========================================================================== Software News ========================================================================== This time the spotlight falls on: --------------------------------- Rat-Pack Micro Style Captive Mindscape Trip-A-Tron (Amiga) Llamasoft Renegade Legion: Interceptor US Gold Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday US Gold Days Of Thunder Mindscape Shadow Sorcerer US Gold Vaxine US Gold Moonblaster Loricels Outboard Loricels Magician Loricels U.N.Squadron US Gold Ishido - The Way of the stones Accolade Operation Stealth Delphine Fireball Firebird UMS 2 Rainbird Betrayal Rainbird F-19 Stealth Fighter Microprose Silent Service II Microprose Red Storm Rising Microprose War Jeep Micro Style International Soccer Challenge Micro Style Simulcra Micro Style Rick Dangerous II Micro Style Legend of the lost Impressions Commodore CDTV News Impressions Shadow Of The Beast II Psygnosis Corporation Core Design Speedball II Imageworks Your regular treat of news from in and around the software biz.. hear about new products way after they've been released, who's doing what to whom and more importantly where, what Infocom have got in for supper and who's caught a nasty rash lately.. find out all this and more in your all seeing, all hearing, all drinking, all over, all of fame, all and oates, all together crunchy Newsflash Spectacular-Super-Software News section.... Squadron leader Chunderbucket leads the way... IT'S A RAT-PACK BABY AND YOU'RE BEING SOUGHT... ----------------------------------------------- Ok, that was a twisting of a Boomtown-rats hit but it's relevent to a game thats going to be released by Microprose later this year. Rat Pack is an action packed (it says here) combat game in the mould of airborne ranger to be sold under the Microstyle brand. Rat Pack develops the theme of man- man combat and gives you control of a team of four battle-hardened commandos with which to carry out numerous missions deep in enemy territory. Rat Pack incorporates incorporates terrific gameplay while forcing you to make life or death decisions at times of great stress and to increase your situational awareness. Select your crack squad from a dozen men trained in specialist skills such as bridge-destroying, hand-hand combat, sniping, beer drinking etc etc Attend the briefing where mission details are given, then it's down to preparation. Packing the right equipment into each of the commandos back- packs and selecting the weapons is vital to mission success.. its too late when a tank is guarding your escape route and you've no equipment to eliminate it... Once the planning is done, its down to the mission itself, each mission will require the succesful solution to numerous sub-goals as well as the mission primaries. The skill is co-ordinating all four men and their tasks during the mission, the planning involved can be awesome.. Once the mission has started, all four commandos commence their pre- planned activities. However you can take real-time control of any one member at any time if he looks like getting into trouble, when finished with him he can resume his pre-programmed instructions. Rat-Pack features extensive useof graphics and has a huge front end with literally hundreds of options for play, once in the mission you are presented with a main display showing the action as it happens and control icons around the display. The manual will be vast and comprehensively detailed. The price has yet to be fixed and is due for release at the end of the year.. Sounds very good to me.. what do you think? Definatly one for the pacifists I think! GET CAPTIVATED WITH THIS... --------------------------- Mindscape have announced the return of programmer Tony Crowther with his first full game for the Amiga, after a years hard work. It's to be called CAPTIVE. Set in a dark and murky future where the rules of justice no longer apply (and presumably theres no Ozone left) you are imprisoned for a crime you didn't commit, although after 200 years locked in suspended animation it is difficult to remember exactly what happened! A fortunate computer malfunction wakes you up from your cryogenic kip and you rouse cold and shivering on a metal slab. Searching around for food you come across an old brief case in a corner, smoothing the dust and dirt from the catch triggers a distant memory of ancient holographic computers built into brief cases. Opening it up you discover a working version of a machine nearly a quarter of a millenia old.. however old it is though, it's your key to survival. By experimenting with the machine you make contact with a troop of four droids sympathetic to your cause - and so begins your quest for freedom. By the link with the droids on the outside of the