1994

Jazz Jackrabbit

Description

Jazz Jackrabbit is the PC world’s answer to Sonic the Hedgehog. In this platform game, Jazz, the hero of the rabbit planet Carrotus, must rescue the beloved rabbit princess, Eva Earlong, and defeat the leader of the turtle terrorists, Devan Shell, traveling to different planets to gather clues concerning Eva’s whereabouts while liberating them from Shell’s tyranny.

The similarity to Sonic the Hedgehog manifests itself in Jazz’s uncanny speed, and the fact it increases the more he runs. However, the rest of the gameplay mechanics are different. The game is primarily a shooter, meaning that in order to defeat his enemies, it’s not enough for Jazz to jump over their heads. Jazz starts with a blaster, but during the course of the game acquires other weapons, such as grenade launcher, flamethrower, TNT, etc. Jazz can also pick up various power-ups, including a force shield, a hoverboard that allows him to float in the air, a bird that will fight on Jazz’s side, and others. …

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X-COM – UFO Defense

Description

In the year 1998, the amount of reports of UFO sightings has been drastically increased. Stories about abductions and alien attacks became more and more widespread. Finally, after various nations of the world have failed to intercept the UFOs, their representatives met in a conference of global importance in Geneva, Switzerland. It was eventually decided to organize a secret paramilitary group, dubbed Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (X-COM). Starting with one base, two fighters, one transport, and a few soldiers, X-COM must locate the aliens, learn about their origins and technology, find out where their base is, and destroy it.

X-COM: UFO Defense is a strategy game featuring separate but interlinked elements. On the strategic side, called GeoScape, you get a rotating view of the globe, where you see all visible UFOs (those that are within your detection range) as well as major cities and your base(s). You order movements from here, such as sending out fighters to intercept UFOs, transports with soldiers to assault/recover UFOs, and perhaps assaults on alien bases (if you find any). You also control your research, as you must invent better weapons (the Terran weapons are just no match against the alien weapons) quickly, not to mention all the other cool tech you can recover from the aliens. You also need to control your budget, as you can’t afford to overextend your reach. Researchers need to be paid, engineers (who build the new toys) need to be paid, base(s) need to be be built/expanded, planes need to be bought/maintained, supplies need to be replenished, and so on. …

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Alone in the Dark 3

Description

After surviving through two encounters with the supernatural in Derceto and Hell’s Kitchen, detective Edward Carnby is ready for another round of being Alone in the Dark.

In the third game in the series, we learn that Emily Hartwood (the other main character from the original game) started a career in Hollywood movies after surviving her ordeal in Derceto. Her latest project is a spaghetti western being filmed in an abandoned western ghost town called Slaughter Gultch, which rests precariously on the edge of the San Andreas fault. Originally a gold town set up rather rudely on ancient Indian sacred ground, Slaughter Gultch was founded by a man named Jebediah Stone and run by his own private army of cold-blooded killers. Stone and his men were killed by angry villagers led by the local Blacksmith, and the town was abandoned soon after. Unfortunately, Emily’s crew disturbs the spirits of Stone and his men, who promptly return to the world of the living and proceed to kill off the film crew one by one.

Carnby is called to Slaughter Gultch after learning of the disappearance of Emily and her crew, and is soon met by Stone’s Zombie Cowboy gang. Armed with various western paraphenalia such as colt peacemakers, bullwhips, and even a gatling gun, Carnby must fight his way through Stone’s minions and discover Emily’s fate. Along the way he learns some surprising things about Stone’s origin, as well as a sinister plan interrupted by his death which involved the destruction of the west coast and which Stone can now pursue once again. …

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NASCAR Racing

Description

In Papyrus’ third racing game, the focus is moved from open-wheeled cars (IndyCar Racing) to closed-cockpit Nascar stock cars. 640×480 is the highest resolution on offer, on the CD-ROM version.

Nascar Racing is a detailed simulation with realistic car models, accurate controls and room for a distinct racing style. Nine tracks are featured, the Watkins Glen road course alongside oval racing. You have full control over the car’s set up and paint job.

To reach a wide audience, various driving aids are available, such as auto-shifting and auto-braking. Races can be fine-tuned with the amount of laps. …

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Micro Machines

Description

If you’re bored of racing Formula 1 cars, rally cars or MotoGP bikes in their natural habitats, the Micro Machines series could be for you. It involves racing miniatures representing particular vehicle types across a particular terrain found around the house. The Sports Cars race on the desktop, 4x4s in the sandpit, Formula 1 cars on a snooker table, and so on.

These levels were packed with variation. The Snooker tables has the track painted on, although this is open to deviation (as are most levels), and had you racing through the pockets and across the rim of the table. Tanks raced as well, with the chance of shooting out your opponent if they got directly in front of you. The desktop levels include binders to jump across, pencil-sharpeners to avoid, and lots of visual jokes in the open homework.

Viewed from overhead with small graphics, the races include up to 4 cars. In one player challenge mode you race through the 21 tracks in a set order, selecting your 3 opponents as you go along (adding a fair amount of strategy – ideally you should aim to eliminate the better CPU cars early on), eliminating one after every third race (assuming that you can finish in the top 2 of a race within your 3 lives). If you win 3 races in a row without using a continue you get a time-trial race which can earn you an extra life. …

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SimTower

Description

Maxis takes their Sim-building line vertical with SimTower, an original concept from Japan (where vertical living is much more commonplace than in many parts of the world).

Your goal is to build a skyscraper that is both tall, aesthetically pleasing, popular, and, most importantly, economically profitable. To be successful, your building cannot just be endless levels of office space or purely an apartment sky-rise, but rather a multi-functional haven for humanity featuring everything from penthouses to theatres, restaurants to shopping malls. The centerpiece of your tower design is your elevators and proper management is key.

You can watch your Sims enter and leave your grand tower, getting impatient waiting for elevators, or having a hectic workday at the office. You can even train in on one or two, to serve as a metering stick for their compatriots, or just to peek into the average workday of the little people living in your building. Or watch the security and rescue crews race as disasters like bomb threats and fires rampage through your well-crafted skyscraper. …

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SimHealth

Description

SimHealth has a rather serious subject matter: the debate in the summer of 1994 over what kind of health care system the United States should have.

The player gets the usual godlike power, being able to choose what proposals to adopt and even what assumptions should be in the underlying mathematical models (an especially good thing, since many of the models turned out to be so very wrong). …

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