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March 1996


PLAYSTATION
In The Hunt
Irem
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Shooter   Release: March 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Hard

Take on the role as a feisty submarine on a mega dangerous voyage in Irem's In The Hunt. Fans of manic side-scrolling shooters will be quick to fall in love with the fundamentals of this disc, an excellent reproduction of the arcade cabinet. Guiding the tiny vessel through the darkest depths of the wide seas means avoiding twisted currents, treacherous canyons, and incessant weapon fire, debris, and, of course, intense explosions! Escaping total devastation requires lightning reflexes, lest you face a painful, murky death. Not crazy enough for you? How about simultaneous 2-player action? Indeed, two can take the plunge together, with the only consequence being a slight bit of slowdown at bombastic segments. Elsewise, the sprite graphics are slick and detailed, enemy animation is skillfully done. Worth checking out for those who appreciate insanity.

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PLAYSTATION
Descent
Interplay   Parallax Soft
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3-D Shooter    Release: March 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

Descent on the PlayStation is one of the better PC portovers we've seen. For those unfamiliar with this title, it essentially grabs ahold of the genius Doom formula and game engine, and expands it to a new stage. You maneuver a tiny space ship in a true 3-D environment, filled with claustrophobic rooms and tunnels stretching in all directions. Players may navigate in 360-degrees of direction, including the ability to move forward and backward, roll to the side, and strafe with side thrusters. Descent's sense of action is killer - literally! Blast apart everything that moves, using the traditional assortment of missiles, mines, and energy weapons. Apart from a select few scenes with muddled graphics, this improves on the original with fantastic light-sourcing effects. Weapons light-up surrounding walls in a neat-o fashion.

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PLAYSTATION
Doom
Williams   id Software
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3-D Shooter   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: Mature   Challenge: Hard

The original blood-curtling, blood-spurting shooter trudged its way over to the PlayStation at long last. id Soft's greatest first-person game, or rather games, are here in their full glory. That's right, this disc includes both Ultimate Doom and Doom 2, thereby containing everything that would normally be purchased in seperate bits and pieces on the PC. Doom on PS-X frankly puts all other conversions to shame. All visual effects from the computer iteration made the trip, as did the seamless scaling features, excellent transparency and shadow-casting lighting effects, and perfect play control. It is almost as if the PlayStation controller was made for this. Front shoulder buttons allow for easy strafing and the back ones make weapon swapping a cinch. Oh, and a link-up feature is present here, too. It's Doom as the creator intended.

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SATURN
Darius Gaiden
Acclaim   Aisystem Tokyo
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Shooter   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Enjoy arcade-shooting excellence with Darius Gaiden on Saturn, a most favorable return to the classic style of yesteryear. All that fans of this genre rave about are here in spades. You will encounter smooth scrolling areas without much of any slowdown, and zippy action rife with some of the most original enemy designs we have seen in a long while. Your ship can take advantage of an expansive power-up system: Four levels per weapon type and upgradability beyond that, not to mention loads of bombs to play around with. DG's water-centric atmosphere is a swell shift from the glut of space settings nowadays. Blast away giant robotic fish through over twenty-five levels of increasing challenge, all accompanied by beautiful backgrounds and a great, ambiant soundtrack. No real graphical prowess to speak of, but a solid game is a solid game.

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SATURN
D
Acclaim   Warp
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Adventure   Release: March 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

FMV games never seem to go away, do they? D, an interactive adventure/mystery from Warp and Acclaim, is a two-hour, fully-rendered experience that will either ensnare you in its grip or fail to entice the slightest interest. Horror is the name of the game, here, so fright fans take heed! Laura, D's infallable heroine, discovers a dismal hospital littered with mutilated corpses and a bloodthirsty doctor at its helm. That doctor just so happens to be Laura's father, and she is determined to salvage what remains of his humanity. Visually, there is plenty to enjoy. It could certainly be argued a videotape of this adventure may be more fun than playing it yourself. Alas, without such technology, you will need to trouble yourself with D's poor navigation system and annoying puzzles. Fantastic moodiness and storytelling, but a rental will serve you best.

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SATURN
Hang-On GP
Sega   Sega CS
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Racing   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Easy

The next evolution in Sega's Hang-On motorcycle arcade series is revving up on the Saturn. It fulfills its mission statement to bring about a faithful moto-simulator that realistically emulates the look and feel of a two-wheeled race, but a superb simulator does not necessarily equate to a solid video game. Players have the option to select from 10 various bikes, three courses with two variations each, and an unlockable time trial with Endurance Mode. Each track presents 19 other racers with which to contend, although their impact is far less substantive than, say, Road Rash. The highlights are are undoubtedly the spectacular physics engine and decent texture mapping. A lack of depth and ingenuity ultimately keep us from granting a recommendation. Fun for a short thrill, and one to use with the Arcade Racer controller (sold seperately).

