Spinoff games that outshine a film parent

Article Abstract:

Hasbro Interactive's excellent Small Soldiers Globotech Design Lab and Small Soldiers Squad Commander computer games, $29.95 each, easily outperform the 'Small Soldiers' film on which they are based. Globotech Design Lab allows players to assemble the ultimate fighter by combining body parts from different action figures. A computer chip, which is placed into the action figure's back, increases power and fighting moves with each single-combat victory. Players also can post the robots to the Web. By contrast, Squad Commander is a toy-based game predicated on solving obstacles and puzzles. Younger players can choose between the Gorgonites or the Commando Elite. Those who select the Gorgonites's side must rescue a kidnapped comrade who has been locked in a convenience store's back room safe. Numerous store merchandise and heavily armed plastic soldiers attempt to halt players from unlocking the back room with a back-room key.

Software multiproduct review, HAS, Action game, Computer action games, Hasbro Interactive Inc., Small Soldiers Globotech Design Lab (Action game), Small Soldiers Squad Commander (Action game)

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A familiar terror clothed in new software

Article Abstract:

Psygnosis' $49.95 Sentinel Returns adventure game provides a psychologically intense environment in which a player must navigate a lunar landscape to destroy the Sentinel first. The game borrows from a 1985 strategy game for eight-bit microcomputers by requiring players to start at the bottom and reach the summit. It is then possible to survey the Sentinel, which absorbs the energy of opponents by flashing destructive surveillance beams downward. Avoiding these slow beams requires an ability to hide among the varied rocks and cliffs. A player can move only by designing a robot tower and attaching into it. The goal is to move within sufficient distance and view the Sentinel's face, which destroys the Sentinel and allows the player to supplant the Sentinel. Sentinel Returns is available on Playstation as well as CD-ROM for Windows 95 and Windows 98.

Software, Software single product review, Psygnosis Ltd., Psygnosis Sentinel Returns (Adventure game)

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Nightmare, delusion and psychosis, for fun

Article Abstract:

Sanitarium is a CD-ROM game that forces players to use the logic of madness to determine their own identity. The main character is a scientist who found the cure for a child-killing disease. Someone is trying to kill the scientist, but none of the information is complete or literal to render a guess. Scenes include a car driving over a cliff, a Gothic insane asylum, a sanitarium. A final confrontation takes place when the scientist slaughters Mother, a deadly Mother Nature, and sets her on fire.

Product introduction, Technology development, Adventure games, Sanitarium (Adventure game)

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