Computer Gaming World Issue 43

Features:

• Into the Eagle's Nest (Tracie Hines follows her first review for CGW [Shadowgate, Nov. '87] with a look at this Castle Wolfenstein-esque action sim by Mindscape)
  
• Bullets For Breakfast - Shiloh: Grant's Trial in the West (Jay Selover gushes enthusiastically over SSI's dominance of the American Civil War sim field with their latest entry in a series stretching back four titles)
  
• Airborne Ranger (CGW reader Kevin Rohrer has been so consistent and vocal with his comments, so the mag did the only sensible thing: put him to work, writing a review for this modern-day Army Ranger action sim)
  
• Scorpion's Tale: Border Zone (Another month, another adventure; this time it's Infocom's first foray into the spy thriller/intrigue genre along with some updates on bugs plaguing Beyond Zork)
  
• Offensive and Defensive Techniques in Mech Brigade (Roger Bohn delivers an in-depth critical analysis of strategy and tactics for those struggling to get the upper hand in SSI's tank simulator)
  
• Sneak Preview: The Universal Military Simulator (The CGW editors take a last-minute look at a brand new sim that promises to let you simulate virtually any military conflict in history)
  
• Charting the Course of Garde's High Seas (Bob Proctor reviews publisher Garde's latest entry into the naval combat genre)
  
• Darkhorn of Plenty (Johnny L. Wilson offers his opinion on Darkhorn: Realm of the Warlords, an early real-time, multi-player wargame from Avalon Hill)
  
• The Rise and Fall of Random Empires (William "Biff" Kritzen offers a short biography and longer review of public-domain-turned-commercial wargame Empire from Interstel Corporation)
  
• The "Cosmi"c Stock Exchange (Jasper Sylvester supplies strategy and critique for Inside Trader, Cosmi's Wall Street sim)
  
• Legacy of the Ancients (Scorpia takes you on a hand-in-pincer tour through EA's strange and wondrous Museum)
  
• Goodbye "G" Rating - The Perils of "Larry" (The third and final part of John Williams' examination of what Leisure Suit Larry means to the world of computer gaming. This column takes a more personal tone, as Williams reveals snippets of the hate mail he received as Marketing Director for Sierra, as well as the difficulty the company had with getting some retailers to advertise and stock the game)
  
• Blackjack Academy (Roy Wagner tests the waters on Activision's self-titled "Micro-Vice Simulator" which both simulates and teaches the game of Blackjack)
  

Departments:

• Taking a Peek:
  • Apollo 18 (C64)
    
  • Project: Space Station (Apple/C64/IBM)
    
  • Search and Destroy (IBM)
    
  • Superbike Challenge (IBM/Atari ST)
    
  • 20th Century Faro (IBM)
    
  • Demon Stalkers (C64)
    
  • Dragon's Lair (C64)
    
  • Spiderbot (Apple/C64/IBM)
    
  • Police Quest (IBM)
    
  • Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge (IBM)
    
  • Long Lance (Apple/C64)
    
  • To The Rhine (Apple/C64/IBM/Atari ST)
    
  • Seven Sprits of Ra (IBM)
    
  • Falcon (IBM)
    
  • Soko-Ban (IBM)
    

  [*]Reader Input Device

  [*]Game Ratings

Notable Stuff:

• Cover price is $3.50
  
• The reference to Psalm 9:1-2 appears on the masthead.
  
• Time to execute another proofreader, as 'Goodbye' is spelled 'Goodby' in the table of freakin' contents. At this point nothing should surprise me, but still...it's the table of contents for the love of Bubba...
  
• Oh God, talk about your awful timing. Page 34 features a photo of Alexander Harris, the son of an employee of SSI, who was abducted in November 1987 from a casino in Primm, Nevada, with a plea for anyone who had seen him or had information on his whereabouts to call police. Unfortunately, this is the January 1988 issue. Alexander's body was found in December of 1987, one month too late for anyone reading the magazine to help. :(
  
• What a difference a few decades make with regards to John Williams' article. It would be rare to see the level of vitriol and outrage expressed over the relatively-tame Leisure Suit Larry raised over a video game today. It also foreshadows the coming controversy over the adoption of a video game rating system. Ken Wasch, Executive Director of the Software Publisher's Association of America, is quoted in this article as advocating for voluntary warnings on adult-themed software, and warning that "[...]if it ever did get to be a problem, the government would get involved." I doubt anyone realized his warning would come true a mere six years later in 1994 with the adoption of the ESRB rating system in the United States.
  
• Leisure Suit Larry (at the time of this magazine's publication) was Sierra's second-bestselling title ever, topped only by King's Quest III.