..ctu.. lly goes on s.. le, And, wlllmakeyou"F~l the on a fi rst pl ..ytest, it does Illsh as the gameplay will seem to play very smoothly, bflngyou into the surreal although it hasto bes.. id word of the NBA·, Clikey. that t his Is .. way mOle feallsNBA Jam TE cert.. in ly tic representation of bOIsket· wasn't .. nything He that bOIlI t h.. n s"y, NBA Jam. You'll Plus. as weU as .. 1I lhe right see none of the "big he .. d" teams and everything, cer· tric kery here - It'sjust 100" tain players h.. ve their own real ism a ll the way down the line. Which is probOlblyIo.1dsbettelif signature moves, which COI n make for some spKt..cular pt..y you're Into b.. sketb.. llln re .. 1life, even if once you it does mun Ih.. t thefe's .. hnle less sheen to learn how to pull the proceedings. the moves off. Also, the As NBA Action is practiCOllly fi nished, it 's likely game Is quite u nique In that it will m .. ke it out on to Ihe shelves by Ihe end that the pI.. yers' anrib· of August. WhiCh is just a boot the s.. me time th .. t ules ch.. nge ..s the BMG WIll h.. ve thei' own version of events. Slam .. nd g.. me is being played Jam (reviewed this issue) in the shops. WhiCh one depending on the play· wlllta ket hemaJo, ityoflheb.. sket b.. llf.. ns'COIshol .. er's perform a nce. This remains to be seen, but our money's on Ihisone. means tha t if you begin Look out for the review next monthl wi th the besl leam bul
__'_0
~ SEGA SATURN
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21
he),urlslDl1,andlnterplanebry
T
forceS;ilre;ilt wn. And this Isn't $Ome
mlnotdlugrttrnent type ofwilIr. Nope, Ihis Is fully-blown , dHtroy the
entlrl! planet kind of ~r. Some planeb hav.i11lreildy h .. d their entire pop-
ulatlons wiped out-forlnstance, Pluto and Man, once supporting thriving communities .. re now .. lmost(ompletelyb3ffen. Allthepeopll!h;r~been wl~out .
.. ndtheonl!lonl!,urvlyorh;nf1fl1ln
~ .. rchofufety. ThirtpersonbJe5Sk;JO .. rkhiH ,;Jnd
it 's uptoyoutohtlphtrout. AliflrItUtuttnllntof thl! ArH Interception !>quad, she WiU theft to _.,11
_this isn't some minor dis路 agreement type of war. Hope, this is afully blown, destroy the entire planet kind of war. Some planets have " already had their entire popu- " lations wiped ouL of the iIIctlon Ih .. t took place In the W;1r on Mars and
amulnsly,shesurvivedilndtKilpedtolhenurtsl lun.. rBiUe.
H~r, r .. therthilnbelnlldofflllhtly,
shl!路s ben slg~upfo,thtnl!xt(onflkt . .. longwlth the1Tth Sql.lildton of the silvet dtilgons. And,the like路 IlhoocI is thilt this will be the iut conflkt ever-the Ktesh Rhan irmadahutetl.lrnedtothemothershlp fOttefl.leliingatldlsabollltolill.lnchanilttiICkon whilt's le1'tofthel.lrilvene. ll.lck,lyforYOl.I,YOl.ltfitst mission is heteon Eiltth,whereYOl.lmust free the stteets of Milnhiltlatl from alietl attack. Thetl ifsol.lt Into otbit wheteyou'lI face the enemy in fl.lll as they ptepare to take O\Ier the InteHmiverSiI! defence system. The only way to stop these rl.lthless enemies is to hl.lnt them down, one by
~ SEG,~ SATURN
one andfinilllycome face to face w'th the grand commande r, AS YOl.I've probably g.Jthered from th is ruthless storylme, Chaos Control isa pl.lreshoot 'em I.Ip,w,th a first ptrson ptrspect,ve, explosions gillore and a vilSt array of weaponry However, the most apptilling feall.lre to the t,tle Is that it I.Ises the Virtu a Guns-infact it's the first title that utilises the guns since Sesa'sownVirtuaCopl ThiS alone should ensure "prO\les populilr w,th shoot 'em up fans, although ~'II be fe5erving our judgement on the t,tle unt,l next month,when we'll berece,v,ng the final version oflhe game Catch our reviewthenl
Cute bunny girls flying across a war-torn Japan? Yoiks! It's Keio IT'S NOT REALlY UlE AIIYTHING ElSE ON 5ATURII
ide-oglrMSbylheJr¥el')'n~tureJre
V
JJwl)'S J bit blurre. Who rememben Dynlmite Hudy on the MegildrlYe - iI littleilnlmilJ th ing who could disiOCilte his hud ilnd chuck It It enemies? And whilt ilbout NiGHTS ? He 's a (ruture withtheabilitytofightnightmilres onbehllf ofJittle children. Now, Ihere's no denyingthilt's pretty slrlnge. Oh,il nd don't forget JU Ihow dodgy JiJplnese MilhJongglmes. But we're nol even going to til lk ilboutth embecilu~they'rerude.
Alofllleseelementscombine tomaketlisa~tiUe
that has the most fill Japanese " grapIics seen aI year.
"
we""
dot umbtellil.Whoelsel AnywaY·lf)OU·reil blt of a Sega Ioy.Jhst,you may remember KeIO from w~n It was released on the Mega·CO around thlee yearsago,infact,lhe16.bltverSlOnwJssurp!"lslngly similar in concept with the JctlOn JlternJtlng between platfOfml~isandSlde~rothnsshoot'eml)pblts
The graphics. while SlmllJf In ChafJctef and styleJfe much Imploved over the 16-blt Yersion wllh Inllicale backsroundsand hl)ge. hl)se bosses. In fact. the boss· esinKeioareprobablythebestth,nginthewhole game-there'sglganticsumowfesllers,psychedehc tea servers, even huge crab monstefsl And while they're f'lOte~actlydlfficult to defeat, it's stili really really good fun ThiS IS also thanks in no small wily to l1:am's vast affay of weaponI)' - flom little pink umbrel· las tOOYersized mallets that she whips out and bashes enemlesovertheheadw'th.If1(,dentally.whenshe does thiS. her expressIOn changes from butter·wouldn't-melt to ~hlng akin to Mlnnle t~ Minx All of these elements combine 10 mJke thiS iI compelhng. If a little simple title that hils the mosl fun JilpOlnese
However, despite the tendency to alwJYS eH on the surreal Side, once In I whole there's J vtdeogame that IS sooo ~lfd ~ don't know qUIte what to make of It KeIOSquildronisabl!hkethal graphocs_'ve~nallyear Although it'S essentially a platform game. If you're ttlt sort of person Ihill grts fed up and an usy one ilt IhJI. tnere's ~d of vel)'. with standard platform Ichon after iI vel)' bllilffe ele· y.-hlle. you needn't worl)' too much. beause ments through. lhere'sflymg ievels tothls game too Inaddlout the game But I Vontofighllnglhee'illarmythat'sattempllng suppose Ihat's beQu 0 1nvade n, Rani also hils iI pel drlgon. Spot ''''''_ . . .. 0 I hrough the Ilfborne levels. Spot can reathefire ilndlaunch mlss,iesIndIS .ctually pretty handy In lhedestructlon
!eer:;;;;~n~~:i~~ ~::~~~tt~~~'lil~~~S~f
• as .1tS and stranded Russlanaslfonauls
T~IIeI SlonofKeiothat~'veplayedls
s cally complete and all beingwell,the t,t lewllI beontheshelvesbymid.AugustAs~lIas
pl~ smgplatformfans,shouldattractanyone
hero In this ildventure? Wellit'silllttlegllldressed Inarabbltcostumewho fighUtheenemywlth •
24
C:1="t:;
c:
r... J
who'seven the slightest bot interested in pure Japanese gilme5 Oh, ilnd anyone who's mild will like it too. . ._ _ _ _ _ __ _~'"
FLY, LITTLE ONE! one of the flying levels. Whi(ethey're not e~actlythemostchallenginglevelsinthegame,
they're vel)' cute and cuddly. Plus you get to shoot things like flying teddy bears and slrange little beastiesthat really have no business being either Inthealrorlnouterspace. It'silllabit~lId
really. But It Isdead,dead good.
A_.look
at little Rani. Doesn't she
she is really cute. But get her angry and you'll wish you'd ~ been born. you sre, whrn she gets angry. she turns Into iI completelyd~rentpcrson.Justlikt'thcincredlblthulk.~face
goes all scrunched up and she gets really really mean. And tNt's when she stilrts to get her weapons out. She COIn use her little
_
umbrella to smad enemies OYer the head, her INlIIet to. er, ~k â&#x20AC;˘ her ~mies ~r tl'lt l'Itad and het little bow and arrow to shoot " darts into the enemy. The umbrel~ also ~s another use-It shields "iI _ hnifromoverheadmissUesilndalso8IYoestle,apa~ute-llke _ landmgwhenshe¡s.lirborne.
25
ell, full mOlruto 5q;laf ArMrkafor the imaginaliw title of this beat 'cm up offering. It's not somethl"BYOU'~
W
golnlltofof~inahulry. that·sfor
surt!. But despitc conJurinl upvlsJons
of )"tl'-d old men in long ,,,incNts, Three Dirty IMQI"Wft is ilbout as "idd~fritndly u It Bm Well, if you ulJ imprisoning young children and fOf(ln8themtodesl8nsuper.~nc:ed
_ponry kldd le friendly. VOusee.lhilt'swhatThl~Dirty
DwarveslsaU about-the plight of thehlgh·splrit~.funkMngkidsas
they battle against the system After l!elng imprisoned for most of
thei' little hves in a 5eCuritycom· p!eK. four highly intelligent kidlets havecrcated their won alter"Nllty by igl'lOf108 their ,ul environment and playing dungeons and dragorn instead little do Ihqt know that in a f,lI off dimenslon thelr~rydiNoIl chan~the ltill l~ofthethleedwarichar.Ktetstheyhaveseltcted.
When they roll a
lOo an
inter-dimensionill portal opens
upandeverysinglecharacterfroml~ladvenlure
fallsthrOl.lghlt,boundforaneoilrthCity. Ar'ldwhcrcdo they end uprWhyin New York ofcourse.
As)'Oucan Imagine. ifs not everyday tha t the average New Yor~er gets to ~ dwarves aod trolls. but when the three dWilrvesjoin up to destroy all the nilstyorts. they quictly become niltionilt heroes. But insteiidofbeingallhilppyilodjollythey'reveryst~n
lipped ilbout the whole situiltion because whilt they reillly wilnt to do ~ get bac~ to their home planet and blow up a few wizards. Dr, get jobs creatmg nuclear bombs for corrupt heiids of state. But to dothilt they're gomg to hilve to t ract down those pesky kids and get them to pl.JY ilnother OSlO adventure which wiU hopefully change t heir fate. And. if they fiod lhe kids. there's a good chaocethal lhey'1I be set free to play In the flelds aod skip in lhes, rffiSjust like all other good kids do. So,it'saverycomplicaled slorytine.just like al. the~' D&D gilmes. But despite being based on the
~
~ SEGA SATl.JRN
incorpor;Jting!o.ldsoftextefal Insteiid,lhey'vecnosenilside scrol'ing tM:-ill 'emup.simllarloStreetsofRilge(in p.lrts). (Kh of'he Ihreedwarves hils a diff~ · ent arfa)' of moves 10 inflict upon the enemy, ranging from shnging baseballs to hurling bowhng balls. Strange weapons for Dwa~ bot then they are from il different dimension. The gameplay Is Spilt up inloa varietyofshort levels. with the basic goal being to beat upjust abool everythlngonthescreell. There·samilssiveaflayof enem~ 10 defeilt In the gilme, rangmg from onion bl"eath·bt"eathmg orcs 10 muUnt rats. Also, when the dwa~getdamaged,or illdeedwhen thedwa~ d.lfTl<lgeamutaflt, astlllscreellappears~re
on thescreelldlsplayingtheamountofdamageyoo've caused 10 an oppoIleflt. This happens on illI the levels ap.lrt from the boss levels where there is much more movement around t he screell. We had a quict playoflhistitle at lhe E3 show, a nd while ifs not quite up there wi t h some of the top lillesthal are cUflelltlywowing S<ltUfll skeptics, it's pretlylightheartedandcertailllyplilyswelLlucklly, it"S almost finished too. SO you un expect 10 ~ il review in our next Issue.
