Number 29 Jun/Jul 1986 FEATURES Battlegroup Mech Brigade 10 Twice More With Feeling Jay Selover Psi 5 Trading Company 16 A Review Johnny Wilson Macintosh Window 18 A New Column Frank Boosman Battle of the Atlantic 22 A Review William Harrington Universe II 24 Playtester Overview (The Perils of Playtesting) Mark Bausman Island of Kesmai 30 Telecommunication Gaming Patricia Fitzgibbons DEPARTMENTS Taking A Peek 5 Screen Photos and Brief Comments Scorpion's Tale 12 Borrowed Time Tips Scorpia Sports Scoreboard 32 Golf Gaines Rick Teverbaugh Over There 34! British Games Leslie Bunder Strategically Speaking 36 Strategy Game Tips Micro Reviews 37 Countdown to Shutdown Moebius Norway 1985 Clash of Wills Adventures In Flesh The Black Death Make Millions Reader Input Device 47 Game Ratings 48 100 Games Rated Activision format to the Male program, teen-channel, three-verse Drawer 7287 but with (obviously) different score which can be channeled Mountain View, CA 94039 life choices to make. Dr. through an electronic key- 800-227-9759 Favaro visited CGW recently board (such as the Casio and we were impressed with CZ101) for maximum audio GAMEMAKER: By Garry the depth of research that performance. An extremely Kitchen. NOT a game, rather went into these programs. powerful micro-based music a collection of design tools They are unique, fascinating, composition program. that allow you to create your thought-provoking and en- C64/128, Atari 800 ($34.95), own game. Included are mod- joyable to play. Be aware that IBM, Amiga, ST ($59.95). ules to create graphics and there is a parental discretion Circle Reader # 4 . animation, music and sound advisory for the games, based effects. All commands needed on the sexually explicit mate- Avalon Hill to generate a game program rial covered. The sexual ma- 4517 Harford Road are accessible via joystick. terial is NOT gratuitous, it is Baltimore, MD 21214 Can be used to create games, handled in a mature and real- 301-254-9200 animated commercials and istic manner. C64, Apple, SPITFIRE 40: A combination cartoons. C64/128, Apple. IBM, Mac. Circle Reader # 3 Circle Reader # 2. flight simulator and game, based on the classic British ALTER EGO (Female): The THE MUSIC STUDIO: A tool fighter. The instrument panel distaff version of Dr. Favaro's kit for comprehensive music is an exact replica of the fine role-playing simulation composition, ranging from a Mark I Spitfire and the com- (the Male version was peeked simple tune played on the puter plane handles like the in CGW #27). Identical in computer to an elaborate fif- real thing. Your flight log is saved to disk and the simula- Electronic Arts quite funny and would be a tor becomes more realistic 1820 Gateway Drive welcome addition to a sophis- (and Germans more difficult San Mateo, CA 94404 ticate's party. IBM. ($34.95). to kill) as your flight time 415-571-7171 Circle Reader # 7. increases. The second portion of the program is a solitaire MIND MIRROR: Created by Epyx or multi-player game. Your Dr. Timothy "Relic of the 1043 Kiel Court mission is to shoot down as 60's" Leary! Yep, the Guru of Sunnyvale, CA 94089 many enemy planes as possi- LSD himself. The game is 408-745-0700 ble before you run out of described as a "mental aware- WORLD'S GREATEST lives or ammunition. C64/128 ness" program. Possibly for BASEBALL GAME: An en- ($35). Circle Reader # 5 . those of us who are unaware hanced version of a previously of our mental. The most in- released game. This model al- Bobco teresting aspect of the pro- lows you to recruit and man- 200 7th Avenue, Suite 111 gram is the Life Simulations age your own All-Star team Santa Cruz, CA 95062 section. You are presented against any of 75 various with a series of situations and teams. Includes improved WORLD GEOGRAPHY: Ed- asked to respond to each one graphics, the ability to trade ucational game designed to through the eyes of your players from team to team, teach information about 175 subject. Successful navigation stats from selected All-Star countries in the world. The through a series of such situ- and World Series teams and a graphics are excellent but the ations allows access to the scoreboard with trivia ques- educational value is somewhat subject's Home Zone and a tions between innings. The limited. The same five ques- new series of situations. The managerial options are a bit tions are asked about each situations are irreverent and limited but this is a nice ad- country (capital, currency, thought-provoking. The gen- dition to the roster of stat- etc). Bonus questions deal eral goal of MM is similar to based baseball games. with identifying country flags. Alter Ego, but the execution C64/128, Apple, IBM. ($24.95 C64. Circle