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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5015486" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 158: June 1990part 4/6The role of computers: Bomber sees Apple once again pioneering gaming formats. What went wrong? Anyway, this is another WWII flying sim. 3D technology is improving as the years go by, and our reviewers remain impressed by the increased amounts of detail. Find the target amongst the many buildings, bomb it to pieces, and get home safely. This is not as easy as it sounds, as you have to take the role of all the pilots, and deal with realistic varieties of damage if hit. Breach II is a game of squad level combat. Preserve interstellar peace through strategically applied violence! Sounds about normal. Don't charge in, for that way lies swift death. Should be fairly easy for the old skoolers to remember that lesson. War of the Lance takes you to Krynn to do a bit of overhead wargaming, as happened in module DL8 of the original series. Fight with the forces you have, while trying to persuade the various neutral countries to join your side, and direct heros to do various quests for tide turning macguffins. It's good quality, but big, clunky and sloooooow, especially on their computer. The bad guys also have a fairly big advantage if you go two player. Saving the world isn't going to be easy this time. Oh well, that'll give their clue corner plenty to do. Time Bandit does not appear to be based on the Terry Gilliam movie, but still manages to entertain our reviewers, with it's combination of action adventure and puzzles, including some texty bits. You can have a second player join the action, competing or co-operating to clear the levels. Another one that'll take plenty of plays to clear. Fire King is another adventure game where you need to pick a character and hunt the macguffins. It manages to compete with the 16 bit games and come off with a decent showing. Age and cunning once again holds it's own against youth and enthusiasm. Laser Squad is another, somewhat different game of squad level combat. Here, you also have to figure out what equippment to buy for your soldiers, and complete missions where trying to destroy everything will get you killed in short order. You'll have to learn the capabilities of each of the soldiers, and try repeatedly until you know the tricks to beat each mission. MEGA Pack is one of those little compilation packs of old games. Most of them haven't stood the test of time well, and some are rather buggy, so the average score isn't high. There'll probably be one or two you enjoy still though. Editorial: Roger continues to tackle the ZOMG D&D is satanic!1!!!! problem from an oblique angle. A certain foursome of mutated turtles who he refuses to give the proper name of for legal reasons, while making it very clear who they are; are also getting parental backlash, which does seem tremendously dumb. Goes to show really. Kids will be attracted to shiny things and violence, no matter what you do. It's pretty intrinsic to human nature, and forbidding it just makes it more attractive to them. In most cases, these urges can be channelled into harmless or constructive ends, no problem. It ends with another attempt to encourage players to talk openly about their hobbies. Shine the light of truth on the cesspit of ignorance, and grow the healthy trees of understanding instead of the weeds of petty hatred! And remember, one day you will be the one staring in incomprehension at your kid's newest obsession, trying to figure out if you should ban it or not. Tee hee. This topic continues to entertain quite a bit. Fiction: Ivory in the blood by Brian A Hopkins. Another birthday, another dragon hunt to go on in the fiction department as well. Now, what's the standard fee for doing this? Half your kingdom and your daughter's hand in marriage. Why is this the case? Because it's bloody hard to do. Those who've done it before in particular know that and often have no desire to go through that again, especially if it was decades ago and time has not been kind to them. Anyway, this one goes the bittersweet route. Dragons are nearly extinct, and the last one has something important he wants to say before he goes, and the magic fades. Course, if the events after the story turn out anything like reality, then it's a sad ending indeed. But you've gotta have hope. There's always a chance things'll change for the better. Methinks this one communicated it's intended mood quite nicely. Good for it.</blockquote>

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