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SNES
SOS: Sink or Swim
Titus   Zeppelin Games
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Puzzle   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: All     Challenge: Easy

In this perplexing puzzle game from Zeppelin Games and Titus, do your best to keep your head above water and survive! Sink or Swim, a puzzler exclusively available on Super NES, places you upon a massive ship doomed to the ocean depths. As the vessel takes on water, it is your mission to save the crew from certain death by guiding them through mazes of rooms, building bridges, eliminating debris, flipping switches, and racing against the clock to get everyone out before the tide ends the fun. As is vital for any puzzler, the element is challenge is unmistably present. Players will require practice to perfect the objectives in S.O.S., though fortunately the early levels do assist in building experience prior to throwing them in the deep end. That said, the formula gets extremely stale after five stages, and the hideous graphics made us barf. An OK rental.

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SNES
Cutthroat Island
Acclaim   SoftCreations
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Act-Platformer   Release: March 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Easy

Play as the sword-weilding Lady Pirate Morgan Adams and begin her journey to collect all three missing pieces of a mysterious treasure map in the 16-Bit adaptation of Cutthroat Island. To start, we offer commendation to the dev team for their commitment to the theme of the film. Regardless of its box office standing (You mean, "Box Office Bomb". Caralco Pictures since filed for bankruptcy. -Jet), Software Creations attempted to create a decent swashbuckling platformer with varied levels and two-player cooperative action. However, this cart turned out as average and tedious as the next movie-to-game on the market. The graphical presentation is dull and flat with generic baddies, combat is outdated with formulaic sword-slashing that is a step below mid-80s brawlers, and level variations do not aleviate any repetition.

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SNES
Revolution X
Acclaim   Rage
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Shooter   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Hard

While its foundation as a redundant gallery shooter remains faithful to the arcade original, the team from Rage has done little to merit the existance of a home console edition. The main issue to contend with here is that the SNES may not be capable of closely mirroring newer arcade hits. As such, Revolution X in 16-Bit presents a cursor-driven shooter with grainy, non-detailed foes and an aburdly tough level of difficulty. The cursor itself handles inaccurately, and one cannot gauge the scale of damage without tracking an antiquated life meter on top of the screen. On this upside, the digitized voices and much of the Aerosmith soundtrack is indeed preserved, but the experience is too unpleasant for any of that to matter. Frankly, the charm and adrenaline-pumping fun of the original is nowhere to be seen in this utterly lackluster portover.

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GENESIS
Spot: Hollywood
Virgin Interactive   Eurocom
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Act-Platformer   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Who would have imagined a red circle on a soda can would become so popular? Virgin Interactive's unexpected smash hit Cool Spot makes his long-awaited return in Spot Goes To Hollywood. This sequel is an all-new platformer/puzzler with similar light-hearted overtones to that of the first game. In perhaps the most critical change that may make-or-break Spot for picky players, the traditional side perspective shifted to the more controversial 3/4ths overhead. As in previous entries, Cool Spot must rescue his fellow, er.. spots from imprisonment and reach the exit to continue onward. This cart's control method is touchy and not without its moments of frustration, predominantly due to the new viewing angle, which may overshadow the rest of the adventure. The score sadly lacks the oomph often sought after by Sega fans.

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32X
Web of Fire
Sega   BlueSky Soft
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Act-Platformer   Release: March 1996
Age Rating: All     Challenge: Easy

Everyone's favorite web-slinger returns for another round with Spider-Man: Web Of Fire on 32X. To our sincerest disappointment, despite the ramped-up muscle of the Sega add-on console and the fantastic adventure a hero like Spider-Man deserves, Web of Fire just plain sucks. Spidey can bash enemies with repeated pressing of the main attack button, climb vertically up buildings, and swing from web shots (Left and right on a 2-D plane -Jet). His only interesting move is the special attack: Calling upon Daredevil to wipe out every enemy on the screen. Elsewise, Spider-Man's relentless pursuit of the nefarious Hydra and its dastardly enforcers is a total slog. Simplistic gameplay, cookie-cutter sound effects, and dull graphics have us wondering why this was reserved for 32X. Our spider sense tells us to avoid this lackluster title at all costs.

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JAGUAR
Missile Cmd 3D
Atari   Virtuality
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Shooter   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Hard

Following-up on Defender 2000, Atari has carried forth yet another renewed classic in Missile Command 3-D. Exactly like the former Jag title, Missile Command allows players to choose from three gameplay options. First is the bare-bones original, minus the distinct advantage of trackball-enabled precision. Drive off intercontinental ballistic missiles by shooting your own defensive weapons, protecting the cities below at all costs. The spruced-up 3-D game mode nicely updates the visual display and slightly enlarges the play area. Last but not least, MC VR is the true showpiece. The Virtual style is rendered in actual 3-D with polygonal graphics, and adds additional bits and pieces like power-ups, bosses, and varied stage designs. Not too shabby for a remade of a well-aged coin-op, though nowhere near as exciting as 94's Tempest 2000.

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