RetroDefense

Features: A Giant Step For Planet Moon: The developers behind the upcoming Giants: Citizen Kabuto open their doors to the PC Games staff for a sneak peek at what's on the way, and explanation of how the game came about. Services With a Smile: PC Games rates a whole slew of online gaming options like TEN, MSN Gaming Zone, MPlayer, and Heat.net. It's Hell Being A Game Designer: Industry professionals sound off about what really grinds their gears in this two-page feature. Lionhead Diaries, Part X: Game designer Steve Jackson describes the history, working conditions, and design philosophy at Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios. Departments: Editor's Note: Willem Knibbe thought it would be fun to talk about all the stuff that can go wrong while working on a game, hence the feature appearing in this issue. Along with that, there's a new column making its debut. PCGAMES.EXE: What's on the disc?! How about a non-interactive movie demo for Giants: Citizen Kabuto, a whole host of utilities and patches, and game demos for... Aliens vs. Predator Close Combat III Dark Vengeance Imperialism II Myth II: Soulblighter Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri SimCity 3000 SiN exclusive deathmatch levels for PC Games readers WCW Nitro PCGAMES.COM: What's new on the website? Check your up-to-date news feed, enjoy the screenshot of the day, download that demo, upload some Quake II skins, and a billion other ways to waste time. Incoming!: The letter column to end all letter columns. GameWire (industry news): A whole host of developers just jumped ship from John Romero's ION Storm studios, StarCraft is outselling everything, Sierra recalls Football Pro '99, Mike Verdu's taking the lead on Unreal II, no new Shogo game until at least 2001, and could the ultimate gaming PC be...a Mac?! Bookmark This: PC Games picks the coolest sites on the World Wide Web to feed your gaming addiction needs. Three-Dot Buzz: An April Fools column from EiC Willem Knibbe, but one with a twist: one of the seemingly-crazy tidbits he put in the column was actually true! Be the first to tell him which piece of weird news was the real deal and win a copy of Baldur's Gate! NoEsc: Daniel Morris points his web browser to the Tomb Raider Fan Fiction Archive, where you can download and read thirty-seven stories from dozens of different authors, all about the adventures of the one and only Lara Croft. End Game: Peter Olafson rates and reviews a few updates, compilation packs, add-ons, and other bargain-basement stuff. Ash Backward: Editor Ash thinks he's a gaming comedian, and does his best to convince us all of that. Sneak Peeks (aka Previews): System Shock II The Wheel of Time Drakan: Order of the Flame Reviews (grades are given in letter scale, A-F, where A is great, and F is terrible): Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (A; Game of the Month) Resident Evil 2 Platinum (B-) Dark Vengeance (C) Thunder Brigade (C-) Magic & Mayhem (A-) Close Combat III: The Russian Front (A-) SimCity 3000 (B-) Powerslide (B) S.C.A.R.S. (C+) Top Gun: Hornet's Nest (C) Microsoft Golf 1999 Edition (C-) Pro 18 World Tour Golf (D+) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (A-) FireTeam (B+) Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest (B+) Street Fighter Alpha 2 (B) Carnivores (B-) The Browning African Safari (D-) Strategy & Tactics (Cheat codes galore): Knights & Merchants H.E.D.Z. Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus Caesar III Myth II: Soulblighter Powerslide Populous: The Beginning SiN MegaMan X3 S.C.A.R.S. Railroad Tycoon II Technobabble (PC hardware news and reviews): The 3Dfx Voodoo 3 chip Microsoft DSS 80 sound system (A-) NASCAR Super Sport racing wheel (B-) Hi-Val Third Generation DVD-ROM Kit (B+) Hardware Hall of Fame Ads (in order of appearance): Unreal Tournament Civilization: Call to Power South Park Thief: The Dark Project The Wheel of Time Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia Mech Warrior 3 F-16 Aggressor Sierra Studios releases: Half-Life / Caesar III / King's Quest: Mask of Eternity / Return to Krondor Jeff Gordon XS Racing GameDealer.com Everquest Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Clans Heavy Gear II Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor Starsiege Starsiege: Tribes Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus Army Men II Aliens vs. Predator Homeworld Magic & Mayhem SGRL Titans Sphere controller GamePro magazine subscription card Eidos games: Soul Reaver / Daikatana / Braveheart / Revenant / Warzone 2100 Odium Advent PC speakers Aureal A3D sound/audio tech Star Trek: Birth of the Federation EarthLink ISP Chips & Bits, Inc. PC Games subscription 3Dfx graphics cards Railroad Tycoon II Notable Stuff: Final issue of PC Games. This came as the result of a buy-out/merger with PC Gamer, and was not expected or foreseen in the least. None of the editors mentions that the magazine is closing up shop, and in fact it had launched a brand new monthly column in this issue for which they were actively soliciting submissions. The fur is flying fast and furious between sides in the StarCraft vs. Total Annihilation battle of the RTS's in this month's letter column. Guys, it's OK to enjoy them both. I promise. It should be pointed out that, twenty years later, very few if any of those links in "Bookmark This" will take you to a legitimate site without a trip to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The correct answer to the "Three-Dot Buzz" contest was Microprose bundling Civ II Gold with Civilization: Call to Power. Since the magazine folded up shop so soon after this issue went to press, I wonder: did anyone actually win this contest? Our very own @Areala is name-dropped in this issue, in Daniel Morris's NoEsc column. Morris suggested that if the designers of the Tomb Raider series didn't feel up to the task of layering in more mystery, more creativity, and more character into their games, that they should "Drop her a line, and maybe Tomb Raider IV will have a bit more spirit to it." Core Design never offered to procure her services as a writer for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation though. The promised Part XI of Steve Jackson's "Lionhead Diaries" never materializes due to the magazine's cancellation. If you were truly looking forward to that write-up on how Peter and his staff program AI, well, sorry about ya... "Ash Backwards" may hold the record for unintentionally-shortest-lived column in PC Games history, since it only ran for this single issue.

