You can get carried away to a different universe in any of this month's selection of games. The worlds in all three games are unique, but I recommend only one without reservation.
Total Distortion
For years now, I've been anticipating the release of Total Distortion, rumored to be the killer CD-ROM title. The idea -- an adventure game in which you make your own music videos -- was innovative. And, in fact, a prerelease version won several awards. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its reputation.
In Total Distortion, you portray a music-video director sent to a strange world where hard-rock music dominates. Your goal is to find and videotape the rock-star inhabitants, edit music videos, and then cut deals with earthling TV producers. The funnest part of the game is experiencing its rock-and-roll world -- the Distortion Dimension. You get to raid the kitchen; find clues in over 40 books; and destroy the Guitar Warrior with your electric guitar. Also to the game's credit are animation, sound, and graphics that are usually interesting and occasionally exceptional.
The problem for me was that despite all the game has going for it, it still isn't much fun. That's because one of the most important parts of the game -- creating music videos -- is a tedious task. You have to sit in front of a virtual video sequencer for a long time, choosing sound and video clips for many tracks of a video. This is especially a problem because in order to do well in the game, you must create many videos, and they must be long or they won't sell.
If you love adventure games and like video sequencing, you might find Total Distortion worthwhile. Otherwise, save your money.
Connections
The Discovery Channel television series Connections (with James Burke) has an intriguing premise -- to look at how seemingly unrelated people and events have come together to produce such technological advances as the pencil, the oscilloscope, and the artificial diamond. Applying this premise to a game is less successful, though, at least as conceived in the two-CD-ROM game by the same title -- Connections (shown below).
Your overall goal is to fight the force of chaos by maintaining a sense of order in the surreal world you have entered. And how do you maintain order? You find objects, for instance carbon paper and a pencil, that have some connection to each other. To find the items, you search through rooms in various buildings -- such as a modern study in a small country house, the courtyard of a medieval castle, and an electronics shop -- moving your cursor around to find hot spots. The hot spots reveal clues or the actual items (seven on each of five levels) you collect to win the game. Throughout the game, each time you find a hidden object, a video from the TV series plays that tells you some interesting facts about that object.
If beautifully rendered scenes and some entertaining video clips are enough to keep you entertained while you poke around for hidden objects, you may enjoy this game. But for me, that's not enough. The problem with Connections is that there isn't any depth to the story line or complexity to the virtual world you've stepped into -- it's a set of random sites with random items.
Although the video clips are worthwhile if you haven't seen the TV show, they alone do not make an interesting game. Alas, the videos also have a flaw: You can't stop them once they start playing, no matter where you click or what key you press. Because of the structure of the game, you'll have to watch some videos over and over.
X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM
Let's depart from the lands of slow-paced exploration and thoughtful clue finding to plunge into an outer-space war zone. X-Wing (shown above) ranks among the best of the flight-sim games, along with such stellar titles as Wing Commander III and FA/18 Hornet. Why? Because there's so much to it: 120 missions; four spacecraft -- A-Wing, B-Wing, X-Wing, and Y-Wing -- each with its own strengths and weaknesses in battle and a multitude of futuristic weapons and targeting systems.
The feel of flying is also first-rate -- as smooth as glass. If you don't already own a joystick, though, factor in that cost. Using a mouse to fly will only frustrate you, because you'll have so little control.
About the only other part of the game that isn't up to snuff is the music -- it's tinny, more suited to Super Mario Brothers than the other elements of this otherwise well-crafted game.
Be prepared for a game that's difficult. You do get a warm-up -- a pilot proving ground I found almost as enjoyable as the game itself -- but once you leave, expect no mercy. You must be proficient at using almost every key on the keyboard to control some aspect of flight or communications. In addition to flying your craft and firing at enemies, you must also keep your lasers, shields, and engines recharged.
Winning a battle is as much a matter of careful management of these three systems as it is a matter of having good reflexes. You also have to learn the idiosyncrasies of each fighter craft to be successful in this game. For example, you need to take into account that A-Wings are fast and maneuverable but have weak shields and limited weapons. B-Wings, on the other hand, are slow but armed to the teeth.
The challenging battle, responsive flying, and nice graphics make this a game that should appeal to Star Wars fans as well as those who think Luke Skywalker is a total wuss.
Bob LeVitus is a MacUser contributing editor and Power Computing's director of evangelism.
GAME POINT
All of this month's games can be fun, but two have serious drawbacks. Total Distortion lets you explore an unusual world of rock and roll, but its most unique feature is also its most tedious -- video sequencing. Connections has video clips full of interesting trivia but doesn't offer enough plot to keep you engaged. The one game in this month's batch that will keep you enthralled is X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM, one of the best flight sims available.
Total Distortion Rating: Acceptable (3 of 5 mice)
Price: $40 (estimated street).
Company: Pop Rocket, San Francisco, CA; 800-355-5958 or 415-731-9112.
Reader Service: Circle #434.
Connections Rating: Acceptable (3 of 5 mice)
Price: $45 (estimated street).
Company: Discovery Channel Multimedia; 800-678-3343 or 317-579-0413.
Reader Service: Circle #435.
X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM Rating: Very Good (4 of 5 mice)
Price: $45 (estimated street).
Company: LucasArts Entertainment; San Rafael, CA; 800-985-8227 or 415-472-3400.
Reader Service: Circle #436.
The Tip-Off
X-Wing
Divert energy from lasers and shields to your engines when you need to travel faster; then, even though it slows you down, set lasers and shields to maximum recharge before you enter a battle.
