ABC: 51,444 (Jan-June 1996)
Another year over and a new one just begun, as somebody once said. And what a year we expect it to be for the PlayStation. By the time you read this, there should be 750,000 PlayStation owners in the UK - and with that many fans to satisfy, there'll be a lot of money spent on creating an abundance of games over the next twelve months. If you turn to page 52 you'll find 11 pages worth of them, as we give you a month-by-month breakdown of what to expect on the PlayStation in 1997, in the ultimate preview of the year.
One of the big games for 1997 is already with us, however, as Reloaded blasts its way on to our cover this month (both of them, in fact). Not only do we have the exclusive review of Gremlin's much-awaited sequel, but we also have the exclusive playable demo to go with it.
You'll also find the playable demos of Porsche Challenge, Tomb Raider and Pandemonium on the disc, which is possibly the best we've ever done. So, although 1996 was a fantastic year for the PlayStation, 1997 is already shaping up to be even better. With that in mind, rest assured that you
will be having a Happy New Year.
Rob Pegley (Editor)
On The Disc"This has got to be the best disc we've done yet, just in terms of the number of playable demos we have of top-quality games. Four of the most important titles on the PlayStation plus Lomax! An early version of Porsche Challenge will give you a taster of what to expect in 1997, while Tomb Raider and Pandemonium end 1996 in fine style. If you haven't got them yet then these demos may finally convince you of their worth. Also on the disc is a playable demo of Reloaded to go with our exclusive review. Finally a gentle game of Lomax should set you up nicely for 1997. Surely these discs can't get any better? Well, yes, actually they can, watch this space next month for details of our next superb demo"
Reloaded (Playable)
Tomb Raider (Playable)
Pandemonium (Playable)
Lomax (Playable)
Porsche Challenge (Playable)
In The NewsSony set to launch a white MPEG-compatible PlayStation in Asia, allowing CD films to be played on the system.
Sony update PlayStation with chrome optical disc drives.
"A pair of Telstars" as Excalibur 2555AD and Wreckin' Crew are announced for later in the year.
Gremlin announce the expansion of the Actua franchise, with Golf, Hockey, Soccer Club Edition and Soccer 2.
PrePlayEA Line-Up: Darklight, Perfect Weapon, Ten Pin Alley, Crusader: No Remorse (Wow, loads to look forward to there...)
Mech Warrior 2
Total Drivin'
Jonah Lomu Rugby
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Tenka
Virtual Pool
Tobal No. 1
Cool Boarders
NBA: In The Zone 2
PlayTestReloadedNot the puzzle-laden bloodfest you might expect, but a mindless blast all the same. Fun for a while, frustrating at length, and worthy of no more than the original's score.
7/10FIFA '97Improved both in visual and gameplay terms, FIFA '97 plays a reasonably decent, if rather fiddly, game of football. It's not quite there yet, though.
7/10SuikodenNot the finest exponent of its genre, but Suikoden comes highly recommended to those who miss their fix of hit points and melodramatic plots.
* To date Suikoden is the first turn-based RPG to appear on the UK PlayStation. Full marks to Konami UK for responding to the RPG needs of us choice-deprived pointy-hats. More, please.
7/10Project X2Project X2 has been seen before by us all, but it's still a game worthy of loading up when you've got time to kill - or a lot of pent up aggression.
7/10Command and ConquerEven though it clearly wasn't designed for the PlayStation, this is still a spectacularly enjoyable game offering a compelling and long-lasting challenge.
9/10Contra: Legacy of WarThis game is only fun if you like watching your machine load games. It's only real appeal is that it's far too hard to finish quickly. A distinct disappointment.
4/10
Namco Museum Volume 3Galaxian, Phozon and MS Pac-Man are the highlights of this compilation - but the appeal remains only for true fanatics and nostalgia freaks.
6/10International Superstar Soccer DeluxeDated graphics spoil an otherwise perfect package. Many readers won't get past ISSD's sadly antiquated looks. Make sure you're not one of them. We greeted this PlayStation version with all the affection we'd lavish upon a presumed-dead relative.
8/10Tempest XAnother 10, eh? You're probably going to need some convincing on this one. For a start, static magazine screenshots aren't the best medium for displaying the overwhelming sensory assault you're subjected to in Tempest X. And you may possibly also be the kind of idiot who insists that a game's no good unless it's making the maximum possible use of every hardware facility available to it. (Yeah, just like Tetris did. And Super Mario World really pushed the SNES to its very limits, didn't it?) So we'll get straight to the point.