If your gaming nous is titchy, bone up on the gen with Maslowlczy - he's the main games man at Sega, and more dour than an album by Suzanne Vega . Yes , it's that time of the month again readers, where we put YOUR questions to OUR man at the big 5 and he shows off by answering them . if your brain hurts because of a strange Sego query, why not write to him at AMERiCA RRRRAAAWKS !!! Q&A, SEGA SATURN MAGAZiNE, PRiORY COURT, 30-32 FARRINGDON LANE, LONDON ECIR lAU . We ' ll do our best to help you out. TEACHERS TODAY, EH? OEARSEGASATUIINMACoAZI NE, Thfsisthethi,dtlmelhavewrittellto)«l~nd)'OUhavefI't
answered my prevoous letters. The last time I wrote to you was when you were ("lied er_ Sega er_rr_ what was it now) Ahyesl Sega Mag,IlIOC,I think it witS. So anywayWlllyoo please please ple~ p<ont my letter bKaU\.l! I've alw<lys wanted to~
my name;n a magaZll'N'.
1Ikr'ONthlsquestioll;sn'ttodowithga~butlwouldloke
10 knowwhan happened to Tom Gu~, Has he been trailsfl'rredtoanothermaB()(whatl8e(a~lenjoyMreadmg
HE'LL KiLL US ALL DEAR SEGA SATURN MAGAZI NE, Please answcr the following questions as I n~d to know {or rll k,llyou} r Are Sega going to introduce a budget range for their oldcr games,hkeClodwork Kmght and Oaytonal 21sResidentEvIIgoingtoberclca5edonsaturn1 JWhenisGunGrrffongoingtoberclcasedintheUKI 4 Are p-BlTversionsofVe<:torman andGunstar Heroes onthccardsl S Any plans for compilations of the Thundcrforcc and
hisreviews~tlowciises
str~tsofRagegames?
2 SOOn I will have some money to buy" game. I am a drIVing garnesfreakarldwaswondenngwhichtogetoutofsega
6 How about new versions ofthea~1 7W,IIDaytona2bepossiblctohavea4·playermodcvla sphtKreenandhnk·uplPleaSC Thanks for your time, oh and please release KoF '9Sas It is absolutely amazing
1Y11y00WipEoutaslcan'tdecide.WhlChOOl'doyou thmkl
shovldgetl 3l<1stlyare there any games beingdevek:lped at the moment on the SGLOSI tfso,wtrat1
.#lit. • Yes i!ldHd,and then!" a six month udl/SiYeon It . . . too-~noPlaySbtionW!rsIon IIntil Mlrtyear, Ha hlr, lWaitandSft-buthopefullyit'lIbeNiGKTS.30hhell yes'4Theywon't.Sorr)<sThey'~rippin8yo<1off.TheRRPIs
b9.99. Report them tothe poIitt, 6 lenny.
ChristopherBexIey,G~SWIIa.
Chrls~,Odsal,Bradford,WVoru.
PS Sorry about the handwriting, but I think)(lU should blame that on myEnglish teacher, as she~, taught me howto
•
impr~rnyhar.dw'iting.Teacherstoday,elll
6 Yes, for at least on of them. 7 Possibly. Maybe.
., :!~: ~~ ::::u~~ he's uSly. But he stili writes the occasiona l thins for our mal. When we ca n stand to look at his hideoul fate , Or he's wurlnlabalOnhis hud,lSesabllyfo. SUre. J They're now onto SGl 1-1,a superior vc.· slon, and lots of lames will be using it soon ,
GIZZAJOB
~::~~; :~:ol:~:~ ::,(!~~:y;a~ ~:(o:r; ~~~, FORGOT HiS NAME
<>fAR,,,",
Please can you answer these questIons. Thank you • WIIi Manx TI Superbikcs come out on the Saturn? Ifso, when? 2 Will there be any moreVlrtua games? 3 W,ll there be any more shootinggamcs uSlngthc VirtuaCopgun? 4lsittruethatBuglWillbeashoot'emup? SEGA SATURN MAG is the best magazine and Saturn is better than the PlayStatlon The N~melen Wonder, Oxley, Wolverhampton.
I'VE SEEN nlE UGHT, BROnlER! ..
~::~;~::JpU:ta':dt':~,::~::::70~':;:rt~r:~~'us
OEMSSM, a few questions rd Irkcto askyou,O knowledge·
mOre In the pipeline. 4 Noooooo,
1 Haveyou (S$M) got a wcbsitel If so, what is It/ 2 Are OasIs better than 61ur {sorry I just hadto ask l)1 31sthereorWllltherebeaKrcensaverfOf thcSaturn,as when I playC05 the screen does linge, on for a long old tIme? 4 Will thc,e bean animation program for the Saturn/ S WtIy do Mr and Mrs Scat 'Em Up keep re-vamping old (but good} r6·BIT beat 'em upSI Are they just making an cumpleofthe saying "same stuff,diffe,ent day'? 6 Can you give away some more demo dlsksl And don't say 'Se patient my child' or anything alongthO\C hnes 7Canlbeareviewer?Youlotarcmyheroesl Robbo,Abinidon,Oxon,
D£ARSSM, Afterreadlng)(lUr m~g~Zllleforaboutayearand a half (startIng when you IVCreSegaM<lga2lneandIhilda Megadrrve) I have de<:kled to wrrte in WIth some questIOns • IS Command and Conquer gorng to be releascd on the
I have
AN OLD FlAME WRiTES
•
:::I~=~::;;:':~~':~;h~;e at
unlikely. 4 So'. that. S Why men with suttess?6 We will. 7Sony~I.
Saturn?lh~vepla)'C1iitonmyPCanditisabrilliant
game 2 What w,lIyou put on your nextdemodiskl 3 W,II the newOaytona have mo,etracksl 4 When w ill AM4 make their own solo game? They helped AMJ with Manx n S Why does no--onesell Dariusat f29·99 asstatcd for the RRPinyourOutNowfeature/Everywheresellslt at aboutf4499 6Who is the character in the middle of your Guardian HerOl's review with the rcd armour and green hair? Thanks Paul »Imon, Hampton, Mkldx,
OEARSSM, Firstly I'm only a newcomer to your mag and rm glad thjtlhaves~nthelrghtbe,auseyourmaglsbrilliant
and kicks cvcry other milg's butt So now I would like you to answer the followIng quest,ons r Will Virtua Cop becoming wrth a new gun? 2 Will the new Daytona be cheap like Virtua FIghter 1lsthePlayStationabettermachinebecauseIVCalways seem to begetting sccond·c!ass conversions? 4 Will the Saturn be ablc tocopewi t h Virtua FighterJ becilusethc graphIcs look amazrngl sWilltherebeany"Stflke"Sf'rresgamesfromElcctronrc A'ts comrng on to the Saturnl Yours sincerely, StephenArmltronl,Malhera, CoL.ondonOerry, Nlmand.
~ ~~;: ~:a~; ~:::~~~ :~t~~u~~~:t:~n ~:t ~
_ il 'l
lot more than JlIst a .emlx, it'l a whole new lame. 3 No, 4YuSuzukithlnblo,ano;! whoare wetoarluels Soviet Strike, shown In News last Issue .
A few issues back we spilt a few beans on the Artificial Life (or A-life) system employed by NiGHTS. If by iiny chance you missed that issue (because you're stupid or something) we'll just explain it again. tt's a feature developed by th e Teiim which evolves Nightopia and its inhabitants. The more you play th e game, the more your surroundings and their occupants change. New Nightopians appear, their cultures expand,and their environme nt throws upn ew hills and valleys. tnfact, if you're In th e right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time you can actually be decked bya new plateau springing up from thefloorl A-life is one of the things wh ich tells you that th ere's more to NIGHTS than just beating the e nd boss - there's always something new going on in Nightopia (A-life is saved to memory) and better still, your action in destroying the Nightmaren and re ndering the joint peaceful directly affect the proceedingsl
SLED CITY
All this flying inthe sky business is allverywell - but what happens i f you start feeling all airsick and queasyl Well, unlike with ' planes an d helicopters, with NiGHTS you can just stop for it whil e to get your breath back. Doing this couldn't be easier, as NiGHTS ' big floppy shoes act as 5uperb air brakes. Simply pressing the l and 11: buttons atthetopof top of the pad together halts NiGHTS in his tracks almost immediately. However, there's a n even neater trick on offer-each top button corresponds to the representative foot, and by only applying one airbrake NiGHTS begins to dance in the air, spiralling and pirouetting around on his hee l whilst changing direction, Of twisting his whole body ilround whilst flying. This doesn't seem to make a big difference to the game itself, butit doesmake abigdifference toth e feelwhenyou're playingit. It might just look likefaffing about, but it feels very serene. Although you 're not going to believe that until you play it .
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I KILL YOU! HA HA! I KILL YOU! Included within NiGHTS is a separate 2-player split -scr~ n VS mode option. One player controls heroic NiGHTS, and the other the evil Reala. The characters are placed into a confined arena (with a big pointy thin g in the middle) and fly around attempting to Paraloop or Orill Oash each otherintosubmission. Thewinningplayeriseitherthefirsttoscore thr~ hits, or he who hits the most belts under his belt when the t ime limit runs out. It's a pretty entertaining little diversion, but we're slightly doubtful as to its lasting appeal. Still, what do you expect for free?
KNOW THE DRILL
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NiGHTS abilities are multifarious - you can certainly tell he was created as a top-flight ninja demon by the lord of Nightmare. Apart from the Pitraloop he's in possession of another, simpler aUack. Pressing either A, B or C sends NiGHTS into a Drill Dash. As the component names of this technique suggest, NiGHTS spins around and shoots forward atan accelerated pace. This bashes any Nightmarean NiGHTS hits into oblivion, and also allows him to turn quickly by spanging off walls or other indestructible objects-plus of course it makes it easier to reach th e Ideya Prison when you've onlyit couple of seconds of NiGHTS-time remaining. However using this ability costs NiGHTS energy - there's only a certain number of times hecan use his spin,indicitted by the green bar inthe boUom-leftco rner of the screen which diminishes with each twist. Luckilytherei sa way for NiGHTS to top up this bar - by gliding through th e many floating rings which occupy each level. Every time NiGHTS shoots th rough one his Drill Dash energy is restored a tiny amount. With careful enough flying it's possible to fill th e bar right up-enough energy to fighl most bosses with!
:..
.,
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.,.
We illI know whilt it's like-you're right in the middle of iln exciting dteilm ilbout teilming up with iI flying sprite to rid the wortd of night路 milres ilne:! iI familiilr ringing enters your subwnscious. At first it works its Wily into the fabric:: of your imilgil'liltion, until your dim brilln flnillly recosnises its chirp ilOO ilWilkens you. You might struggle to keep your illilrm clock from ru ining your fun, but it's ge~rillly inevitilble it will. Unless, of course, you teillly ilre teilmed up wfth iI flying sprite. See,when Clilris orElliotilrelnhumilnform, they'te constilntlychilsed by iI giilnt flying, ringing alilrm clock, whkhcasts the shiny light of dilwn down upon them. Should the kids find themselvestrilppedinitsbeilm they'll wake up, thus ending their ildYentUtes. the only wily to Silve them Is to run like the wir"ldto avoid the dreaded bells until you've col路 lected iI NiGHTS路freeing Ideya. Now NiGHTS takes over the dreilm, free路 Ins you from the ilttentlons of the tlmeplecethilt could spell the end to your hopes of mUSKill stilrdom. Or bilsketbilll stilrdom, dependins.
