Games section

Reviews

Warcraft II

Name of the game : Warcraft II
Manufacturer     : Blizzard Entertainment
Requirements     : 040       8MB
Available at     : Ware house, Mac dealers

Basis of testing : ( ) Full version          (X) Demo     ( ) Other:

Tested on        : ( ) 020/__   ( ) 030/__   (X) 040/40   ( ) 060/__
Graphics board   : ( ) Yes      (X) No       Which:________________

Emulator         : (X) Fusion   ( ) ShaShi   ( ) with Emplant  ( ) real Mac
Mac system       : ( ) 6._      ( ) 7._      (X) 8.0
Mac ROM          : ( ) 128k     ( ) 256k     ( ) 512k     (X) 1MB

Game's description:

Warcraft II is a realtime strategy game in a fantasy genre where orcs and humans fight against each other. The player may choose for which party he's going to lead war.

Playing the game is similar for each party: as in other realtime strategy games is important to build a store first. In 'Warcraft' for this purpose there are sawmills, farms and churches which all have different functions.

In order to erect buildings you nevertheless need several raw materials: gold, wood and oil. The first two of the ones mentioned can be collected in mines and forests by simple workers. Furthermore these workers set up your buildings but one worker can't perform two actions at the same time. Oil can be found in higher levels and has to be raised by oil rigs and has to transported to your headquarters by ships.

When enough buildings have been erected you can start producing several different units which have different features and weapons.

With these units you can explore the surroundings (black areas are filled) and, of course, attack the opponents. In the following battles you hit the opponents with the weapons, until one of the fighters loses his energy.

You control everything with a task bar at the border of the screen and you can't only order movements or attacks but also complex things such as "patroling" and "hold position" giving the whole game an additional strategic aspect.

A special feature that is unique in "Warcraft" is the so called "Fog of War" that prevents looking at non visible places. Clearly: a player can only see movements of the enemy where he has own units that can see the enemy. Otherwise territory that you already explored is veiled by grey fog.

Graphics and music are pretty good. If you'd like to get an more detailed impression of the graphics should download the some screenshots from the AAkt homepage.

Game's speed:

Even without a graphics board the game is suitably fluid. The scrolling is jerking a little bit, but better than in 'Napalm'. As a conclusion I can say that 'Warcraft II' can be played very well.

Results:

If you like realtime strategy games you'll be really pleased with 'Warcraft II'. Due to the fact that the game can be played via network you can join a group with Fusion.

Another reason for buying is that you can still purchase the Mac version in stores because it's on a hybrid CD-ROM. Just look around and you'll find it.

Return to Zork

Name of the game: Return to Zork
Manufacturer    : Infocom
Requirements    : 4MB
Available at    : ?

Basis of testing: ( ) full version      ( ) demo     (X) other: Mac magazine

Introduction:

If you can still remember the time when a game impressed simply by its depth not by its graphics then you probably also remember the firm Infocom that coded text adventures and among these the Zork series. "Return to Zork" finally marked the transition to the multimedia age. The game was given a pompous (for that time) get-up.

Game's description:

The player starts the game at the "Vulture Pass" in the "Valley of the Sparrows" from where you go to the city "Shanbar" directly. Here you can get the neccessary equipment for the future adventurous journey into the underground empires of Zork and you can talk to some obscure persons that live inthe city: amongst them there's a unmarried teacher, a soak and the mayor. You can influence the conversations by showing boredom, indifference or even hostility. Depending on your mood you can get different information which you need for further adventures.

The whole game is played by mouse. You can use it to move forward or backward and to turn around and you can drag and drop items. Dragging and dropping use several menues depending on the context giving you different options.

Nice backdrops and digitized characters give a good graphical impression. During conversations the player has the joy (?) of video sequences that limit your interaction, of course.

In comparison to the graphics the sound doesn't satisfy and in the article in the magazine it's describes as "lift music". Furthermore it criticizes the strange riddles and the monotonous gameplay.

Game's speed:

A 68030 is probably enough because the system requirements are said to be a LC or better and the 68030 should be sufficient to play the game. Solely the video sequences might need some more power.

Results:

"Return to Zork" probably won't earn much enthusiasm especially because the only positive aspect are the graphics that nowadays are no real reason for buying. But if you find it anywhere cheaply then it might be worth purchasing because it comes from the cult company Infocom.