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This month in... The One for Amiga '91

Mike Keith

News

The European Computer Entertainment show was on, then off, then back on.

Editor Ciaran Brennan pondered the dearth of releases for this time of year. Were publishers simply holding them for Christmas? Judging by the slew of previews and announcements it certainly looked like there was plenty on the way.

French developer Delphine were touting their new animation system, Cinematique. The first game to utilise it would be "Another World".

Bullfrog were making a break from publisher Electronic Arts in order to give it a go themselves. EA would have "Populous 2" and "Bob" (code name for what I assume would become "Syndicate"), but everything after would be handled by the Guildford developer. Although, of course, things didn't quite work out like that.

Piracy was rampant, and a startup called Addware hoped they might have the solution. Users would be encouraged to copy and distribute the games, and there would be potential prizes for those who complete them. All seemed rather naive and I can't say I recall hearing anything more about them.

Anco teamed up with joystick manufacturer Euromax with two button support being included in the upcoming "Kick Off 3" and "Tip Off", their take on basketball.

Trevor Scott reckoned there hadn't been a "decent sports simulation on 16-bit machines in years", and that his team's "International Sports Challenge" would remedy this.

New publishers seemed to cropping up all over, this month saw Vulture Publishing appear with "Siegemaster" as their launch title (unreleased).

The One apologised for a pricing error in a previous issue: "Head Over Heels" on the Hit Squad label was £7.99, not £9.99.

Harrogate/York based Nirvana Systems were looking for a programmer to work on their next 16bit game.

After their recent merger with The Disc Company, Activision announced their line up for Autumn: "Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye"(unreleased) and "Bush buck".

There were three new joysticks on the way from Product 2000: the Microjet, Superjet and Megajet.

German software house Starbyte were bringing their range of games to the UK: "Crown", "Lords of Doom", "Crime Time", "Spirit of Adventure" and "The Return of Medusa".

Domark's software team The Kremlin were bringing back a classic with "Super Space Invaders".

The 25th anniversary of Star Trek was approaching and Electronic Arts were planning a game combining a "Wing Commander style flight simulator and a Sierra-style adventure".

New releases from Rainbow Arts had been few and far between recently, but the German publisher had three titles on the way: "Fate - Gates of Dawn", "Transatlantic" (unreleased?) and "Centerbase".

US company Kesmai had developed a flight sim that would allow up to 40 pilots take on each other with their dialup service.

Features

On this month's coverdisk:

Developer profiles:

  • Shaun Southern
  • Henri Coron
  • Steve Screech

Piracy was rife on the Amiga and The One talked to a few of the people in charge of combatting it.

A software landmarks map of the UK showing the location of the major games industry players. There were 13 listed for London alone, and 28 outside the capital (all but one were in England).

Gary Bracey listed five games that would make his ideal compilation: "Sim Earth", "Manic Miner", "F-29 Retaliator", "Valhalla", "The Zork Trilogy" and "PGA Tour Golf".

This month's Arcade section focussed on Virtual Reality.

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Rise of the Dragon" Dynamix - 92% "The Blade Runner influence is evident throughout (apart, even, from the main character's name), with dark and moody streets and neon-lit signs everywhere - and it makes for a very believable setting. "
  • "MiG 29M Super Fulcrum" Domark - 85% "However, the fact remains that - apart from its predecessor - there's nothing else quite like it: it's nice to see a politically neutral flight sim for once and if you're after a technically impressive flying experience Soviet-style, MiG 29M is hard to beat."
  • "King's Quest V" Sierra On-Line - 90% "Plotwise, it's pretty intelligent and the puzzle logic well-balanced, allowing experienced adventurers to have a run for their money, while not putting the younger player off."
  • "Big Business" Magic Bytes - 81% "Magic Bytes could quite easily have gone overboard with menus, statistics and operators, but has instead decided to limit your workload and add to the humour."
  • "Alien Breed" Team 17 - 90% "Alien Breed is a classy product, very professional and very enjoyable."
  • "Silent Service II" MicroProse - 90% "If you have some patience and enjoy in-depth games then try this: you'll be hard-pressed to find an experience as long-lasting and engrossing as this one."
  • "Lotus Turbo Challenge 2" Gremlin - 91% "This is easily the best 3D road driving game on the market and highly recommended whether you're a Lotus fan or not."
  • "Zone Warrior" Electronic Arts - 92% "When you get down to brass tacks, Zone Warrior is a healthy mix of extremely playable action and just the right amount if thought. Oh - and the music is incredible!"
  • "World Class Rugby" Audiogenic - 87% "A must for devotees of the sport and well recommended to the rest of you into the bargain."
  • "Wild Wheels" Ocean - 84% "Wild Wheels isn't going to keep anyone glued to the screen for hours on end, but it is going to bring them back again and again for short blasts. Which is more than can be said for a lot of games these days."
  • "Final Fight" US Gold - 80% "That said though, the computer version is a good blast in its own right, the graphics are great and the music and sound effects top notch, and it's action all the way."

Charts

  1. "Manchester United Europe" Krisalis
  2. "The Secret of Monkey Island" Lucasfilm
  3. "Thunderhawk" Core