Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator
Review by Ken Gribble & Betsy Stephan

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, WWII Europe Series proved to be a colorful and intricate aerial experience with the added intensity of shooting down enemy planes and the occasional quick lesson in parachuting. Instinctive flight controls and a fantastic manual foster proper combat skills enabling you to shoot down your first enemies shortly after learning to fly. Intense graphics provide for a beautiful arena and make you feel that you are in the cockpit swiveling your head to "watch your 6" for enemy aircraft.
    The control panels and cut scenes, made to look like gun camera footage from actual dogfights, match up nicely with the game and provide a good atmosphere for your first flights. A nice array of choices allows you to play free flight, quick combat, single missions, or campaigns, as well as a number of training missions and multi-player games (although I have not played it in multi-player mode).

Figure 1. A view from the Combat Flight Sim cockpit.

Hit the Books
The old-fashioned looking instruction manual is very helpful for installation and configuration of the game. It holds valuable information on the history of the planes, their pilots, and tactics for shooting down the enemy. The manual contains many historical black and white photos, and great diagrams to help you learn how to correctly execute aerobatic maneuvers used in combat. You can learn a lot about this period of history in addition to learning to play the game from this 184-page book.
    Although the manual alone would be enough to learn to become a great pilot, I have recently seen one of those tips and tricks books, which goes into great detail about the game and its tactics. It has such a great tactical section that I was tempted to buy it to improve both my Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator game and my Microsoft Fighter Ace record (see www.zone.com for more about the highly recommended Fighter Ace).
    All the graphics you have grown to expect in a Microsoft flight simulator are found in Combat Flight Simulator. I flew over the various countries in "Quick Combat" mode, pleasantly surprised by the detail and realism of the terrain. As I passed my enemy, guns ablaze, I often found myself ducking to get out of the way, thinking I could probably have counted the rivets in his tail if I had not had to concentrate on not having him counting the holes he was putting in mine. Hitting your enemy, you suddenly feel the true terror of 20 mm cannons or 50 caliber machine guns as parts fly with sparks, smoke and flame.

Trop Mal
I was a bit disappointed that I could not blow up any major landmarks. Not that I have anything against the Eiffel Tower; I just thought that sending it crashing to the ground might be an interesting experiment in game physics. But, much as it survived the war, it survived my endless rocket attacks.
    I would give the programmers and designers of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, WWII Europe Series an A for all their outstanding efforts. The game is a fantastic experience into the wide blue skies with all the exhilaration of aerial combat without having to strap on a 'chute.
    It requires Windows 95 or 98 or Windows NT 4.0, but it does not require Microsoft Flight Simulator. The following are recommended: a 133-MHz Pentium or faster microprocessor, 16 MB of RAM (32 MB for Windows NT) with 32 MB preferred; a double speed or quad speed CD-ROM, 200 MB hard disk space (230 MB preferred); a Super VGA, 256-color monitor (16-bit color graphics preferred); a mouse, joystick, or flight yoke.

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, WWII Europe Series
(CD-ROM for Windows 95/98)
[$43 street]
ESRB rating: Everyone (E), "animated violence"
Microsoft
www.microsoft.com/games/combats

Grim Fandango
Review by Chris Seip

Those wicked adventure game masters at LucasArts have created an entirely new scenario and game engine to thrill us, and it's quite an imaginative creation. Grim Fandango tells a story of corruption and intrigue in a 1930s film noir style, but fills it with characters, imagery, and a setting inspired by Mayan and Aztec art and Mexican folklore. It may seem politically incorrect that (in true noir fashion) everybody in the story seems to smoke and drink a lot, but as the manual points out, "everybody in the game who smokes is dead."
    You play Manny Calaveras, a fairly suave skeletal figure and an average kinda guy. You are stuck working in the Land of the Dead for a while to pay for your less-than-perfect life. Your job with the Department of Death is to sell souls the best travel package possible to get them through the Land of the Dead. Souls who led a good life are entitled to quicker, easier passage than, say, software reviewers, and the very best dead people get a ticket on the Number Nine, an express train that shortens a four-year walking journey through the Land of the Dead to four days.
    Problem is that Manny has been getting far more than his fair share of low-life clients. Then, a very special lady (okay, "dame" in noir-speak) turns up, and Manny is surprised to see that despite her spotless life of good deeds, the computer at the Department of Death can provide no special accommodations for her. Surely not a Y2K bug? Manny seems to be on the verge of discovering something, but his only friend is his grotesque and simple-minded monster, Glottis. Glottis serves as driver and mechanic for Manny, and his presence lends much comedy to the game.

Skeletal Rendering
Grim Fandango is LucasArts' first adventure game done in 3D graphics. This technology perfectly suits designer Tim Schafer's inspiration to model his characters after the skeleton dolls from Mexican "Day of the Dead" festivals. It's difficult to model realistic people with polygons and texture maps, but little dolls look just right. While the game can use many 3D accelerator cards, the game looks fine without acceleration, too.

Figure 2. Fancy a game of roulette?, in LucasArts' Grim Fandango.

