PC Gamer Issue 6

Cover Story:

• The Shape of Things to Come: A multi-part feature looking both forwards and backwards when it comes to PC gaming.
  • Part One: Cyberia - Xatrix and Interplay leveled up the realm of game design when it comes to 3D incorporation with Cyberia, making playable the kinds of worlds which were previously only seen in pre-rendered cutscenes.
  • Part Two: Games of Futures Past - In order to understand what a leap forward in tech Cyberia represents, Gary Meredith takes a retrospective look at how games have looked over the past few years.

Features:

• On the Disk! - Blackthorne's playable demo lets you explore a 2D side-scrolling world of demonic violence.
• Rolling Your Own - William R. Trotter lays out a variety of suggestions for all would-be amateur wargame scenario designers with a plethora of periodicals to scan for accurate historical data, no matter your era of interest.
• The PC Gamer Forte VFX-1 Virtual Reality Contest is here! Win one for free!

Departments:

• Eyewitness - Industry news, short previews, and behind-the-scenes stuff
  • Retooling the Entertainment Machine: The Software Toolworks changes its name, and has plenty of new projects lined up:
    • Metal Marines
    • Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure
    • Legions
    • USS Ticonderoga
    • Mindscape Winter Sports
    • NCAA Football
    • Revenge (released as The Raven Project)
  • Alphabet Soup, FRP-Style: Interplay will be publishing TSR's AD&D games. Oh, and Virtual Pool too.
  • Top Ten Lists: Babbage's and Software, Etc. each report their ten best-selling wares of July, 1994.
  • Falling Down: Activision brings two classics to the PC.
    • Planetfall
    • Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
  • A Feather in Their Capstone: Intracorp set to acquire Three-Sixty Pacific
  • The PC Gamer Playlist: What your favorite editors are busy playing when they aren't doing actual work.
  • Duidic Rites and Armored Fights: Koei's two newest titles are worlds apart -- except in the strategic challenges they have to offer.
    • Operation Europe
    • Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye
  • Sit On It!: The Flight Stand helps you hold that stick.
  • Muppet Madness Returns: Jim Hensen Productions to produce CD-ROM titles.
  • Babbage's, Etc.: Two of software's biggest retailers join forces.
  • Does a Pair of Mages Beat a Flush?: MicroProse teams with Wizards of the Coast to bring Magic: the Gathering to PC.
  • GP Publications: The Next Generation: GP Publications to publish Next Generation magazine.
  • Round Midnight: Domark's debut fantasy roleplaying game (Lords of Midnight)  proves the company is dedicated to broadening its horizons -- and isn't sacrificing quality in the process.
  • Getting a Grip on Reality: There's more than just seeing to Virtual Reality, and Paradigm Shift is looking to bring that reality home soon.
• Extended Play: Roll Out the Tanks! - T. Liam McDonald checks out several new tank-based military sims along with a variety of expansion disks.
• The Learning Game: The Personal Touch - Heidi Aycock reviews three educational software titles that successfully personalize the lessons they are trying to impart for their younger audiences.
  • The Scavenger Hunt Adventure Series: Africa
  • Music Ace
  • Sammy's Science House
• Peripheral Visions: The Advanced Gravis Phoenix - Matt Firme gets his hands on the Advanced Gravix Phoenix flight and weapons control system. Will it replace his beloved Gravis GamePad?
• The Desktop General: (There Must Be) 50 Ways to Beat the Russkies - SSI's Tanks! Wargame Construction Set II contains a deep and expansive custom scenario generator, and William R. Trotter has been using it to figure out ways to beat one of the game's most difficult built-in scenarios, which pits a surprised and under-equipped American garrison against a fully-armed and operational squad of Russia's best armor and artillery in the German winter of 1945-1946. He'll share those strategies and tactics with you, if you like.
• Lupine Online: A Wolven Epic - Scott Wolf's been having fun with two new shareware titles from Epic's software library.
  • Jazz Jackrabbit
  • Traffic Department 2192
• Sim Column: The Final Frontier - Lee Buchanan takes off for new frontiers with Microsoft Space Simulator.
• Tim's Tech Shop: Video Cards: Less Is More - You could spend the equivalent of a car payment on one of those fancy new graphics cards all the ads are screaming about, but Tim Victor is here to explain why doing so might be a mistake, especially if the majority of your gaming takes place in a DOS environment.
• Alternate Lives: Whaddaya Wanna Be When You Grow Up? - Neil Randall writes about that indefinable feeling of when you are truly immersed in a game, and laments the fact that so many would-be RPGs struggle to genuinely let their players adopt new roles.
• Strategy Central: Hints, Tips, and Cheats (shhhh!) for your favorite games.
  • Ultima Underworld II
  • TIE Fighter
  • The Elder Scrolls: Arena
  • Conquests of the Longbow
  • SimCity 2000
  • Star Trek 25th Anniversary
• Letters: You write, we respond.
• The PC Gamer Reviews Index: A handy dandy quick-reference chart of every game reviewed in the last six months. From 1942: Pacific Air War to X-COM, you get a rundown of each game's manufacturer, genre, high points, low points, review score, and whether it scored that coveted Editor's Choice badge.
• Next Time: What next month's issue has in store for you, including an in-depth look at Wing Commander III, the PC Gamer editors' holiday recommendations, a whole swath of new reviews, and the debut of the coveted CD-ROM edition of the magazine's cover disc!

