'Back
in Time' is a monthly feature where we look back at the classic video
gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. Following the relocation
of the Back in Time offices, the April 1992 edition has been delayed
somewhat. However, it is better late than never as we continue our trip
through the classic videogaming magazines from 20 years ago.
This month saw the final appearances of two very influential titles.
Games wise, PC gamers were beginning to see their platform taken
seriously with a sleuth of class titles being released, including Ultima
Underworld, D/Generation
and Star
Trek
25th Anniversary to name
just three...
|
 |
“The
End… this issue marks
the end of the swirling
vortex of atoms and ideas known as ACE magazine,” began the
editorial from the last ever issue. “And why, exactly, has
this happened? Alas, it’s just a reality of the ever-changing
blink-and-you’ve-missed-it world of leisure computing and the
magazines which feed of it… Settle back and enjoy the issue.
You won’t see its like again.”
The latest PC RPG from Origin had arrived in the form of Ultima
Underworld: The Stygianabyss
and came away wit a two thousand
word
review full of praise and an overall rating of 938.
“Stunning” opened the review by David Upchurch, as
he summed up the game in one word. “Underworld
grips right
from the start,” stated David. “Ultima Underworld
is a real knock-you-down game. At first it is truly hard to believe
that it’s running on a standard home computer. It’s
not only great to look at, but it also plays superbly and has enough
depth to keep even the most experienced dungeon-delving veteran going
for months…
D/Generation,
a
puzzle/arcade game on the PC, secured a fairly decent
rating of 885. The game’s futuristic plot involved a major
accident at a biological weapons lab which resulted in the entire
research complex being taken over, with the scientists inside now held
hostage by their own freakish creations. “Harking back to old
8-bit isometric puzzle classics like Knight
Lore and Get
Dexter,” wrote Gary
Whitta on D/Generation’s
gameplay and style. “Marred only slightly by the sometimes
fiddly controls which can, at times, be very frustrating,”
continued Gary. “One of the better isometric games, and
should come as a particular joy to PC gamers fed up with high-brow
simulations and adventures…”
The issue’s cover game, Star
Trek 25th Anniversary,
received
a fitting rating of 940 and completed the PC domination this month. The
arcade adventure from Electronic Arts was praised by Gary Whitta for
its episodic style gameplay. “Probably the game’s
single most inventive aspect, both in terms of gameplay and as a device
for emulating the feel of the show,” commented Gary.
“Normally, adventures leave me cold. I don’t have
anything like the patience and logical insight required to play them,
but Star
Trek’s
user-friendliness and terrific atmosphere had
me – and the rest of the office – under its spell
from the moment the first few bars of the opening music made the hairs
on the back of my neck stand on end.”
In this month’s feature called The New Originals, Steve Kelly
and Dan Malone from the Bitmap Brothers take the challenge of
re-writing their own favourite classic: Atari’s Tempest.
What
kind of improvements would the guys have? How about a whole set of new
enemies with better AI? A plethora of weapons and power ups? Improved
visuals with solid vector graphics? With the impressive looking
screenshots of the game’s design, it looked like a game with
potential.
And so that was that. All good things come to and end and ACE’s
unique
blend of reviews, interview and features had
indeed come to an end. The magazine that was influential and whose
importance in the videogaming magazine history may have gone by
unnoticed by many ended after 55 issues.” Thanks for your
contribution to the games magazine scene, ACE.
Your legacy lived on
long after you were gone.
|
|
Issue 125 of CVG
highlighted
the Neo
Geo futuristic sports game Soccer
Brawl on its front cover,
with a
glowing ‘CVG Hit’ 91 rating two-page spread inside.
As with most futuristic sports games at the time, think Speedball
on
the football pitch and you’re there. “Whilst the
graphics are so so and sound pretty good,” commented Tim
Boone, “the game itself grabs you by the throat and refuses
to let go until you’ve proved yourself against everybody else
of damn near died trying!” Paul Rand added that
“one player is enjoyable enough, but grab a pal and that
ridiculous price tag doesn’t seem too bad.”