Their new 3D game engine comes with a whole new interface, and it's quite a surprise to see all controls firmly planted on, yes, the keyboard. I've seen a few players griping about not being able to select things with their mouse, but I found the few necessary keys to be simple and quick to learn. No complaints here; I was immersed in the game world in no time. One potential problem, having to "scroll" through your inventory items one at a time, is at least handled speedily. Fair enough. By the way, alternative controls are available for joystick or gamepad control, which may hint at future ports to console platforms.
    The sound and music of Grim Fandango are executed very nicely. There's some mention of iMUSE, the aging LucasArts music system that sounded thin even in its heyday, but apparently it has gotten a nice upgrade. I enjoyed the moody and varied music of Fandango, always appropriate and non-intrusive. Very special mention must be made of the voice talent hired to bring the characters to life. Given delightfully wry lines to deliver, these actors are every bit up to par with LucasArts' perfectionist standards in this area: they've shown us time and again that great voice acting can add tremendously to a game.

Its Puzzles Not for the Narrow-Minded
The puzzles were challenging enough to be fun, and usually not insanely difficult. It makes a big difference to me when, after digging up a hint to proceed past a puzzle, I can see the logic that should have led me to the solution. Too many adventures contain puzzles that defy logic, causing a disgusted player to suspect that successive puzzles may also be a waste of time. Tim Schafer also does a good job of designing puzzles that seem to integrate naturally with the story.
    With Fandango's epic scope, a wildly imaginative story and settings, a comfortable interface, great sound and graphics, tricky but fair puzzles, a solid sense of humor, and a manual that's actually useful, LucasArts has again hit a home run. Their adventure games always provide that sense of safety, that your character cannot be killed and cannot accidentally block the path to success. It must make their design work tougher, but it comes across very professionally, making their game worlds friendlier and more enjoyable. Grim Fandango is a step forward for them, but its best qualities are part of a static tradition, from a company that really cares about making great adventures. Grade A.

    Grim Fandango won't send the grim reaper for your PC if it meets these minimum requirements: 100% Windows 95/98 DirectX-compatibility, a 133-MHz Pentium, 32 MB RAM, quad speed (4X) CD-ROM drive, 2 MB PCI graphics card, 16-bit sound card, a keyboard, and DirectX 6.0 (available on the CD). The bottom of the box has further details.

Grim Fandango  
(CD-ROM for Windows 95/98)
[$40 street]
ESRB rating: Teen (T), ages 13+, "animated violence", "suggestive themes", and "use of tobacco and alcohol"
LucasArts
www.lucasarts.com

Lighter Blue: Mini-Reviews

A Brief Look at Rise of Rome
What's a rabid Age of Empires player to do while waiting for the upcoming full-blown sequel, Age of Kings? Ensemble Studios and Microsoft have made a well-rounded add-on pack to get us through the coming months. Age of Empires: Rise of Rome includes five new units, four new civilizations, four new technologies, some fine-tuning of some units for balanced gameplay, a larger ("gigantic") map size, and some new map types, modifiable population limits in multiplayer, and fresh music tracks.
    On top of all this, I've saved my favorite enhancements for last. The Age of Empires game engine has been improved with various little features that plug a few of the holes in this formidable entertainment. One of the best ones is the Home key, which moves your view to the source of an audio cue. Speaking of audio cues, a new one lets you know when a farmer has exhausted his land. And players everywhere will rejoice over unit queuing, where you can easily build multiple things in a row. Pathfinding AI seems to be somewhat improved, too. Another favorite enhancement consists of the four new campaigns, well-designed exercises with a fair variety of goals, centered mostly on the Roman Empire. The Rise of Rome expansion pack may not be revolutionary but it is well rounded; any Age of Empires player should seriously consider it.

Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome/Expansion
[$24 street]
Microsoft/Ensemble Studios
ESRB rating: Teen (T), ages 13+, "animated blood", "animated violence"

A Brief Look at Global Domination
Looking over the shoulder of someone playing Global Domination, you'd be tempted to think that it's the hottest-looking update to Missile Command that you could possibly imagine. It's played out on a 3D rotating globe, with missiles, bombers, and satellites crisscrossing above the surface, and colored lighting effects glowing and flashing across the continents. The cool looks and the James Bond-inspired music, which manages to be both grand and creepy, are the high points of Global Domination.
    The interface, on the other hand, is frustratingly oblique and busy with too much happening on screen at once: Can you keep up with the stream of messages while you're twisting the globe around, trying to identify the sources of streams of missiles? Mission objectives that change as you go can be interesting, but it's just plain frustrating when you can't save your progress within a mission. There are quite a few command keystrokes to commit to memory, and quite a few indecipherable icons on screen, but even the teaching elements of the game's briefings fall far short of the step-by-step tutorial that's seriously missing here. The documentation, a 20-page CD booklet, is unclear and incomplete, but it's necessary reading before you start playing. Prepare to lose many times before you start to get the hang of things. Frustrating but beautiful, Global Domination rated a C from me.

