• Tag Archives Amiga

  • Computer And Video Games (September 1995)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer And Video Games – Issue Number 166 – September 1995

    Computer and Video Games was published in the U.K. and was perhaps the longest running video game magazine. By 1995 it had already been around well over a decade and was only about two-thirds of the way through its publishing life. The September 1995 issue includes:

    Regulars

    • Editorial – Saturn vs. PlayStation, the rising price of games, and more.
    • Connected – Nintendo releases Yoshi’s Island for the Super NES, Sony prepares for PlayStation launch in the U.K., Electronic Arts and Origin developing interactive movie called The Darkening, Mindscape starts work on the first sports sim project for the Ultra 64, Virtuality’s Zone Hunter to be ported to Atari’s Jaguar, Atari releases JagLink which allows you to link up two Jaguars for head to head gaming, and more!
    • In the Bag – Letters from readers about multiplayer games, value of the Sega Saturn, Japanese games, and more.
    • Help – Questions answered about the Atari Jaguar, Discworld, Doom versions, the Neptune, and more.
    • Cheatmode – Various cheats for Mortal Kombat 3, Ace Combat, Toh Shin Den, Rise of the Triad, Mario’s Picross, Hoverstrike, Clockwork Knight, Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, and more.
    • Challenge – Competitions featuring Need for Speed and International Superstar Soccer.
    • Charts – The top games in various categories. Taking the top spot overall this month is Star Trek TNG: A Final Unity for PC CD-ROM.
    • Next Month – Next month’s issue will include coverage of Destruction Derby, the PlayStation launch (in the U.K.), Killer Instinct, Comix Zone, and more.

    Reviews

    • Ace Combat (PlayStation) – A Persian Gulf themed combat flight sim for the PlayStation.
    • Shin Shinobi Den (Saturn) – A Japanese import that would eventually be released as Shinobi Legions in North America and Shinobi X in Europe.
    • Ultimate Doom (PC CD-ROM) – The original Doom with some extra levels and better networking support. Would have been a better deal if Doom II were included as well.
    • Zhadnost (3DO) – A weird looking game show / puzzle game.
    • Action Soccer (PC CD-ROM) – A decent soccer game for the 3DO.
    • Terminal Velocity (PC) – An early 3D shoot-em-up. It gets a good review here but I barely remember it.
    • Wipeout (PlayStation) – A futuristic racing game for the PlayStation. I wanted to like this more than F-Zero but honestly I thought F-Zero was more fun.
    • Primal Rage (Mega Drive/SNES) – A beat-em-up featuring dinosaurs.
    • Donkey Kong Land (Game Boy) – A platform game from Rare featuring the well known villain.
    • Gloom (Amiga) – A Doom clone for the Amiga. Too little too late really.
    • A surprise – A preview of Batman Forever for the Super NES and Mega Drive…not sure why it is a “surprise”.

    Previews

    • Fade to Black (PC CD-ROM) – A sequel to Flashback.
    • Syndicate Wars (PlayStation) – A cyberpunk themed action RPG.
    • Theme Park (Saturn) – The classic theme park simulator for Sega’s latest console.
    • Magic Carpet 2 (PC CD-ROM) – Fly on a magic carpet while combatting enemies.
    • Actua Golf (PlayStation) – A golf game for the PS1.
    • Loaded (PlayStation) – An over the top 3D shoot-em-up for the PlayStation.
    • Jaguar Round-up – A look at upcoming Atari Jaguar games including Defender 2000, Breakout 2000, Battlemorph, Black Ice/White Noise, and Varuna’s Forces.
    • Daedalus Encounter (3DO) – An FMV sci-fi adventure game starring Tia Carrere.
    • Rayman (PlayStation) – What would be one of the best 2D platform games for the PlayStation.
    • Need For Speed (PC CD-ROM) – Classic racing game that first showed up on the 3DO.
    • Captain Quazar (3DO) – A humorous action game somewhat like Earthworm Jim.
    • Phantom (Mega Drive) – A platform game for the Mega Drive / Genesis based on a cartoon of the same name.
    • Doom (SNES) – Most ports of Doom were so much worse than the original PC version. This one is no exception.

    …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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