The news section was full of special reports with the Home Virtuality
Kit, the Holostar 2000, first up. Next up was the first blueprint
images of the forthcoming Super NES CD-ROM and the first look at the
Philips Cdi.
Battletoads
arrived on the NES side-scrolling
beat-‘em-up scene to take on the turtles and succeeded with a
rating of 91. “The Battletoads
aren’t exactly original,
but they are funny and they do make for a fungame,” said
Frank O’Connor. “Rare, the company who designed the
game, have been responsible for some of the greatest NES titles ever
and
this is no exception.”
Parodius,
Konami’s wacky shooter on the PC
Engine racked up a score of 90. “Once again, the PC Engine
comes up trumps, this time with a hilarious but extremely challenging
shoot-‘em-up,” stated Paul Rand. “After Gradius on
the Engine, excitement reached fever pitch when we heard Parodious
was
coming in,” added Tim Boone, “and
it’s fulfilled all our expectations.”
Other games of note this month included Star Trek 25th Anniversary
(93,
PC), The
Manager (91, Amiga), Jackie
Chan’s
Action Kung Fu
(90, NES), WWF
Wrestle Mania
(90, SNES), Ninja Gaiden
(89,
PC Engine), Teenage Mutant Hero
Turtles II (88, NES), Exhaust
Heat (88, SNES), Super Tetris
(89,
PC), Super
Off Road (89,
SNES) and Kid
Chameleon (80,
Mega Drive). |
|
“Crash
into SU!!”
ran the headline of the two page spread advert within issue 98 of Crash.
“Unbelievable, but true,” continued the ad.
“From next month Crash
is joining forces with Sinclair User
to become the known universe’s ultimate in Spectrum magazine
entertainment.” In reality this meant that, a mere two issues
from its centenary issue, Crash
was being handed over to rival
publishers EMAP in a backroom deal involving the swapping of titles.
The world’s first true videogaming magazine was being thrown
away by the publisher’s parent company, Europress
Interactive, as if it were an old piece of meat. Obviously, this was a
late decision, as the issue read as normal with no mention of it being
the final issue or any obvious goodbyes.
So what did Crash
have in
store for its unknowing know finale? Well, Ocean
Software’s platform hijinks conversion of the hit film, The
Addams Family, provided a
fitting ‘Crash Smash’
game worthy of 91% . “The
Addams Family’s
rumoured to
be the last Ocean release for the Speccy,” commented Lucy
Hickman. “If this is true they certainly know how to go out
on a winner – this game’s a must for
anyone’s collection.”
Danny
Duster’s
Dirty Deeds seemed to be the
surprise release
of the month, covering three pages and gaining a 98% ‘Crash
Smash’ rating. Flashsoft’s clean-‘em-up
revolved around a Sponge Bob Squarepants look-a-like called Danny and
his cleaning exploits around various locations. “Dirty Deeds
is a real challenge,” stated Nick Roberts.
“It’s instantly playable, totally addictive and
oozes originality. Flashpoint have a sure fire winner on their hands.
It’s worthy of more than a CRASH Smash!”
Ocean’s tie-in with the forthcoming movie, RoboCop 3,
also
put up a respectable showing with 89. “Another excellent game
from Ocean,” wrote Nick. “To silence the
‘Oh no, it’s more of the same’ brigade,
the boys have included a great new jetpack section that takes some
getting used to but is great fun to play.” Also within
scoring reach was the SAM Coupe version of Manic Miner,
which managed a
respectable 88%.
With the next month page unknowingly informing us of the next issue, we
all knew that this was the end. Denied of its 100th issue by a couple
of months, Crash
was
discarded with only its logo appearing on the next
few issues of Sinclair User.
A sad way for any magazine to go, but
especially so for Crash,
which was undeniably the spiritual father of
many videogaming magazines that we had read since it first appeared
back in 1984. If it weren’t for Crash,
we would probably have
still been reading stuffy magazines filled with type-ins, technical
jargon, programming and such. Crash,
Roger, Oli, Franco, thank you for
the memories. |
|
It had now been a full year
of Amiga
Power and in issue 12, Bub
and Bob were back in Parasol Stars
with
their usual platforming capers. Stuart Campbell was suitably impressed
and awarded the game 88%. “A gorgeous arcade game, right up
at the top of the league alongside Rodland
and all the rest, but
it’s just not quite the universe-beater you were hoping
for.”