Z:......~.拢._.!",======L::=~_....::!!..,', When NiGHTS (or Claris/ Elliot) complet es a Mare, his performance is rat ed in terms of the speed at w hich the Chips were collected, th e number of Nightmaren toppl ed, th e number of links racked up and most crucially apart from speed, how many bonus Chips w ere collected. A polygonous rot ating rating appears, and marks you fro m A to F. lf you compl et e the Mare as on e of the kids you're In for an automatic F as you've squandered yo ur NiGHTS time. If you 've been good and scored loads of bonuses you ' ll get an A. The ba lance of your Mare scores and fight against the Doss gives you iln overall total score fo r the level. Th is is pretty important, beuuse you can only fight Wi zemiln once you 've scored a C Of aDove on ilUyour level s. So, fora t ip, after collect ing th e IdeYil w ithin iI Mare, your best bet is to not cash it in straightawilY, but to tour t he Mare a couple more times collecting illI the Chips agilln (th ey'll have turned gold to notify you of the ir Donu sdom). Now cash in th e Ideya and hopefully you 'll do okilY.
accoutrements which help or hinder his progress or sometimes bot h. Some are obvious such as the barrels suspended in the sky shoot NiGHTS out at super-speed should he pass through them. Some aren't, like t he semi-translucent air pockets which bounce NiGHTS around like bumpers (again at high speed,but making your cont rols unpredictable). The trickiest ones are the bonus barrels. These brigh t orange balls floa t in f ront of NiGHTS after he makes contact wit h them. A number on the side of t he barrel indicates how many hoops it wants to be manoeuvred t hroug h(or how many objects you have to pick up with it j unt il it splits open to grant you extra points. If you're especially lucky you might even get a power-up too. Bu t be warned -earning such bonuses is nowhere near as easy as it sounds, you have to pull off a performing seal act and steer t he t hing with you r nose, hoping against hope it doesn't just f loat away.
RED ARROWS, SCHMED ARROWS NiGHTS' milin magical ability is his Paraloop. As NiGHTS flies through th e ilir, a t ril il of myst ical star energy disperses behind him. If NiGHTS joins t hese stars togeth er by perform ing a roll intheairheopen s a vortex w hich sucks all the matter w ith in it into spa ce. The bigger t he Paraloop, the more powerfu l the vortex. This means t itc hy 'Loops merely catch enemies and Ch ips inside their parameters, bigger ones draw inobj ects j ust above Of to t he side, and humungous ones va cuum everyth ing in th e surroundin g area into their heart. Good objects, like stars and Blue Chips, are deposit ed st raight into NiGHTS' pocket, whereas bad on es such as Nightmaren vanish, nevertobe seen again .
...-----...........-{
Power-ups are one of those inescapable inevitabilities of j ust about every game, and perhaps the most amazing t hing about t he ones found in NiGHTS is their instant familiarity. They appear as coded icons and perform fai rly perfunctory dut ies. One, wit h a purple fireball embla zoned upon it, w ipes out all enemies on the screen. A more novel it em, decorated with a Nightopian head, grants NiGHTS a few moment s w ith a chirpy Nightopian wingman who collects all the objects NiGHTS passes. The most common pick路ups afe t he golden st ars, w hich huddle in t heir m ultitudes all over everywhere. These are points bonuses, whic h might sound a bit feeble in t he gran d scheme of t hings, but NiGHTS is a game where points ma tter.
~ 1~~~_I .t1III'
WE WILL CRUSH PUNY NiGHTS! One of the most spectacular thing about NiGHTS is the scale of its bosses. Each one is either huge, or commands a sprawling domitin full of hazards. Every boss requires a unique method of destruction. To give you some Idea of what
we're talking about, here's a selection of our faves ...
stagt.The whole level, whilst lookingsotid enough, is made of putty, warping and bouncing with every fall of her feet.
Things get even weirder for NiGHTS as he flies through a
rubber building festooned with mirrors whkh reflect his every
move, and the playenvironment. Getting bounced around
insidehere isasconfusingasit路 uation as you 're likely to encounter. Unless you're
studying for a maths degree.
This boss Pfotects himself by surrounding his lair with a rotating wh~1 of mk~ on poles. Not th~ most orthodox of def~nces, perhaps, but tidy noneth~less. ~,he can only be beat~n by destroying his mOtJSe5. whkh ar~ only vuln~r.lbl~ when they'~ flashing. Sounds simple ~nough. but try dealing with it In 301
The renaissance of the classic button-bashing athletics games continues! US Gold won the Olympics license, but Saga's very own AM3 are set to keepjoypads burning with their arcade conversion, Athlete Kings. ROB BRIGHT is on the starting blocks.
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proc:HS, he dec:ideclto celebrate the flctby euloglsl nl the va rious huntin, me thods I nd turn l". them into I show of strength I nd IUperlority OYef"everyot hf!r spedes. Rathtrthanrunn lnl at ~(I! after a pig. he dKided to run aft er noth lns. ratherth'lnthrowinS il speilr iiltS, lIoping elk he ded ded to throw ilSpeilt It nothlns_OIe, so It seems I bit stupid but the n athletiu, like a ll sports when you get to thlnkin, ilbout them, is ill bit strilns" ilnywiily. Anyhow. the idea that started out with the Ancient Greeks has stuck, and now we have an otymplc:celebmion fNery four years with the most super-fit humans on the planet giJthering together to run very fast at nothing and throw spears at nothing among other things. But the realty sadistic athletH aren't happy slosgingtheir guts out injustoneevent,thtywanttodothem all,ortenof them at least. The supreme de<athletethus earns the honour of being the greatest athlete on Earth. Sega's new title, designed in part to coincide with the Olympics, is based around the Decathlon, and it comes at a time when other software developers are i\Jso bringing out the old 'Track and Field' styleathleticssims. Athlete Kings originally went under the name of Decathlete, although a licensing problem meant the name had to be changed fora UK release. fssent iallythis isthe same as the arcade game, using at it does the STV board and moving at 60 frames a second which is exactly the same as VirtuaFighterl. Athlete Kings is a long way from those old track and field games you might have played at your arcade, utilising the best that 3D polygon te<hnology has to offer to create a senseofcompleterealism,beitthe look of the arena itself or the movementoftheathletes. Athlete Kings Is still some way from completion although it should beavitilable by around September. Hopefully we'll have a full review in next month's issue.
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ATHLETE KINGS
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THE EVENTS As everyone knows, the decathlon inyol~s ten evtnts. If you ever did ont of those ' five star awards' at school you'll have some idn of how it works. For every event, points are awolrdled according to either the time you iichleve in track events or the distances and heights you ilchi~ in
field events. They're then all added up ilnd the person with the most points is offiCially declared the king of athletesl Anyway, hen~ ,He the ten I!vents in the order that you do them ...
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This is the event where the competitors normillly spend three hours psyching themselves up by swinging bilckilnd forth on the ir toes ilnd blowing out their cheeks illot . A refined technique is essentlill lf you wilnt to Jump thilt extril few centimetres. Technique: Onl! of thl! most difficult f!Vl!ntJ to mastl!r in Athlttl! Kings. rhl!
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~ .._-. The British for some strilnge reilson hilYe illwilYS been pretty good ilt this I!V!nt. It Involves loads of ilrm power but illso iI steildy (un up ilnd iln il bllity to wh ip the il rm forwilrd ilS filst;lS likeilciltilpult. Tec:hn lqu e: AJttf gtttlng a bit of a Tun up togtthtf, acquiring distanct with tht javelin is largt/y a matttT offinding tht ptrft'd 45路 anglt, and somt button bashing ta maintain tht flight Of your sPf!ar. But bf! CaTtful nat to OVtf sttp thl! lint whtn tht jaVf!lin is fl!/tased.
player starts by gathtring a bit of momtntum with soml! sinCl!fl! buttan bashing, but on ftaching tht bar, stops and holds down an alttfflatill(' button faT just tht amount of timt nl!ctuary to gtt tht Pf!rf芦t angll! of oJCl!n!. It's thtm a matttf of using tht dirtdion pad to flip up tht Itgs as thtygotTavt/lingovl!fthtbar.
There;lreelghtwmpetitors In Athlete IClngs;lnd e;lch of t hem is d;lssifll!d as either an alirOl.lrider, a thrower, a Jumper-or a sprinter. This doesn't mean of course that if a sprintl!f Is faud with a ja;vdin they'll tf)" and use It as a plea of out-sized cutlery, but rather that sprinting Is the kind of event they tend to excel at. Some of you are no doubt keen to point out that t here are three women In the game even thOl.lgh women don't do the decathlete but the pentathlet.e.Weli, this is a computer game after all,so;l little poetic license is no big deal.
FINGERS ON THE BUTTONS One of the most notorious aspects of a game like Athlete lCings isthe Irrl!Verent button bashing it involves, eventually destroyingm;lny;lJOYP;ld;lndleavinghorriblescabsonyour finger. It's also the time when ;Ill ofth~ welrd;lnd wonderful techniques begin to reveal themse~. The 'finger g;l liop' for el(;lmple, where the pl;lyer uses their mic:ldle ilnd fOfefin ger like iI pillr of legs, or the 'electro stutter', where the plilyer cl"ildl6 the pild betwffn their knees ilnd tries to milke their fingers vibrilte n mlKh n possible. 8c reildy for lots of In nov.ltions ilS well, like people tilpping up their forefinger so n to avoid too much chilffing when they're furiously rubbing at the buttons.
"A speed battle game far better than Vlrtua Fighter 2!"
" T-................,VFJ-•• "'..hn.s wMtAAbNl1ofthllr .....ro Kids
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flghters-InII.".....,.._ . . .........,of thewhoIeJD ........... . . . , . .... they Just m........... dui whit thIy'Ie talklns,boutt B... tyou'dbe ......... qullttanlnswh~ makes VF Kids so ,pedal fnInI h taftnshots, and ewn on the surface, It seems to be nothln8 more than Vh with big heads. As an iIIrude game, It rniFt not tempt you delw: any further. But this same was dn1aned for the 51-V (S.turn-dedicned) arude baud. And, true to It's "nUfe, It's he.dlnB
fuIy-Cde)formed to ~a's superconsolet
Befofe deMna: Into what makH VF Kids dl~rent from Its famous adutt brotMr, it's first worth explain"" eoctly why Sep have created the game at all. And the.......er lies in ....... marketing. While the Satum might beln ...... Clllln'lpet1t1on wIh the PlayStation here In the UK, OYefInJapln I's awry dlffemlt ~~Ion.ln short, thes.blm Is aomInBthe PIIp~ And It's all thankstoVlrtUlflthtet andYF21 OYerthere,AMl's fIshtinB game series Is granted almost godlike status. Even now, arcades are filled with ITIOfeVFlmachlnesthananyothergameIThe . . . . ne~-perfKt COI'I'Ierslons on Saturn. sold the nwfIkIt aImosI~ndedlAsa
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men dewIopInttwo-player~pmes, choose Saturn ~.porelyb«.auseth!yknowthelrCOl'l! gamespIIyen already own the machine. Thr: problem Is, flghtIna pn'IIeS In general only appeal to spedfic gamespla)tm. MaIrWy. '15 to 25 )'HI old male.. With this al'f:a ohhe market alrudy c:omemt. 5ega Of Japan now Intend on drawing In other types of gamesplayers. Theftrst rfIOYI! ~s the introduction of the white Flash Satum. At half the Satum's orIBinallaunth prke.and in ITIOfe cosmopoliUn colours., the machine flewatfthe sheMs on The number ofmnale and younger Satum pmers has Increased dramatlcally. To aterfor this upsu'll"=, games like Ibxkman Xl (MegamMI) and the upcomlns NiCiHTS I\aw been ~ But SOl also want to expandthe ~I dthe Saturn's main brand - Virtua fiBhter. And that's whefe
ree.se.
