SSI 1994
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Cyber- & Fantasy Empires: These two games are so similar that it's almost impossible to write separate reviews for them. In both games the objective is to conquer the whole world. Up to four opponents try to do the same. You command your army on a strategic map in a turn-based way. You can build fortresses in order to improve your defense and different kinds of 'factories' (in Fantasy Empires they're barracks) to produce more units. With those you conquer more territories and so on. Then there are some other options like simple diplomacy and spying.

Deutscher Bundestag 1994
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

This is a very special promotial game. It doesn't advertise a product or some company. It doesn't tell you 'buy this'. Or in fact, it does the latter. But in another meaning: it's political propaganda! And it does try to convince you to 'buy' all the stuff which is said there...

Coktel Vision 1994
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

The third installment of Coktel's successful series. Officially, also the last one. Depending on personal definition, Woodruff and The Schnibble of Azimuth could as well be called Goblns 4 (sic!). That however, is another story.

Core Design 1994
Genre: RPG, Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano, Castellano
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Again Loki is preparing to start the ragnarok, just this time he got the help of some strange monsters which seem to come from nowhere. Your job is finding the way through Yggdrasil, to recover the pieces of an amulet from another world which is the only thing powerful enough to stop him.

Gremlin 1994
Genre: RPG
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

I'm not going to explain who or what 'Sorasil' is, nor am I going to bother you with what the 'legacy' the title speaks of is. You really don't need to know. Seriously - I've never heard so much boring cliché crap at once.

Psygnosis 1994
Genre: Action, RPG
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

An evil wizard has sealed away the gods of the kingdom. Why? Who cares, you are here to kill him as otherwise a horrible thing will happen or something. And by the way don't forget to kill anything that moves.

Trecision 1994
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: Italiano, English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Tom Scool, a former private investigator who doesn't mind taking less honourable jobs if the money is right, has been hired by Sam Svarowsky, an un-gentlemanly collector, to retrieve a precious gem for him. This gem is in the possession of the actress Diana Stevens who is currently residing in a cut-off chalet in the mountains. All the important members of her next film project are there as well: the screenwriter, the director (who is also her husband), some members of the cast. In addition, the novelist Eric Wells has been invited - he wrote the thriller which the film should be based on. Svarovsky kidnaps him before he arrives, so that Tom can take his place at the chalet. He's supposed to get the safe combination and with that, the gem. It doesn't work out as planned. Shortly after Tom's arrival, Diana Stevens is murdered. Due to a storm having cut off the regular connection to the outer world, the police might be a bit slowed, but they'll surely arrive sooner or later. Not much time left for Tom to get the jewel and escape unrecognized...

Pop Software 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Shareware
System: PC

Silmarils 1994
Genre: RPG
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Silmarils could not find a worse time to release Ishar III. 1994 was a year when highly anticipated sequels were battling surprise hits, and Ishar III was neither. On one side you've had games like Ultima VII, which was so massive that Origin split it in several parts, Dungeon Master II, one of the most anticipated RPGs of all times, Might and Magic: World of Xeen, arguably the best M&M game, and Wizardry VI, with a new graphics engine. On the other side, you've had several surprise hits, which became cult games by now: Lands of Lore: Throne of Chaos and System Shock. Somewhere in the middle, there were the underdogs: Ishar III and Realms of Arkania II. Both games were the sequels of rather obscure series, published by rather obscure companies. Silmarils is a French company, which had a moderate success in Europe, but is unknown in the US. Sir-Tech, while well known, based its Realms of Arkania series on the Das Schwarze Auge German role-playing series (editor's note: that series was made by Attic and only published by Sir-Tech in the USA -Mr Creosote). It comes like a surprise that among such an exquisite company, Ishar III is still alive. In fact, it is shining.

Psygnosis 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 0/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

A whole bunch of unvoluntary humor! This game confirm several cliches at once.



1. A movie conversion

The game has nothing (really nothing) to do with the film. Some very short video excerpts are shown betweenthe levels but that's all. A few characters and settings from the film show up but they are futile.