Computer Gaming World Issue 56

Features:

• Ready or Not, Here They Come (Special Report: Winter Consumer Electronics Show)
  
• The Colony: Mindscape's 3-D Space Adventure (Alan Roberts reviews this insanely addicting action/adventure hybrid which saw release on the Macintosh and Amiga)
  
• I Can't Believe Grown-ups Do This For A Living: Notes on the Conference on Computer Game Design (Chris Crawford, Brian Moriarty, Brian Fargo, Dave Albert, Cliff Johnson, Brenda Laurel, David Graves, Gordon Walton, Gilman Louie, Dan Bunten, Noah Falstein, Dave Mencone, Ned Lerner, and many, many more industry heavies weigh in with opinions, statements and arguments from the 1988 CCGD)
  
• On the Eve of "Corruption": Rainbird's Contemporary Adventure Game (Frank Eva's review of this illustrated piece of interactive fiction for 'adult minds only')
  
• Scorpion's Mail (Scorpia paws through the mailbag and provides some hints and tips for):
  • Manhunter
    
  • King's Quest IV
    
  • The Bard's Tale III
    
  • Leisure Suite Larry II
    
  • Future Magic
    
  • Wasteland
    
  • Ultima V
    
  • Wizardry V
    
  • Demon's Winter
    

  [*]Low Blows and Other Winning Moves: Interplay's "Battle Chess" (Ken St. Andre's review of this excellent take on the classic game of kings)

  [*]Red Dogs and Hot Dogs: Cinemaware Captures the Gridiron (TV Sports: Football goes under the microscope, where Wyatt Lee and J.D. Lambright find it entertaining, but flawed)

  [*]Modem Wars: A Game By Any Other Name (Part review, part how-to, Daniel Hockman's article makes for a great read with its mini-tutorial on networking a pair of C64 machines via null-modem cable, and the side-bar featuring the pre-release party where Modem Wars' designer Dan Bunten faced off against CGW's EiC Russell Sipe for bragging rights)

  [*]Descent Into the Maelstrom: Sir-Tech's "Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom" (Dennis Owens reviews the fourth sequel in the increasingly-long-running fantasy dungeon crawling series)

  [*]Abstracts From the Journal of Computer Game Design (Snippets pulled from Chris Crawford's publication)

  [*]Curse of the Fallen Angel: Sierra's "Police Quest II: The Vengeance" (The Death Angel's back. Michael Chaut's got the 411 on Siera's sequel to the best-selling original)

  [*]F-19 Stealth Fighter: The Reality Behind the Game (Arnold Hendrick and Sid Meier explain the hows and whys behind their design choices, and how their version of the stealth fighter stacked up to the military's actual F-117A craft)

  [*]Tales of a Martian Manhunter: Electronic Arts' "Mars Saga" (It turns out Joe Sherfy found a lot to like in EA's sci-fi RPG)

  [*]Writing Your Own: Three Software Adventure Kits Compared (Scorpia compares and contrasts the scope and abilities of Figment: The Imagination Processor, Adventure Game Toolkit, and Adventure Construction Set)

Departments:

• Taking a Peek:
  • F-18 Hornet (C64)
    
  • Chop 'N Drop (C64)
    
  • Predator (C64)
    
  • Crash Garrett (Atari ST/Amiga)
    
  • Double Dragon (C64)
    
  • Downhill Challenge (C64)
    
  • Sword of Sodan (C64)
    
  • Zany Golf (Apple IIGS/IBM)
    
  • Alien Syndrome (C64/Atari ST/Amiga)
    
  • Annals of Rome (IBM/Atari ST/Amiga/C64)
    
  • Firezone (Atari ST/Amiga/IBM/C64)
    
  • Sorcerer Lord (Atari ST/IBM/Amiga)
    
  • Overlord (Atari ST)
    
  • Space School Simulator (Amiga/Atari ST/IBM)
    
  • Vulcan (IBM)
    
  • Friday Night Poker (IBM)
    
  • Battles of Napoleon (Apple II/IIGS)
    

  [*]Letters (Steve Englestad writes in to defend his First Expedition against the review published a few issues ago, a couple people complain that 'Taking a Peek' doesn't list every system for which a particular piece of software is available, and Roger Horky takes CGW to task for a misrepresentation of the German method for awarding kills during air battles of World War II)

  [*]Conversions Received

  [*]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
    

  [*]Game Ratings

Notable Stuff:

• The reference to Psalm 9:1-2 appears on the masthead.
  
• Due to the publication of a fast-break column on the 1988 Winter CES, a review and strategy piece for Neuromancer has been pushed to issue 57.
  
• Sega expected an 11% market share by the conclusion of 1988. At the end of 1988, Nintendo controlled 83% of the US market, leaving Sega (with its Master System) and Atari (with its 7800 and 2600 consoles) fighting over a mere 17% of that same market. I'd have to look more closely at the numbers, but seeing as how Atari moved a little under 1.5 million 7800 systems in 1988, that leaves Sega with plenty of wiggle room to earn that 11%.
  
• The epic Bunten vs. Sipe Modem Wars fight depicted in the sidebar on page 35 ended in a 1-1 tie.
  
• I'm of two minds on the "Abstracts From the Journal of Computer Game Design" column. On the one hand, it's neat to see a condensation of what designers were writing about on a given subject matter without dropping $5 on an issue. On the other hand, if this was something that interested you, chances are you already subscribed, and this was a waste of two magazine pages.
  
• No new games added to the Hall of Fame this issue.
  
• Game ratings are still frozen while CGW transitions from the 10-point scale to an A-F scale for reviews, but the good news is, starting in issue #58 they'll unveil the new scale and ratings!