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Parents Play, Too MacSoft also scheduled several titles that parents might be interested in themselves. Rogue Spear, the sequel to the best-selling Rainbow Six (based on the books by Tom Clancy) will ship for the Mac by Christmas including the Urban Operations expansion pack. There’s also Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption, a gothic adventure game based on the popular role-playing series. It’s due out early in 2001. This fall, MacSoft will also release Driver, in which you assume the role of undercover cop Tanner as he tries to foil the plans of crime rings operating in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Race around in muscle cars as you hunt down the bad guys; you can view the replay of your mission when you’ve completed it and use Driver’s editing tools to reposition the virtual camera and recut the scenes into your own highlight reel. Sci-Fi and Fantasy Escapades Fans of science-fiction and fantasy games were also excited by titles announced during the show. Simon and Schuster Interactive will ship Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen this September for both the PC and the Mac. The game, which uses the Unreal Tournament engine (the same engine that powers Deus Ex), allows you to assume the role of Captain Sisko, Major Kira or Lt. Commander Worf as you race to find the ancient but powerful Red Orbs before your enemies in Alpha Quadrant do. Also rolling out some sci-fi games for the Mac is a new company United Developers, headed by Ritual Entertainment CEO Ron Dimant. The company will bring Ritual’s sci-fi action-adventure game Sin to the Mac as well as its expansion pack, Wages of Sin and a World War II flight simulator called Fighter Storm. Majesty, a fantasy strategy game originally published for the PC by Hasbro Interactive, rounds out the list. No timetable has been set for these releases. Say Hello to Old Friends While new companies are being formed to enter the Mac scene, one long-time gaming enterprise was at Macworld to show that it wants to get behind the Mac in a big way. Gathering of Developers showcased Rune, Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2, Oni, 4x4 Evolution and Tropico, all of which will be on store shelves within the next few months. |
 Rune is a hack-and-slash game of a different sort: you assume the role of Ragnar the Viking, who’s about to become a man and, along with his father, a defender of his village. Rune offers plenty of big and nasty enemies to slay and complex puzzles to solve.In Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2, you play a heroine who travels the multiverse in her quest to defeat the evil Gith before he devours the Universal God. A heroine also stars in Oni, an action game about Konoko, a purple-haired member of the Tech Crimes Task Force who dispatches villains equally well with a gun or her fists. If racing games are more your speed, you’ll want to get on track for 4x4 Evolution when it hits store shelves this fall. You'll take a customizable 4x4 out on one of 16 tracks and bounce your way through mud and over hills as you race against other monster trucks. Online gaming fans will be happy to hear that they’ll be able to play over the Internet against anyone whether they’re connected with a PC, a Mac or a Sega Dreamcast. Finally, Tropico has been billed as “Sim City 3000 meets Railroad Tycoon.” In Tropico, you take the role of dictator of a small Caribbean island, where your goal is to make sure your tiny country prospers. Thanks for Coming, See You Next Time Rounding out the show were announcements from Feral Interactive, Hyperion Software and Titan. A UK company, Feral plans to bring the helicopter combat sim Enemy Engaged and the racing game Formula One 2000 to the Mac. Hyperion Software, meanwhile, will release the anime-influenced Shogo and the first-person shooter Soldier of Fortune And Titan has plans to publish Alien Nation, a futuristic real-time strategy game. Overall, attendees left Macworld excited by the future of gaming on the Mac. With so many thrilling announcements made by the companies exhibiting at the show, there are sure to be games out there for you, no matter what your preferred genre. |
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