Computer Gaming World Issue 51

Features:

• The Politics of War (Dave Arneson reviews Romance of the Three Kingdoms while M. Evan Brooks reviews Nobunaga's Ambition, both titles by Koei)
  
• Campaign '88: A Survey of Presidential Election Games for the Computer (Reviewer Wyatt Lee muckrakes through the nitty-gritty details to deliver the goods on President Elect: 1988 Edition, Campaign Promises, and On the Campaign Trail)
  
• Baa! Baa! Flak Sheep! (William W. David reviews Broderbund's arcade-style World War II combat game Wings of Fury)
  
• Non-Resident President (David M. Wilson is on the case to rescue the leader of the free world with his review of The President Is Missing!)
  
• Global Commander (Ever wondered what it would be like to run the world? So did M. Evan Brooks, which is why he took on the task of reviewing Global Commander)
  
• PT-109: Spectrum Holobyte's Torpedo Boat Simulation (Bob Proctor charts the stormy seas of this World War II-era "devil boat" combat simulation)
  
• Console Cowboy: A Sneak Preview of Interplay's "Neuromancer" (Johnny L. Wilson sits down to experience cyber-space for himself in this adaptation of William Gibson's classic sci-fi novel)
  
• An Interview With William Gibson (CGW sits down with the author for a little one-on-one about books, technology, and what novelists do in their spare time)
  
• Rommel: Battles for North Africa (The so-called "Dark Continent" is the focus for this World War II sim, which Jay Selover explores down to the last detail)
  
• U.M.S.: Another Look (M. Evan Brooks digs into Universal Military Simulator to explain what the game does best and where it could use some shoring up in the weak points)
  
• Scorpion's Tale: Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. (The Grand Dame of Adventure Gaming gathers us to the tavern for a hint-filled review of this text adventure by developer First Row)
  
• View From a Playstester: The Amiga Version of Gettysburg: The Turning Point (Released two years after the original version, R. F. Batchelder offers his opinion on the new 16-bit version of this Civil War sim)
  

Departments:

• Taking a Peek:
  • The Civil War: 1981-1865 (IBM)
    
  • Shufflepuck Cafe (Mac)
    
  • Typhoon Thompson: Search For the Sea Child (Atari ST)
    
  • Card/Fax (IBM/Mac)
    
  • Cosmic Relief (Atari ST/C64.128)
    
  • Home Video Producer (Apple II/C64/128/IBM)
    
  • Metro Cross (Atari ST/C64/128)
    
  • Print Magic (Apple II/IBM)
    
  • Space M+A+X ver. 2.1 (IBM)
    
  • Monopoly (C64/128)
    
  • Scruples (Atari ST)
    
  • Space Ranger (Amiga)
    
  • John Elway's Quarterback (C64/128/IBM/Apple II/Apple IIGS)
    
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (C64/128)
    
  • Figment: The Imagination Processor (IBM)
    
  • Enlightenment (Amiga/C64/128)
    
  • Starglider II (Amiga/Atari ST)
    
  • Phantasm (Amiga/Atari ST)
    
  • Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Vol. II: Gaines Mill to Chattanooga (Apple II/C64/128)
    
  • Reach For the Stars: Third Edition (Apple IIGS/C64/128/IBM/Mac)
    
  • A.L.C.O.N. (Atari ST/C64/128/IBM)
    
  • Arkanoid (Apple II/C64/128/Atari ST/IBM)
    
  • Bubble Bobble (Apple II/C64/128/Amiga/Atari ST/IBM)
    
  • Rastan (C64/128/Amiga/Atari ST/IBM)
    
  • Renegade (Apple II/C64/128/Amiga/Atari ST/IBM)
    

  [*]Letters

  [*]The Rumor Bag (Pseudonym-laden reporter Sergei Petrovich Romanov Kosygin fills readers heads with bits of gossip "overheard" while visiting the Art Institute in Chicago)

  [*]Video Gaming World (the VGW crew get three whole pages of their own to discuss the likes of):

  • Space Harrier (SMS)
    
  • Tiger-Heli (NES)
    
  • Kid Nikki, Radical Ninja (NES)
    
  • Commando (NES)
    

  [*]Reader Input Device

  [*]CGW Hall of Fame

  • Kampfgruppe
    
  • Gettysburg
    
  • M.U.L.E.
    
  • Mech Brigade
    
  • Chessmaster 2000
    
  • War in Russia
    
  • Ultima IV
    
  • Wizardry
    
  • Starflight
    
  • Gunship
    
  • Ultima III
    
  • Might & Magic
    
  • The Bard's Tale
    

  [*]100 Games Rated

Notable Stuff:

• The reference to Psalm 9:1-2 appears on the masthead.
  
• Card/Fax is a database program specific for tracking your collection of baseball cards. It will also calculate their value (in 1988 pre-eBay dollars). It also will set you back $95, or $191.15 in 2014 money. Do you have any idea how many baseball cards you could buy for nearly two hundred bucks in 1988?
  
• Editors, did you seriously refer to J.D. Salinger's classic novel as "Cather In the Rye" in your Taking a Peek entry for Cosmic Relief? Where are your proofreaders??
  
• The screenshot chosen to represent Print Magic in its Taking a Peek is a file loading screen. That looks like every other text-based loading screen. With a title called "Print Magic", you couldn't take a picture of something graphical?
  
• Reader and submarine ship control specialist Glenn Kenney of Arlington, Virginia writes an impressive letter taking Datasoft to task for a number of technical inaccuracies in The Hunt for Red October, and gets a response from Datasoft's president Samuel Poole, who explains why things turned out the way they did. It's an awesome exchange, as Poole's response is neither whiny nor condescending, and ends with a promise to include several of Kenney's proposed changes and improvements in forthcoming versions of the game.
  
• To cater to new readers with specific tastes, CGW put together a bunch of back-issue value packs, where issues with similar themes are grouped together for sale at a reduced price. That's a neat idea!
  
• No new games make the Hall of Fame this issue.