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CHILD'S PLAY! ConsiderkIB VFJ is possibly the most intriute be~t 'em up ew!r m~de, It m'lht seem lice a stranse game to push to a younger audienu. But In fKt. the Vlrtya Rpm combat system has aiwiI)'I been intended for pmm of .. aps. When ..... SuNkI wn oriBinally thlnklnB up the tint w, he 'MInted a method that, In his own words ~ew;n iI fMt..yur old would be able to enW. The result W,IS the three-button GU<lId-Punch-Klck s)'Item. from
cont""
this, research was carried out to see whilt the most naturill button
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comblniltion Thew then used to were. prodlKed VF were ', supet'-lnstlnctM lame,..,.. Admittedly thoulh.
will. bask movet such ., the PPt( combo are eully performed by ewn a "INke, trickier mOYH (WoN', helicopter throw or Alllra', surprise e.chanse, for example) .. re somewhat lOUlh.,. For VF Kids thouBh, AM2 hawe taken
steps to ruke even these moves ilccesslble, th.nks to ... theKlds' combol
ONE KIDS' COMBO PLEASE!
So here's the pl .. n. Tilkl the superbly adcSIctM lilmepI.y ofVf2 Md . . . . . it in a game with iI (uddlief ...... Tumlna the f1gtrtM Into Idds Is not such an un~1 notion. In Japan, super-deformed (the nilme fof tNs kind of treatment) characte rs are wIdety popular. hen the Street Fighten ~ hid It kappen to them. So, giving the Vlrtua FIghters child -like proport ions milRs perfect senw. More thim j ust imother bI 8 -he~ che.ts thoush. VF Kick Is .. very thorou.h Imill'! reworkina:. Childish WBioM or the badldrops.
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A new Saturn-specific feature, Kids Mode is iI handicap option thilt makes the likes of Autoblodt In X-Men look like expert player territory. When selected, it allows players to perform normillly advanced moves with staggeringly simple multiple button presses. Coun ter moves, complex throws - s udden ly even the most inept gamesplayer can produce on-screen results t ha t arcade mast e rs would be Impressed by. Working out how to do s pecific moves in Kids Mode Is actually quite tricky though. You see, once you're tap路 ping away at close quarters, moves just happen l "Yeh, I meant to do that ail along , ahe m ."
PUPPY POWER! VirtuaFlgtrterKidsisasubtle, but: definite redefinement of the VFl gillme ensine. For true VF fans, we rKkon It's essentiill to hne. Yoor
52
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MOVE OVER OLD路TIMER VF Kids Isn't just 41 surface rehash of VF~ with ill junlot button-muhlna option
thoulJh. As you'd expect from AM2, they've taken this opportunity to refine the gameplay, milkins It more dynilmlc thill" ever. For sbrt芦s, the pine Is a full 20" bsterthan Vh, and It
shows. The speed ~ which combos are launched on opponents is staSgerins. empn;uised by the more punchy Impact sounds (they sound cJoHortoVfthilnVh). What', more, the blg'Milds prow to be more thin JIHt ill cosmetIc addition. These extra IJII'. tarpts, coupled with the extra speed, hive (ruled new combos. Extra hlU can now be strunslnto mows. maltlns for eye" more impresiM fIJhts. WhM'S more, when Iow-bIocki.... the fighters now sw.y bKkwards. SIKh is the size aftheir craniums. they actually need to docIge hitsl These owr-rlpe ~P'P Milds .Iso add centrtfupl force to the fighters. Most notably when KO'd. Finish off opt)OMlrt with uruln (ombos, and the final hit wnds them across neillrly the whole dlshnce of the ring. Sometimes they even skid further when they land. Other moves illre considered worthy of replay. TIldn, a led out of Flshtlns Vipers book, when I special attlck Is successfully Implemented, multiple-view repl.ays are shown. likewise, new In,les Ire employed throu,hout fipts. Dunn, Wolf's splnni", throw, for example, the cImen mys fixed on Wolf's face , wtttle the back路 drop zooms Iround. Added drama Is definitely part of the lCids pacugt'1
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SEGA'S reputation has been forged in one of the competitMI markets in the _ _ the arcades!Though they've always managed to bring their arcade lits home and let the family have a pie<e of the action, from their early licenses on popWu- early SO's consoles (see last month), right up to the present day Saturn. Many of the games shown on Ihesa pages, such as Rampage or Aien Syndrome, contain such original ideas (that haven1 been re-use.1) wo',.....,...;sed they haven1 been updated for the Saturn. M~ !here's hope for them in the Sega Ages series.-
Core first revealed Tomb Raider at the spring ECTS and everyone was pretty gobsmacked with just how impressive it looked. Like Nights and the forthcoming Sonic XTreme, Tomb Raider takes you into a full 360 3D environment. ROB BRIGHT erqoys the freedom. nd the legend says that the andents preserved ill special body of knowledge -" un ique mystically transcendent knowledle. that was to be paned on after their emplr" crumbled, by the leled few who hid m.nlged to Initiate themJelftl vla ill sacred rituJlls.nd technlquel of omn',co" J(ioul explorlltlon. Only now, IS the ti me of unl vernl truth approaches cln I, the lIlt IUllrdlln of the ' lIIum'",tl Temples of Mr. 8yrtte', rfl'lul this knowledll to )'Ou, btdhr.n of the Sl1urn_ ... err, hang onH_ ummm _ oh what was iU _ Ihh bugger, I shOl.lld have written it down. Oh well, COIn't be I'Iet~, can't be helped. Instead ,'/I tell you about Tomb Raider, a game no doubt prog,..mmed by fellow ' initiatH', con(ent rat ing as it does on the mystery surroundins the 'Scion', an object of anci~nt and unknown pow~rs. lara Croft Is th~ action-woman who's been employed to retrlev~ It, but who has subsequently dec:ided to go It alon~ after discovering th at h~r employer's wer~ simply using h~r as a pawn in a much
A
bigg~rgam~.
With th~ suspense.laden plot n~atly laid out, this 3D action advenkicks off. Part puul~, part shoot '~m up, Tomb Rald~r is s~t over I~vels, ~a(h l~v~1 subdividing Int o ton~s. Th~ ~ nv i ron 颅 m~nts are as you'd expect-Inca cav~s and citl~s, Greek Colis~ums, Egyptian templ~s and eve n an At la nt lan pyramid. In ~ach part of th~ gam~ the action focus~s on differ~nt aspects of th~ adventure, with som~ lones d~dicated mostly to ~)(plorinB Of punl~ solvlnB and others to som~ tradi路 tur~
four
tiona l blast'~mupchaos.
Tomb Ra l d~r is now d~~p In developm~nt, and as you can no doubt tell from the screenshots, it'slookinB very Impr~sslv~ inde~d. A lot oft im~ has been sent worklnB on th~ fln~r d~talls In an ~ffort to r~ally build a sens~ of atmospher~ In th~ Bame. Th~ use of varyin Bcam~raanBles, th~f1uid movem~nt
of the sprites and the
fang~ofthinlJSthatLara is (apabl~
of,atlworktocontributetowardsit. Core are workinB towards an October/November r~l~ase for Tomb
lara starts off the gam~ with her two pistols which have an Inflnit~ amount of ammo. She w~ars th~se In classic gunsling~r fashion, on~ on uch hip and hasto press the draw button to us~ them. Wh~n she draws them th~y'lI immediat~ly lock on to th~ targ~t or targ~ts, providinBit's in front rather than behind her. If th~r~'s only on~ tarB~t th~n both Buns focus onthat .La raactualtyspendsalotoftim~
wit hout usinB her w~apons, k~~plnB h~r hands free to climb thinBs or Brab onto ledB~s Ifsh~ happens to befallinB.
Tombraldets, and each level is split into zones. The t hemes on each I~I concentrate on one particular visage of ancient culture and mythology. In the first three levels Lara is required to find the three parts of the Scion in order to gilin entry tothe last level. Anyway, here's an eumple of whilt you cOIn expe<t...
LEVEL 1: VILCABAMBA This is bilsed on an ancient Inca city, and it features some of the dass ic architecture the South American culture was famous for, including lots of obli que temples where ritual sacrifice took pl ace. because it's the fi rst level,most of the action will be based around getting used to con trolling Lara, so there won't be as many enemies here.
If youth ink that Tomb Raider is at heart a shoot 'em up, you'd be quite wrong. L.ara spends much of her time exploring, solving puules, and clambering about the diverse surroundings she finds herself in. To do this, she need to be pretty lithe and suppte. AS welt as the usual athletic distinctions of being able to run swiftly jump long distan(es and somasault, she is also something of a Chris Bonnington when it comes to climbing. Providing she hasn't got any weapons in her hands, she can grab onto ledges by her fingertips afte r a particularly long jump, andgoaboutsulingthewalls,justso Ion gas there's the odd knobbly thing to grip on 10. There are also some pa rts of the game when she has to demonstroJte he swimming prowess.
You un't really have a 'variety pa(k ' of an(ient (Ulture without the Egyptians, so here they .Ire wmptete with walls covered in hieroglyphics, plenty of gold relics and a soJrcophoJgus now and then. The Egyptian Ievel feat ures some of the toughest puzzles in th e game because it is the entran(e tothe lost At lant ian pyramid.
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~:ยฃ4~ ~ _~_. ;.~~ One thing that Tomb Raider Is full of Is traps. There are loads of different ones to wnch for like the classic crumbling floor, denoted by cracks in the floor tiles, or doors in the floor that open when
they're trod on. Some of the traps use films for inspiration, like the rolling balls reminiscent of
Raiders of the tost Ark,as are the blow darts and fireballs which are activated when lara foolishly walks over a pressure pad. There aft! also spikes which emerge from the floor If lata runs over them, causing some lovely impaling, somethins that's a bit like OiInold
employed for the vast mOljority of the time. The action is vle~d from just over Lata's left Of right shoulder depending on which is most suitable at the time. When Lara is still, you also havt the opportunity to insptct your surroundings a bit more by moving the camera about with the direction buttons. This includes things like looking over a ledge to see if it's a big drop, or looking up to inspect whether an obstacle can be climbed. Bana sa)'ยง:UU'd In a lot Of ShUM! tyfH films to crHf~ JUJfHnS#. You know tM kind - YOU"~Just Hhlnd the d/streuu jrmalt as she nervously _nrhrs down tM long dank cotrldrH.
TIE D'tNA.: PAN: Simply for a bit of show this one. The camera rotates aU the way around Lara enabling you to view her from any angle and at any distance, providing there are no obstacles in the way of course. This is simply usedfordramatlc~tct
gamecaltedPrinctofPersia.
when Lara moves into certain areas or performs certain actions. tt either works as a cut or a flowing change in angle and it's generally employed to give you a fresh persptctive on a situation and reveal items that might be of interest. hna sa)'ยง: The simple cut techniqw /s 0' old a, cJMma ltulj, known In the bus/neu os 'montage' you know. Theflowlng change of angle maintains a strlse of rhythm and poet.
cunning idea actually. When Larafinds herself near an object or something else that's important, the camera focuses on the objtct, putting Lara betwten It but in line with the camera. This sounds a bit confusing, but what it means in real terms is that the camera's angle will move to keep both Lara and the object in the frame.
