Games and Internet
PLAYSTATION
N20 (Gremlin) £44.99 vlr a w
Spinning down tunnels shooting assorted creepie crawlies may seem a strange way to idle away y0ur time but it can be strangely comoulsive N20 is a bit like the mowe Fantastic Voyage, in which a spaceship is shrunk and lfljQCied into a body, but instead of battling against white blood corpuscles, yOu have to blast increasingly nasty bugs — like being a Rentokill man down a sewer where the beasties shoot back As you orogress, yOu can pick up bigger guns which is always satisfying in a subliminal sexual manner American dance bods The Crystai Method suoply the bangin' SOundtrack and combined with the lurid, flashing tunnel colours, the overall effect is not unlike haVing a paranoid psychosis attack at an 80s rave oopulated by scary blokes wearing hockey masks. It’s fun fora while but y0u JUSI know yOu're going to end up wrth a headache if yOu stay up ail weekend playing it. ‘JTi
Bio Freaks
(GT Interactive) £39.99 + s at
You know that scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail where John Cleese,
reduced to a bleeding torso, continues to lflSlSi that it's Just a scratch? Well,
100 THE lIST 24 Sea—8 Oct '998
e~mai|zscanner@|ist.co.uk
N64
International Superstar Soccer 98 (Konami) £50
Hasn't there just been a World Cup? Wasn’t that what all the French patter in June was about? So, what in blazes are Konami doing releasing an international football game now? They‘re either three months late or 195 weeks early — still, it's always good to be ahead of the competition.
If you've ever played any of the 155 games before, you'll know what to expect. All the top teams are there, you can play exhibition
games, leagues or cups and even sharpen your skills on the training ground. There is an added extra which places you in sixteen unassailable positions — 89th minute and two goals down for instance — and asks you to save the day. Playing the football is also similar to previous games with a few added touches like dummies and shimmies, but the through ball remains the pass-
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Control can be a little fiddly, with seven buttons doing seven different things, not to mention the various combinations. Tactics and formation are easily controlled and are surprisingly evident on the park, although there is still aimless wandering by computer-
controlled players at times.
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[55 98 is graphically very clean, if a tad basic, and they’ve got the speed about right. Passing moves look slick yet you never feel lost when the opposition have the ball. There are also a few embellishments in the way of animation. Goal celebrations have been made even more extravagant, while the sight of the ref brandishing a card throws the ref into parodies of Tai Chi.
Irritatingly, the game sports those frustrating mispellings of player names which plague footie sims. If you fluff a shot, you want Durie taking the blame, not some guy called ’Gurie’.
I55 98 gives us little that is new, but is a solid performer nonetheless. A good buy for those without a football game. (lain Davidson)
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I55 98: a solid performer
Bio Freaks owes someth cg to that h lariOusly grsly eoisode
You play one o‘ e ght B‘o3ogicai Flying Robotic Enhanced Armoured Killing Synthoids 'whc'“ says it all, really», soeciaily engzneereo creatures deveiooed to do batte on beha“ of the aggressive COngiOWE'c‘iiE‘S o‘ Neo- Amerika There are t'i‘ree advances 0n yOur bog-standard beat 'em on yOu can fly, you can shoot and the backdroos are =r‘te'active, winch allows yOu to shove yOur oooonent into acid- pools and so on
Bio Freaks: a sick, sick laugh
A mOre cosrnetic innovation, but One which IS probably going to be [3/0 Freaks’ main selling ooint, is the fact that this game is literally steeoed in gore It :s a regular occurence ‘or either yOu 0r yOur women: to have a limb torn off and for your l feblooo to spur: from the stump Remarkably, you can cominue to fight when disabled in this way
Bio Freaks has nwore in common wrth a sch'ock Troma mowe than something
classy 'ike Tekken 3 Basicaily, it's a s.ck,
sick laugh which makes Res/dent Ew/ 2 look like Bambi (PR)
Mortal Kombat IV
(GT Interactive) £34.99 1- it
Every DtOdUCi should really have a unique selling point, something that makes it stand head and ShOulders above the c0mpetition, sOmething to make you ponder whether or not it would be worthwhile palming yOur granny off to the local white slave trader in order to purchase the broduct It's hard to see what Mortal Kombat /‘/’s USP ES A comoetent enOug.h beat ’em up, it boasts large numbers of characters and some eye- wateringiy brutal moves It's easy to pick up the basics althOugh some 0‘ the more lethal manoeuvres need pract'ce before you can snao, crackie and boo your opponent's spine without break=ng a sweat You’l play it and keep gomg back to it but tc0tild ali be so much better The fight genre rfeeds a kick up the arse let's see
multiple opponents and 30 environments that bec0me part 0‘ the gameolay rather than ;ust a oackdroo
Tomb:
(SCEE) £34.99 r 2" wt r
The oitch for this one w0uid have been worth hearing 'Right, so, you say this caveman with oirk hair caiied Tombi. Then, right, this is the best bit, your homeiand gets lflVaGed by pigs wth oitcthrks who steal a orecious gOid bracelet which you have to get back ’
Tomb is a well-weird 2D platformer tvith 30 pretensiOns As weli as moving left and right, yOu can occasiona'ly move in and out of the screen as the situation demands You'll need to take advantage of this depth option as many seCrets and goodies ie in the BD plane
YOu progress toward the ultimate goal of retrieving the bracelet by running errands for ioca's v— such as the lOO-year-oid man — who rextard yOu with items which you’ll need to cornp'ete yOur m. sson.
TOmbi may not look 'l<€ much, but ts pick-uo-and-bay controls and many quirks give it an edge that other 20 platformers say Heart Of Darkness, rack Plus, there are few thngs in .t'e as sat.st’y:ng as ‘.‘."€Stl?“,g a oorcne oooonent to the g'OL.i~.d
if this seils enough, t cOuo‘ we! be the start of a porky franchise to the Crash Band/coot series Open uo, =t’s the DlgS iPR,