Scoops! (previews):

• Dragon Lore
• Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
• Quarantine
• King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride
• Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller

Reviews (entries in bold indicate Editor's Choice award):

• Cannon Fodder (88%)
• Lode Runner: The Legend Returns - Windows (85%)
• The Battle of Britain (55%)
• Who Killed Brett Penance? (68%)
• The Psychotron (57%)
• Chessnet 3 & Chessnet 3 Club Edition (81%)
• Star Crusader (86%)
• Nothing But Net! Pro League Basketball (64%)
• Wolf (88%)
• Sabre Team (49%)
• Monopoly Deluxe (85%)
• Terrace for Windows (75%)
• Lords of the Realm (91%)
• Star Reach (71%)
• Reunion (72%)

Ads (in order of appearance):

• Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
• Elder Scrolls, The: Arena
• Delta V
• Blake Stone: Planet Strike!
• Armored Fist
• 3DO Blaster PC expansion card
• BreakThru!
• The CD-ROM Source mail order company
• King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride
• Operation Body Count
• Titan Games mail order company
• Journeyman Project Turbo, The
• 5th Fleet
• Sabre Team
• Doom II: Hell on Earth
• Blackthorne
• Harvester
• Wrath of the Gods
• Lords of Midnight
• Pinball Arcade CD-ROM
• Rise of the Robots
• 4th Dimension mail order company
• Gravis UltraSound MAX sound card
• Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
• Wolf
• Panzer General
• Multiwave Innovation Command 3D Sound Engine hardware
• Master of Magic
• Suncom Technologies G-FORCE flight yoke controller
• Return to Zork
• Noctropolis
• Fighter Wing
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Cyberia
• Cyclemania
• Logitech WingMan Extreme joystick controller
• PC Gamer subscription ad + free game offer
• Ultimate Football
• Renegade: Battle for Jacob's Star
• Creative Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card
• Mission Control mail order company
• Wacky Wheels
• NASCAR Racing
• AnnaTommy: An Adventure Into the Human Body
• CH Products controllers
• ImagiNation Network online service
• CyberJudas
• ENSONIQ Soundscape multimedia sound board
• Universal Neverlock
• Crime Patrol / Space Pirates
• Under a Killing Moon
• Next Generation magazine
• CD-ROM Zone mail order company
• Zorro
• Fortress of Dr. Radiaki, The
• Space Ace
• Zephyr
• Grandest Fleet, The
• Chips & Bits mail order company
• Gravis Phoenix Flight & Weapons Control System controller
• Origin games
  • Wing Commander III
  • Ultima VIII: Pagan
  • Wings of Glory
  • System Shock
  • Wing Commander Armada

Notable Stuff:

• This issue marks Trent C. Ward's final month as Associate Editor, as he departs to head up the reviews section for the forthcoming Next Generation magazine.
• People who complain about the high prices of video games today likely don't remember just how exponentially more expensive they were thirty or forty years ago. King's Quest VII, for instance, made its debut in 1994 with a $79.95 suggested retail price, which is the equivalent of $173.47 in 2025. That game, of course, was produced by Sierra, whose reputation for quality made it entirely feasible to ask that kind of money for a game.
• According to the data provided, the best-selling title at Babbage's this month was Sierra's Outpost, while the number one title flying off Software, Etc.'s shelves is LucasArts' TIE Fighter. What's really weird is that neither of these titles placed in the top 10 for the other retailer.
• Given Activision's success with Return to Zork, it's not surprising to see a graphical sequel to Planetfall, another of their popular adventures, teased here. Sadly, it never materializes.
• The Flight Stand peripheral shown in Eyewitness is literally a $25 joystick mount that sits in your crotch and lets you balance a flight stick or other controller between your legs.
• Cyberia's 32-bit graphical renders took up a whopping 25.5 gigabytes of hard drive space. In 1994. That is insane.
• The second part of 'The Shape of Things' is a nice, time-compressed trip down memory lane.
• Somebody screwed up in the Strategy section: the pages on TIE Fighter (117 and 119) are in the wrong order.
• For those wanting the answer to this issue's contest, your Retromags Goddess has you covered. Image 1 is from page 57, image 2 is from page 68, image 33 is from page 75, image 4 is from page 87, and image 5 is from page 13. You're welcome! ^_^