'Back
in Time' is a monthly feature where we look back at the classic video
gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. This month it is May 1991
when Cyberzone hit the Virtual Reality TV headlines, The One magazine
split into two (one for Amiga and one for Atari ST), and two new games
dedicated magazines launched: Amiga Power and the
weekly Games-X....
|
 |
In
issue 44 of ACE,
David Upchurch visited the TV studios in Anglia,
England to get the lowdown on Cyberzone,
a virtual reality game show
hosted by Craig Charles. The show pitted two competitors against each
other as they attempted to guide their computer generated digitised
character through a puzzle filled scenario. Think Driller
or Dark
Side
with rogue cars and UFOs out to get you and you’re looking at
Cyberzone.
Major ACE Battles the Licence Overlords was an article looking at the
process of the licensing business, from TV to movies to sports. In the
Coin-Ops, ACE
went to Blackpool to check out the latest gaming action
in the arcades. Most interesting – or not – was
Photo Star, which isn’t really a game, rather a flash way of
getting your face plastered next to a celebrity. Moving on to the real
stuff with a slight disappointment with RoboCop II,
which seemed to
have lost something from its first arcade outing.
The screentest section kicked off with in style with the front cover
review of Switchblade
II. The Amiga platformer from
Gremlin was given a
rating of 900 and praised as being a console beater with its quality
graphics and gameplay. “Perhaps unlike any other Amiga game
to date, Switchblade
II successfully provides the
feel of a console
title,” explained Jim Douglas, “it’s
distinct from playing any of the other shoot-em-ups on the
Amiga.”
The
Killing Cloud from Image
Works also gained an ACE Trailblazer with
a 915 rating. “Where Vektro Grafix [the designers] have
really triumphed, and this is the reason they’ve won
themselves a Trailblazer, is in generating atmosphere,”
stated David Upchurch. “The ten missions are diverse, and the
plot thread running through them lends a feeling of consequence to your
efforts...” |
 |
The
first issue of Games-X
hit the streets in May 1991. The weekly
dedicated games magazine was the brainchild of the magazine’s
publisher Hugh Gollner, who also oversaw the launch of the magazine as
Editor. The magazine featured the usual content as its monthly peers
– news, previews, features, arcades and reviews –
but at a staggeringly fast weekly rate.
Feature wise, the first issue had Street Talk with mini interviews with
gamers out and about in London, The True Love Story of How Games-X
is
Created with an interview with Hugh Gollner himself and there was The
Making of Utopia – the Story so far...
Receiving the full five x-ratings for the first issue was the Amiga
conversion of strategy board game HeroQuest.
“Gremlin’s brilliant adaptation manages to recreate
the simplicity of the original perfectly,” commented Alex
Simmons, “and also includes that spooky and mystical
atmosphere as well… A strong product based on the original,
and a really refreshing change to the usual boring role playing
game”
Not far off the five X mark were Darius
Twin
(SNES), Shadow
Dancer
(Amiga), Gauntlet
III (Amiga), Warbirds
(Atari Lynx), Eye of the
Beholder (Amiga), Chip’s
Challenge
(PC), James
Pond (Mega
Drive) and Joe Montana Football
(Master System) all with four
x-ratings. |
|
With issue 111, Sinclair
User
upped the
ante on the Speccy covertape wars by placing their Ten Pack on the
cover. What this actually meant was seven full games (including
H.A.T.E.
and Highway
Encounter) and three other
features such as pokes,
music demo and other tips.
Battle
Command blasted onto the
monochrome screen of the Spectrum with
a SU Silver medal of honour. The 3D arcade tank sim from Ocean Software
proved a direct hit with a rating of 85%. “The 3D on the
tanks is quite spectacular,” commented Steve Keen. A
“real enjoyable romp through a war zone...”
Another 3D game, this time Gauntlet
3D,
was given the SU Silver award
treatment with 85%. “The 3D element addes a new perspective
to a tried and tested product,” stated Garth
Sumpter.” 3D Gauntlet
should keep you blastin’ away
for quite some time… definitely worth a whirl if
you’re a fan of the genre.”
Predator
2 topped the
other games with a SU Silver rating of 86%.
The Mirrorsoft licence game took scenes from the movie and merged them
with an Operation
Wolf style interface.
“Quite an enjoyable
game,” wrote Garth, “and if you haven’t
got one of the 1st person perspective shot [sic] ’em ups in
your collection but it. It’s the best of this
year’s bunch.” |
|
Zzap!64
issue 73’s
MegaTape
featured Mike Singleton’s classic Quake Minus One,
as well as
Slayer,
Orion
and CJ’s
Music Demo. Topping the
Commodore 64
charts this month was Teenage Mutant
Hero
Turtles, Chip’s
Challlenge and Golden Axe.
