=============================================== NEW ABOUT AMIGA GAMES - part one =============================================== ********** Crystal Software Games ********** Crystal Software have finally released details on three of the games that they have scheuled for release on the Amiga. Two of these, Tank Goblins & Gilbert Goodmate have been mentioned before, however, The Dark Millennia is a new game never seen before and it certainly looks good. Details & screenshots on these three games can be found below... Gilbert Goodmate This is a game that was announced ages ago and many had thought at one point that it has disappeared, this couldn't be further from the truth and the game is progressing very nicely. For those of you that do not know, Gilbert Goodmate is point-and-click game in the mould of Monkey Island 3. Among other things it boasts digital recorded speech throughout the game and a CD soundtrack. Some of you may remember the demo of this that was released a while ago, well, as you can probably tell from the screenshots the game looks nothing like that anymore, this is one department in which it has substantionally improved. One of the reasons for this is that the development team has an ex-disney artist who is creating the charactors. The game will be released on both Amiga and PC formats, both versions will be in the same box so helping get Amiga games back in the shops. The scheduled release date for the game is currently July 1999. Tank Goblins This is another game that you may have heard of. It was featured in one of the Amiga magazines a while back, however, nothing else was heard of it until Crystal Software signed it up. Tank Goblins is a 3D shoot-em-up that uses a perspective similar to that of Sega Rally. The story of the game goes something like this.. There have been many changes in the Goblins world, the once lish greens of their forest filled world have been burnt to a desolate frazzle by the mass depletion of their ozone layer. As the planet got hotter and hotter, instead of joining as a force against their affliction, the two orrigional clans became three, then four, then eight and so on. There soon became many different factions each striving for its own way of survival, this bought about trade, but as the plannet got hotter, the one thing every clan wanted none had or was not willing to admit to having, Water. Soon clans marked territories and any other goblin entering their territory faced instant extermination or held for ransum for water. The player plays the part of a goblin known as a Grunt (a grunt being someone who does someone elses dirty work for money), whos one tool of trade is a tank. Throughout the many levels that the game consists of you have to complete various missions and above all stay alive. After each level you are given the chance to buy new add-ons for your tank including new drivers/gunners to improve the performance of the tank. Some of the features that tank Goblins boasts includes digital speech, cut scene animations, atmospheric soundtrack which changes to the condition of the players status in the game, real time rendered updating, good AI for enemies and possible Network linking so you can death match with anyone over the net. Tank Goblins is scheduled for a December 1998 release. Dark Millenia The Dark Millennia is a real-time stratagey adventure game based on a story which takes the game player through a series of chapters. The players decisions and choices decide the outcome for the next chapter, thus giving infinite ways of reaching the final chapter. There are two competing forces within the game. One represents all that is good and honourable, the other representing all that is dark and evil. The player has a choice of either to play. The setting/scene for the game is Fantasy Medieval, with the player controlling armies of Goblins, Dwarves, Elves, Giant Spiders and many more. This is not a shallow game. Dark Millennia has the player creating armies and towns with an econamy, simular to game like Settlers and Populas. Each force has unique characters to control and to train to aid in the quests. Fighting skills, spells, potions, these are all here to be learnt or bought. The game boasts some very impressive features, these include AGA 256 colour lo-res/hi-res screenmodes, Full AHI sound support, Vidiscreen Systemm real time shadowing, sun rising and setting, smoke, fire, rain FXs. The authors also plan to add GFC card & PPC support, Digital Speech and cut scene animations. Dark Millennia is scheduled for a December completion. ********** Phoenix Update - First 3D Engine Screenshots ********** Finally, new screenshots of this eagerly awaiting game have been released. The Adventure part has been seen before, however, until now there has been none of the actual 3D engine released. Phoenix is a 3-D space combat game which also includes a massive Adventure element. It will be comparable to games such as Wing Commander and Privateer. In the game you fly from planet to planet which is represented by an excellent looking polygon generated engine which also uses texture mapping to the full. The Adventure part could be a whole new game in itself, you will meet vast numbers of different creatures and people as you aim to complete missions, fight pirates and generally explore. The graphics in the adventure part of the game are drawn by the extremally talented Emmanuel Henne, some of the graphics from this part of the game look stunning, just look around this page for a few examples. All of these graphics are in 256 colours. The game consists of 15 different planets in 4 different star systems, in each of these star systems there are countless numbers of different charactors to meet. The 3D engine in the game is so well designed that it supports upto 20 different spaceships at the same time. Lots of these spaceships will be at the players disposale ranging from a simple one-man fighter to massive spacestations. It is also planned to include TCP/IP support in the game for internet multiplayer games. The game will require an A1200 with at least an 030/50mhz and 4Mb Fast RAMand a HDD. It will also have support for more powerful machines such as 040/060 machines and GFX card equiped machines. The game is currently due for release sometime in November, hopefully a demo won't be too far away. For more information on the game check out the homepage if its publishers APC&TCP at : http://home.chiemgau.com/amagerl/indexe.html