Global Domination
[$40 street]
Psygnosis
ESRB rating: Everyone (E), "animated violence"

A Brief Look at Life
Remember that classic old board game, Life? The CD-ROM Game of Life, from Hasbro Interactive, faithfully recreates the board and rules of that old board game, then juices things up with multimedia pizazz. For example, your view of the board is from the car's point of view, with every square and landmark brought to life in 3D, and there's a narrator. Also, nearly every move & action is accented with an amusing little animation or sound effect. The animations succeed more at being energetic than really funny, and the board may be gaudy and overly "busy", but that's perhaps appropriate for the intended audience.
    I find this CD-ROM to be a pleasant way to play a game of Life with my son, and it gives him an AI opponent when I'm not available. Network and Internet play options are available, with easy match-ups offered by Microsoft Gaming Zone. Hasbro Interactive also reached beyond the classic rules of Life to offer an alternative "enhanced" game, where the each space on the board for getting a Life card is replaced by eight mini-games, like Skunk Money or Safe Cracker, where you can, for example, win extra money. Corny but reasonably well done, Life on CD-ROM earns a B.

The CD-ROM Game of Life
[$30 street]
Hasbro Interactive
ESRB rating: Everyone (E), "Ages 8 & Up"

A Brief Look at Big Game Hunter II and Open Season
So what's up with the hunting games? A few hunting sims pull down the megabucks at Wal-Mart, and so the game publishers have a hot niche to fill (and refill). Following on the heels of the successful Cabela's Big Game Hunter comes the sequel, Cabela's Big Game Hunter II, and even an add-on pack for it, Open Season. Hunter II brings 16 weapons to bear on 18 game species with 16 types of ammo. There are over 50 hunting locations on 2 CDs; you can survey the terrain in Africa, Alberta, Colorado, or New Mexico.
    Once you're outfitted properly and have chosen a location, the action goes basically like this. You stand in one spot able to scroll your view. Your audio guide whispers a hint to you, or you hear a noise, but eventually you'll see an animal roaming about. Point your cross hairs and click, and you'll get a quick full-motion video (FMV) clip of the beast, either shot down or running. There is a little strategy, but precious little in picking your hunting gear, luring animals to your position, and taking stock of the weather conditions when you're shooting. I can imagine a fun shooting gallery game, and even one that makes virtual hunting lively, but all the Hunter II setup leads to very little payoff.
    The Open Season expansion pack includes 7 new guns, 2 compound bows, 9 types of ammo, more new FMV clips, and over 50 new hunting items. It is required, but does not apparently improve the game engine. That's a shame, because Cabela's Big Game Hunter II is built on some defiantly sub-par software: a terribly outdated, low-color display when out in the wild, and far too little interactivity. With sound effects and speech acting also completely without vigor, there's just not much going for these titles. Unless you're at Wal Mart and don't know what else to buy. Not my cup of tea. Grade D.

Cabela's Big Game Hunter II
[$20 street]

Open Season: The Expansion Pack for Cabela's Big Game Hunter II
[$15 street]
Activision/Head Games Publishing
ESRB rating not available

A Brief Look at 3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball
Sierra's 3-D Ultra Pinball games have been notable in their willingness to use all of your PC's screen width for its pinball table surfaces, as opposed to fitting a more standard-ratio pinball table in a partial (or scrolling) screen. This game series is also noted for its whimsy, building unique little worlds in its pinball surfaces. Certainly 3-D Ultra NASCAR is no different in that respect, attempting an odd blend of NASCAR racing with, of course, pinball. For my money, the combination never really jells, but I can't see what Sierra could have done differently to make this a stronger product.

Figure 3. 3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball's main speedway table.

The crisp sound effects, racing sounds, and an excited announcer really pull you into the whole NASCAR idea as you're shooting those pinballs while earning car part upgrades or racking up mileage points. As a pinball game, NASCAR is in many ways the pinnacle of the 3-D Ultra pinball series, featuring higher resolution, improved ball physics, less "mushy" response, and a truly variable difficulty level; but more pinball tables would have been a nice inclusion. You might find a slicker pinball game out there, but certainly not one that injects this much NASCAR excitement into the game. It's a quirky idea that just might rev your engines. Grade B-.

3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball
[$35 street]
Sierra Attractions
ESRB rating: Everyone (E)

Gamers' Tidbits
Making Trek Fans Hopeful. In early March, Interplay announced the formation of a new division to be named 14 Degrees East and focused on strategy gaming. Their plans include three titles based on the Star Trek universe: Starfleet Command, New Worlds, and Klingon Academy. Release of all three of these titles (and more) is planned for this year.

My PC is obsolete again? THQ plans to use features of the Intel Pentium III processor to create a "3-D accelerated universe" for its upcoming game Sinistar: Unleashed. Sierra announced some coding in their upcoming Babylon 5 Space Combat Simulator that takes advantage of "the performance capabilities" of the Pentium III. And Interplay has mentioned that a number of its 1999 releases will be optimized for the Pentium III. Looks like the Intel evangelists have been busy lately.

Saved By The PC. Here's a cross-platform twist: A new device called the MC Data Deck, from Mad Catz, will allow PlayStation game players to back up their save-games to a Windows 95/98 system.