I think that Computer Gaming World was the best PC games magazine hands down. Although it covered other computers, it was primarily a PC games magazine for most of its life. The August 1991 issue includes:
Features
ROM(ing) the Halls of the Future – Part 1 of Our Summer CES Report
Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat – EA’s Latest Flies in Review Formation
“Party” Line for Fantasy Role-Players – A Preview of the New On-Line AD&D Adventure
Lights Out in Space – Reflections on Star-King
Take Your Pick! – Reviewing UbiSoft’s Pick ‘N Pile
Landing the Big Ones in Harpoon – A Strategy Guide
Accountants & Armor – An Initial Decree on SSI’s Medieval Lords
You’re Pulling My Legate! – The Satyricon of Strategies for Centurion
Going Down With the Yamato – General Quarters’ Bonzai Reviewed
Six Flags at Half-Mast – Exploring Konami’s Theme Park Mystery
Wehrmacht East! – An Axis Strategy Guide to SSI’s Second Front
Operating on Life & Death II: The Brain – Reviewing Games Ain’t Exactly Brain Surgery
Computer Gaming World was the best computer gaming magazine out there for most of its life, at least if you had a PC. While it did cover other computers, at least in its earlier days, it always seemed to emphasize DOS and Windows coverage particularly in regards to multi-platform games. It was an excellent magazine and had a very long life but a disappointing end. It was bought by Microsoft in 2006 and retitled ‘Games for Windows’. It only lasted another two years after that. This wasn’t really Microsoft’s fault as they pretty much kept up the same quality, but gaming and computer magazines in general had been dying in droves for years already by 2006.
The July 1989 issue included the following:
Features
Special Report: Trends in Computer Games – Covering the Summer 1989 C.E.S with an emphasis on multiplayer and online gaming via modem and online services such as Compuserve.
Air Traffic Control, Can You Handle It? – A review of TRACON for the PC (DOS). This was essentially an air traffic control simulator. While quite accurate and stressful, it’s probably only fun for a select few.
The Gamers Guide to Joysticks – A detailed analysis of joysticks from Gravis, Mindscape, Epyx, SunCom, and Kraft on various computers including the Apple IIgs, IBM PC, and Commodore 64.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – A preview of the then upcoming Indiana Jones game. This was a graphical adventure game available on multiple platforms using a similar interface to Zak McCracken and Maniac Mansion.
MacArthur’s War – Review of a strategy war game by SSG using their ‘Battlefront’ system which had been used on many previous games. This game covers the Korean War.
Sniper! World War II Telegaming – This was a two player game available via Compuserve. While the graphics were simply the game play could be addictive and there weren’t many things like it at the time. However, playing on Compuserve would cost you $6 to $12.50 per hour depending on the speed of your modem.
SSI’s Overrun! – Review of this strategy war game by SSI. This one is a “modern” warfare simulation using a similar system as Panzer Strike and Typhoon of Steel.
Getting ‘The Scoop’ On The Competition – Game hints for The Scoop, a murder mystery in graphical adventure form.
Is VGA Worth It? – VGA was the latest graphical standard for computers (PCs anyway). It offered up to 256 colors at 320×200 resolution or 16 colors (out of 256) at 640×480. This article gives an overview of video cards and monitor that supported this standard.
Marbles From Hell – A review of Ballistix by Psygnosis for the Amiga and Atari ST.
Cinemaware’s Lords of the Rising Sun – Set in 12th century Japan, this game combines action and strategy reminiscent of Defender of the Crown but with different action scenes and more strategic elements.
Table of Contents for the July 1989 issue of Computer Gaming World
Departments
Taking a Peek – Short previews of recent releases and upcoming games including:
Speedball by Cinemaware for DOS, Amiga and Atari ST
Navy Seal by Cosmi for the Commodore 64 and DOS
Axe of Rage by Epyx for the Commodore 64
Devon Aire by Epyx for the Atari ST and Commodore 64
Omnicron Conspiracy by Epxy for DOS
Cosmos by Ishi Press for DOS
Slots & Cards by Microdeal for the Amiga and Atari ST
Fire King by SSG for the Commodore 64
Slipheed by Sierra On-Line for DOS
Space Quest III by Sierra On-Line for DOS
Sky Shark by Taito for DOS and the Commodore 64
Conversions Received – I’m not sure what this list of games is meant to convey. Perhaps games that have been previously released but have recently been converted to other platforms.
CGW Hall of Fame – CGW’s top 100 games along with their rating and other info.
Computer Gaming World was the best and longest lasting computer games magazine in the U.S., particularly when it came to PC games. It also covered other platforms like the Amiga and Commodore 64 but only in its first few years.
Contents of the June 1990 issue of CGW include:
Features
Scorpion’s View: Origin’s “Ultima VI” – A review of Ultima VI along with some hints. Ultima VI was revamped and quite a bit different from previous iterations of Ultima. It was also the last one to appear on the Commodore 64.
Sneak Preview: “Keeping Up With Jones” – Review of ‘Jones’, a family oriented came that is sort of a life simulator. This was Sierra’s first game to feature VGA graphics.
