ISSUE: 44Content
Features:
-
The PC Gamer Annual Ultimate Strategy Guide: Smash your games wide open with walkthroughs, and strategies galore for:
- Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (Part 1 of 2)
- Resident Evil guide (Jill Valentine walkthrough, Part 2 of 2)
- Conquest Earth
- Fallout
- Age of Empires
- Hexen II (Part 2 of 2)
- Command & Conquer Red Alert: The Aftermath (Part 1 of 2)
- Dark Colony (Human missions walkthrough)
- Sid Meier's Gettysburg
- Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
- Dark Reign (units and tactics guide)
- Total Annihilation (missions 6-10 walkthrough for both sides)
- Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirrior (Part 1 of 2)
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
-
Cheater's Corner
- Apache
- Betrayal At Krondor
- Blood
- Blood and Magic
- Cybergladiators
- Destruction Derby 2
- Diablo
- Eradicators
- Fire Fight
- Gene Wars
- Heroes of Might and Magic II
- Hi Octane
- Hunter Hunted
- Imperium Galactica
- Master of Orion II
- M.A.X.
- MDK
- MechWarrior II: Mercenaries
- Moto Racer GP
- Need For Speed 2
- Necrodome
- NHL 98
- Privateer 2: The Darkening
- Redneck Rampage
- Shadow Warrior
- Shattered Steel
- Skynet
- Star Control 3
- Syndicate Wars
- Theme Hospital
- Time Commando
- Tomb Raider
- War Wind
Departments:
- Editor's Note (EiC Gary Whitta's quite proud of how hard you'll be able to stick it to the best games of 1997 with this month's mondo strategy guide.)
- Eyewitness (Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, a roundup from the world of online gaming, NASCAR 3, Requiem: Wraith of the Fallen, Shadow Master, Addiction Pinball, Babylon 5, Dark Side of the Moon, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The Adventures Continues, Game Design 101, News Briefs, and much, much more!)
- Extended Play (T. Liam McDonald looks at the new expansion packs for Magic the Gathering and Command & Conquer: Red Alert.)
- The Learning Game (Heidi E.H. Aycock follows up last month's holiday gift guide with part 2.)
- Multi-Play (Jason Bates looks at the new voice-activated command system in Fire Team.)
- The Threshold (Dennis "Thresh" Fong wonders if the trend toward single-player gaming is undermining the multi-player experience.)
- Alternate Lives (Septerra Core may never make it to market; Michael Wolf wants you to know why.)
- The Desktop General (Those crazy guys who made Marine Doom are gearing up to push squad-based FPS combat to a new level. William R. Trotter pulls the curtain off the forthcoming Battleground Zero.)
- Sim Column (Dan Bennett thinks its tutorials, not documentation, that will train the next generation of air combat junkies.)
- Letters (You write them, we read them.)
- Next Time (Don't cry...the February issue is only a month away!)
The CD: This month's disc is loaded down with patches, a DirectX 5.0 installation, the usual MindSpring and EarthLink software, the Try Before you Buy store, and demos for:
- Tomb Raider II
- Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
- Sub Culture
- Die By the Sword
- Age of Empires
- Joint Strike Fighter
- Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far
- NetStorm
- Virtual Pool 2
- WarHeads
- NetWAR
- Chasm: The Rift
- You Don't Know Jack TV
- Men In Black
- iF-16
- Excalibur 2555 AD
- Chessmaster Live
- Mass Destruction
- The Palace
- The Realm
- Heat.net
Scoop! (aka Previews):
- Starship Troopers (released in 2000 as Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy)
- Star Control 4
- Sentinel Returns
Reviews:
- Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (91%; Editors' Choice)
- Fallout (90%; Editors' Choice)
- Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far (88%; Editors' Choice)
- NBA Live 98 (92%; Editors' Choice)
- Virtual Pool 2 (90%; Editors' Choice)
- Thunder Truck Rally (55%)
- Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny (87%)
- Byzantine: The Betrayal (59%)
- Nuclear Strike (88%; Editors' Choice)
- Panzer General II (93%; Editors' Choice)
- Ultima Online (55%)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 (85%)
- Madden NFL 98 (77%)
- Incubation (89%; Editors' Choice)
- Riven (40%)
- Total Annihilation (85%)
- 7th Legion (66%)
- Temujin (75%)
- Pictionary (55%)
- Armored Fist 2 (34%)
- Chasm (56%)
The Hard Stuff:
- I Want My AGP (What's taking so long for the Accelerated Graphics Port video cards to get here?)
- If I Had A Million Dollars... (What's it like to game on an $8,495 Falcon system?)