With the development of Creatures II
having
begun, the Rowland Brothers were back with their diary notes in The
Fuzzy Factory.
In the The Think Tank, Zzap’s adventure and strategy section,
a handful of games generated some high rated games, including Genghis
Khan on the Amiga. The war
game strategy title from Koei/Infogrames
garnered a Sizzler award with a 93% rating. Another Amiga game, Bandit
Kings of Ancient China, also
from Koei/Infogrames, sizzled with a 90%.
However, it was Utlima VI –
The
False Prophet that proved to
be the biggest hit with a massive 98% and a Gold Medal. The C64 RPG
classic was rated highly in all its categories with the reviewer
describing the game as “simply incredible… an
enthralling plotline with untold depth, and a high level of character
interaction with an intricately detailed and delicately balanced world
that will take a long, long time to explore.”
The cover featured C64 game Skull
and Crossbones
surprised the
reviewers following the somewhat lukewarm preview version the previous
month and was given an overall 81%. “Skull and Crossbones
adds little to the beat-‘em-up genre other than a novel
theme,” admitted Stuart Wynne, “but it’s
well executed with lots of colour and humour.”
On the Amiga, Armour-Geddon
came away with a 94% and a Sizzler.
“Great fun to play,” commented Phil King,
“and well worth a look even if, like me, you
wouldn’t normally touch military sims with a long
–range missile!” Also on the Amiga, Railroad Tycoon
achieved Gold Medal status with a 96%. Stuart Wynne described Railroad
Tycoon as being
“constantly demanding, utterly compulsive and
addictive beyond belief.” |
 |
With issue 68 of Amstrad
Action, we had
reach only the second Action Pack coveratpe, and it would prove to be a
controversial one. It wasn’t the inclusion of the licensed
Biggles
or Predator
2 games that caused the fuss,
but rather the
content of How
To Be A Complete Bastard
(rather than repeat myself, I
suggest you head over to the appropriate article on Retroaction
for the
full lowdown).
The Readers Charts of 1990 were finally compiled and published. Top of
the shoot-em-ups was Turrican,
while Rick
Dangerous II came top of the
platforms and Sim City
topped the simulators. Overall, Rick
Dangerous
II, Turrican
and Fantasy
World Dizzy were voted most
popular games of
1990. In the actual Gallup charts, Teenage
Mutant Hero
Turtles were
still clinging on to the top spot, with Dizzy
Collection and Total
Recall close behind.
Having looked at the GX4000 version of Switchblade,
it was now the turn
of the trusty old CPC to get its own version. And with a 90% rating and
a Master Game award, the game fared just as well. “The only
discernable variation is the slight lack of colour on the
CPC,” explained Frank O’Connor, “but this
does not effect gameplay, and barely detracts from the graphical appeal
of the game.”
Taking centre stage on the front cover and with a double page review at
the centre of the issue was Total
Recall.
The Ocean Software movie
licensed game was given a Master Game rating of 91%.
“Although the game follows a somewhat tried and tested
formula, it is polished and exciting enough to make it rank among some
of the best film tie-ins ever,” enthused Frank. “A
real treat, and a game no Arnie fan can afford to be
without.”
F-16
Combat Pilot also landed in
with a Master Game award. The flight
combat sim from Digital Integration impressed with a 92% rating.
“Once you’ve got to grips with flying the plane.
F-16
Combat Pilot is great
fun,” gushed Adam Waring.
“Flight sims are not everybody’s cup of tea, but
F-16
is the best there is.”
Rounding off the quartet of Master Games this month was the disk only
adventure game BAT
from UbiSoft. Frank O’Connor was full of
praise for the game and gave it an overall rating of 91%.
“The control method is a dream in operation… The
depth and wealth of options available is breathtaking… The
challenge set before you is an immense one and is chock full of
surprises… The graphics are unbelievable… just
about the most professional product ever on the
CPC…” and “Gameplay is a
dream…” were just some of the comments from Frank.
|
 |
If you were wondering where
Matt Bielby
went to after leaving Your Sinclair
a couple of months back then you
need wonder no more. He was busy working on the launch issue of a brand
new Amiga games dedicated magazine called Amiga
Power. With its
in-depth games coverage, infallible writers and a no nonsense approach
to games reviewing, Amiga Power
would become one of the most respected
games magazines in the industry and gain a cult following.
With its first issue, Amiga Power
gave away Tony Crowther’s
classic puzzle game Bombuzal
on the coverdisk. To accompany the full
game, a four-page guide to the game explained the loading, gameplay
controls, the display, tips and more. The Amiga Gallup chart looked
pretty good with Lemmings
sitting on top and Turrican 2
and Speedball
2
in second and third place.
