SCANNER
Games and Internet
PLAYSTATION Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter
(Capcom) £39.99 * ‘k k t *
The trtle says rt all really. Thrs rs another 20 head-to-head frghtrng game from the Capcom stable and has all the huge cartoon graphrcs, explosrve combos and mind-bogglrng specral moves of rts srblrngs. The gameplay :5 Irghtnrng fast, thumb-numbrngly relentless and as good a two player experrence as you c0u|d want.
There are also a bunch of new features to successfully crank up the playabrlrty. YOu now choose two characters to play wrth, a marn one who frghts as normal and a second tag team companron who can be called upon to delrver a crunchrng blow on y0ur behalf Thrs works beautrfully and allows yOur pnmary character to garn a lrttle recovery trme whrle strll damagrng youropponent
There's also a Cross-Over Mode whrch allows for some great two player tag team battles, as well as a range of other modes and optrons thCh wrll keep even the most hardened beat 'em up addrct occupred for a good long whrle, Wrth Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter, Capcom have whetted the appetrte for Street Fighter Alpha 3 strll further. (ID)
T PIT 41 CGY
100 m: usr 19—27 :'."'ay 1999
e~mailzscanner@list.co.uk
PC Wild Metal Country (Gremlin) £34.99 * * at *
Scottish games developers DMA are really making a name for themselves. From the horribly addictive Lemmings to the addictiver horrible Grand Theft Auto, they seem to enjoy producing games that are different from the norm. Whether this attitude arises from living in Dundee is anyone's guess, but DMA do seem to break the mould more than most.
On face value their latest release, Wild Metal Country, appears to be a much more straightforward game. Choose a rumbling, big barrelled tank and take part in a series of search and destroy missions. Collect
all the flashing power cores from that level and progress to the next. And that's about it. Enemies increase in number and ferocity and the weapons get wilder but, essentially, the gameplay never changes. However, the more you play, the more you realise the thought that has gone into this. The physics of the gameworld are excellent. Race your tank recklessly over hillocks and you'll flip it. If you can’t reach a power core, hit it with a shell and watch it roll down toward you. The Artificial Intelligence of the enemy is great and gives the game a strangely organic feeling. A carefully placed shell can have your opponent spinning his tracks in the air like an upturned beetle. The tanks are steered with forward and back controls for each track which
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(lain Davidson)
A quirk Sherman: Wild Metal Country
takes a good deal of getting used to, but master it and you will have a hundred tonnes of steel pirouetting at your fingertips. Turret elevation is easily controlled with the fire button, so hiding behind a hill and lobbing cones of death at your enemy quickly becomes great
Unfortunately, the massive arenas are far too open and barren, with many uneventful hours passing as you circle the landscape, endlessly searching for that final power core. Wild Metal Country will be a big hit on multiplay but, for the single player, the clever detailing is obscured by gameplay which quickly becomes repetitive. Very smart in almost all the right places.
Actua Ice Hockey 2 (Gremlin) £39.99 * t it
As you would expect from the Actua team, therr second Ice hockey trtle rs as slrck as a Vaselrne salesman on roller skates. There are a huge number of statrstrcs and play optrons to trnker wrth, as well as the abrlrty to trade members of your team roster. The game Itself rs speedy and easy to control, wrth an rdrot-proof shrne on the normally hard to follow puck. lnterestrngly, there are also a c0up|e of
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For pucks sake: Actua Ice Hockey 2
Mogwar tracks on the soundtrack.
If yOu own the new NHL 99 game there rs no real reason to buy thrs. Gremlrn do not have the nghts to NHL, so rt masses that all-Important feelrng of authentrcrty. They are also reduced to makrng poor puns on team names, whrch gurckly grates Wrth the Ice hockey arena so congested, thrs rs the type of detarl whrrh separates the multrtude of srmrlar trtles Actua Ice Hockey 2 rs a decent enough game but lacks the x-factor whrch demands purchase. (ID)
Street Skater (Electronic Arts) £34.99 9 rr 9 Street Skater rs a mrsleadrng name. Yes, you pop ollres and pull grrnds on a chOIce of skateboards, but thrs rs very rarely done on a street Graffrtr-spraycml bowls, vertrgo-rnducrng ramps and neon half-prpes all play therr part but, rgnorrng the frrst hundred yards of the frrst course, wheel never touches pavement. You can't bu/z pedestrrans, dodge cars or hang around lookrng cool rn stuprd trousers. Is that not what street skating rs all about7
That nrggle asrde, Street Skater rs a fun trtle wnh some great tOuches lt rs very short, wrth only three courses to rrde, but as you complete them wrth brgger and bigger scores, gates open allowrng access to new areas The 200 trucks avarlable Will be accomplrshed pretty gurckly, although most are glorrously unrealrstrc and draw a smrle
when you frrst see them The musrc rs great wrth some top hardcore punk tunes, and the abrlrty to rmprove y0ur skater, race after race, rs a nrce touch. Street Skater Suffers dreadfully from rts lack of cOurses and as such does not really constrtute a good purchase However, It makes a great weekend rent from your local vrdeo shop. (lD) Big Air (Accolade) £34.99 9' r The Quote on the back of the box reads, '30 unrgue cowses I" Sax rnter'rateona: iocatrons Hot icensec: boards and gear and an amazing sotrndtrack of ska (il‘tl punk that wzl' have you groovIng a': the way down the oste’ There may wel' be 30 courses, but I defy anyone to persevere through the shockrng (ontros, average graphics and moo-exzste'rt collrsron detectron to reach them ali Granted, there are a stack of boards and a \rvarehouse of clothes wrth wh'c“. to eouro your boarder, but these detafls tend to get lost every tune your v'ev. .s obstructed by the poorly defined “Ii? yOL. gust bumbied over The soundtrack would be amazrng the events \‘r'eree't so short that you only hear a song for 21 2 seconds. As for groovzeg all the way down the ouste, the only (}'()0V:t".g mil be car tyres spm'ung or‘. grave? drives when everyone rushes back to the shop to plead for a re‘urrd Big Air rs what you should keep betwee.n thrs game and your PlayStator‘ 1|D*