prison you start to control their movements, making them interact with their hi-tech and dangerous environment. Along the way you pick up information about your own whereabouts and other minor details like who you are, what you do and what year it is, after all 200 years does strange things to your memory! Captive is a combination of atmospheric role-playing adventure with action fighting sequences, depicted in the best 3D display apparantly ever seen. Under the players control the droids are each capable of manipulating what they find along the way, from weapons to computers and even buying from shops... Each level is split into a cluster of bases, all of which must be searched for the clues vital to escape from the prison, deep in space. The player will encounter different types of terrain from the insides of bases to the barren wastelands - and evil alien environment - enough to drain any droids emotion circuits. The player can reconstruct droids and change body parts if they are damaged or to suit the situation - it is possible to unplug the head to improve your eyesight.. The game is written around an amazing piece of programming called The Architect which constructs all of the levels of the game automatically, involving complex routines to simulate the lay out and design of rooms. This includes the placement of doors, switches, ladders and even lifts with suitably high-tec elevator music! The system makes for an infinite variety of layouts, when the level is completed play continues on a more difficult level. As creator of over 40 games on the '64 Tony Crowther has taken his inspiration for captive from many of his favourite games and added a touch of his own creative magic and flair to create an enormous game of atmosphere, depth, challenge and excitement. The release is scheduled for September.. look out for it at the ECES. It also boasts extended features for 1meg+ machines. It will cost £24.99. It also boasts stunning stereo sound!! Strap me down and restrain my excitement.... FANCY ANOTHER TRIP ? -------------------- Fans of Jeff Minters Trip-A-Tron light synth might like to know that Jeffs planning an Amiga-orientated version to make use of the Amigas hardware, obviously PAL overscan, blitted images and 4096 colours.. More news when we hear from the Yak himself.. I'm glad he's going to do it though as I was a little let down by the St-port... :) NEW COMBAT STRATEGY GAMES FROM SSI.. RENEGADE LEGION SERIES ----------------------------------------------------------- Based on Fasa Corporations incredibly successful series of boardgames, SSI's computer game is a faithful recreation of the tabletop original. Renegade Legion : Interceptor is a one player game in which you guide one or more pilot characters through a series of combat scenarios in conflicts between the Terrain Overlord Government and the Renegade Legion. Your space jockeys fly fighters equiped with lasers, mass-driver cannons, Electron-particle cannons and a host of other weapons capable of mass destruction (probably a swiss army knife and a soggy pea). Their missions include fleet intercepts, space station strikes and pure unadulterated mass dogfights in which only the best survive. SSI pride themselves on the artificial intelligence of your opponents and interceptor is no exception, as you improve so does your opponent! The game is planned for release in early 1991! BUCK'S OFF! ----------- Buck Roger's : Countdown to Doomsday is destined to be one of the big multi-media events of the year according to US Gold... well they would say that, they've got the license! TSR the rpg specialists are releasing a host of Buck games and Penguin books are releasing, you guessed it, Buck-Books! :) TSR have collaborated with SSI to produce (and I quote..) a 'Science fiction role-playing space opera set in the 25th century' hehe that's a good one.. WHO writes this stuff??? You've to guide a party of NEO (New Earth Organisation) characters in a quest to foil RAM's (Russian-American Mercantile) plot to re-conquer earth.. can you cope.. or can't you cope with all these abbreviations? SSI will be using a derivitive of their game system used in Pools of Radience (funnily enough this has no techy abbreviation.. sniff..) You can expect to join Buck and his merry band in Septmember, with 1meg only (this has to be confirmed).. so if you've only got 512K.. looks like you're bucked... CRUISE THE THUNDEROUS TRACKS! ----------------------------- No-one (well nearly..) can have failed to notice the imminent release of the movie DAYS OF THUNDER starring Tom Cruise. Mindscape are due to release the licensed home-computer game of the same name on all major formats.. more importantly on the Amiga. High speed 3D polygon vector graphics are used on the Amiga with many different