Cybercon
III from US Gold kicked off
the Games of the Month section
(where the best and most interesting games are featured) with a rating
of 88 percent. “Cybercon III
is state-of-the-art as far as
games go,” stated Jonathan Davies, “a deeply
serious, immensely playable and generally enormous 3D
explore-‘em-up that’s quite possible the only game
you’ll need to buy this year.”
Exile,
the Thrust
style game that originally appeared on the BBC,
finally arrived on the Amiga and managed to get an impressive 89
percent. “Exile
is a bit tasty,” stated Gary Penn,
“it’s entertaining, highly rewarding and so
involved that you won’t get through it in a hurry.”
Electronic Arts’ PGA Tour Golf
was next up with Rich Pelley
giving the first outing of the future golfing franchise an 88 percent.
“PGA
is utterly (utterly) addictive – whether
you’re practising ‘en seul’, playing a
friendly with some pals or competing in the tournament, it’s
one of those games which’ll have you itching for
‘just one more go’ before bedtime.”
The classic RPG adventure Eye of the
Beholder
was also given an overall
rating of 88%. Mark Ramshaw pointed out that the game is “not
really as big a leap on from Dungeon
Master,
but still sufficiently
different to make it an essential purchase. Intelligent and (yes,
it’s that word again) atmospheric, it’s a wonderful
piece of software and no mistake.” Other Games of the Month
inclusions included Chuck Rock
(86%), Gods
(87%), Armour-Geddon
(87%)
and The
Killing Cloud (65%), while
the Japanese arcade puzzle game
Gem-X
stood out from the normal games reviews with 88%.
Amiga
Power asked 'Which Amiga Game
Do You Really Wish You’d Written?' to several famous
coders. Gary Bracey from Ocean Software
chose Populous,
as did John Phillips and David Braben. Steve Kelly (on
of the Bitmap Bothers) went for Dungeon
Masters,
as did Steve Screech,
Jo Bonar, Peter Molyneux and Herman Serrano. Lemmings
was also a
favourite, being chosen by Andy Beveridge, Mike Singleton, Marc Djan
(Ocean France), Mark Cale, Jez San, Ian Oliver and Archer Maclean.
Interestingly, Jon Hare (of Sensible
Soccer
fame) went for Kick Off.
In an interview special, Matt Bielby discussed the Renegade publishing
house with fiunder Tom Watson, The Bitmap’s
Brothers’ forthcoming game Magic
Pockets
with the programmer
Sean Griffiths and the Cadaver
levels disk with Steve Kelly. The
‘If I’d Known Then…’ feature
looked at Peter Molyneux’s career past, present and future. |
 |
After 31 issues, The One
has
split into
two: The
One for Amiga Games and The
One for ST Games. Ciaran
Brennan led the ST version onto issue 32 as the numerical numbering
followed
on from its previous incarnation. With the new ST dedicated magazine,
two coverdisks were placed on the front cover, featuring four playable
demos (Elf,
Lemmings,
Chuck
Rock and Skull &
Crossbones).
Among the feature packed issue, That Was Then looked back at
previous
issues of The
One and this time around,
issue 8 was under the
spotlight, Kati Hamza reported back on new virtual reality TV show
Cyberzone,
Rik Haynes interviewed Peter Molyneux and the CDTV was
revealed.
The Golden Joysticks were considered the most prestigious awards event
in the gaming calendar and 1991 was no exception. From the highly
competitive Best Graphics category, Shadow
of the Beast 2
from
Psygnosis triumphed. Best Soundtrack went to Speedball 2 (Mirrorsoft),
Best Simulation went to F-19 Stealth
Fighter
(Mircoprose), Best Coin-Op
Conversion went to Golden Axe
(Virgin Games), Game of the Year went to
Kick
Off 2 (Anco), Hardware
Manufacturer of the Year went to Sega and
Software House of the Year went to Ocean.
Lemmings
proved to be the highlight game of the issue as Laurence
Scotford gave the classic Psygnosis puzzler a solid overall rating of
95%. “Lemmings
is one of the most playable and enjoyable
games ever,” declared Laurence. “Graphically it may
not look very exciting, but that’s been a deliberate
manoeuvre to get as much of each level on screen at one. But where
Lemmings really scores is in its addictive playability.”
Julian Watsham awarded Core Design’s caveman platformer Chuck
Rock
a rating of 91%. “It’s obvious that Core
Design has spent a great deal of time on the thought, design and
general preparation of this game,” remarked Julian.
“If you don’t take your computer too seriously, you
fancy a great laugh and lashings of stomping, puzzle-solving and
general fun and chaos, then this is definitely the game for
you.” |
|
