GAME REVIEWS

Rip It Up, Issue 242, 1 October 1997, Page 8

GAME REVIEWS

XEVIOUS 3D/G (Sony Playstation) This is one of the original games that can be blamed for my early addiction and subsequent habit to the spacey culture, and now it’s back, bigger, brighter and tastier than ever before. This particular package comes with four hits; the original Xevious, Super Xevious, Xevious Arrangement, and the grand daddy of all, Xevious 3D\ — a very cool trip indeed with no grinding teeth come down periods throughout the entire six level ride! It’s never that much fun flying by yourself, and Xevious 3D understands that, therefore, it includes a simultaneous two player feature, as well as the Xevious Arrangement version. You’ll definitely get a buzz off this one! • ? AARON PRESTON DARKLIGHT CONFLICT (Sega Saturn) Unlike the real world, this game puts you through thorough training, preparing you for intergalactic battle — and by the time you’ve done that, you’re sure to be brimming with overconfidence until the first attack wave comes at you. This is the most convincing space battler in ages, where you travel through warpgates to different sectors blasting the enemy into spacedust with a sophisticated armoury — virus bombs, multi-use missiles, and the usual plasma cannon type things. The fighters and bombers have superb thrust and agility, but even so, hyperspace is a nightmare environment for a dogfight to occur, so as your mum used to say, ‘Take it outside!’ to where you have the whole galaxy to wallop whoever. TROY FERGUSON RAY TRACERS (Sony Playstation) Step into a Manga movie, with one of the best racing cars in the world, to hunt down and battle a range of travelling baddies that have taken control of the city. Ray Tracers combines the best of Need For Speed with the best of Demolition Derby, a great looking game with all the elements to get rid of the most extreme cases of road rage. Two modes are available; the ‘chase’ mode, where you hunt down a particular enemy in a certain amount of time, smashing anything and everything along the way (this comes with five different courses); and the ‘time’ mode, where you can develop your racing prowess by yourself or against another foe (this comes with three different tracks). AARON PRESTON RAYSTORM (Sony Playstation) A shoot ’em up, but a really good shoot ‘em up. If you like this genre you’ll love this game. A lot of attention to detail has been spent on the sci-fi enemies and the futuristic backgrounds. Another cool aspect is the way it changes

visually from birds eye view to the straight ahead perspective. There’s also a very stylee asteroids pattern, reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back. Weapons for Africa, enemies from hell! ■ AARON PRESTON INDEPENDENCE DAY (Sega Saturn) In this adaptation of the ID4 movie, you pilot the hightech fighter planes seeking to destroy monstrous alien ships over various American cities, with exciting gameplay faithful to the high adrenalin action sequences of the film. There’s a good selection of planes with realistic navigational capabilities (sometimes frustratingly limited, but you fly aircraft not spaceships, remember); and impressively detailed virtual environments. The real point is, of course, the destruction factor — and the weapons system is solid and deadly, if a little ordinary. Good game though, and the only downer is the unoriginal dreariness of the two-player version (it’d be better suited to a computer network with loads more opponents). TROY FERGUSON V RALLY (Sony Playstation) One of the most hyped Playstation games for awhile, and deservedly so. A massive 45 tracks are available from Corsica to New Zealand, with a range of front wheel and four wheel drive vehicles to choose from. Basically, you can’t fault this game, the graphics are outstanding and the courses completely fresh! The best racing simulation since Formula One, and the most impressive since Wipeout AARON PRESTON HARD BOILED (Sony Playstation) You are a killer android called ‘Nixon’, who thinks he’s a human, riding around in your slightly battered flying car, killing people for not paying their taxes. Sounds familiar? A little Fifth Element combined with a lot of Blade Runner. The title page and menu page on this game are awesome and promised so much, but I have to say the game play is somewhat clumsy as well as being frustratingly hard. The flying car is fun to control, but interest wanes with the repetition of the surroundings and featured enemies. AARON PRESTON Upcoming Sony Playstation releases: Roscoe McQueen, Rapid Racer, All Star Soccer, Pax Corpus', Test Drive 4\ Dreams To Reality. Upcoming Sega Saturn releases: Dragon Force', Swagman; Fighting Force.