Although this wheel is hollow plastic (unlike a real steering wheel), it manages to exude a sense of sturdiness. Case in point: Ours has withstood a fair degree of abuse from some excited gaming sessions. The molded shape of the wheel feels just right, with rubberized gripping surfaces. Six buttons near the center allow your thumbs to control many games without having to move your hands intermittently to your keyboard, and there's a trigger beneath each index finger. The center of the wheel contains a large lit button that shows whether force feedback is currently enabled, and a push of this button allows you to disable force feedback effects, leaving a completely loose but still fully functional steering controller.

The two included foot pedals do not offer force feedback effects, but their springs offer the expected amount of resistance. They're mounted on an 11"x13" platform that supports your heels and doesn't scoot away from you. It plugs into the steering wheel unit, so no separate computer connection is required for the pedals.

Compared to older BFF (Before Force Feedback) steering wheels, this steering wheel unit is hefty; after all, it's housing the precision motor and CPU that create the force feedback effects. But it's designed in an attractively swept-back style with sleek lines, roughly a half-dome shape. You won't think the wheel is in the way when you're playing with it, but storing it on a shelf is kind of clumsy and space-consuming. To get an idea, check out the size of the box at a nearby computer store! It also requires one of those large power adapters, so you'd better check your power strip to see if you'll need a new one with some extra room.

When you're getting the Force Feedback Wheel off the shelf, you'll appreciate the adjustable clamp mechanism with a locking handle. After you've adjusted it for your desk or table, which just takes a minute, then it attaches with a simple push on the clamp, and detaches with a pull. It's a thoughtful touch in an overall polished design. Another nice touch: It seems appreciably quieter in operation than Microsoft's earlier force feedback product, the Force Feedback Joystick.

Microsoft's driver software is excellent. You'll have Control Panel access to your new wheel, and the test functions even include sample effects that are a, um, kick to explore. The buttons are programmable, and there's a Profiler feature that can quickly set up the stick for any game. Speaking of software, complete gameplay copies of Monster Truck Madness 2 and Precision Racing are included in the box- lacking only the Redbook audio portions of their original releases. There may be better ways to try out force feedback these days, but these are good games that definitely add value to the package.

So, what's it like? Well, any steering wheel controller on a PC probably cannot escape feeling artificial. After all, most of us drive "the real thing" several times a day. Does a steering wheel mimic the driving experience more realistically than a keyboard or joystick? You bet.

As for force feedback effects-their value seems to always stem from the devotion of a game's software developers. If it doesn't feel right, the force feedback can be a distraction. But when it's implemented carefully and consistently, it can add a special texture to your gaming experience. Most recently, I've been playing Star Wars Episode I Racer with and without force feedback. I've noticed that the force feedback effects make me unconsciously grip the wheel harder and lean into the screen a bit more.

Among the force feedback wheels that are available, Microsoft's is a real winner. It's built very well, with a number of thoughtful design accomplishments to boost its recommendation. It feels good, with a sturdy clamp holding it securely to the desk and that rubberized grip my hands will never get tired of. And, the software support seems to be getting better and better. Grade: A in construction and design, B in overall game enhancement.

The Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel should handle well if your PC meets these minimum requirements: Pentium 90 multimedia PC, Windows 95 or 98, 16 Mb of RAM, 40 Mb hard disk space, quad-speed (4X) CD-ROM drive, 256-color SVGA monitor, Sound Blaster compatible audio board with MIDI-enabled game port, Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device, a frames-capable web browser, and DirectX 5.0 or later API installed in Windows. There are additional notes on the box regarding the compatibility requirements for the bundled games.

Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel
[street price: $180]
Microsoft Corporation

I was so wrong! I wasted so much time familiarizing myself with the manual and the new units, etc.! You see, it doesn't matter that the game looks better and has some great ideas for making the game more complex and playable. It doesn't matter that a lot of the improvements I had thought of while playing CIV 2 were here in the new game. Why?

Because Activision made the most idiotic move I have seen in the short era of computer game history! Those who are familiar with the game know that the big, unmanageable problem with Civilization was its combat. It was too frustrating to play a game where your tank unit could be destroyed by an archer! It was an amazing and famous oversight.

CIV 2 corrected this problem and created probably the best strategy game out there. Finally, all the technological advances really meant something!

	The Great Library helps fill in the details.
Click on the thumbnail for full image. (128K)

So someone please tell me who the brain child was who brought back this combat problem in Call To Power? That is right, the newest and greatest of the CIV saga made many steps forward and canceled them all with a moronic leap back! Once again your stealth bomber can be destroyed by a pikeman! It happened to me! The guy must have had an arm like Bret Farve. I didn't even see it coming. Didn't show up on radar.

So, despite whatever else I might say that is positive about the game, despite any description that I might give you, this game is the worst and I don't want to waste your time! It got great reviews from some magazines, which might show us how much advertising space Activision bought from these publications, but I give it a D-. Frustrating, terrible, a game from Satan. Don't buy it!

