========================================================================== SOFTWARE NEWS ========================================================================== Days Of Thunder! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Mindscape movie-license game of the Tom Cruise film is shortly to appear on all of the major formats. The game is based around Stock Car Racing and the ultimate race being the Daytona. 3D polygon graphics are to be used in the 16bit versions and include accurate representations of the tracks used. There are a multitude of views, both in the car and on the track as well as a replay feature. The job of the 16bit conversion has gone to CML (no I aint heard of them either). Expect to see the game in September/October and previewed at the ECES. Breach 2 ~~~~~~~~ Another in one of Omnitrend's cult role-playing/combat series, Breach 2 is set to entertain many 1meg owners from July onwards - check the review section for further details. Available in the UK from Impressions. Knights Of Legend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mindscape have confirmed the release of this best-selling Origin title for the Amiga. Apparantley it's been developed for 8 years and offers the most comprehensive combat system ever used in a role playing game. In the game you embark on a thrilling journey through the fantastic land of Ashtalarea with its many colourful residents and terrifying enemies. Use your spell casting skills and collect armour/weaponry to protect both yourself and the rest of your party. Sounds like a D&D/Role-Players delight. Rally Round ~~~~~~~~~~~ Thalamus have announced the release of their "Q8 Team Ford Rally Simulator" which is due to be running in 3d, at the rate of 50frames per second near you soon.. Digital Magic is the team who are to be responsible for the conversion. There are to be many features over the 3 main stages covering different terrains, including the option to wander off the course and get to mow people down (get evil grin out of wallet and wear accordingly) although you're not able to actually do any permanent damage to the pour souls. Theres also the threat of the police if they catch you on the highways.. but you drive a mean car and you might not get caught! I wonder if they can do you for drunk driving too? Discover the Secret... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The sequel to "Pools of Radiance" (eh? DID it get released?) is "Secret of the Silver Blades" another in SSI's role-playing AD&D series. Again its being billed as the biggest and best-ever although with SSI's name on the product its not a claim to be taken for granted as their stuff is usually very good indeed. You can expect up to 100 hours of playing time before completion of the game too.. thats about a week non-stop, without sleep - so I guess thats value for money.. 3 Minute Warning! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A lovely title for this game, based on the subject of Nuclear War. It's originally named "Nuclear War". Bet that took them a few days to think up. It's produced by "New World Computing" and distributed by US Gold. Queue up here for your bombs and gasmasks... US Gold will also be releasing New World's "Might and Magic 2" (where did 1 go?). Streets Ahead ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ September should see the release of Us Golds MEAN STREETS, a futuristic detective romp with many mysteries to solve, characters to deal with and places to visit - in 3D. The game will also feature speech with a technique called "Real Sound" allowing many characters to speak complete with animation. Creepy Crawlies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ July will see the lauch of "Web of Terror" by Impressions software. The game see's you playing the part of Rock Bimhead - Space Ranger. A space passenger liner has just crashed into a huge spiders web in space and the spiders are attacking the passengers.. you are their only hope. Your task is travel round the web saving the passengers before they become the furry dudes lunch. The game is an arcade/puzzle and features 125 levels of spider bashing.. Hate Spiders? Now's the chance for some serious revenge! Features some very Xenon-2ish graphics too... Way over the top hard to believe press release No.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US Gold, the name we're all familiar with have signed up a game called "The Gold of the Aztecs", fair enough one might think but apparantly its by ex-Psygnosis bod Dave Lawson and uses a development system that crams (wait for it) 26megs of graphics onto 2 3.5" disks. Ho ho, nice one. And without a single line of code being used... perhaps someones not been letting on about these disk things.. Anyway the game is supposed to have 9,000 (count 'em) frames of animation, your charcter alone having 1,500 all to his self (just a mite greedy I think). Overcome puzzles and obstacles in this 80 screen extravaganza. Expect to see it in August or September. Who Dunnit? ~~~~~~~~~~~ Lightening flashes.. Thunder roars.. that's the English summer for you! But besides that, its the scene-setting for MURDER! a new murder-mystery by US Gold. Dunno what US Gold have eaten this month but for some reason they've taken to quoting numbers and technical terms in true Psygnosis style.. on with the tec-spex... Isometric screen views of all rooms, mouse control, 4 difficulty levels (novice to super sleuth), finger prints, 20 murder weapons (from a milk bottle to a New Kids album) and over 3.5 million unique murders.. a tad more than Jack the Ripper ever managed. The game actually sounds interesting enough with cross plots, disputes, jealousy and blackmail all adding to the fun and the mystery. Expect to get your magnifying glass out of the cupboard at the end of September. New Concept in 3D Racing Games From Psygnosis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matrix Marauders is the title of a new game thats set to race from the pits from the Psygnosis team very shortly, it even includes a talking navigator to help you along the way. The game can be played head to head on 2 micros simultaneously and is due for a July/August release. You are called to outdrive and outmaneouvre opponents in a futuristic, no-holds barred contest - the penalty for not being first past the post is death. A sort of "Death Race Amiga2000". Psygnosis say that the game is not for novices but for the more experienced who'll relish the challenge. Well, what are you waiting for? Get on the grid and give 'em hell! Championship Soccer! Ocean Style ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No! I can't handle this.. no I'm not talking floppy-parts.. just another soccer game, this time by Ocean. Have we really the need for ANOTHER one, after 10x4.5E have been released recently the last thing we need is another, unless it's much better than Kick Off2, which we have to say is highly unlikely. I haven't seen it as yet but my guess is that it'll be well presented but not up to the competition, maybe a semi-final contender. Paradise with Wonderland ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Magnetic Scrolls, well known for their mould-breaking adventures that started way back with "The Pawn" then "Guild of Thieves" and so on have suddenly appeared again (as if by magic) with a micro version of "Alice in Wonderland". Wait a minute though, the graphics system has been totally revamped and is now the new generation of adventure systems, technically extremely clever, it includes a wimp environment, brilliant graphics and animation and even an auto-map maker. It really does look excellent and I'm looking forward to having a look even though I'm no adventure fan myself.. You'll be able to get a closer look at Alice in September.. Released by Virgin (which brings questions to Alice's good name too...) PowerMonger! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forget Populous, Powermonger is the one to watch for! By the same team, Bullfrog, it's a mass war-game come populus-sequel with brilliant looking graphics and gameplay to match.. More about this game later.. release date is probably October. UMS 2 ~~~~~ War game fans will be glad to hear that UMS2 (Universal Military Simulator) will shortly be available offering much more than the first release in a totally revamped package. Should be good fun. Ok.. no doubt more rumblings and press-release info next month. Stay tuned... Martyn, Newsflash Uk.