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OR TSMASTERS orfUP f arseo ib ud Kombat 4 ye HI dd of és, Crash - Ul NOng hacing . ay f ra2 y Siratcon | lythologies Re pOMuErmMan 64 “5 ~ =~ Ms e aanGe ar far4t . A. ites $4.99/56.50 Canada i) pase 01>1 . NBA live:98- uli UST TIME GROCK ;: Rebtdeacac el ceeaee Presenting Masters of Teras Kasi, an all-out fighting frenzy featuring 9 Star Wars characters and introducing a new villain masterfully trained in the ancient martial art of terds kasi. Battle through 9 action-packed arenas. Engage in weapon-to- weapon or hand-to-hand combat. Wield lightsabers, blasters, flame throwers and battle axes to engage in the ultimate conflict. Heck, even the <p> Empire never struck back this hard. www.luca ts.com PlayStation @,™ & © 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd,a ndL ucasAvts EntertainCmoempnatn y. All RightsR eserved. StarW arsa ndt heL ucasArts logoa rere gistered trademarks, andM asterso fTe résK asii sa trademark ofLu casfilm Ltd, usedu ndearu thorization. PtayStatainodtn heP layStation logosa e trademarks ofS onyC omputer Entertainment Inc, c Fr Pe {fy n = c us) Ce ree Belirc the days of stain-[ree carpets, earplu and the novelty known as mercy, things were generally quite crimson. What with the slow of wit and he wéal of limb spillis 8 their guts ona da iy bas surely you can imagine TEoIuDtOhS-.toHnIeN T reqLuIiNrEe d, |-900-773-4367. Cost of call $0.9S/minute. Must be.18 years or hav€ parent's permission. Send enemies off in a Dragon’s bile blaze of gory 3-D detail. Boplatter your way through 10 torturous levels ofm azes, corridors, dungeons, and traps. Wex or ventilate 55 contrary denizens including Orcs, Dragons, Mummies and Zombies. Pray online with up to 4 mutually demented peers (pc version only). spells and your bloody bare hands. the m fun youve missed. Now it’s tinie for your bath. So plunge on in or look away, but make up your. mind. While you still have a choice. www.deathtrapdangeon.com You’ve been warned. PlayStation. I’m usually the first person to whine and moan about lack of originality. I’ve been gaming far too long on too many platforms to be tolerant. So why 5 is it that most of the best and many of my favorite Bh beeo)k— b ame= } . | games this year have been sequels? Perhaps it’s just Editorial Statt a lucky trend. However, when you look at these numer- ous successors and examine their level of quality, you PRiTam JJooen atFhuannk Lane must concede that there i‘ s more goi: ng on than jA ust a RAS good run” of sequels. CALs Howard Grossman The proof comes from top titles like Final Fantasy VII DEM clgm Nelson Taruc and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the anticipated Yoshi's associate editors ANTE Havas ScottA UanSH Story and Zelda 64. Clearly, these games are or will be some of the MME LUREN Scott Jacobs « Naas, Mesuak best and most successful titles around. What's interesting to note Jason Morgan is the ability of these installments to prosper and improve while other Perera Mark Hain forms of media seem to fail in their rejuvenating attempts. igocriam Carey Wise Look at the movie industry, for.instance. There are very few movies Ue Chris Johnston « Helen Lee that are topped by theirsuccessors— and most are tragically worse. CGMU em §Ed Semrad i ¢ y - AMI Stuart Levy * David Rider Some tragic examples include Lost World: Jurassic Park, Batman and EL ee eae Jennifer Whitesides Robin and MK Annihilation. a tor polis It would seem logical that a sequel would improve over its original Ee ; through enhancements or simply from experience. Yet, many movies eaaneriatya Mirae] Blassus fall into a downward spiral rather than going up and beyond their Pca Cyril Wochok predecessor. The reason, | believe, lies in. how the new product is PET Marc Camron created— more specifically, the process and focus on the crucial Uemura ©D ave McCracken components. In the motion picture industry, it seems movies are