Once again the Oregon Trail is open for business, or at least for a virtual trip into pioneer times. The Learning Company is allowing gamers to blaze the trail once again through the game The Oregon Trail Pioneer Adventures 3rd Edition. This game in its various editions has been a popular program in schools for years, and for good reason. It remarkably involves the player in using their knowledge and also learning and applying new information in the areas of history, social studies, geography, geology and various other sciences, all wrapped up in a fun interface. The game opens with … Continue reading Oregon Trail 3rd Edition blazes new educational ground→
Listen up, this is the Mayor speaking! What you haven’t heard of me before? Why, I’ve been the mayor (read "dictator") of several successful towns, some with populations of almost two million people. My least whim can topple enterprises, my slightest fancy can cause a freeway to be built next to your house. This is the fantasy that Maxis has been offering control freaks like myself for years. You get put in as mayor of your own town. No election, no campaign, you merely appoint yourself for life. Of course, it does help that you are also the town founder. … Continue reading SimCity 3000 builds on a familiar favorite→
It has been a long time since I’ve journeyed to the Sword Coast via the magic of a Dungeons and Dragons game. Computer RPGs have never really been able to capture the flavor of a pen-and-paper role-playing, with several friends sitting around a table drinking sodas, eating chips, solving problems and slaying dragons. (well, only occasionally slaying a dragon) But that all changed with the release of Baldur’s Gate. Black Isle studios, a development arm of Interplay, has a great deal of experience with computer RPGs, and for the first time, someone has gotten it right. Most computer RPGs, especially … Continue reading Baldur’s Gate→
I had the opportunity to be a beta tester in the final phase of beta testing for EverQuest, which was released by Sony last week. Being in on the ground floor of this one, I can say that I think it will challenge Origin System’s Ultima Online for the title of the most popular online role-playing game. The first time I logged on, I was thrilled to see all of the options for creating a character. Everything from the usual gender, and class to race and religion was included as a changeable option. As a long time Ultima Online player, … Continue reading An insiders report from Norrath→
It is rare indeed to see the sequel to anything — movies, television shows or games — actually turn out better than the original. Sequels usually fall into either the category of either a hastily made game that relies too heavily on its predecessor for plot, or a simple add-on pack that is not really a new game at all. I was relieved and pleased to find that this was not the case with Myth II: Soulblighter. The folks at Bungie were smart enough to keep basically the same interface as the original Myth, and pack the game with enough … Continue reading Myth II: Soulblighter will conquer strategy gamers→
Humongous Entertainment has developed a game that will surely give young soccer enthusiasts a kick. Backyard Soccer takes players into realistic neighborhood soccer competitions with a variety of great features that any sports fanatic (young or old) will enjoy. This game is marketed for kids from ages five to ten years old. This game has a number of clever player-controlled, customized features. The game allows players to choose from a group of thirty neighborhood children to build their teams. The designers of this game made sure to give the neighborhood children a touch of realism by making the children each … Continue reading Backyard Soccer scores with young gamers→
When I reviewed the original Fallout, I said that 80 years after a global nuclear war, the old neighborhood had changed a bit. Now Fallout 2 takes place a generation after the first, but things in the wasteland haven’t changed that much. Your character still has to face all the greed, crime, corruption, murder and mayhem that a degenerating society can throw at them, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun. When the original Fallout came out, people were amazed that such a quality role-playing game could take place without an elf, magic-user or dragon in sight. Many … Continue reading Fallout 2 serves up a mess of nukes and kooks→
Lucas Learning Ltd. has created a dream program for any Star Wars fans out there who ever fantasized of building their own droids. This game is called Star Wars DroidWorks and it amazingly combines entertainment and scientific learning all into one. Parents should have as much fun solving the many puzzles in the game as their children, making DrowdWorks a truly rare find. As you enter the program, you are told that the Empire, the bad eggs of the Star Wars universe, are busy building assassin droids at a hidden droid factory on the planet Tatooine. The Rebels need one … Continue reading DroidWorks uses Star Wars gang as a powerful learning tool→
Game Review- Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom
I would have titled this game Merchants and Knights instead of Knights and Merchants. You can spend 3 or 4 hours building up your town, interspersed with maybe 5 or 10 minutes of combat. Now don’t take that the wrong way. I just have some issues with what is truly a fun game. If I could divide this game in two, I would give the Merchants side 4 ½ GiN gems, but unfortunately I would have to give the Knights part of this game 2 GiN gems. Average that out and Knights and Merchants gets 3 ½ GiN gems. The … Continue reading The Economic Side of Warcraft→
I’ve always liked the suspense of sneaking through an installation, catching terrorist forces off-guard, sniping them without warning, rescuing hostages and disarming explosives. But still, even with all that Metal Gear has done, I’ve always wondered how it would be done in a first person perspective, borrowing elements from Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, plus adding the ability to plan out my operation among fellow teammates before sending them out in combat. Thanks to Red Storm Entertainment, my thoughts have become reality as their release, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, takes these elements and executes them in the right way. Rainbow … Continue reading Rainbow Six is red hot sniper action→
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