Zephyr is a relatively obscure game that was released by New World Computing in 1994 for DOS based PCs. This is essentially a first person vehicular combat game. New World Computing was much better known for its Might and Magic series and this game certainly didn’t change that.
The plot of the game is that you are in the 24th century and resources are fought over via vehicular combat. You represent one of several massive corporations (New World Computing is one of the choices). Your vehicle is best described as a kind of hover bike. You must do battle against representatives from other corporations in various arenas.
Game play is pretty straight forward. Before each match, you get to configure your “drone” with various weapons and equipment. Resource management is an important aspect of the game as things like ammunition are not unlimited. However, there are various power ups that can be collected during battle.
The graphics in sound aren’t terrible but they were nothing spectacular either, even for the time. A combination of polygons and sprites were used which was common for the time. While not overly impressive, the game was not hampered by the graphics as your environment, enemies, power-ups, etc. can all be clearly identified. Sound effects and music were pretty generic. They were functional but definitely didn’t stand out.
The one somewhat innovative aspect of this game was the multiplayer option. It allowed for both LAN and modem play against other players. While not entirely unique for the time, this was not yet commonplace either. This really adds to the playability of the game, at least if you had friends you could play against via modem/LAN.
Reviews were at best average for this game. The mediocre graphics, sound, and music were a factor but it was the repetitive nature of the game that really hurt it. There wasn’t really enough variety in terms of weapons, arenas, or enemies for any long term replayability. As mentioned above, the multiplayer was the one bright spot. “Online” multiplayer games weren’t all that plentiful in 1994 so if you were looking for another, this wouldn’t have been a terrible choice. At least as long as you weren’t too concerned about the single player game.
Your probably better off sticking with games like Doom, Doom II, Heretic, Descent, etc. if you are looking for a similar type of game with online play from that era. However, if you want some variety, this wouldn’t be a terrible choice for some retro multiplayer action. As far as I know, you’ll have to pick of an original and play on an original DOS based PC or use something like DOSbox. You can in fact pick this game up on GOG ($6.99) and probably Steam which provides the advantage of working on modern platforms. However, I don’t think these versions support multiplayer and that happens to be the best part of the game.
The ad above is from the May 1994 issue of Compute.