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The thing OIbout (Os, other than them being smOlIl OInd you being OIble to eat your dinner off them, Is that they're really good for ~toring sound on. Hence, one should ImOlglne, their dOly Job <IS 01 music recording format. ProbeOlre no slouches Inthe brain depOlrtment, and have picked upon this unlqueOlblllty, utilising It for their own evil ends, These ends consist ofsOlmpllng 100lds and loads of sound effects OInd snippets ofspee<h from the film and transposing them to the game, For eXOImple, in one 1ew:1 you're confronted with a wall full of coccooned colonists, each of whom whispers ~KiII meN when)'Ou go neOlr them -just like in the ~ond film (beause it is from the se<ond film), OYer 60% of the effects, including the aliens screeches, are tOlken directly from the movIes,Whkh is quite clever,
The thing with living is that it ends. We've all got to go sometime, some ways messier than others. As previously stated, shooting my way out of Alien Hell wouldn't be my preferred ticket-punching method, but the number and variety of threats on offer in AITril would indicate that it is probably Ripley's. Along with the multitudinous human and xenomorphlC terrors wandering around, the environment itself throws up new ways for someone to die. Falling down a long way, running into scalding hot steam iss uing from pipes- all these things and more cause damage to fragile Ripley, who iS,let's face it, only a girl. Plus the aliens have acid for blood, which has a tendency to splash over your or pool on th e floor when you're blowing bits of them away. This is deadlier than you would believe, so watch where you're walking.
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Thundernawk 2 Vlo;tory BOKing
Actua Sacc. r. . ...................................................£33.99 Adidas Pow. rSou.r ............................................ £31.99 AU.nTrllogy ........................................................ £34.99 Aquanouts Holiday ................................................. £TBA Bto m ! Mochln. H.od ........................................... £40.49 Chronlcl.s Of Th. Sword ...................................... £36.99 Cyb.rla .................................................................... £TBA Doom ........ ............................................................ £34.99 Formula 1 ............................................................. £38.99 Galolllan 3 ............................................................... £TI!IA Impact Racing .. £36.49 Magic Corp.' ........................................................ £34.99 MOrlaIKombaI3 .................................................. £33.99 Namco Mu,.um Vl ............................................... £31.49 NBA In Th. Zone .................................................. £35.49 N•• d ForSp •• d .................................................... £36.49 NFl Gam. Doy. . .............................................. £31.99 lIv. 96 .......................................................... £36.99
Vh1uoCop(Gam.Only) Wing Arms
NHL Foc. Off ........................................................ £31.99 Olympic Gom.s ....................................................... £TBA OlymplcSocc.r.... ........................................... £TBA R.sld.nt Evil ......................................................... £38.99 Rldg.Rac.rR.volullon ........................................ £38.49 Sampros Extr. m. ... . ......................... £TBA Sh. 11 Shock ........................................................... £3S.99 Sk.l.ton WorrloF"S ............................................... £36.49 Slam & Jom 96 ....................................................... £TBA Slr••1 Flght.rAlpha ........................................... £34.99 Toshlnd.n 2 . ... £38.49 Total NBA ............................................................ £31.99 Victor")' BOlllng ....................................................... £36.99 Track & FI.ld ........................................................... £TBA Vlrluol Golf ................................................. £36.99 X.M.n Chlldr.n Of Th. Alom ............................... £36.99 Z.roDivld . ............... ............................................ £32.99
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-D
The wait is over, and the suspected Game of the Year release, and review. So has it been worth all the wasted drool? Or could Nights be a maJor
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embarrassment to all concerned (especiaHy us, who've given it all this coverage)?
;I;;i verysoofttn~softwilrehousewill
E
spri ... ga sudden surprise on you. This is generally when they've got something really brilliant up their slHYH which ~n't~saoel'ill)'l!arsofconitant
PII: to get your orttention. When the pro. duten know they've got something spec:i<l1 in their handsthey'lIgotogrut~gthsto~ucethe
proNbility ofjoU<nillists finding out al'lything about it
until it's near enougtl to ftnished to be truly a5toonding. We didn't hur about NiGHTS until four months from the end of its yeilt-Iong 8est~ionperiod, ilInd
gill'tflthiltit'sfrornSonic Team,you'dthinkSt-flil
would bI! only too happy tost,utshoutlngthort they were working on il big money new production.~II.t~didn't,
and we're glad bKause it IIIlkllduJnlpplrlfor
mil~theshockofseelng
Uftdtrwlt,r lulpliolt. Mind tIN: ITftI'St COltrtl5. tblMlp.
such iOn ;awesome title for the first time something quiteb ngible. You may hil\le gathered through the extensiveCClYeragewe'VC! given NiGHTS in previous issues that_think it's
Ihatwithout us botheringtosaya word. What makes NiGHTS so appealing is Its concept and feel. This souflds fairly simple, but a lot of games you'll see on the shelve$. whilst competently programmed and enjoyabJe to play or even inllOY<ltive. don't concentrateofhowthe player is gOIng to feel when they're in the midst of playing it The atmosphere ofa game IS often what elevates a title to dassic status. and NiGHTS has more atmosphere than a fullyterraforme<l Mars with loads of plants and anrmalsand no poUutlon Plus the cootrol system is so instlOC' tiveit pulls you straight lotothe actiorl.Thlsisooeoflhosegames thafllha...eyoulwlslingaround ln yourseatr~untarilymimicking
the oo-screen movements of NiGHTS. It transcends those early Sonic·meets·E<co comparisons wit h its fluid snaking around The game mechanics are Simple enough. the obJectives you're set are easily understood. but rriuch harder to accomphsh. Th is is a game designed...ery much with the arcade--playmg reflexes and co-ordinatioo crowd than platform/pUllJe~ MuchhkeSorric.st ran~lyeflOUgh.
Visually. NIGHTSisone oflhe most captivatll1g games the Saturn has witnessed yet. The environments are rich in texture and detail. each level having a dis\rnct Individual personahty. Theanrmation is superb. and the bosses (most ofwhich are HUGE) are worthy of particu larnoteThemadcolourschemestheTeam ha...eused
extremerodlconeworkout. However. NiGHTS isn"! wilhout ils faults. The Nightmareansseen in the main levels (of which there are oolya few) are qUite bland-Iookmg and don't really do ...ery much. Obviously in a game played mostly against the dock. enemies are going 10 ha...e a limited impact at best, but more time could hallC been spent 011 making your foes look as good as everythingelse.TheothercriticismiS t hat NiGHTSisn'texactlywhatyou couldcallmassivelydifficult,Givena coupJeofdays most reasonably accomplished gamesplaye~ will hallC clocked it. However. the incentive is there to keep going backloeach level untilyou·...e ran ked an "A" 011 every one, at which point _ suspect new game options will open themselves up although we're not sure). However. even if this doesn't happen you'll stili returntoNiGHTSjust for thejoyofplayingil. plus watching the Nlghtopians ewI...e through the A·Life sys· temlSlICryjOlly. Basically,NiGHTS is everythrng ifs cracke<l upto be A real showcase for the Saturn, massively addictive and totally friend-impressing (unless they'1IC got a PlayStatlon. then t hey'1I be sick). Whatever gameyou're thinking of getting right now. put it on hold and get this II1slead.Vou won't regret it.
. . SEGA SATURN
7~
The Road Rash legacy has returned for one last outing on the Saturn. But , after four years, does it still have what it takes to thrash the pants off other racers? Or is it just destined for the scrap heap?
T
heRO.lIdR<!shse.!eshnhHalongand successful histOf")' on conlOles. ln fact, when it was firdrelu5H Of'Ithe Megadri~ wily back In 1992, It IQS jllSt ilboutthe best thin g ping. After aU, It Included,blisterinJly fu t play, merd-
Se"
lessvlolen<e and a grut two p/<Iyer option too. And after the fint ~rsion, It seemed to grtbetterandbetter,rishtupuntil the ilwesome title that WQS relu~onthe3DO acoupleof
ye'IJsilgo.In fiiCt,thefonnilt hun'tchilngedilt..,l slrKe then, andlt'sla'gtly th isversionthiltmakHit on to tne Saturn this month. So, for those of you who
haven'l had Ihe pleasure of playmg this on the 3DO (actually.
unless you own O~, there's one reilwoold have played thIS
sonwhy)'OU
befOfe). thIs YefSI()l'l of Ro.ld Rash is played ovtlnavar~ofrTlOl'eu,ban settlngs Ukeil~busy
town for Instilnce WhICh means lust one thIng G'ilnnle'S Yes, that's fight. granmes You o n run 'em OYer, Of dodge 'em, Ifs up 10 you. although we know
the most entertaH'lH'lg optIOn of the two
COI,.,., .,tlllllf"l'lpIe."rlOpttIroadforlllllllllrilMf'I.
~ SEG.'; SATU~N
usualopttOrlsofchamp.· onshipmodeandone-off races (although there's no two player rnode),al'ldln additlOnto~lItheweapon
stea!ingmalal'key, you can a!sosteil! )'OUr opponent's bi ke ¥1d ride off Into the dlstlnce, thefefCN'egMng)'OUthechaocetow,n ~es rnore eaSIIy
Ofccu rse.lfyou'vep!ayedl!oad lIash btfote,you·1I know that this is rather mol Ilous fun. and It'S a pret· ty long tastll'lg affair too. However, the qtleStlonnastobtrillseela$lo whethel ln t hesedaysofSegal!allyand even D~ooa. somethH'lg like ROiId Rash un stll! provide lhe Ihlllls lnal we've come to expect. And the answer IS,yes Sort of Ifs certatnly sllUfun to ~,ilnd It's Pfetty~lCtweStI.lfftoo, However, you un l help wondeflng whether the programfT1e r$ could hilve milde iI blll'l'lOl'e effort to make this different from the other YerSlOns Afterlilklngso long to bflng It out. we would have at least expected 10
see iln extra plOI)'itble tra<:k. And, of <ourse, we would hilveexpected to see a Plxe!·perfectConvefSlOnofthf' 3DOoflglnai ASltstands,thisisapoorverslOnofthe original gamf' H'I that thf' tfacks have been poorlyfe<ff'. ated,almost asifthe prog rammf'rs just <ouldn't be bothered StlU, for illI these cnticisms. lIoild I!ilsh stili remilin$ ilbfllhantlyplayilblf'game,thiltdesp,te haVIng no new ff'atl.lres IS 51111 fun enough 10 ~P)'OU playms rt And, If)'OU'fe really Into thiS sort of game, there's no doubtthilt)'OU·llfindrtenwblert'sJustdOllbtfulthat all)'OOf' would choose thiS CIvef iI riIClng game hke Daytona or Sega I!allyor even Need for Spf'f'd eNtrall. "quIte I'lIce" are probably the two words that sum rt up ::S~ Can we see some newstuffnow,pleasel ..
.4.jp SEGA SATURN
7~
ndaftl!rmanh~bHnannihilated.