Departments: Editor's Note (Letter from the editor) PCGAMES.EXE (What's on that CD-ROM this month) Games.net (PC Games is now part of the Games.net family!) Incoming! (Reader letters) Gamewire: - Slippery Shooters: Why some FPS titles keep slipping release dates. Bookmark This! (Websites the editors like) The Player: To Be A Game Reviewer, Part II (Reader-submitted reviews, critiqued by Steve Klett) The Opponent: People Are Strange (The gaming community's obsession with nude codes and other assorted perversions) Face-Off (What Good Are Bad-Guy Games?) End Game (Level packs, add-ons, bundles, and other stuff for your favorite software which might be worth your time) Features: Check Six, Nine, Twelve... (The PC Games staff dishes out enough flight sim tips to take you straight to the Danger Zone) TA: Core Contingency (George T. Chronis takes a look at the newest expansion for Total Annihilation with a little help from developer Cavedog Studios) Easter Eggs (Shane Mooney reveals the gags hidden in your favorite games) Weasel's Watch (Erase Yourself in Quake II with the Eraser bot AI upgrade) PC Games "Greatest Games of All Time" Contestl Reviews: (Game title (letter grade A - F)) Worms 2 (A) Grand Theft Auto (C+) Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (B) Nightmare Creatures (B+) X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse (B-) Croc (B-) Pandemonium 2 (B-) Frogger (B+) Tanarus (B+) Descent to Undermountain (C-) Front Page Sports: Ski Racing (B-) Dungeon Keeper: The Deeper Dungeons (A-) Civ II: Fantastic Worlds (B+) Caesar's Palace (C) Hades' Challenge (B+) Microshaft Winblows 98 (B) Pictionary (C+) SCUD: Industrial Evolution (C-) Jet Moto (C) Strategy & Tactics: The first section you turned to, you cheating wanker! Excalibur 2555 A.D. F-22 Raptor FIFA '98 Diablo: Hellfire Nightmare Creatures Pandemonium 2 SCUD: Industrial Evolution Test Drive 4 Grand Theft Auto JSF: Joint Strike Fighter Technobabble: The K6 Alternative (Is AMD's competing CPU worth considering?) S.O.S. (Hardware/Software troubleshooting) Hardware Reviews: - SyQuest SparQ 1GB storage drive - Number Nine Revolution 3D card - Techmedia 3DZoneMaster controller - InterAct Cyclone 3D joystick - InterAct 3D Program Pad controller - Mediatrix Audiotrix 3D-XG sound card Ads: Unreal Dune 2000 Flesh Feast 3Dfx Vooooo 2 video cards Gunmetal Age of Empires Deathtrap Dungeon Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies Diamond Monster 3D II video card HappyPuppy.com website Star Wars: Rebellion Myth: The Fallen Lords Sanitarium Hard Ball 6 Lords of Magic Descent: Freespace Terra Victus Creative Labs Blaster Voodoo 2 sound/video card M1 Tank Platoon II Mindspring internet service provider Armor Command Army Men Burnout Championship Drag Racing Falcon Mach V PCs Air Warrior II Liberation Day Aliens Online Forsaken Battlezone ATI XpertPlay video cards Semper Fi Extreme Tactics MPlayer online network NRI Schools Computer Learning Center PC Games subscription ad US Navy enlistment ad Dominion Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo video card Notable Stuff: PC-themed magazines seem to have the worst ads-to-content ratios outside of the fashion industry. This one is no exception. I get that advertising pays the bills around the office, but come on! The ad for Forsaken is a racier version of the one which ran in console magazines of the time. According to "Bookmark This!", there once was a Diablo II fan-site run by a fellow using the handle 'Poop'. Today, it no longer exists. Part of me is fine with this. PC Games helpfully provides the Quake II Eraser bot install on their CD-ROM. Easiest way to commit digital suicide yet!