Alone in the Dark

French company Infogrames are justifiably world-famous for their innovative products, and a few years ago they released a product which smashed right to the centre of the gaming world with its innovative format. Alone in the Dark is a graphical adventure packed full of changing camera angles and features a vector-based man whom you steer around the game, interacting with the environment around him. Although criticised for being too short, this game was a genuine landmark in game development, and has spawned many imitators since. And this game is now available for 32-bit Acorns, courtesy of Krisalis. As far as I remember, the only Infogrames product that has been ported to Acorns before is Hostages from Superior Software. See the Acorn World Report page for more information.

Revolve

Psycore, the same company who brought us the wacky Big Bang, released a brand new game recently, Revolve. Unfortunately it's very limited, and is more like a bonus level from a game than a full-blown game in itself. You rotate a sphere with the mouse to try and roll a ball around it collecting tokens. Fun for a minute at the most. Psycore can be contacted by writing to PO Box 3837, London, NW3 1JF. There's a demo on Archimedes World's cover CD.

Starfighter 3000

Starfighter 3000, the amazing futuristic flying game from FedNet, the team who originally brought us the excellent Stunt Racer 2000 game, became the first original 32-bit Acorn game to be ported to another platform earlier this year, after Krisalis announced they were to publish a 3DO version.

But now Telstar, better known as a music publisher, are trying to break into the next-generation console games market, and heading their 1996 release schedule are Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn versions of Starfighter 3000, bringing Starfigher 3000 to the absolute cutting-edge of console gaming.

Saturn and Playstation versions of Starfighter 3000 are almost certain to outsell the Acorn version, and let's hope that FedNet don't abandon the Acorn platform completely. It would be a sad loss.

Fire & Ice

Warner Interactive Entertainment recently published the smash-hit game of yesteryear Fire & Ice for the Acorn 32-bit platform. Gone are the beautiful raster bars (unlike in the screenshots in a recent Archimedes World, which they ripped off the back of the box!), and instead we have rather dull plain backgrounds alternating with rather dull starry backgrounds. But has the game survived the porting operation intact? Check out the full review on these pages!

DarkWood

Tom Cooper, author of Hamsters, Wavelength and many other games, including the top PD game Gyrinus 2, has recently given the Acorn games scene the much-hyped DarkWood, a graphical adventure game which takes part in a lovingly created 3D world, and includes such features as Gouraud shading and texture-mapped buildings, and even a sky which darkens when you get into danger! Published by VTi (formerly Vertical Twist), it's a bit like a 3D version of Pandora's Box, only full of Tom's quirky humour, and with much more depth.

Since the game's vector graphics engine features plain, shaded, Gouraud-shaded and texture-mapped polygons, so the game can adapt to take advantage of whichever computer you happen to be using, creating a solid 3D environment with hills, buildings and populated by a variety of strange characters.

The finished game is now available for purchase, and although it doesn't have the immediate graphical impact of many games on other platforms, it features a believable and complex world, and great playability.

Talking to the peasants in Ecklespit village, near where you start the game
A big castle in the wastelands, full of rooms to explore, and protected by some rather nasty guards and skeletons
A shed on the outskirts of Ecklespit
A small temple situated outside Ecklespit, home to an enigmatic monk
A room on Spurgit Isle, in a mine where the dwarves don't want you to be, 'cos you might steal all their gold. Fancy that!

For more information, email DarkWood@wossname.demon.co.uk.

Oddball

Digital Psychosis, they of Asylum fame, released a brand new game several months ago entitled Oddball. This is a development of the scrolling `Breakout'-style demo game that was included with Andy Southgate's superb Freeware games development package GamesSuite, which included the powerful FastSprites module. You can download the complete package, which includes a demo copy of Oddball, from Stuttgart or Hensa. You can also connect to the Oddball WWW page. Alternatively, the demo is also on Acorn User's cover CD. This full version of this game is now available with the October 1995 issue of Archimedes World (£ 3.75 in newsagents), which is a bit of a bargain really! It's also on their recent cover CD.