views and angles to boot, this could be better than the film!! Throw in some digitised sound and you've got the makings of a great film tie-in game. Coming soon to a small screen near you! THIRD RPG THIS MONTH AS US GOLD WHIPS INTO A RPG FRENZY! -------------------------------------------------------- Us Gold are boasting a new advancement in computer RPG, where it more accurately portrays the table-top equivalent. For instance the outside confrontations take place on traditional hex grids and the indoor encounters will take place in a 3D isometric play area, including animated 3D minatures to represent your characters. The first title to use this system will be "Shadow Sorceror" from SSI (of course) and the scenario has your characters shepherding frightened refugees who are fleeing the advancing Draconian armies. Your mission is to protect and feed the refugees whilst exploring the hazardous terrain - attempting to find a safe haven out of reach of the evil hordes. The game is aimed at the more mature rpg'ers rather than the younger bash'n'slashers (sounds a bit dodgy to me does that!) and the players who prefer their adventuring at a slower pace... connections and comparisons between that last few sentances and a subject close the writers heart shall remain unmentioned.. (oooerr) FIGHT THE DREADED LURGI! ------------------------ Virus.Attack.Human.Alien.Invasion.Poison.Mutant.Clone.Reproduce.Survival?. Antibodies.Defence.Eliminate.Repel.Cure. You need V A X I N E A constant war rages inside the human body: it's a fight for survival between invading virus cells and the bodies own defence mechanism. A new mutant strain of Virus has developed - you need something extra to resist it. The answer is VAXINE - the result of the very latest research into artificial anti-bodies. When invading cells appear the will bond together until they are strong enough to attack key cells. If the invaders are not eliminated they will use the body's cell-proteins to reproduce more virus cells. Vaxine is the only antibody capable of putting up a fight against this new virus. By attacking the invaders with colour-coded anti-bodies, the player can eliminate them and even use them to clone more body cells. As the game progresses, the invasion force grows stronger - how long will your supply of Vaccine last ? Featuring: * 100% Ray-traced graphics * Shooting Star Bonus Level * 100+ Colours on screen * Special packaging, first come packed in a circular tin! * Sequel to Emotion TANTALISING TRIO FROM LUCIOUS LORICELS! --------------------------------------- Moonblaster: Takes you to the fringes of the solar system, to a land in the distant future. Pilot a spacecraft through 3 different lunar landscapes (The Desert Moon, The Icy Moon and the Forest Moon) your skill and dexterity will be put to the test in this space-shootem-up featuring Loricel's "Full vision" technique whereby the Bit-map landscape becomes bigger/smaller and moves laterally giving a realistic feel to the game. Outboard: This is an overhead view powerboat simulation where you race against the clock on the water-ways of the worlds most glamourous cities. First you must qualify for the race itself by competing in a qualifying lap then away you go on a hectic dash through cities like Sydney, Amsterdam, Paris, New York, London and Venice. Magician: You take on the role of a magician whose son has cast a spell on him in a labyrinth, you must guide the magician out of his prison - perhaps find a spell to help you in one of the spellbooks, If not you'll have to contend with evil frogs, traps and knives which fly through the air at alarming speed, also lots of other nasties are out to get you! AMAZINGLY TOPICAL GAME! - US GOLD SNEAK A GRIN! ----------------------------------------------- No porky-pies (lies) this is the blurb behind U.N. Squadron an arcade convertion due to appear soon.. For many years the countries of the Middle East have been torn by violent civil war and conflict. While the rest of the world demands an end to the bloodshed there are those who only want to exploit the situation for their own gain - a group of corrupt and powerful arms dealers have joined forces to develop revolutionary new weapons, spreading terror across the globe and shattering all hopes for world peace. The only obstacle stopping them from achieving their sinister goal is U.N.Squadron, a multinational peace keeping force flying the latest aerial fire-power. But will these courageous fighters be able to save the world from total destruction?? Featuring: Simultaneous 2 player action, 3 planes and blastem' action! "..flying this mission is like shaking hands with the devil.." well, that's what it says here and it's about as good as any of the other cliche's I've read lately... THERES NO GAME