Civilization: Call To Power
[street price: $40]
Activision
ESRB rating: Everyone ("E"), "mild animated violence"

It's way too awesome, in terms of content. It includes everything from the magazines, cover to cover. This includes ads, module inserts, even those funny little games with the punch-out counters that they used to publish. It even has the issues of Strategic Review!

It's scanned in a fairly hi-res PDF format, at least as high-res as the original documents will allow-I notice the newer issues can stand more magnification. To reach a readable magnification level, for me anyway, I have to go to single-page with only about half a page in the viewer. It uses a built-in viewer (not Adobe ACROBAT) that functions pretty much like Acrobat, with less features. It has only very basic image/text capture functions (you outline, release, and it copies to the clipboard), and basic print functions as far as I can tell. I haven't used image utilities extensively; someone more experienced with image viewers in general might pick it up faster.

	Cruise (or search) through 250 issues of Dragon Magazine.
Click on the thumbnail for full image. (28K)

It has a decent, although somewhat less-than-intuitive, search engine. It seems to have trouble finding anything except exact matches and is intolerant of the slightest misspellings. It has a cool bookmark function that lets you mark places in the archive, as well as save and send your bookmarks to others.

The viewer can be a little cranky, and it has already crashed on me once. The company is promising a patch on its Web site, but the patch is not yet up at the time of this writing. However, it's no different than buying any early release computer game nowadays (or in the past). Patches are almost inevitable, and with the ease of Internet downloading, they sometimes don't represent too onerous a burden.

I grew up with Dragon Magazine, and I have a lot of back issues. But I do not have 250 issues that can fit into a small box. Also, the ability to electronically search the magazines sure beats thumbing through countless copies to find that one article you'd like to reference, twenty minutes before your game starts. Although browsing has its merits, too!

Wizards/TSR is promising archive updates to add more issues to the total. (National Geographic is doing this with the CD-ROM archive that they published a couple of years ago). So for me it's just too cool to pass up, despite some small program glitches. A warning, though: If you have what seem like recent memories of many of these issues, it may rock you back a bit when you realize a lot of it is over twenty years old!

Dragon Magazine Archive shouldn't make your PC breathe fire if it meets these minimum system requirements: 75 MHz CPU, Windows 9x or NT, 16 Mb RAM, 60 Mb hard drive space, a quad speed (4X) CD-ROM drive, SVGA video card, a keyboard, and a Microsoft compatible mouse.

Dragon Magazine Archive
[street price: $25]
Wizards of the Coast/
TSR, Inc./
Helikon Technologies

Lighter Blue: Mini-Reviews

A Brief Look at Cool Pool
Cool Pool, one of Sierra's latest batch of "3-D Ultra" titles, simulates various games of pool with realistic sounds and clean, appealing graphics. You won't see any Hoyle-style opponents here, just a floating pool cue held by the ghostly hand of your mouse pointer. Aim carefully, pull back on the strength o' meter, and send that cue ball into motion. The games include all kinds of "normal" pool variations, from Eight Ball to Cutthroat, and then the wilder "Ultra" offerings with, for example, odd tables shapes, rocket balls, and chameleon balls.

With so many different sets of game rules, Sierra managed to keep the learning enjoyable with video clips summarizing how to play each game. The interface is not only attractive, but it's pleasant. You may aim the cue by moving a translucent "aiming ball," dragging the stick in a circle, or using the left and right arrow keys- the latter especially good for fine-tuning your aim. To make this less frustrating than real pool, at its easiest settings Cool Pool will display dotted lines that portray the directions your ball's impact will take. Multi-player, network play, and single-player options are available. Pretty cool! Nice price. Grade: B+.

3-D Ultra Cool Pool
[street price: $17 Sierra Attractions

A Brief Look at Extreme Boards & Blades
Activision's Head Games division tirelessly churns out these cheapie "Extreme" titles, probably made profitable by their prominent product endorsements. Mountain Dew and PowerBar are footing the bill for Extreme Boards & Blades, which might easily be the most fun I've ever had with a Head Games game. But that's not saying much. The skateboarding moves are fun enough for a while, though you won't find the keys documented on paper. (Visit the keyboard commands setup screen.)

Click on the thumbnail for full image. (105K)

You choose from an unattractive group of over 20 3D-modeled characters, some of them female, and there are 15 arenas from which to choose, from ramp-laden skate parks to a business park. The reasonable animation is made less effective by a very dated 3D engine. Despite its specific support for 3Dfx, graphics are relatively plain and simplistic, and clipping abounds-you'll frequently see your skater embedded in a wall or barrier. The soundtrack, courtesy of Pferd, got me in the mood for a minute or too, but I turned it way down after only a few minutes. Like the game as a whole, it's briefly fun, a little raunchy, and not really up to par at all. Grade: C-.