GAME REVIEWS

Rip It Up, Issue 240, 1 August 1997, Page 8

GAME REVIEWS

TEST DRIVE OFF-ROAD (Sony Playstation) At last a racing simulation where you are not limited by the direction of the track, Off Road really means off road. All 12 computer generated environments are at your disposal, and you can go

anywhere within them. They all come with competitive well thought out courses, but who cares if you win the race or not? Go take Miss Daisy around for the filthiest drive of her life in your choice of Landrover,

jeep, Chevy, or Hummer (which is that car-come-truck-come-tank looking thing you always seeing in the latest dance/hip hop videos). But, if you do want to get competitive, and because you can drive anywhere, a variety of shortcuts can be worked out to completely destroy any opposing 4X4s — the possibilities are endless! AARON PRESTON RALLY CROSS (Sony Playstation) One of the freshest racing simulations around, where you spend as much time in the air as you do on the ground. There’s 20 cars to choose from, and six funky, bumpy and filthy tracks, that provide both breakneck speeds and very intense stunt jumps. For those of you who have the neGcon joystick or any other analog controller, the reality of the racing is that much closer and the mid-air driving that much easier. Three difficulty levels and six game play modes are available — unlimited laps, solo race, season race, head-on and suicide, all with the option to race forwards or backwards. The whole thing looks great, and up to four players can slide, crash, or spin-out at the same time. AARON PRESTON PANDEMONIUM (Sega Saturn) The premise of this is sort of like the movie, Fantasia. Fargus (a jester) and Nikki (a trapeze artist), have got hold of a wizard’s book of power and have accidentally managed to unleash Pandemonium. The platform adventure game has them trying to set things right again, through 18 levels of engrossing 3D gameplay, that is full of secret areas and a variety of beastly enemies and dangerous obstacles. You get to choose at the beginning of each level which character you play as, and as their different abil-

ities are suited to the different environments, it’s worth switching every so often. Awesome graphics and backgrounds, great movement (especially the trampolines), and cool weapon powerups. A total winner. ■ ’ ; ; TROY FERGUSON MECH WARRIOR 2/ ARCADE COMBAT EDITION (Sega Saturn) In this futuristic apocalyptic world, you get to pilot a huge armoured mechanised walker -or actually, one of 13 with different manoeuvrability and weapon capabilities. Basically, all of the missions are destruction-fests requiring varying degrees of skill, and as such the scenario environments aren’t particularly thrilling. Nonetheless, there’s good-edge-of-the-seat tension involved in getting to your objectives and blasting them to smithereens. The gameplay is fast, and once you learn to control your mechs, it’s smooth battle action the whole way. ■ ' ■ * TROY FERGUSON BUG TOO (Sega Saturn) That little green bug returns, and he’s brought with him two pals - Maggot Dog, and the 70s-sawy retro-dude, Superfly (no, not that one). Bug Too is a platformer.that takes you through six movie-themed parodies (including Weevil Dead, ; Cicada Night Fever, and Swatterworld) where you direct any of the three heroes to award night victory. Not many improvements in the game engine itself, and if you mastered Bug! you’ll have no trouble here, but the overall visuals and sound-effects are a cut above the predecessor — especially the pearls of wisdom from the platform-shoed Superfly. It’s goofy fun, even if the perspective is sometimes slightly skewed and music annoyingly cheesy. J ‘ ( : TROY FERGUSON SKY TARGET (Sega Saturn) A fighter pilot scenario, with little in the way of narrative continuity, not that it matters too much in this traditional genre. Chunky graphics and awkward movement are initially off-putting, but when you get the hang of it, it’s really quite a belter of a game with successive attack waves divided by huge and hard to destroy mothercraft. Good explosions, especially with the ICBM’s;and the potential for overkill is massive. Not having had a great deal of flight experience, I expect to take years to reach the rank of Ace; but there's a choice of arcade and ranking modes, so there must be an easier way to do it. . TROY FERGUSON

FIGHTER MEGAMIX (Sega Saturn) Ah, bloodlust. Fighter Megamix comprises elements of Virtua Fighter 2 and 3, and Fighting Vipers. (The VF2 fighters have the enhanced capabilities of VF3, so it’s like seeing old pals who’ve grown even stronger and craftier; and additionally there’s characters from Virtua Cop 2 and Sonic Fighters, and some secrets). You can select a walled or open arena, and play a variety of tournaments - team battles, survival, and the perennial 2P opponent game. Some new moves have sneaked in, but the real joy is using your favourite fighter to pummel a baddie from another gaming program. Literally months of enjoyment here. TROY FERGUSON PLAYSTATION ANALOGUE CONTROLLER Not a game, but handy new hardware. Play Station’s new analogue controller looks like the standard PS controller, but with an added thumb joystick on either side of it (which basically seems

like a direct copy of the Nintendo 64 controller, but who's complaining . — these multinational cat fights must be good for the simple spacies freak). The controller can be switched from complete digital, analogue, or joystick analogue mode, and this means greater

control, accuracy, and realism, from the racing simulations to the roaming 3D adventures. The analogue controller is definitely the way of future home gaming, and when the majority of compatible analogue games are released later this year, you may never leave your lounge again. AARON PRESTON Upcoming releases from Sony Playstation. Monster Trucks-, Abe’s Oooysee(Platform); Parrapa The Rapper (Combination of martial arts, driving and rapping); Agent Armstrong (Shoot 'em up); Soccer 97.

Upcoming releases from Sega Saturn. Jonah Lomu Rugby, Dragon; Wipeout 2097 (Racing); Duke Nukem 3D (Shoot 'em up); Warcraft 2 (Role player strategy); Resident Evil; Sonic Jam (Platform).