LIKE STONES! --------------------------- ISHIDO - "The way of stones" is not an explanation for inordinate lumpy bits in fleshy wobbly parts, no it is an ancient game discovered by some archeologists and brought to the modern world by an anonymous Taoist priest, now, like those bloody Turtles, it's available for the Amiga! Ishido provides the strategist with the challenge of accurately placing a pouch of 72 stones on a 96 square game board. Each stone is decorated with a symbol and a colour and can only be placed next to another stone that matches it's symbol or colour. As the board fills the game becomes more complex when players have to match 2,3 and even 4 sides of some stones. It can be played with ancient or modern rules in four different games - solitaire - co-operative - tournament or challenge, in a similar to the under-rated and very playable Shanghai which is strangely VERY hard to get hold of these days. You can play a power-game to amass points or play with elegance sitting back with all the deliberation of a master. Players who achieve the special four-way move can also consult the powerful Oracle of the Stones based upon the I-Ching which can answer questions and provide guidance for solving some of lifes puzzles. Ishido comes with a variety of stunning stone sets, playing boards and back-drops, stone-graphics editors. Sounds quite good this! OPERATION STEALTH - 2ND CINEMATIQUE GAME! ----------------------------------------- Set in the world of international espionage, Operation Stealth plunges you headfirst into a James-bond style interactive adventure game. You are John Glames a top CIA undercover agent, expert in survival in a hostile environment, trained in the latest combat techniques for a top-secret mission. A state of the art radar-invisible Stealth fighter has disappeared from a high security US air base and your task is to find it and bring the culprits home to justice. The CIA believe the plane may have been taken to the south american country of Santa Paragua, currently ruled by General Manigua, who has mysteriously turned into a psychotic dictator after being democratically elected by his people.. to make matters worse the KGB have apparantley heard about the Stealth Fighter's disapearance and have despatched some of their top-agents to Santa Paragua to find it... As John Glames you're equipped with a comprehensive selection of hi-tech gadgets to help you find the Stealth Fighter (whilst avoiding the Russians) - a pen which squirts acid, cigarette paper which can take fingerprints, a safe-decoder, a shave containing a tape-recorder and more! This is the second game to use the revolutionary Cinematique operating system, so it's entirely mouse-driven. Since Future Wars appeared the system has been refined according to user-feedback and a few of the improvements include:- * Small objects are now shown enlarged in Cameo inset, so that they are easy to pick up.. * The hero doesn't need to be stood right next to an object to examine it. * The hero can now use any object on his inventory on another object, this was not previously possible and makes for many more game options... FIREBALL HITS FROM THE HOTHOUSE ------------------------------- Fireball from the new team Hot House will be released by Microprose under the Firebird label later this year... It contains the skill of soccer, the speed of Ice-Hockey and the strategy of Rollerball in centuries old game played in a 3D energy dome within the main playing area. Played between two 2-man teams, drawn from two squads of eight armoured Mycronians the aim of the game is not so much to score goals but to kill the Salamander goalies with a semi-molten orb.. the Fireball! The playing field or Hexorium is a huge playing area containing no less than eight goals (4 per side) called Dragonheads. Each of the Dragonheads house a Mycronian Salamander whose basilisk like powers make its glance and breath fatal! Also if a player touches the Fireball itself, this too could cause instant death! So to overcome this the players are encased in a robotic total-body armour knicknamed the Oven. The game is all-out warfare with players battling it out against each other, the fireball, the salamanders and the constant movements of the energy dome. Only when all four of a teams dragonheads are dead has the player won the round. UMS 2.. AT LAST THE TROOPS MARCH IN.. ------------------------------------- UMS 2 is the definitive military campaign simulation, well that is I guess until (or if) UMS 3 arrives.. the original team that were responsible for the highly succesful UMS 1 have developed the initial idea into a truly universal military simulator. Battle it out across the whole spectrum of military combat, from drawn out campaigns across continents, down to individual