Any racing game needs to communicate a convincing sense of speed, and Episode I: Racer does that. It delivers thrills by simulating speeds approaching 600 miles per hour at about 4 feet from the ground, with graphics looking quite sharp and appealing. This of course requires that you outfit your own pod, I mean PC gaming system, fairly lavishly, including a 4 MB video card with 3D acceleration, a very fast Pentium for full impact, and a recommended 64 MB RAM.
    Like most arcade games, a successful racing game also needs to contain enough variety to provide depth and keep you interested. Episode I: Racer has over 20 unique tracks that span 8 very different worlds. Hazards include those doggone Tusken Raiders, methane lakes, and meteor showers, all while you're fending off vicious competitors and trying to keep your engine from overheating.
    Also in the best arcade spirit, Racer manages to be easy and encouraging in its earliest levels. You'll be hooked enough by the fun in the first levels to want to try harder as the difficulty increases. And racing in Anakin's pod at first, you'll not have to care much for the engine as you rip across the landscapes. The basic controls are immediately grasped; you'll be on the track in no time.
    Besides the friendly difficulty curve, there's also a hardware add-on component to the game. If you win some races, you'll have more money to spend on more powerful engines or other parts. If you want to take a chance with some not-so-reliable parts, junk yards are available to save you some money.
    As a Star Wars product, there's clearly a lot of competition with existing LucasArts titles and all sorts of other books and stuff. Star Wars fans tend to care deeply about quality, and this game is well done indeed. It doesn't advance the Star Wars storylines appreciably, but the graphical glances at worlds both familiar and new, and the taunting from and interplay with aliens, can make this a pleasing gem for fans.
    There's also a fair amount of top quality full-motion video, and great sound and music (from the movie). The little voice snippets are sometimes brief and even inappropriate to what's happening, but there's such a rich spread of detail and entertainment it's hard to quibble.
    A deeper problem is the surprising lack of Internet multi-player support. You can duel with your friends on a network, but you won't find Racer on, for example, the Zone (where other LucasArts titles are supported). That's a shame, as broad-scale multi-player access would have been a positively natural feature for this game. Of course, then we'd be clamoring for weapons to deploy beyond Sebulba's flame thrower.
    For fun and surprising tracks, graphical goodness, super sound, positively polished playability, and for getting the Basic Arcade Game Design Principles right, Episode I: Racer earns a very strong A-.
    Racer won't make it around the track unless your PC meets the following minimum requirements: Windows 95 or 98, 166- MHz CPU (a 200-MHz or faster CPU is recommended), 32 MB RAM (64 MB is recommended), 4 MB PCI or AGP Direct3D-compatible graphics accelerator, 16-bit sound card or better, quad speed (4X) or faster IDE or SCSI CD-ROM drive, mouse or keyboard, and DirectX 6.1 installed (it is included on the Racer CD). A LAN is required for multi-player support. Some directional 3D sound cards and force feedback controllers are optionally supported.

RollerCoaster Tycoon
Review by Chris Seip

Wow. It was certainly not in this month's plans to get all wrapped up in RollerCoaster Tycoon, but that's what happened. I started building rides, adjusting prices, landscaping, expanding, adding snack stands, more landscaping--oh no, it's 1:00 in the morning again? I was a fan of Transport Tycoon when that was a hot Microprose property, and I'm very happy to be able to say that designer Chris Sawyer has done it again. This is addictive stuff.
    RollerCoaster Tycoon is a game in the SimCity mold. You've got that 3/4 overhead view, a map that can be zoomed or rotated, and an open-ended simulator that lets you play far, far beyond the point where you've satisfied your scenario objectives. There are more than 20 scenarios to complete, with the tougher ones unavailable until you've proven yourself on some of the easier ones. A visit to the official game site extends the game even further, offering an additional scenario and many thousands of downloadable track layouts submitted by fans and by Chris Sawyer himself.

Figure 2. (Click on the graphic to enlarge.) Build your own theme park in RollerCoaster Tycoon.
 