This is the most all-out, heart-pounding, nerve-tearing, sense-dazzling thrill you'll ever get from a video games machine. You might have thought Wipeout 2097 was fast and exciting (and hey, it is),
but it feels like a ride on a milk float compared to this. Tempest X's predecessor (the Atari Jaguar's Tempest 2000, or T2K
to its friends) was rightly acclaimed by one magazine at the time as "The Game Of The Decade", but this purer, colder, harder new breed has had a massive overhaul and respray, and now even T2K's awesome benchmark looks a little staid by comparison. Tempest X has more levels (128 compared to 100), fiendish new web designs (clearly constructed by people who knew exactly what made the original game tick, too), evil new enemies, techno-tastic new music and shattering new sounds, and most of all, dizzying new visual pyrotechnics that'd make Jean-Michel Jarre at his most extravagant cough and look a little embarrassed. Do we sound excited? Good. Still, enough hyperbole. Let's answer some criticism.
"But it's just a 15-year-old shoot-'em-up with some flashing lights and nosebleed techno." Sigh. So what? Eric Cantona's twice that age, and he's just George Best with a skinhead. Anyway, Tempest X adds so much to the original gameplay that it's hardly recognisable. Genius is timeless. "But it's 128 screens of the same thing - it's so repetitive."
Yeah, and in Tekken 2 you just go around beating people up over and over again. In Ridge Racer you just drive around and around in circles. What's your point? "But it's not going to impress my mates when they come round." Ha. Turn the lights off, crank the sound up to full, switch to Trippy Mode and watch their minds melt out of their eyesockets. Then ask them if they're impressed.
(Although they'll probably just gurgle.) Yes, it's abstract. But it's also
absolutely beautiful. If you want to look at real life, look out of your window. "But with everything going off all at once, you just can't see what's happening." No. Nothing ever happens in Tempest X that you can't see. It does, however, demand every last nuance of your concentration. Take your eyes off it for a millisecond and it'll run you down like a juggernaut. You'll need all your reflexes, all your co-ordination, all your senses and all your skill. But not luck. "But it looks rubbish. It's just lines." Please go away and fall under a bus.
There's some other stuff to point out here - you also get a version of the original Tempest (better than the Jaguar's version of the original, but still not as good as the real real thing), and a slight-but-smart two-player game. The music is fabulous, and the whole thing loads in one go at the start, so you never have to see the dreaded "Loading...Please Wait"
so beloved of PS programmers. There is no "plot". But these are fripperies and technicalities. This shining, glittering, malevolent titan of a game is
the best shoot-'em-up ever created on any format,
and by a thousand million kilometres. It's arguably
the best game ever created full stop. It may well not be a hit. It's your decision. It'll be your loss.
Graphics: Trippy
9Sound: Nerve-shredding 9
Lifespan: Longer than you 9
Gameplay: Total 10
Presentation: No loading!
8Originality: Abstract ?
There's nothing faster. There's nothing harder. There's nothing more intense. There's nothing more exciting. It's just the most, you know? 10/10
Iron and BloodAn interesting take on the best beat 'em up, with characters from Dungeons and Dragons, but the appeal is really for the American market. Not as slick as Star Gladiator.
5/10NBA Live '97NBA Live '97 is a convincing enough basketball sim but it's just shying short of greatness. Thoroughly recommended for NBA freaks, though.
7/10WWF In Your HouseThe WWF in all its stupid glory, but unfortunately the game itself is basic and languishing about three years behind the times - back in the 16-bit era at least. Die-hard WWF fans will probably love it - the sheer daftness and hype comes across well - but anyone simply looking for another beat 'em up is advised to pass along the shelf.
5/10 RiotIn gaming terms, it may not be a riot but it's certainly a reasonably-sized scuffle. Fun with a group of eight but not one you'll be playing alone for long.
7/10Ayrton Senna's Kart DuelASKD is an ineptly produced game showcasing almost all that's worse about the whole license genre. A Forti when it should have been a Ferrari.
3/10Top Secret (Cheats)Crash Bandicoot - beat the bosses
International Track and Field Playing Tips (hammer square?)
Bust a Move 2, Wipeout 2097, Adidas Power Soccer, Fade to Black and Final Doom cheats
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