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  • The One (June 1992)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: The One – June 1992

    The One was a U.K. published magazine that covered 16-bit computer and video games. The specific systems covered varied over the years it was published. By 1992 it was pretty much exclusively an Amiga magazine. The June 1992 issue includes:

    • The Disks – This magazine came with cover disks for your Amiga with all kinds of goodies. This month’s disks included Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (demo), Galaxians (public domain), Formula One Grand Prix Cheats, Pushover, and more.
    • News – Virgin to distribute Cannon Fodder, Gamemaster TV show to return, Bart Versus the World to be converted for Amiga, Hook conversion coming for the Amiga, Titus working on Crazy Cars III, and more.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker, making games from old movies, adult games, and more.
    • Team 17 Interview – An interview with members of the then one year old Team 17. Alien Breed was probably their biggest hit at that time.

    • Work In Progress – A look at games under development including Premiere, Zool, Galactic, and Rookies.
    • A600 – A look at the new Amiga 600. It was basically an Amiga 500 in a newer (and smaller) form factor.
    • Reviews – Reviews of Sensible Soccer (Renegade), Legend (Mindscape), Jim Power (Loricel), Hostile Breed (Palace), Jaguar XJ220 (Core Design), Ork (Psygnosis), Ashes of Empire (Mirage), Dune (Virgin), Floor 13 (Virgin), The Addams Family (Ocean), Colin Curly’s Pushover (Ocean), G-Loc (US Gold), and Wizkid (Ocean).
    • Kill Zone – Tips and tricks for Titus The Fox (Titus), Shadowlands (Domark), Harlequin (Gremlin), F1 Grand Prix (Microprose), The Blues Brothers (Titus), Final Fight (US Gold), Supercars 2, and more.

    • Win a Dune(?) – Win prizes with a Dune theme including the movie, the book, the game, or a poster.
    • Cheapos – A look at currently available bargain priced games including Anarchy, Pro Tennis Tour, International 3D Tennis, The Shoot-‘Em-Up Construction Kit, Steg, Dizzy’s Excellent Adventures, and more.
    • Win A Hard Drive – A competition to win a GVP hard drive for the Amiga 500.
    • PD Zone – A look at the latest public domain titles and collections.
    • Previews – Previews of soon to be released games including Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (US Gold/Lucasfilm), Risky Woods (Electronic Arts), Red Zone (Psygnosis), Silly Putty (System 3), Rampart (Domark), and Aquaventura (Psygnosis).

    …and more!


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  • The One (December 1994)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: The One – Issue Number 74 – December 1994

    The One was a U.K. published gaming magazine that mostly covered 16-bit computers. In 1994 it was basically just covering the Amiga. The December 1994 issue includes:

    • Boot Sector – On the cover disk are demos of Rise of the Robots and Mortal Kombat II.
    • News – World of Amiga show coming in December, new Amiga CD32 package available, Mindscape buys SSI, and more.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about Sensible Soccer tournaments, Beneath a Steel Sky issues, Charlie J Cool, and more.
    • Competition – Win various Lion King related items.

    • One On One – An interview with John Twiddy, responsible for such games as Putty Squad and Aladdin.
    • WiPS – Previews of games currently still in progress including The Lion King, Mighty Max, Mortal Kombat II, and Sensible Golf.
    • Reviews – Reviews of Cannon Fodder 2, Jungle Strike, Premier Manager 3, PGA Euro Tour, Zeewolf, Fields of Glory, Lords of the Realm, Morton Strikes Back, Embryo, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Crystal Dragon, and Super Stardust.
    • Updates – Updates of Manchester United, Arcade Pool, Them Park (Amiga 500 version), and Soccer Kid.
    • Replays – A look back at some older games including Combat Air Patrol, Formula One Grand Prix, Globdule, and Gunship 2000.

    • Kill Zone – Tips, tricks and strategies for Reunion, Wild Cup, Starlord, Robinson’s Requiem, and more.
    • Classic Tips – Tips for older games including Addam’s Family, Alien Breed, Arkanoid 2, Atomic Robo Kid, and many others.
    • PD Zone – A look at some of the latest public domain games including Roketz, Pengo, Outpost: Solo Assault, Arthur: Quest for Excalibur, and Classic Pucman.
    • Competition – Win a MicroProse jacket, UFO: Enemy Unknown, and more.
    • Recommended – A brief look at some of the highest rated games by The One. Some of these game include Aladdin, Alien Breed 2, Cannon Fodder, James Pond 3, Theme Park, Uridium 2, Microcosm, Simon the Sorcerer, Mortal Kombat, and many more.

    …and more!


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  • Waxworks (Amiga)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Waxworks is a horror themed role-playing game released in 1992 by Horror Soft for the Amiga, Macintosh and DOS based machines.

    The plot of the game involves undoing a curse on your family. Apparently, at some point in history, the player’s ancestor cut of Ixona’s hand for stealing a chicken. Ixona happened to be a witch and she placed a curse on your family. This curse basically makes it so that whenever twins are born in your family, one of them turns out evil and does very bad things. You (and your soon to be evil twin brother who is unconscious for some reason) inherit a magical wax museum from your uncle. You must use this magical wax museum to travel back in time to undo the evil things your ancestors have done and prevent the curse from ever being placed…before your brother wakes up evil.

    The game is divided into several sections, each with its own theme/time period. These themes include ancient Egypt, medieval Transylvania, Victorian England, the industrial revolution time period, and the time period of Ixona herself.

    Waxworks is played from a first person point of view and features a point-and-click interface. From this interface you can pick up items, avoid traps, solve puzzles, and engage in combat. During combat, you have the ability to target individual body parts such as an arm or head. Generally, the goal in each time period is to retrieve a special item from the evil twin of that era. Once you have collected all of these special items, you can then attempt to defeat Ixona herself to try to prevent the curse from ever being placed.

    There are some criticisms of the game including small game maps and an overemphasis on combat. However, the graphics, sound and music are pretty solid and do a good job of creating a horror filled atmosphere. The way the game is separated into different time periods also makes for pretty good variety. For fans of horror or RPGs of the era in general, it is worth playing. One unique aspect of the game though is the level of gore. It is highly graphic for a game of this time period with lots of gruesome death scenes. This may or may not be your cup of tea.

    Waxworks was re-released on GOG using DOSBox for compatibility with Windows and Mac OS. As I look now, it is currently available for only $1.49 here: https://www.gog.com/en/game/waxworks. I mean you can’t get a much better deal than that. Images above are from the Amiga version of the game but there’s not really any significant differences between the DOS and Amiga versions of the game. The DOS version even uses a similar 32-color palette to the Amiga version.


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