    You've got a lot of things to place: different kinds of walkways, various types of landscaping from flowers to bushes to fences, benches, walkway lighting, food and drink vending buildings, rest rooms, information booths, and so on. Then there are the pre-built rides, like merry-go-rounds and haunted houses. Finally, you get to the rides with tracks, like log flumes, roller coasters, and trains.
    Most of the rides with tracks let you choose from a number of ready-made track layouts, varying in size (and price, of course). Or, you can lay out your own track. My only serious quibble in playing RollerCoaster Tycoon was having to guess at why I was not allowed to place a desired section of track where I pleased--is this section of ground at the wrong height, or I'm not allowed to connect it like so, or what? The error messages weren't sufficient to keep me from having to guess and experiment. A little frustrating.
    Your custom-built rides can be tested before they open to the public, and that's usually quite revealing. Some of my earliest creations were extremely slow in sections, then hurtled away at overly-intense speeds. (Heh heh heh!) Rides are evaluated based on things like overall excitement, G-forces, and ability to induce nausea. Change your ride to suit your whims, then move the yellow (testing) light over to green to open your ride for business, and watch the lines queue.
    In between building new rides, there are plenty of theme park biz details to keep you busy, like monitoring guests' numbers and opinions, modifying ride's prices, running advertising campaigns, staffing the park, adjusting maintenance schedules, and the like. I guess it all sounds more boring than it really is; the pretty interface takes some of the work out of it, and going into this level of detail with the sim is mostly optional. And hey, it's kind of fun to hire a man in a panda costume and drop him onto one of your park walkways.
    I suppose the key descriptive word for RollerCoaster Tycoon is immersive. When you see a screenful of gorgeous graphics displaying your colorful handiwork, when you can see what all those little wandering people are thinking or doing (including throwing up), when the sweet screams of happy customers overcome the roar of your latest coaster, and the location-based sounds change as you scroll your viewpoint across the park, when you worry about whether your guests will ride on the uncovered attractions as a lightning storm begins to rage, you'll know you're hooked.
    I suppose watching other (tiny) people have fun might have sounded like a bad idea to someone on the RollerCoaster Tycoon team, but the whole concept works beautifully. This may be the most fun building/sim out there. While there's room to add some new features to a sequel (I hope), what we have here is a fine game, terribly fun, immersive, addictive, loaded with great little touches, and easily recommendable to just about anyone. Great value for the price, too! Grade: A. A friendly note to Chris Sawyer and Microprose: Maybe someday we'll see Transport Tycoon updated with this game engine?
    RollerCoaster Tycoon may throw your PC for a loop unless it meets the following minimum requirements: a 90-MHz Pentium CPU (a 200-MHz Pentium MMX CPU is recommended), Windows 95 or 98, 16 MB RAM (32 MB is recommended), 50 MB free hard drive space, 1 MB SVGA card (a 2 MB accelerator card is recommended), Windows-compatible sound card, DirectX 5.0 (included on the CD), CD-ROM drive (8X recommended), and a mouse.

A Brief Look at You Don't Know Jack: The Ride
The fourth in the "Jack" series, You Don't Know Jack: The Ride continues Berkeley Systems's exploration of irreverent trivia quiz-show gaming. Compared to its predecessors, the 800 all-new questions may be a bit easier, the animated graphics a bit nicer, and the theme of each game brings a pleasant sense of organization to the questions. The same smart-alecky, hipper-than-thou attitude is ever-present, which may make you laugh or drive you nuts, depending on your disposition (or maybe just your age).
     Quiz questions, the occasional commercial, and silly dialog here and there all display top-notch writing and spot-on vocal performances. If anything, the Jellyvision team that puts this stuff together with Berkeley Systems is getting better at it, rather than tired. Play alone, or in a cluster around your keyboard of up to three contestants; this is the perfect party game. But be warned, You Don't Know Jack: The Ride can be smarmy, insulting, and offensive. Not for kids. Terribly funny. Grade: A-.

A Brief Look at SimCity 3000
Maxis has offered the latest version of SimCity, called SimCity 3000, as a cautious but solid updating of SimCity 2000, and the results are very likable. The graphics are beautifully drawn, with far more buildings available, and a softer yet richer color palette. You can zoom in to a closer view than before, and for the first time you'll be able to see little inhabitants scurrying about! The little Sims-inhabitants and your personal advisors--such pleasingly animated bureaucrats--breathe some life into the game, making older SimCity titles seem nearly sterile by comparison.

Figure 5. (Click on the graphic to enlarge.) Town construction made easy by SimCity 3000.
 

    Some of the other changes in SimCity 3000 include garbage management and the ability to do business with neighboring towns (like asking them to help handle your garbage disposal problem). But, in general, this edition of the SimCity franchise follows the contours of its predecessor, much to the dismay of some SimCity fans who were expecting something radically new. As long as you know what you're buying, the inexplicably named SimCity 3000 is a real treat, the culmination of a well-oiled classic game that deserves regular updating. Grade A.

A Brief Look at Backyard Soccer
The Grievously Overdue Software Reviews pile nearly crushed my little copy of Backyard Soccer, and that would 've been a shame. Backyard Soccer uses the same entertaining little cartoon kids from Humongous Entertainment's first Junior Sports game, Backyard Baseball. The quirks and individual talents of these 30 players add a certain amount of depth. You can learn about the players by reviewing their "talking trading cards" (on screen). Getting to know the kids is part of the fun, it's humorous, and keeps the game very personal.

Figure 6. (Click on the graphic to enlarge.) A little team management in Backyard Soccer.