A
andthl!lastsurvlYOf1fOfclNlb~klnto
a state of ne-olithlc tlIistence, iI new breed offeanomt hybrid spec:its rvled
the urth. The northern hemisphen! was dominated by the 路donk~un.ts' ilnd 's~~don', the buminghot cent~1 ~ions_re fiI~ with swarmsof 'spoirrowd~ls', and the icy lOuthem landsnpe shooll with the presence of mlgnty 'gaat mammoths' ... Unfortunately nool! of these ffiiljestk beasts appeal in Primal Ragt'. although Iht' plot ofthl- gollTlt' does follow Similar lines. With rniln back In a state of beilf-s kmned ~ge'Y. the pI~r chooses between seven different monsters and engilSes InOfle~-one battlesfOI global dominallon, collecting little human
joypad rnilkes no difference. What makes things worse is that there's no real depth to the g'lfnepla): Once )OU\~ ~amt a ch'llact~ spKlallnO\leS iIInd fatilhtoes., that's most oftne fun rNe.1 and done WIth Rather than comb.ltilntsre<Ktin8toeilchothersstlat~l~
Primal Rage is Slrnply a matter of block. attack. block. attack ina
;;;;::~~t~~~fi~';h~"~'d~"'~":~"~"~ , =:I~~~ ~1~::a~Saa~:I~;;:;~;~~c:I:~: aodalsothe
TheliKkofthoughtgl\o'entothegameplil)'~pplleS
really monotonous fashion
Ill. defined and the monsters moving in ~ blocky staccato fashion. This all goes to make upa title that should ~r really have made it onto 32 bit machines anyway, atleastnotlnitsollglnalincarnation Admittedly there are some mce touches. like the special some of the fighters can eXKute allowmgthem tout the humans watching the PfOCeedlngS, Of the mlldlyoomlcal natule of some of the moves like Chaos' 'power pu ke', but all In allPllmalf~gebelongsbiICkinthelesscompetltlve
world of the 16 bit miKhlne
SEG,.o..SAT\.JR:N
IIasIIItbaII has traIIIIanaIy bean a barren plain for the gamapIay crop. So how does BMG's new settler settle inP Is it set up for successP Or merely unsettIingP hf'OUghinfinltt~wn .. nd~8'
T
wry nitt friend Iwuonce glwnthe opportunity to watch Magic: JohnJOn play an u:hibltlon match, and it was iJC:t. However, only now do tl'@aliw t~thetl'ilV'tltotheUkw;as ~
Ins his performance. for the ~gic JohMOn I WiW executed;any number of lithe wt-!lpJlInd p8bmed someinaediblyl~lferu Olf~.
Now, having played Slam 'n' him, I know tkn he normalty~dln
up ..nd down the court like he',
gota~lofonlon, _lntohlsshortsand newt' Jumps
more than about four IndIti off the ground. Map: 1Mn, and his equally holTlOllJ (in Atner\G11jNIl breem Abdul JlI bI», both mm ptnonal appearallCft In BMG's new $lmulatlonofthe~
and, so it would appear, neltktr of them has the
phenomenon
nMur.IIlllmbto-ordll\ltlonthey wert born with. ThIs, ill: Ie~ k the Imprtnlonl'YegarMftlClfromob5enr-
instheirdigitlsedcounterpMtslumber
around the court In .. manner _ _ In to .. fouldrunktntnJmp\:h;ln ..
~~.
But hey,anlmation make1:h not a gilme (as they sayl - N8A Jam isn't exactly t he sleekest of sports gil~ ilnd that sold bythe lofly Io.ld SadlyforSlam'n'Jilm though, quality do mil~eth a game, and this is where BMG's Iat~ encIe7olOUf falls !.hart E¥ery ~sketNll game b.lsolly suffers (rom iI Similar filult. and that is
that tnesportltsdf,whilstfascln<ltmglowatch,isvery simple - which often ma~es for a limited sameplay sc~wllen tra nslated
to computer same
form. Some attempts havt~m3deto
preds~uately,itjustdoesn't mOl~forOlnexcit·
InSSOlme All the tllmminss you'd e)lpect Mein place, from t he reams of stOlts throush the IOIrse'S(OIle licen5f:(! plOl)'et'S - they just doo't reOlllyseem th~t ,. impres~. fYet'l tile runnlnS comrnentOlry (which should still havt OIt least noYeitywlue) is blOInd. tt soundsli~your non·basketbalhnsdxlisSlttingin
the room trying to §OUnd cool by mOlking comments OIbout the gOlme, saying things like -Ooh, where's the defenctr or "He must be on springs!" when some· bodymOlkes ~jump, ~~ UflSlJrpriSlnglythis surtstograteOlftertlle fiftiethllearing. Of course, ~ Is often the wiI)'wlth t~things.ifsnot "lIbad. Withother
human plOIren In tow Sl am 'n' jOlm is 01 f.lr more reYolOlrdin g e)lperienct tt's not thJt the pme rtstIf is ~wful, it's jUStWwdilround a prtttyshaity premisethOltrequifesOlnelementof compelitlontore5Uscitate.Btiteven then Slam 'n'jOlm Is unlikely to keep you occupied for more than 01 couple of dOl)'So.even taking the special rl'IC:MSOInd other tnnke\s into iKCOUf\!. Giver1 mort l1'ICHeS,a more defined strategy tit, ment. sharper grilphics and c\eYertr artlfrcial inttlligenct Slam 'n'Jam could h.webeen an exciting prodlKt As it stOlndsit'sJustOlnaverasebasketbilllgameofnoreal interest to OInyonc without OIn oYer·riding p;lsSIon for the sport - OInd even then it's more Hit 'n' MISS INn any· thing.
t ·
, . , SEGA SAT\JRN
7L--..J
1~1 :lj111~ill If tine present and tine past are both present in tine futIre, and tine futIre contaiIed in tine past, then aI tine is etemaIy present. As for StarfigIrter 3000, it'sheretoday,gonetomorrow! ep,it'sthefululeilSilln,thl stlmea furthef millennium down the line Into 3037. Things are, as you 'd expect, qultediHelent . Hum il" brill ns pile down theconye},er belts wJltlngfor their corporate-genetic Id entities; some ilrll: channelled Inlo the admini stration syn-
Y
dlutes,olhefsintocybef·te(hnologylndustries, andt helnllyunluckyonesuemlstakenlyco'l ' e rtd Incho(olateilndstuHed Into boxes ofMlIlt Trily. Thankfullyit'snotallchil ngtlhough. Thele'sstlllplen lyofwuandvlolencelomake yourTwentlethctnturyltldftll!liilt home.
Obvlousty, the gOillposts haviI! chnged In terms
of the enemy-hrthllnls now more suited to Intef-,alactlcbkktrinl-butforthepliotslnthe Fednet Space Corps, of which you ale one, there', 5tlllplentyofJetlon. AS part of the Corp, it'syourJob to ensure the gillaxyremai ns il place of relatlye order iind securltyAtpresentinbeingthreiitenedbyrebels armed tothe teeth WIth fighter squiidrons. huge cannons and a yaroety pad of assault missiles. Fortunately, being part of the wealthy establishment. you'regiyen control of il Predator Mark IV iittack vehic le which comes complete w.th rts own range of weapons and defence systems Stiirfighter 3000 is at heart a shoot 'em up. although ifs fai r to say it has a fine pair of flight simulator lungs as well This rSiitf"st a bit off puUlng The con· trolSiile incredibly sensltlYe, a lighttap ofthe joypiid capable of sendin g your Yehict e Into excit · edswirls about the ether. Once you get used to this control method thin gs get br lessfrustratIng. although now and then there are stIli tImes whenyouwlsh.twasa little less touchy. The flight sim element is confirmed by the wiiy In whICh the actIon kicksoff, yourprimary mission being simply to dock your plane in the mothership, some· thlflg that proves far
d,ff,,,"
mo" th" ~~1o'i you'd t hink After th.s you are glyen a number of sim ple missions to earn you r wings before you ta ke off Into outer-space to take on theenemyingr eilter numbers ASStarfighter 3000 progresses it becomes more like a straight-forward shoot 'em up. the player using the map to locJtetargets and then makiflg the most of their air-toair and all,to·ground missiles in an effort complete their obJectIves There are plenty of pick· ups in the way of extra energy and wupons, and qUite a neat bonus iyS· ,Pick up the icons left after something has been destroyed and they rack upat t he bot· tom of the screcn in the fash· a wlflning sequence you earn an for your ship The graphics in Starfighter 3000 are actually a bit dlsappointing Eyeryt hing looksyery polygonised,enemles exploding In blocks, buildings all blockytrlangles and squares and even theearth.tselfexplodlng like a chequered chess board If I was feeling generous rd say It'S all part of the game's style, but I'm not so I'll say instead that it all looks a bit too much li ke the 300 from whiCh it was converted More than anythlflg. Starfighter 3000suffels from being bollng TechnICally ,n profICient enough and the difficulty level means It's no pushoyer, but the action plods along with an unelllng predICtability. the missions Yaryi ng very little from one another. As a shoot 'em up it lacks pace and easy accessib.lity to make it great. and as a fli ght Sl ffi It lacks deplh. Asa result,Starflght er 3000 floats about tepidly In between
T'Nrta p!tnt)' of.Jow a.d !MJIJtIc ..
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STAND BY YOUR WIIGMAN PI~yers
In Starfighter 3000 get a chance to order about !;Ome of
thelrfeUow Fednet pilots. One of the options lets yotJ position
the squildroo's formation, adapting it to whilt~r sltuatlOnall tog~her fof iI spot of alrpet bombing, 0( split up to take out
entmy fighters If things get too dangerous)'Oll can illwil~ go ilnd cower beh,od the mothershlp which well protect yotJ wrth the odd laser blast in tlmts ofelCtreme panic
if. 拢3.49 for three evenings
19 1:1111JNI Oh they're football game crazy, they're football game mad, those football games they have taken away the little bit of sense they had they're software houses, and they've got yet another soccer title out So what's the score? 5 Gold h;lVf got the right Iduilboul ti(en slng. Atthemomtnteyeryone In tht country has become shangely footbili obseulvf,but by the time you fudthls the furopun ch;lmpl· onshipswillbeoveruldillllhost! limes which depended upon the toplulity of the event will be Iilngulshingin post-licensedeprjYilI lion, Howfvfr, USC's (probilblytlltenslvely pricey) license will sUII hOlv!! months to fun . Or wnks. But anywily, they eerbinl), score points for endorse· mentlongevltylfnothingelse. Allhough,lh lnklng ilbout it, If Englilnd ilduillly win the Euro lourna· ment, all the Euro games will sell for about iI hun-
basl"dmenus. Thlsmak~sapl~asanl change from the usual text-highlightmgactlonand'SlndlCallveofthe attenllon I~vlsheduponmakmg Olympic SOCCl"r look profl"ssional Thl" sam~ prolof~rat'v~ att'lud~ to choices pervades the play modes too Thl"!e's Arcade mode. whl"re yOU! s~I~(ted team fights through from the most feebll"conlenderslothe top-ranking play~rs In a knock-out stylee.There'stwo-playerhead-lo head,whlCh isselfe.planatory There"s also the OlympIC mode, whiCh splits all Ihecontl"nders into groups and playsth~moffinthe same way as the real OlympICs You can invltea sl"cond player tojom you onlhisque sl The game Itself IS a side-on view
U
dredmilllonyears. They'lIbesou~nl's.
Howtvtr, here at Saturn Magwe're not arsed aboutthlsmerchandislfIgbigbuslflfssbusineSS,oh no, we',f The Untouchabl~s ofth~ gam~s CfltlqU~ communlly, not 10 be sw~yed by fiashy names and lilfgebudgelsSo,olherlhantosaylt'sa pret
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hasspawn~dlnrecent
w~eks.
Ifs got twenty-two play~rs and numerous camera angles In fact. you able to s~lecl the angle of eleval lon of your camera, how II swmgs around the fiel d (Of not) and all sorts. m~anmg Ihere should be a favourite ,am~ra angl~ for everyone, e)(cept rully really hard to please people The distance Ihe camera IS POSI tloned away from Ihe field dramatically alters th~ amount oflhe pitch you can su at any on~ lime and resultantly th~ Sill" of the players too, f!Om larg~ and highly vIsible to tltchy, almost SenSlbl~ Soccer-~squelmyness Ind~ed, OlympiC Soccer is heavy on options IhroughoUI. At every point durmg the gam~ you're able to access numerous options S(funs and change the rules and paraml"ters ofth~ gam~
IIII~.