New Column: Fits and Chips – A humorous look at how games are chosen for review.
Piloting Spaceship Earth – A look at Chris Crawford’s new game, Balance of the Planet. An odd game in which you must balance various factors to prevent disasters such as acid rain, starvation, etc.
Avalon Hill’s “Legends of the Lost Realm” – A first person fantasy role-playing game for the Macintosh that works on any Mac with at least 1MB and a floppy drive.
Game Technology in the Near and Far Future – This article looks at Virgin Mastertronic’s Magnetic Scrolls games as a successor to text adventures. Virtual Reality is also mentioned as future tech as well as the use of “data gloves”.
Accolade’s “Gunboat: River Combat Simulator” – Pilot a gunboat through the rivers and jungles of Vietnam, Columbia and Panama. The missions, of course, get harder as you progress.
Scorpion’s Mail – Hints for Wasteland, Dragon Wars, Might & Magic II, Battletech, Neuromancer, Magic Candle, Bard’s Tale I, Wizardry V and Leisure Suit Larry 3.
CGW Test Lab: Tandy Compatibility – This article investigates compatibility problems with the Tandy 1000 TL/2 and certain games and peripherals. theTL/2 used an 8 MHz Intel 80286 processor, featured four 8-bit expansion slots and had an XT IDE-compatible hard disk interface that would not work with drives for the AT. The base model only came with a 3.5″ 720K drive though along with 640KB RAM.
Star Games’ “Rings of Medusa” – A strategy game with a fantasy theme for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS.
Hitler Turns East – A review of the World War II strategy game “Second Front” by SSI for DOS based computers.
Sierra’s “Code-Name: Iceman” – An adventure game in which you play a secret agent intent on stopping nuclear war. A U.S. ambassador has been kidnapped in the Middle East by Russian sponsored terrorists and the 7th fleet has been ordered into the area…
The Great One Gets Greater – A sort of companion to Wayne Gretzky Hockey, Bethesda Softworks’ ‘Hockey League Simulator’ allows you to manage your own league.
Top Ad Award Winners – An odd sort of award but here readers vote for their favorite ads. Koei’s two-page spread for Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga’s Ambition, Genghis Khan and Bandit Kings of Ancient China won out.
Tiglon’s “Decision at Gettysburg” – A strategy game featuring the Civil War from a new company called Tiglon.
Departments
Taking a Peek – Previews of upcoming computer games including Day of the Viper by Accolade for the Atari ST and Amiga; Harmony by Accolade for the Commodore 64, Amiga and DOS; Power Drift by Activision for the Commodore 64; Wolfpack by Broderbund for DOS; Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess by Data East for the Amiga; LHX Attack Chopper by Electronic Arts for DOS; Low Blow by Electronic Arts for DOS; Ski or Die by Electronic Arts for DOS; Future Wars by Interplay for the Amigal; Security Alert by Intracorp for the Commodore 64; Aquanaut by Miles Computing for the Amiga; Conquests of Camelot by Sierra On-Line for DOS; Battle Tank, Barbarossa to Stalingrad by Simulations Canada for DOS; Malta Storm by Simulations Canada for DOS; Waterloo by SSI for DOS and Amiga; Puffy’s Saga by Ubi Soft for the Amiga; Conflict by Virgin Games for DOS; and NY Warriors by Virgin Games for the Amiga.
Editorial – Steve Jackson Games gets raided by the Secret Service, allegedly as part of a piracy investigation but seemed to be more about the subject matter of their latest game: GURPS Cyberpunk which, being cyberpunk themed, featured computer hacking.
Rumor Bag – Featuring games currently in development including a sequel to Lucasfilm’s “Their Finest Hour”, The Secret of Monkey Island, Savage Empire, Quasar, an upcoming NHL game, Unreal (not to be confused with the later FPS), Warmonger and more.
Circuit Writer (Technical Notes) – Before “plug and play” came along (which itself was so bad early on that it was frequently referred to as “plug and pray”) and before motherboards had virtually every port you need built in, adding new expansion cards to your computer could often be a nightmare of conflicting printer ports, com ports and IRQs.
Over There (European Games Report) – While in the era of modern video game systems (starting with the NES), an import (from a U.S. perspective) is likely to come from Japan. However, in the 1980s and 1990s with computer games, imports were likely to be from Europe. This section highlights some recent European games including F29 Retaliator, Frontline, and Lost Patrol.
Game Ratings/Hall of Fame – A list of the top 100 games as rated by Computer Gaming World. Picking a few at random, at number 49 with a rating of 8.65/10 is Zany Golf by Electronic Arts for the Amiga, DOS and Atari ST. At number 50 with a rating of 8.64 is Gretzky Hockey by Bethesda for the Amiga and DOS. At number 62 with a rating of 8.47 is Hostage by Mindscape for the Amiga, DOS and Atari ST.
Letters – Comments on Loom, pirated software in Singapore, bugs in Harpoon and more.