Reader # 6 . falls short of Alter Ego's. It is to $34.95). Circle Reader # 8 . Firebird Licensees Inc PO Box 49 Ramsey, NJ 07446 201-934-7373 SUPER SILVER DISK series: A raft of inexpensive imports from England. Each disk contains two arcade and/or graphic adventure games. Ones we've received include Gerry the Germ, Microcosm, Rasputin, Chicken Chase, Booty, Cylu, Underwurlde, Sabre Wulf, Willow Pattern and Chimera. C64/128. ($13.95). Circle Reader # 9. Gessler Educational Software 900 Broadway New York, NY 10003-1291 212-673-3113 MICRO-SCRABBLE: Plus de 20,000 mots. Avec Ms vous allez pouvoir jouer seul ou en famille au Scrabble, en util- isant votre micro-ordinateur pour simuler de 1 a 4 joueurs. If you can read the above then you will likely be very interested in this game, which is Scrabble in French. The instructions are in both En- glish and French. C64. Circle Reader #10. GBA CHAMPIONSHIP BAS- KETBALL: TWO ON TWO: A computer basketball simula- tion which emphasizes team- work. You have control of two players and can play practice sessions, games against a friend, one player vs computer, two players versus computer or league competi- tion with the 23 teams in- cluded on the disk. C64/128. ($34.95). Circle Reader #11. Kinemation Four Winds Road PO Box 3076 Peterborough, NH 03458 800-535-5665 INTRIGUE: A humorous il- lustrated text adventure. To solve the mystery, you talk with the characters and search around Washington, DC. There are thousands of varia- tions so the game is different each time, with three diffi- culty levels. One to four peo- ple can play. Comes with a money-back guarantee (nice touch). C64/128, Apple. ($29.95). Circle Reader #12. Mindscape 3444 Dundee Road Northbrook, IL 60062 312-480-7667 INFILTRATOR: Animated graphic adventure by Chris Gray. You are a helicopter ace who must fly through enemy air space and reach strategic targets. Three mis- sions with increasing diffi- culty. Includes a realistic he- licopter flight simulation and military ground missions. Good graphics. C64/128. ($29.95). Circle Reader #13. SHADOWFIRE: Real-time graphics adventure. Icons for giving commands to your team of six Enigma agents. Good use of window tech- niques and a nice touch of humor to the generic adven- ture scenario. C64/128. Circle Reader #14. A VIEW TO A KILL: A James Bond interactive fiction adventure. Full sentence parser. If you like James Bond, if you like text adven- tures, then give this one a try. Apple 64K. Circle Reader #15 STEPHEN KING, THE MIST: An interactive fiction, text adventure based on the popu- lar horror thriller by Stephen King. A fog has descended on the familiar city of Bridgton. You must fight the beasties of the Mist and discover the se- crets of the Arrowhead pro- ject. Apple 64K. Circle Reader #16. RadarSoft US A.C.K. Inc. 655 John Muir Drive, E411 San Francisco, CA 94132 415-239-5357 ENDLESS: Arcade adventure. Your mission is take your su- per powerful helicopter on a mission to destroy a creature from a distant galaxy that has invaded Earth. 500 screens. C64/128. ($39.50). Circle Reader #17. FLOYD THE DROID: Icon driven arcade adventure. Your mission is to clean out the sewers of six major cities, aided by Floyd . You must deal with the rats, alligators and hoodlums dwelling in the sewers. C64/128. ($39.50). Circle Reader #18. Twice More With Feeling by Jay Selover Battlegroup Gary Grigsby seems to do everything in threes. After designing the highly acclaimed Guadalcanal Campaign, he produced two more games in the & Mech same mold (Bomb Alley and North Atlantic '86). Now, he has followed up his Kampfgruppe design Brigade with two additional titles; Mech Brigade and Bat- tlegroup. Kampfgruppe has been one of the most highly praised computer wargames yet, and has consistently nested at the top of the Computer Gaming World "Reader Input Ratings". Its two progeny may not explore too much new ground in game design, but they do allow aficionado of other military specialties access to Gary's excellent de- sign. the turn, moving each unit towards its destination For those who have not played the original and firing each unit with a fire order. Kampfgruppe, it is a tactical/operational recreation If it seems like I'm taking a lot of space de- of combat on the East Front during World War II. scribing Kampfgruppe it is because most of it It is tactical in that each man and vehicle is ac- transfers directly to the two following games. The counted for. But it is operational in that the player scale of the units and map are the same, the game thinks in terms of platoons and companies. The mechanics are the same, and the general course of typical scenario in Kampfgruppe covers about an play is the same.