assoc. ee aut HeatO ledai created from the outside in. By this | mean that the external appeal shoes aa eae is given first consideration and priority. It almost seems as if the suru a Pam Schneider stars, the special effects and the props come first; how they fit Egy Mark LeFebvre together is decided after these components are gathered. This is Riera Joan McInerney analogous to building a person by starting with the external body UCU MUU dg) Don Galen and working on the insides later. Of course, movies start with a CEM url §A nn-Marie Mrozynski i f A fi h SIMIC cia 303-665-8930 script— arguably the heart of any movie—but the focus doesn’t always remain on it. Or the script is simply too weak to survive, SUM Cathy Bendoff and must use special effects and/or publicity stunts to draw_attention EAN Ziff-Davis Inc. away from its inherent weakness. a 1920H ighlanAdve .S ulte 222 Video game developers, on the other hand, seem to-start from the iy Telephone: (630) 916-7222 right point and create games closer to the heart— in this case, it’s Fax: (630) 916-9254 gameplay. The successful sequels are good games in that they are all PINAR aa Jennie Parker solid in gameplay and the extra innovations like graphics and sounds Loni Cig, Suzanne Farrell are enhancements, So it seems that the super second-generation titles Midwest & East Coast are built from the inside out. The primary base (gameplay) is strong, CTEM Anthony George and all the above-mentioned titles take this to heart and build on this West Coast solid base to create an even better game. AGCMRICM IEE mm Jon Yoffie It’s true that not all games exceed the original and some old-school bai) {9° MaiSn treMaethft lo or titles are even better than their modern-day relatives. But more so | Telephone: (415) 357-5322 than in other industries such as movies, games for the most part (alo) baer 5) Sai oed H progress and continue to get better with time. The key is to focus on a the gameplay and simply build a good environment for it to breathe. SORT. Karen Landon Rather than pull out flashy graphics and effects, all industries are bet- Southwest SS epee ter off keeping theirfocus on the substance, not the style of their | Telephone: (415) 357-5460 product. Gaming is a good example of this trend, but all too easily it | bFaex:e t(4 15P) e35 7-5e201d com can turn ji f people lose sii ght of what gamining g ii s really about. As long as we remain discriminating and don’t settle for anything substan- Send Advertising Materials: rd, hopefully this trend will continue...an tl all laying Mari PUTS mRe am Mike Darling Ce a a pie e Ha 20g We ia) fe playingiarig tga ©S teve Harris Bad gaming sequel: Quotable lyric: Overheard on staff: Special thanks to: Interesting columns by: Printed in the USA. : [email protected] “What makes San Fancico Rush a ‘great game'is it's pure, > raw; unadulterated Fun.” Ultra Gameplayers “San Fraricices Rush is a. game thata ll abouati .N oth e ; ait.but real air. ¢ Game Iiin former Magazine Ommpway- 1907 Nintendo of “otha ZIFF-DAVIS INC. CHAIRMAN AND CEO Eric Hippeau President Ronni Sonnenberg President, U.S. Publications Claude Sheer President.e vInetleorpacmteinvte GMreoduipa Jeffrey Ballowe President, ceeeeene Terri Holbrooke President, Computer Bob Brown Intelligence SupPpoir t BuIblti shing Grouipd William Rosenthal HumVainc e RPerseosiudrecnets, Rayna Brown Vice President, Steve Gladyszewski Information systems Vice President, Genanedr a SCeocurnetsaerly J. Malcolm Morris Vice President, Controller Mark Moyer Chiet PSherat Utica? Timothy O'Brien Vice President, Planning Daryl R. Otte Thomas L. Wright Treasurer U.S. Publications Group President, U.S. Publications Claude Sheer Executive Vice President Lawrence C. Burstein Executive Vice President Don Byrnes Executive Vice President Jack Dolce Executive Vice President Al DiGuido Executive Vice President Thomas McGrade Senior Vice President. 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