Preview of the upcoming games for the Sony Playstation
This is an original article from 1996. The text includes previews about Warhawk, Twisted Metal, Desire Evil, DOOM, Destruction Derby and a few other games
News & Views
A friend/customer of mine who works for a video games publication geared for retailers was generous enough to send me a video tape with previews taken from various games at the Sony party in New York during the launch, and another show out of London where a few upcoming Saturn games were being exposed. Here's a rundown of most of the highlights on the video.
MORTAL KOMBAT III - No matter what GameFan says about the morph problem with what-his-face, this game is major GREAT! Nope, who cares if it wasn't the biggest money-maker of the three in the coin-op, the Plastation version will blow you way. Oh, for the blood-thirsty crowd, this version has more than enough! The sound is crystal clear - and makes the game THAT much better than all previous installments of this series. There's nothing better then upper-cutting your opponent through the roof of a room, only to continue the battle on the next floor - and with the Playstation's speed - you're sure to get a head-rush! I was able to see one of the "Animalities" on the video (Jaws-like death scene), and at that moment, I wanted MK3 even more (and I'm not the biggest fighting fan out there mind you).
WARHAWK - A definite contender for game-of-the-year. The 3-D is silk-smooth, and the missions go from Egyptian-like cities, to dark, lightning-charged skies past towers - and through claustrophobic, 3-D trenches. The laser blasts are visually impressive, and the multiple views will have you drooling..Picture Panzer Dragoon & ShockWave rolled into one - and fueled to a newer level. Don't wait a second to grab this baby when it hits in mid-October.
TWISTED METAL - Another possible hit - and far better-looking than the compressed video demo we've seen on the CD that comes packed with the US Sony. Choose from a number of different vehicles (e.g., pick-up truck, ice-cream truck, motorcycle, old Chevy, etc..) and blast your way around parks, through hockey rinks, down city streets, and other scenarios. Full 360 degree control has you ramming into buildings, knocking over pedestrians (sick), and launching your vehicle over ramps and other obstacles. Watch cars smoke, loose tires, and skid out into wasted hunks of burning trash. With the upcoming Combat Cable - this game has to be a major rush (coming October).
DOOM - OK, good and bad news....
Bad news: looks no different than the PC version (e.g., colors, textures, details). Actually, the resolution looks a tiny bit lower. Good news: moves like a damn Pentium, and has newer sounds & music that don't sound like an emulated Sound Blaster (thank god). Overall, it's Doom so I did reach for the fast-forward button on my VCR out of pure impatience to see something NEW..
RESIDENT EVIL - Capcom breaks away (for the moment)
from the fighting genre to present us with a 3-d haunted-house adventure which copies the style of Alone in the Dark, yet - goes WAY beyond. Beautifully-rendered rooms, and the main character (detective?) is made up of nicely-textured polys, as detailed as the fighters in Toshinden. The few monsters I was able to see were impressive to say the leastt. Zombies move slowly and limp around with blood-stained clothes - moaning and groaning 'till you BLAST the hell out of 'em with your shotgun. They get close - they BITE, and your character spurts blood. You nail a zombie in the head, he falls back for a second...then continues to attack (anyone see the classic "Night of the living Dead"?) Finally you wreck him, you walk past the dead (again) body - and WHAM- he comes alive and grabs your ankle as your hero suddenly digs the heel of his boot into the zombie's skull as you burst whatever's left of his head - NO JOKE! Other scenes included a huge textured tarantula that leaps from the ceiling, and when destroyed, explodes into a dozen or so tiny spiders that chase your character down the corridor. Another amazing scene had a room full of vultures all perched above a huge room partition - suddenly, they all swoop down with movie-like animation as they cover your character within seconds. Resident Evil (known as Bio-Hazard in Japan) is going to cause hysteria when it finally arrives. This will be a lights-out game for sure - and I can't wait for the import!
Also shown were Wipeout & Demolition Derby . These two titles don't need explanations - we've played the preview of Wipeout on the demo disc, and have been reading nothing but article after article in every game magazine on Demolition Derby. Both games will be automatic chart-toppers - Psygnosis & Sony and know it!
Joe Cataudella
Visit his homepage at www.phantom.com/~joecat