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ng 10 know, inquIsitive little gaming beavers thal you are, IS what It'S like. Well,
~~;~'t;~t:sS~~h~~mm~~eOf moves Along with paSSing_ shoollng and chip"
:::~~::7:~asters of dives, jumps and badheels, all of which are esp~cially useful as d ef~nSlv~ mano~uvres It takes a bit of gdling us~d to how Ih~ players operate (and Ihe Uams for Ihat matt~r. all of which are different l, but once )'Qu've gol the hang of thmgs OlympIC SOHer proves Itself to be a speedy and 'hallengmgconverSlonofth~populargrasssport
The trouble IS that It's afflved a little late m the day. after th~ mighty Power Soccer and the even mightier Euro '96, along wllh a slew of less presllglous lilies OlympIC Soccer IS certamly above the averageSlandard for Ihecrowd,but the biggest likelihood is Ihat If you're after a soccer game you'll already have scooped one of the big Iwo. Whilst Olympic Soccer d~s stand up In lerms of playablllly It'S hardly Ihl" most t~chnlcally impreSSive or mnov" atlve hIlI" In the arena_ and that goes aga,nst.t m Ihe current gaming env.ronment It also mak~s th~ now-standard mlstakl" of dragging a famous corn ml"ntalor In to sampl~ about Ihree different phras es,whtcharelhenrepeatedrobotlCallythroughout thl"malchuntllyoumev,lablyturnlhemoff Whilst I don't thmk anyone who bought OlymplcSoccerwouldbed,sappointedwilh,t,ldo have a feelmgthat mosl garners would rather go for EurO'96-not merely because It looks better, but because ther~'s mor~ 10 It However, thiS is a fine efforl from US Gold and let's hope Ihl")' find more use for this e.cellent game I"ngml" Givella go, but comparl"lltoa coupll" of co mpell tors before making a purchaslngdl"Clslon
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oneoflhemostpop1.l1,r putimes In Brlt,in believe It or not. MlIIny a
soul finds a touch of
k.rmic quietude littlnl
on"lverbOilnkustlngOilwly, orwOIdlnl
throug" " velvetystrnm, lost to the hypnolic ebb and flow ofwatef. In fact, for m ilny, ciltchlng a fish slmplyildds a little perlphefill elltiternent to the day. Obviously I fishing slm un 't be qulle iIS putoraland romantic u this, and Sea 8us Fi shing fins In the scenk gilps by putUnll the playe. In the rol!!' of chilmplonanglef-well, potential chllmplon alleut. Rather than iI brook tucked away del!p In Ihe Shires, the fishlngbkes place illong eshlilrles Of out <It sea, with competlto,s cl;llmberlng ilfterboats and captains to tilke them to the renowned fishing hobpoh. You cilnforget thmgs hke milggots Of fly fi sh ing aswell, be<ause in t he hunt fo r t he ei uslve Sea Ba ss, playf'rs make use of 'lures' Instead. A l ure, In case you don't know. is a metal bait that looks like a fish and IS designed quite hterally
catchmg much. It's kmd of like learnmg the rules of American foot · ball by playing John Madden's. Once you feel fairly happy With your lechnlque Ihere's the ch ance to start plaYing In the lournaments Forroot.ies Ihere'stheamateurtournamentwh lchonlylasts
over a day and involves a more mediocre st andard of angling If that starts to gel 100 easy t M-n If s time to move on 10 the t op pro tournament whic h Is spread out over three days. For those eltperts w Mcan reel enough sea bass In tofel!d the five t hOUSilnd. the Sea Bass ClassIC lournament Will decide whICh is the messiah ilmong them Before youheadofftooneofthe
to lure a fish . usinga lure involves mastellng a t ec h. nlquewhere, rat her t han simply leaving the ba it In the water and waiting for a bite, you have t o constantly ree: l it In t o the attract the lively fi sh,
ma ny destln allons on offer,there's a decisionto bt made regardlngwho's
Therea~ lotsof
going tocaptam your boat. There are three captains to choose from, and to bt honest 1 dldn'l reillly notICe iI great deal
other thmgs t he perceptlve angler will wan t t o ta ke into account as well like th e weathercondllions - ralny
of difference btlween them, apart from the
~atherfofe.ample makes tM-fish
very active-and Ihe t ide w hich affi"cts t he numbtr of fish hkely to bt dflfting JbotJt. Having t o learn all this stuff. as well as the vaflOln t echniques involved in bringmga fish in. are what makes sea Bass Fishing fun to play at the outset. even If you' re not
rJther obYious fact thill one looks He Captain Bi rd~, one resembles Sarah B~nt from VF2 and the other looks like Kojak They act as advlserstelling you th e btst Spol 10 caSI your line,sugsestlns different lures and forecasting on the kind of fish you can e~pect to be coastins about Oesplte the filct thilt the seil bilss is the fish in <• •
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f avour, there are loads of other types ou t th ere if you fancy cat ching them . thinss hke mul· let. tuna. eet yellow tilil and lots of fish pecullilr to Japanese waters alone. Onceyouh auloneinlt"sweighl!d and mea sured byyou r captain and soes down in your log book. YOu can even fish for dolphins, althoosh before everyone mounts a protest. I should add that it's a dolphin fish rather than the Fhpper variety. One thins should bt stressed when t alklns ilbout a gilme hkelhisthouSh,istherilther hmited filnbaselt'shkelylohilve.Onceyou·recilslinSilway there Isn't iI sreat deal 10 feasl your eyes on , and whattherels.isn'te~actlyspect.lcular.Quitealolof
peoplewilllookatthissameilndthinkit'sabitofa novel waste of lime, In much the same fashion as some people would despise golfing games (the con· tfol method in Sea Bass Fishlns actually Involves somesimililflties)orRPC's.lthoughtithadacertain charm thouSh. especiillly conSiderins the fact that . after playing It. I felt rd leilrnt something ilbout fish ilndfishlflSlnaddltiontothlS, lwas l mpressedby the intellisent wily the prosrilmmers handtedwhat has to bt one of the most uncompromising sports in telmsofitslncompatibihtywlththeconsole ,
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I'. Ili~.1 Well what do you want me to say eh?It's apinball sim isn't it I mean, what can I say?It's pinball, the well· known game involving a ball and flippers, and things that flash and ping. And err, weI~ a table, oh yea, a table. That's it Pinball_errr
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t'IJdtbJttthattalHllon1the annals of the II'IOit prHtigious oak panelle-!lcofrldors, It's (;lIUSe.:! mall·
CIoUI fllhts between eminent pollti· caloverlordsln plpe· rnulkedstudIH.
And It 's the rnson the wOfld still lives under tM shilldow of nuclear Afmilgeddon. That's right - pinball sim s: senu lM console o.pen-
enceor 01 bit of 01 con l Whichever side you stand on the pinball sirn debilte,onething'sforsureilndthal'Silpinballsim's
that playing pinball generally consists of only one tablt anyway. But then, If I'd wanted pinball as rtaliSIK as that I'd probably opt for the thing itstlf. Theplol-orratherthe theme-in f>rOPinballinYOivesintrigueonthernter· net.thetlttescreenreveahngadarkmys. leriouswoman,eyesfulloflyrannlcal destiny and hands probing at what looks likegiantspearmlntlozengelt'spresum· ablyherSilkytonesonthtVOict·~r
loevitably static quality. tfyouwant lomakea pinball
tell ing you about that extra bonus ball
game as rt.Jlistic as possible there's not fl':illly much you ciln do int~wayofillterniltlvegilmeplilY, You
you just got or thal the game's ~I And
unhardlyexptctspt<:ialatt.KkmoYfi,virtualrilcing
sequences or mine cart levels. Where pinball is con· cerntd,whal you see is very much what you get ThiS is true of Pro Pinb<ill moft than most other pmb<illslms,featurlngas
it does, simply the one table. Whelher this was a bitofan~rSightwhtrt
the Pfosrammtrs wtrt conctrr'ltd,orwhtthtrlt was because Pro Pinball starttdoutasaPCtiUt (whtreyou could proba· blyupdattandchangt tht tablt with add on dlsks),lslargtlyirrtlt· vant. for Saturn owntrs. one table it is and unfor· tunattlythtgamtsuf. fers a bit as a result With something hke True Pinball the player ilt least has the chance to master foordlfferenttablesIhistloweverlslheonlyrealcflti, clsm I have of f>ro f>inba ll. PtJrists might even argue that ifs a bitofan unfair ontconsiderlng tht fact
to satiSfy other meanings in the sub!IUe, 'The Web', there's also a spider knocking about in thtrt some· where. But when It comes to the crunch this is classIc prnball stuff with tht player trying 10 get the ball over ramps, along wire rails. through tunnels and rebound· Ingoff btJmpers There art bonus games which art displ ayed 00 themockdotmatrrxscreenatthtbackofthetablt and some of them are good fun for example. thtrt's one where you have to use the flipper buttons to txplodtapPfoachlng mines but awld destroyrngthe numbers that also fIoal towards you Thtre's also othtr stuff like sequences inYOlvrng multi·ball action where three or four balls go rolhng round the lablt enabling you to really rack up the points The most fundamentally important t hingwllh pinball games Is naturally a realist ic sense of inertia 00 the ball and ashr as thafs concerned thele are no complaints with Pro Pinball ThiS, coupled With the righl kind of stnsitlvity on tht flippers, means players have t he chance to perfect their skills. but can still sufftr a spot of bad luck from the trratrc mOYtmtnl of the ball All in all, thiS is a decent tnough inttrprttatlOO oflhe game itself, let down ooly by the exclusion of differenttableslovariatetheactronahttle
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In 1979 a game by Wiiarnscaled 'Aash' was thefirst
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pinbal machmfl to use dectrol1lC somd effects.
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Baly'spNalgame, Xenon. was the frst that talced, featurIng the VOice of Suzanna CianL What she's
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In 1942 pinball was declared illegal 111 New York City, and It was not rescmded until 1976 liItewlse. pmball
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was not legalised mLos Angeles until 1972. ExacUy
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The Heroes is now available to purchase, and once snugly spinning in your Saturn, you too can experience the manic wonder of this classic from the collective genius at Treasure. In one last ditch attempt to hack through to the forests of Thrangor, DAVID HODGSON presents all the cheats and tips found to date. HERO CHEATS APLENTY!! The Japanese vers ion of the game (but In no other versions, sadly) bo<I sts nu merous feat wesandgilmeplayingdehghtsfofyourheightened pleasurt. let's tun th rou gh some of them. shall wel Firstly you'ye got the debug mode, wh ich Is i1et,by highlighting the top Option (the dip sWItch) and p1e5slng AtC.V together. As If by magIC. a new Debug optIOn appears 'pingl' at the bottom of the scr~n Enter the new SCfetn, and all of the options are In Enghsh (handy for Ihose wlthOllt Japanese script knowledge). and from this
~ted
scfeen.manyflne options{a n be t~aked. AUcharÂ
acters area'4i1ablt in verses mod e, a ievel select appeilfs in sIOf)' mode, you u n milx out your charxter in SIOf)' mode, and the collision detffiiooboxes canbtshownbyp.lVslngthe game and presslllg L. Want to refill your energy? Then press X+y+Z during story mode finally, here's a stage skip during slOlY mode: Forwud one stage: R.Start R.".Start Forw.ud two stases: Fo~rdthree stages: R.8.Sbrt Forwilfd four st<lges: R.c.Start 8<ICk one st<lges: R.l.Start 8<ICk two st<lges: hl.".Start 8<ICk three st ages: 8<1<kfour st<lges:
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ALLFORONE A tobl of 45 ch;Hacters are available to be sel ected, and you'lIhavetoflndeverysin8Iel~lln order to
save them all to your memory. Afte r a mammoth playtestyou'lI soon flnd most of the heroes, but three characters maystiU elude you; 5uper Han, Selena and Th e Undead Hero. Super Han becomes available afte r yo u've tram ped through the first 1~I,takent heth lrdcholceonthesecondlevel
and t he second choice of path. Find the Undead warr ior with one arm ~nd kill him, After thiS, yo u can pick up his weapon, turning Han Into a huge hulkingbrutell Ne.t lsthese.ySelena who becomes p~rt of the team ~ fter you 've completed the game for the first ti me, and t he Undead chap can only be controlled aft er yo u've fou nd everybody elsel Happy huntlngl
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hch ch~l~cter an perfOfm some IIlclet:hble multIple-hit combos, but they take some le~rnlng Hele ~re some of the best for each character When your (aMBO bar is lit up, you must first get your opponent in ~ hndloc~ and lap Forward twice. Then press the first butlon inthe combinat lonloslart il off,and tapthene)(1 in Ihe sequent:e repeatedly As soon as the second move begins,slar t pressing lhene d butlonrepealedlyKeepdoinglhisunliIlhe seq uence is complete. It takes some pr~ct"e bul is well worth it Also. to get a character selected for you ilt r;lfldom, press Up a nd Slart together Ofllhech~racter select screen
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GUNGRIFFON These cheats should all be entered on the title screen when the "Press Start" message isshowlnB
To remove the auto aiming and the tilrget marker, press Left,R:ight.C,A,Start. To make the game harder by inCfeasingthe power of the enemy attacks, press Down, C, C,A, Start To make the radar only show fflendly tilrgets, press B,B,B,Down,C,Start
OPERATION BLACKFIRE Enter all of these cheats on the title screen For full fuel and energy, press l, A, Z,Y, A, Down, Down. Then press Start twice during the game to rffjll
To get a level skip. press and hold these butlons in order: C, B. A, Up, L Then release them in this order A, C.l Up. Now, when playing, hold A. B, C, ilnd Up,
thenpressltosklpastage. Forinvincjbility,pressand hold A, B,andC, then release them In th,s order: C, B,A Now press B,A, B,Y, then hold X. Now press Up, then hold Down and releaseX.