In the Titus
the Fox review,
both Stuart Campbell and Mark Ramshaw
commented back and forth on the 88% rated platformer from Titus.
“So, final scores on the doors for you, Stuart. Did the Earth
Move?” asked Mark. “Are you kidding? I thought I
was playing in Sensurround ™,” replied Stuart.
“I’m not sure if I’d rate it as a
classic,” countered Mark, “but for instant kicks, I
reckon Titus
is really up
there with Parasol
Stars.”
In ‘Year of the Owl’, Mark Ramshaw visited the home
of Psygnosis to find out more about the 16-bit software company: the
people, their games, past, present and future. Mark also found time to
speak to one of the company’s directors, Ian Hetherington,
about Psygnosis, Imagine Software, Shadow
of the Beast, Lemmings,
piracy, Sonic
the Hedgehog,
CD formats, Virtual Reality, the future of
Psygnosis and more.
Vroom
from Ubi
Soft drove a good race and also finished on the podium
of game highlights this month with a decent 88%. “Faster than
F1
GP,”
explained Stuart, “more playable than Lotus
Turbo Challenge 2, prettier
than Outrun
Europa and a sillier name
than Super
Hang-On,
this is a winner all the way – perhaps the
best all-round traditional driving game yet.”
Elsewhere, there were respectable efforts from Space Crusade
(85%), Go
(80%), Dyna
Blaster Bomberman
(83%) and Chess
Champion 2175
(80%). |
|
Sega
Force the
forth
showcased plenty of Sega gaming action from all main formats: Mega
Drive, Master System and Game Gear. News wise, there was interesting
developments in the remote controllers for the Mega Drive. Plus, the
Wondermega – a Mega Drive/Mega-CD combo unit – was
due for
release in Japan with a look at the machine’s specs and
games.
The surprise game of the month surely went to Electronic
Arts’ Where in Time is Carmen
Sandiego? The time traveling
investigative
educational adventure was a breath of fresh air amongst the mass of
platformers, shoot-‘em-ups and sports titles. Paul Mellerick
obviously thought so as well and promptly awarded the game the highest
Force rating yet of 96%. “The first thing that strikes you
about Carmen
Sandiego is
the presentation,” commented Paul.
“It’s brilliantly laid out and structured and great
to
control. The system’s very RPG but icon based and simple to
get
to grips with... I only hope this standard of Edutainment title is
maintained.”
It was Pac-Man
time on all
Sega formats as Ms Pac-Man,
Pac-Mania
and Pac-Man
were
released on the Master System, Mega Drive and Game Gear
respectively. Marshal Rosenthal playtested all games, giving Ms Pac-Man
93% and Pac-Mania
92%.
“Instantly playable and the degree of
difficulty is just right,” Adrian said of the Mega Drive
game.
“Ms
Pac-Man is terrific
fun,” enthused Adrian. “The
game really pushes the two-player option to the limit. An incredibly
addictive game, fast, furious and well worthy of its
accolade.”
Paul took to the Gulf as the classic EA shooter Desert Strike
flew in
on the Mega Drive for a rating of 92%. “Desert Strike
is a very
original production and incredibly well put together. Each
mission’s a tough challenge but persevere –
it’s
never impossible. One of EA’s best games.” Adrian
agreed
and stated that “the Mega Drive’s sadly lacked a
good
challenging, strategy-based, shoot-‘em-up, but Desert Strike
grabs the genre by the scruff of the neck and makes it its
own.”
Kid
Chameleon
(82%, Mega Drive), Winter Challenge
(80%, Mega Drive), Marble Madness
(82%, Mega Drive), Wonderboy V:
Monster
World III (84%, Mega Drive)
and Halley
Wars (82%,
Game Gear). |
 |
All the intellectual property rights related to the works presented on this site belong to their respective owners.
This site is strictly created for the purpose of preservation and education.
Follow us on Mastodon to get the latest updates as they go live as well as daily magazine articles:
 |
|