- Alienware Area 51 gaming PC (Editors' Choice)
- Microsoft SideWinder Precision Pro flight stick
- Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro Racing Wheel (Editors' Choice)
- ADS TV Superscan 2 (Editors' choice)
- GNT Electronic GNT-5000 Speakers
- CH Gamestick
- Thrustmaster Millennium Inceptor 3D
- Canopus Pure 3D video card (Editors' Choice)
- Jaton Blaze 3D Ultimate video card
- AVM Apex Sound Card
- Tech Q&A
Ads (in order of appearance):
- Heavy Gear
- Shadow Warrior
- Deadlock II: Shrine Wars
- Carmageddon
- Gunmetal
- Vigilance
- Greyhounds of the Sea
- US Robotics 56K modem with x2 technology
- SC&T International Ultimate Per4mer racing wheel
- G-Police
- Multiplayer Battletech
- Flying Corps Gold
- M1 Tank Platoon II
- Deathtrap Dungeon
- Virus: The Game
- X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse total conversion for Quake
- Battle Zone
- The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
- StarCraft
- SODA Off-Road Racing
- Armored Fist 2: M1A2 Abrams
- Quake II
- Heat.net
- CART Precision Racing
- Baldur's Gate
- Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
- WarHeads
- Matrox m3D graphics card
- Star Command Deluxe
- War Wind II: Human Onslaught
- SiN
- Chasm: The Rift
- Blade Runner
- Air Warrior
- The Official Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5
- You Don't Know Jack, Volume 3
- Civil War Generals 2: Grant, Lee, Sherman
- Wing Commander Prophecy
- Temujin: A Supernatural Adventure
- Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3
- Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy
- Might and Magic IV: The Mandate of Heaven
- CIV II: Fantastic Worlds
- Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction
- Die By the Sword
- The Golf Pro featuring Gary Player
- Mech Commander
- Myth: The Fallen Lords
- Flight Unlimited II
- Ski Racing
- The Tone Rebellion
- Aliens Online
- GameStorm online gaming service
- Philips Scuba gaming headset
- Earth 2140
- Daikatana
- Electronics Boutique mini-catalogue
- M.A.X. 2
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- NASCAR Racing 2 + NASCAR Grand National Series expansion pack
- MadCatz Panther and Panther XL controllers
- 3Dfx Voodoo graphics cards
- Combat Chess
- Worms 2
- Fallout
- Choose Your Own Nightmare
- CyberSwine
- Excalibur 2555 AD
- A.I. - Alien Intelligence
- Front Page Sports Football Pro '98
- Sub Culture
- 7th Legion
- Tomb Raider II
- Steel Panthers III
- Incubation
- The LucasArts Archive, Volume III
- Crime Killer
- Uprising
- Diablo: Hellfire
- Dark Earth
- Rubies of Eventide
- Warhawk
- EF2000 V2.0
- Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury (canceled)
- F/A-18 Korea
- Creative Labs PC hardware
- Police Quest SWAT 2
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- Jetfighter: Full Burn
- Front Page Sports Fly Fishing: Trophy Rivers
- NBA Action 98
- Daytona USA Deluxe
- Redneck Rampage
- Longbow 2
- Techmedia 3D ZoneMaster controller
- Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
- Half-Life
- Smart Games 2
- Descent Freespace
- X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power
- Flesh Feast
- Final Fantasy VII varsity jacket giveaway
- Men in Black: The Game
- Falcon 4.0
- F-22 Raptor
- Virtual Pool 2
- Red Baron II
- Shipwreckers!
- Final Liberation: Epic 40,000
- EarthLink Network
- Diamond Monster Sound sound card + Monster 3D video card
- Dreams to Reality
- Legend of Kesmai
- JSF: Joint Strike Fighter
- Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers
- Media On gaming PCs
- Falcon Mach V gaming PCs
- CyberStuff Corp. CyberStik joystick
- Jazz Multimedia Adrenaline Rush 3D video card
- Pro Pilot
- Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo video card
- MadCatz Puma GT Steering Wheel
- Micro Electronics gaming PCs
- PC Gamer subscription cards
- "Dress For Success" PC Gamer-themed clothing
- Microsoft SideWinder Precision Pro flight stick
- ATI Xpert@Play and ATI-TV video cards
- Heat.net
- Alienware gaming PCs
- CH Racing System
- Tex Murphy: Overseer
- Chips & Bits, Inc
- Myth: The Fallen Lords 3D Contest
- Columbia House CD-ROM club
- UnitedCDROM.com
- PC Connection
- 3Dfx Voodoo video cards
- Extreme Tactics
- PC Gamer product information cards
- Try Before You Buy software trial system
- Win the Ultimate Gaming Rig contest
- ImagineZone.com
- Be A Vigilance Operative sweepstakes
- PC Gamer customer service
- Lords of Magic
- Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme graphics card
Notable Stuff:
- The infamous "John Romero's about to make you his bitch" ad for Daikatana makes its first appearance in the pages of PC Gamer in this issue.
- Robert Smolka joins the editorial review crew this issue.
- How many friggin' "Editors' Choice" awards are they allowed to hand out per issue? Because there were almost as many "Editors' Choice" games as there were non-winners this month.
- Dennis "Thresh" Fong also joins the PC Gamer staff this issue, with his column about 3D Gaming, "The Threshold".
- Despite Michael Wolf's naysaying, Septerra Core does eventually get released in October of 1999 thanks to a last-minute publishing deal with Monolith. Unfortunately, it's released as a budget title, where it languishes in bargain bins due to little advertising and lackluster reviews from the gaming community, and developer Valkyrie Studios shuts down after its publication.
- A lot of people wrote in to vent their spleens about all the drama with Ultima Online: everything from dedicated player-killers to the treatment of thief characters to the surprising death of Lord British at the hands of a character known only as "Rainz", who was summarily banned for life from all of Origin's online games and services.
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