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MANX TT SUPERBIKE This is oneof t he best cheats you路ve ever seen in a videogamel It lets you play the same as usual. only you're all raci ng on sheep Instead of super bike 51 Follow these Instructions Cilrefullyto access It
1. Go to the tr.lnsmlulon seled seteen 2, Press Up shift twice, then Down shift twice ) . Bankthe bike teft then Right 4. Pull the brake, then accelerate You'll hear a sound and when you start you'll beracingona bleatingsheepl
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w:~:a::~~~:~aln~~:~:~dt:!~~:~;:;!~: ~:;~::~:r::nl:~:a;e~~~ant
to liye It a UK releue, probably due to It's niche appeal. But, someone down at their HQ has obviously had a chanle of heart, as It'I ben deigned a release this month (albeit In a somewhat rushed style). Anyway, if you bnei the Idea of dlmb lnllnslde I hUle lOOot then smashlnl seyen shades out of another, equally hUle robot opponent, then th is could be your ticket to the lamlnl yersion of tholtlumownI!stle rflghlingth lngslhat)'OusHatthefair. lutkJly. there's nothing like this aJready rdtased on the Saturn and as well as being a prettyOflglnal trtle for the machlnt. it·s alsoone of the best games af its type around. Thegraphrcsare really impressiYt, with huge, dunking robots and spect.xuJaro.oer the topexplosiOnsl There·s plentyof misSIOns to complete, e.Ktr WIth a different terrain ~nd sa ofucticS to be us.ed and each WIth ~ different ~rr.l)'of robots. In foll(t,theonlythlng that lets Gungrlffon down is its slighliy olIwkward control method, olIlthough a after a couple of plollYS even thisbecomesmucheollsiertohandle.An'/'Nay,lhegollme'sbfllliant olItmosphere more Ihan makes up for the slightly cumbersome controls,~ndwhenyoulollun,heJ(plosionsontolheenemyyou
rullyfeelhkeyou'recauslngsomedollmage Gungflffonlsn'lforeveryone,especlallypeoplewhowant tobeablelogetlnloag~melmmedlalelyandcan'tbebothered
learning ~ new set of controls. But if you (~n pers~re for even a couple of gotS, you'll soon get used 10 il, ~nd ~fter that all you'll bebolheredaboutistheslzeofyourexplosionslAbwlutely unmissablefOf any strategy or complete carnage freak. and pretty essential for tvel)'Ofle else too.
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W ~!I~t:ss~r:u;~~ :V:ret~~e :;;ue~:~~::~::::sdt:r!n!~I~':::~~~~~'r~~t 3nd bueballgamH released on everything, But, there's a bit of a problem with baseb311 games in that despite relusl ng dOlens of video game titles overthe];ut couple ofye3n, noone rully cares much aboutb3seb311 In this country, So,where American fOlns of the sport go b;InOlnu over the OI uthentlc plOlyen OInd ruUstlc 3tmosphere, us Brits rem3in decidedly unOlmused OIbout the whole thin g, But, despite the lackofa reai baseball following over here, a few baseb all games have done marginally well,just be<ause the gameplay is pretty good. The problem is though,that even if you use loadsoffancygraphlcs and mult ipleca mera angles, the meat and potatoes of the title is still just hitting a ballaro und a field Which is exactly the problem with Big Hurt Baseball. The same plays well enough and it's even really good fun in two player mode - but there's nothing on offer that's different from any other baseball game around. So if you've sot one, you've got them all. But if you haven't, you might just be inte rested in this
fte r th e storm ing success of Flrestorm OIt the beginning of th e yur, It was only a mOlUeroftime before eve ryone else got their hetl co pter titles out on the shel ves, 8ut surprisingly eno ugh , BIOIc kf ire wu relusedway before Flruto rm. lt wu out In the Shtes lut ynr, OIlthough it wu a bit of 01 low key releOlse by Sega of America. Anyhow, Virgin have snapped It up for th e UKandhOlYe probOlblyrelnsed lt Ol tjustabouttherlghttlme-OIftero.Il there 's not mu ch else like th is being released OIt the moment. luckily , th e gOlme's not bOld either. Vourmlulon Is to , yes you've guused It,sOlY e th e world from a potenti al alie n invulonl And 10 do thi s, you hOlve to blow tons of enem ies awOly. Bn r in mind though, thOlI wh en we sOlY tons , we mean tons. At times it see ms 01 little unfair th Ol t there 's qu ite so many th ings to kiU , OInd In Ihls cOIse th is Is what makes th e ga me sodOlmnedannoying - th e diffjeulty see msi rreleva nt wh en there's so miilny things to destroy. In addIUontothls,thegraphlu,whileperfectlyadequate,ii1ren'lenctIYOlwe Inspiring ii1nd eve n look a bit musy In pliilces. Ove rall,thiswillserveyouwellenoughfor a short time, but it's not something you'd come bad to time and time again. Unless you lovehelicople r games that Is.
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and~hlng,the8r;Jphks .. relo<lckbettHthantheyeYet'_beforeandthemoves, although arriecl out In the same ~ also ~ ITIOf1! spKbculolr. As you'd expect, .,11 theoldWWFfavouritesanbefoundlntllegameandthete'stheo.rsUOlldlolcebetween tou.-ments one-on-ones and ugt~m pliI)'. And, wnile this isn't going to " - be;ll;'ftn up bns leilplng around the room in uncontrolled ecst,lIY. ilfI)'OOewho's upfor a bit offun
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It's iI shame that more human playf'fS can't be controlled at once (two players afe the maximum allowed) but WWF still stands up as a brilliant title that, despite a ridiculOllSlicence is surprisingly playable
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A:;:b~~;e:~~rr:o(::~:~7t ~~:;~;:nt::S:~n~:d~;~~: :o:~e:;'~~i~:~~~:~: other m~{hlnes. Anyw~y, Shockw~ve As~ult Is the usu~1 story of ~Iien Invasion on some f~r-off pl~net or other, where ~n upert tum h~ve bRn dl"ll!fted in to restore pe~ce ~nd order through huge ~mounb of violence. And yes, thilt does mun that you get ~ f~ir smattering of movie style Intel"ll!ctlveness, ~nd as usu~l. it's completely useless ~nd pretty cheesey too. As for the gameplay. well. it's hard 10 say real~ This did well on the 300, but maybe that's because they didn路1 have manyofthese types of g~mes around at the time or something. Ifs certainly not much good 0!1 the Saturn. All you ever seem todo is roam ~round barren landsupes, targeting tripod type enemies then blowing them away. There's not enoughslufflokilltomake thisarivetingadventure~ndtheg~me's
atmosphere is incredibly dull
N ;tre~~~=~~~a~OO::;::'~:;:~~~ of pbying this pme aJoneI But, people " - become bit more cynlQl since ttIt'n -the idea of spb~ln8 out on iI m.hineslmplyforthe plusureJofp.yingone game haYe ~lygone_ 8ut,luckilythisdoesn't~toomuch.asEAhawdecided toreleasethisXJ05Smostofthe~next~ionwformm(apartfrom
thenguartorsome rtr.Inge ruson) and after a norming sbrt on the PbysbtIon,they'rthopingforbigthlngswiththe~umrele~se.
And,tosome elCtent, that'sJustwhatthey'vegot. After all. this is pretty much the same release that was seen on the 300. But despite standing up well in the gameplay department, the graphics are begin . bly more 10 do ~~~ ~~~~~ t~i!td:~; :i~a~I~;t:~:~::t~:i~:I~~::=::~:路 ~~~~:;~:~:t~:s:;:Sk~{:~~ t~~~h~e:~~~~g~::~~s~o~~~~n~~:~~ht driving sim
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hehudofSelil'stopRIIOdepartmentA.MJ.,YuSUlukl,hasbeen playing a game of at and mouse with the VF hungry punten of the world' AYf months ago, he prHentN the world the lat~t addition to the VF family, AoI Umtnoll:oJI. She ~s very ImpresslYf with her t~dl·
tJonaIJ .. ~nesedilnceroutlnflilndreilUstIcArkld~uerl'lOYtS,butnot_nthls
klrnono-cladlasswillprepan!youforthelatertVFfighttr. Br;J(tyourself.uSqil SoItum m'gilllne prHenU you the Sela equl'llllent of Tekken's Gilnryu, Tau Arashl. Tau mshi If, Indeed a lard us of gigantic, almost unbelievable proportions. So whit dawe know about this rnyst~sMr. mshi1 Rud on
MOVE OVER E.HONDA, HERE COMES TAKA ARASHI!! TilU A~shl was unve11ed at the Tokyo Toy show where MI. SUlU~i went on stilge to ~nt his I"testcreatlon to the presSimd the public.. WhenquestionN as to why AM2 chose to use sumoilS op~ to other disciplines thilt theVF series hasn't COIII!red (like Shilolln), his iln,wer Will quite str~ightfOfW~rd.l n the previexls Virtu~
Fighter
g~mes,the te~m us~ m~lnly
the Chinese
~rts ~s ~
b;,tse for the
ch~r~ctefs fighting styles ~s such ~s the M~ntlS fist ilnd Enseiken. ilnd AMl felt th~t
it was ~bout time th~t
~
few J~p~nese ~rts was introduc~ Into the series, hence the new contestants utilising Alkldo and Sumo, Sumo has been us~ ~s ~ style In previous g~mes like Str~t Fighter and Tekken but theyneverreallyconveyedthegutsy~ndindeedverystfong
techniques of the sport, AMl promise that Arashl will be quite mobile. but obvi· ouslynot on par with the likes of the Bryantsiblings, IfAMl m~n~ge to live up to the stand~rds of their claims, 'IF3 is going to be ~ g~me of unm~tched reallsml Of course, we'll be keeping you updated on this title ~nd next month, should be ~ble to bring you some in-game shots of the new ch~'~cte'l St~y tuna:!, f~ct fansl
96
SEGA SATURN
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Ilia.... just received word from lIeaclquatll'l that I am too proceed lmmediatliJ' to Plan l. ThIs inYotYet r,sen!n& a Cf)p1 of SEGl SATURN MMlAlIME. Should YlMldo that for me I can &uarantll)'OUr aalel),. However, should YIMI rtfu", I cannot bt held .... pon.ibl.,oralUddllltwlllllhtkldnapplnt followldb)' ablzllTlrl6elnth. bootof aLadadrlvtn&deep intoth.hell'1:ofSibtrlL
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