theatre battles. The original had 60 units per side, this offers 16,000!! Up to 127 players (computer or human) can simultaneously control 525 provinces and 32,000 units in the fight for world domination. The reinforcements will cost 29.99 and are due to arrive at any time ! BISHOP BASHING ?? ----------------- Betrayal is the next premium product to emerge from the Rainbird label after Midwinter and UMS 2. Set in medieval times it is an intricate web of possibilities, bound together by simple and realistic relationships in the three areas of interest in the game; economic, military and political. The aim of the game is to, through devious means if necessary, depose the King and Bishop from each of their respective courts and set up your own puppet King or Bishop. On the road to this, the aquisition of towns and militia, military strategy and financial management of your lands and political subterfuge will be the skills required of you. (One for the kiddies this one...) Quick reflexes and fighting skills are also an asset in this land of continuing strife. Expect to get some serious Betraying and Bishop-nobbling done soon! F-19 STEALTH FIGHTER TOUCHES DOWN ON THE AMIGA! ----------------------------------------------- F-19 Stealth Fighter transports you into the world of Stealth Technology, placed in charge of one of the USAFS most valuable and secret aircraft, you have the chance to carry out over 4000 missions deemed too dangerous for normal aircraft to accomplish. Guide your Stealth through four realistically mapped regions of the world of the world - Lybia, The Persian Gulf, Central Europe and The Northern Cape - giving over 400,000 square miles of playing area. The threat of enemy confrontation is ever present so fly low and slow to maximise your stealth capability. Carry out your mission objectives and set a course for home flying as low a radar profile as possible. F-19 boasts 50 seperate control functions and 17 different weapon systems, you fly, undetected, deep into enemy territory using your HUD technology and 8 CRT's to monitor the environment, enemy and your own aircraft. Three levels of difficulty help you maneovre through progress through various levels of realism as you become more proficient. Amazing 3D graphics out-of-the-cockpit views add a new dimension to flight simulators. Not only can you view from your plane but from the enemies view, your missiles view, chase plane etc RUN SILENT.. RUN DEEP.. CAN YOU HEAR THE RADARS GOING BEEPITY BEEP ??? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Initially available on PC only I decided that I better mention that Silent Service 2 was under development as I know there are many people who enjoyed Silent Service on the Amiga. Of course the sequel offers a vastly bigger area to "submarine about in", better graphics and better sound and presumably by the inflated price (£39.99) a bigger box. The playing area will include the North-Atlantic as well as the south-pacific. Each ship will be portrayed in digitised graphics from 24 different perspectives, digitised archival photos are used for back-drops too.. bah.. I want to hear the klaxon going on my Amiga too... any chance of that Microprose ? THE WEATHER DOESN'T LOOK GOOD ! ------------------------------- Red Storm Rising is to be launched on the Amiga shortly, the simulation based on Tom Clancy's high-tech thriller of World-War III. RSS puts the player in charge of an American nuclear sub charged with keeping the North Atlantic clear of Warsaw pact forces so that the allies can ship supplies and troops. Players can use an array of sophisticated radar and sonar tracking systems, which they use to locate, identify and track targets. It features 4 levels of challenge and 4 years in which the battle can take place, there are a total of 11 scenarios including a full campaign with unlimited battle situations. RSS has been acclaimed for its attention to details, there are 30 types of soviet ships and helicopters - based on military authenticity. Graphics and sounds have been souped up including the use of extra-half-brite mode to produce striking visuals. Sound has also been worked on... I still like the World War 2 scenario cos I like the old klaxon sound.. sod these Nuke subs gimme some old tub with a diesel engine.. :) WAR JEEPS HIT LYBIA AND EGYPT! ------------------------------ War Jeep, set for an October release is based upon the campaigns of the long range desert groups in the second world war. (is it me or is world war very popular at the moment.. makes a change from Ninja Turtles I guess) You must guide a jeep containing 4 soldiers along a winding road through sand dunes and desert back-drops with the enemy troops and vehicles advancing from the distance. The player takes the role of a section