It’s a problem I have had with Star Trek games for years. Now you would think someone would solve it by now. I was asked to take a look at Star Trek: Klingon Academy this week. This six-CD game takes Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and justly moves it to the Klingon Empire. Wait, did the Klingons have an academy? Hmm”I’ll let that question hang in the balance. For all of the advances the software and hardware, why can’t Star Trek games be more simple? Why does the player have to do all the work? I was supposedly the captain of … Continue reading Unfaithful Klingon Academy makes you do all the work →
Odium may be defined as hate coupled with disgust, but when it comes to the game Odium, my feelings lacked such passion. In fact, I was left with profound indifference. Following the thoroughly playable Septerra Core, Monolith has released TopWare’s Odium — and some unsuspecting gamers might be duped into buying the new title. It’s 2008 and you play for three NATO military commandos known as Group Two, sent into a hot zone where Group One has disappeared. Obviously, Group One has disappeared or been disabled. But for some reason, Group Two doesn’t exactly come well stocked with ammo, weapons … Continue reading Odium is all about eye candy →
Septerra Core arrived at GiN headquarters with a special request: Let Michael Cheek review it. I don’t think this was an example of "Let Mikey review it; he’ll review anything." You see, I’m not the role-playing game reviewer. I look at DVDs and puzzle games for the most part, and Septerra Core is neither. In fact, I’m not that fond of RPGs since many tend to be complex and unforgiving for a methodical player like myself. Moreover, when building characters, I can never get the balance just right between character’s attributes. But I launched into Septerra Core and found I … Continue reading At its core, Septerra Core rocks–leisurely →
Jigsaw puzzles never had an equivalent on the PC until Pandora’s Box. With an understated environment and compelling puzzles, Pandora’s Box might be nirvana for those with obsessions for visual brainteasers. In Pandora’s Box, seven mythical tricksters have escaped to wreck havoc on the world. The player must capture the seven one at a time by solving many of the 350-plus puzzles. Puzzles fall into ten different types, each somehow shuffling or screwing up photos, paintings, sculptures or other miscellaneous art. Ultimately, your job is to put the art right. It occurred to me that this may just be another … Continue reading Pandora’s addictive box is worth opening →
Too often, adventure games compare themselves to the reigning God, Myst. And too often, new games perform far below Myst — far worse in fact. Some might be inclined to declare Amerzone a good game in the Myst vein. I’ll go one step further. Amerzone takes first-person adventure gaming to the next level and could — no, Amerzone should — become Myst’s successor on the throne of adventure games. Amerzone’s captivating graphics, compelling characters, complex, but solvable, puzzles and an excellent plot kept me playing for hours on end–nothing that any other adventure game has done since…well…Myst. (Sorry fans, but … Continue reading Amerzone usurps the ultimate adventure game →
You wouldn’t understand it, it’s a Polish thing. What the folks at Project 2 Interactive are calling "Riven for everyone," the adventure/puzzle game Reah turns out to be less Myst inspiring and more difficult to understand, furthermore solve. You play an obnoxious journalist who somehow gets transported to a reality full of idiotic characters and puzzles that are either too simplistic or impossible to solve. Reah is another game of excellent environment, but piss-poor plotting. Moreover, since Reah comes from the Polish company L.K. Avalon, all of the actors are poorly Samari-movie-like dubbed by badly voiced Americans speaking childishly written … Continue reading Reah gets lost in the translation →
So you’re an adult. But secretly, you’ve wanted one. A Nintendo Gameboy. But you just cannot bring yourself to buy one. It’s for kids. The games available focus on kids. So you’re relegated to secretly playing solitaire under Windows CE on your palm PC during the morning commute. Not anymore. Hasbro Interactive has released four games for CE devices: Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and Slingo. Each has strong points and weak points. Scrabble scrambled to the top of the heap with colorful display, brisk play and fun interactivity. Running on an Aero 2130 from Compaq Computer Corp., the game board … Continue reading Hasbro helps WinCE gaming grow up →
Lucas Arts’ Grim Fandango already earned some lauds from other gaming publications and I hate to be the one to tarnish what may become another Myst. Grim Fandango does contain a captivating atmosphere with a certain film noir meets Antonio Banderas quality. My primary complaint stems not from the remarkable interface or the ambiance or even the general plot. Believe me, the music, a jazz soundtrack, is nearly enough to warrant buying this title. It’s just that someone forgot the basics of an adventure game. You may consider me a purist, but adventure and strategy games contain a kind of … Continue reading Don’t Fear the Reaper →
Virtual Pool 2, an "enhanced" DVD-ROM game from VR Sports, tries to take the billiard amusements to higher levels with this 3D simulator. But the only existence of the DVD is for tips and tricks from some of today’s professional pool sharks. Quite honestly, I tried to watch the movie training sessions. But if I’d watch one, the movie would end and the viewer and game would simply lock up. Installation of the game was disappointing. Although it could detect my 4M AGP X2 graphics accelerator with 3D support, Virtual Pool 2 reverted to the least common denominator–low resolution without … Continue reading Virtual Pool 2 takes all the breaks… →
To win Captain Claw, a player must be a god–or at least play like one. This scrolling adventure game long descended from Pitfall, follows the journey of a ship-commander cat and his attempts to piece together a map and find the Jewels of Nine Lives. From Monolith Studios, the game spins off a DVD-ROM. But only between the game action does Captain Claw take true benefit of the digital versatile disk technology. As the adventure proceeds and the fierce feline works his way through levels, the story unfold in Saturday-morning-cartoon-quality bits. Unfortunately, on first installation, the cartoons were without audio … Continue reading Monolith’s Captain Claw DVD game not quite perrrrfect →
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