commander whose primary objective is to take out ten assigned targets. On top of this the player will be given an intelligence report at the beginning of the game which initially will be fairly inaccurate, but gets more accurate as the player progresses through the ranks. It can also be played by 2 players simultaneously. The game is designed and programmed by Steve Bak with graphics by... yep.. Pete Lyons and music by Dave Whittaker. FULL 3D PERSPECTIVE SOCCER ! ---------------------------- International Soccer will mark a landscape in soccer-design, its a full first-person perspective 3D affair that uses solid 3D polygons for the pitch and stadium, sprites for the players.. the game is fast and action packed. Big things are being promised for this game and people who've had a shufty at the demo say it's very.. very good.. the big match is in Autumn and I'll be first in the queue to have a bash on this one.. GRAFTGOLD BLASTIE! ------------------ Solid 3D blaster Simulcra is set in a fantasy world of mind-blowing levels packed with hordes of aliens to blast and puzzles to solve. You take control of a tank and guide it round collecting various add-ons for bonuses and effects.. shut down the 5 generators and escape.. strategy cum blasting action from Steve Turner.. the respected programmer, graphics by Hohn Cummings who did a great job with Rainbow Islands. RICK'S BACK AGAIN FOR A SECOND HELPING! --------------------------------------- After the hugely succesful Rick Dangerous, Micro Style would have been off their rocker not to follow it up with more of the same platform jinx and RD fans aren't to be let down... This time there will be horizontal and vertical scrolling, more exits, bigger section cartoons, various paths and enhanced sprites and backdrops. Level 1 see's rick sporting a Flash-Gordon type outfit with a blond quiff making his way to London's Hyde Park, the landing site of one of a fleet of mysterious spaceships. Intent on discovering their motive, Rick battles his way into the ship, hotwires it and sets course for the planet Barf, home of the invading aliens. Rick then travels through the ice world of Freezia, the forests of Vegetablia and through the mud-mines of the Barfalatropolis Citadel. Expect lots of traps, hidden sections and humourous graphics and sound effects.. form an orderly queue for this one! JACK! PACK YER BAG AND GET YER GIRLIE... ---------------------------------------- Rekindle the excitement of yester-year as Jack, a boozy old pilot attempts to race across deepest Africa in search of his loved one.. first fly across the jungle and take part in a dog-fight, parachute to safety and head for the volcano, avoiding the vicious Rhino! Climb the volcano and dodge the huge rockfall.. into a cave system designed by some socially warped race thats keeping your tart captive.. get her out of there, back down through the rocks, past the rhino, in the plane and enjoy a bit of nookie at the top of the lost falls.. or should that be lust falls.. The game will be available in September and will also be available on CDTV COMMODORE CDTV NEWS ! --------------------- Impressions are developing 2 titles for the CD-TV device to be launched by Commodore shortly (by the way - hear about the SimCity one, Sim Earth!!) Legend of the lost will include many cartoon sequences, sampled speech and music. The Final Conflict follows on and is a strategy game based in the Nuclear age with the emphasis on avoiding Nuclear war.. aww c'mon you're telling me that no-one wants to see the CD-TV effects when you nuke something ??? I'm hoping to have a look at these at the ECES... YET ANOTHER SHADOW TO THE BEAST ! --------------------------------- Psygnosis will soon be releasing the sequel to Shadow of the beast featuring a bit more interactivity than last time and no-less stunning graphics and effects. Stay tuned... CORPORATION ----------- Core Designs first solo-effort is the Dungeon-master style Corporation which sees you blasting the hell out of Cyber-systems and having a jolly good wheeze at the same time... it looks good and it's supposed to play great. MORE BALLS FROM THE BITMAPS --------------------------- People are already getting giddy because the Bitmaps latest fashion in designer violence is on the way and it's looking well-wicked, with more strap-ons than at a hen-party this one looks well on the way to being another number one for the brothers. Expect gallons more features and well improved graphics that makes the first one look naff... --- Phew, all that took some major typing out.. next time expect to see at least as much again.. cos it's showtime and that's when the goodies come out and rear their ugly heads... Software News was brought to you by Martyn and his magic press-release folder... in August 1990.