Title: Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
    Platform: Playstation
    Genre: Action/Adventure
    Publisher: GT Interactive
    # Of Players: 1-2
    Dual Shock/Analog Compatible: No

Many years ago during the Genesis' heyday, an action/adventure game called Flashback was released. It was a sequel of sorts to a game called Out Of This World. Both games employed the essential style and gameplay of the now classic Prince of Persia. Flashback's intriguing storyline, great gameplay, and interesting characters made it one of the best action/adventure titles released for the Genesis. Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus has all the elements that made Flashback such a wonderful game and much more.

Exoddus is the sequel to Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, and is the second game in what will end up being a series of five games called the Oddworld Quintology. In the first Oddworld Abe, a member of the Mudokon race, had to rescue his fellow Mudokon's from the clutches of the evil Glukkon race. Abe and his people worked at the Glukkon's meat processing plant Rupture Farms, and the Glukkons began killing and processing Mudokon workers because of a meat shortage. After Abe successfully rescued his fellow Mudokons, his people praised him as a hero. Now Abe has found out that the Glukkons are stealing the bones of dead Mudokons from the ancient Mudokon city Necrum, and using them to make a SoulStorm Brew. As Abe you have to use your cunning and prowess to successfully sabotage the boilers at the various mining sites the Glukkons have set up. Along the way you'll encounter creatures like the gun-crazy Sligs, the tough and gritty Scrabs, the vicious Paramites, and the malicious worms known as Fleeches.

The first thing that I noticed when I started playing were the great graphics. Abe himself as well as his surroundings look very sharp. There are also several layers to the background, and there's a very helpful screen in the upper left-hand corner that gives you instructions on how to get through certain spots. The music in Exoddus is very soft and rhythmic. Sometimes it's so soft it's not even noticeable. In order to get through the many obstacles you'll face throughout your quest you'll have to make good use of Abe's various physical and linguistic talents. By holding the L1 or L2 button and pressing the triangle, circle, x, or square button, Abe will say various things. What he says depends on which species he's trying to communicate with. When talking with fellow Mudokons, Abe has to be aware of their emotional state in order to know what to say to them. For example, if Abe encounters an angry Mudokon he has to apologize, or if he encounters a depressed Mudokon Abe has to be sympathetic. Abe often needs the help of his fellow Mudokons to open a door, raise a platform, or perform many other tasks, so their assistance is vital. Abe also has the ability to run, leap, jump, roll, walk, sneak, crouch, slap, throw, hoist, chant, and even fart. Knowing what to do and when to do it is crucial in navigating the many complex and intricate obstacles encountered throughout the game.

Controlling Abe is a very complicated endeavor as you can tell, but once you familiarize yourself with the controls they'll become second nature. Another great thing about Exoddus is that it's a fairly lengthy game. It spans two discs and will definitely provide any gamer with a good challenge. Unlike many other action/adventure games, you can save anywhere in Exoddus. This is an extremely welcome feature because having to play until you reach a save point isn't always convenient.

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is an action/adventure masterpiece. Its combination of great graphics, wonderful music, intricate gameplay, and challenge add up to one fantastic gaming experience. If you like action/adventure games even in the least bit Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is the game for you.

    Title: Streak Hoverboard Racing
    Platform: Playstation
    Genre: Racing
    Publisher: GT Interactive
    # Of Players: 1-4
    Dual Shock/Analog Compatible: Yes

Alternative racing games have proven themselves to be a very viable genre. Two of Sony's most successful and well known titles are the Jet Ski racing games Jet Moto and Jet Moto 2. Both games employed unique environments and gameplay that made them huge successes. Many of the same elements that made the Jet Moto games so popular are present in Streak: Hoverboard Racing.

The graphics in Streak are very well done, if just a bit too blocky. There are a total of ten hoverboard racers that you can select, and each one has different strengths and weaknesses. There are also a total of twelve tracks, six of which must be earned by competing in the New Game mode and achieving a best-in-class ranking for the class of courses. Among the different modes in Streak are the New Game mode, the Freestyle mode, the Two-Player mode, and the Link Mode. In the New Game mode you pick one of the ten hoverboard racers and compete in a circuit to see who's the best. As you progress through the circuit details regarding your characters motivations for racing are revealed. This is a bit cheesy as far as I'm concerned, but it's really inconsequential. In the Freestyle mode you select any of the available courses, the number of laps you want to race, the scoring method, and the number of computer opponents and then compete to see who can rack up the most points. The Two Player mode is self explanatory, so I'll skip over it, and that brings us to the Link mode: The Link mode allows you to hook up link two Playstations together, providing you have two copies of Streak and two TV's, and then play a two to four player game. This is a nice feature that isn't found in most games, but the majority of people out there won't really be able to take advantage of it. The key to victory in Streak lies in successfully performing stunts. By doing various flips and somersaults with the L1 and R1 buttons off of cliffs and walls your character gains confidence which is reflected in the confidence meter. The higher your confidence the faster your character will go. Performing stunts isn't easy due to the fact that Streak employs physics based on real world physics models. If you wipe out while trying to perform a stunt your confidence meter will decrease and your character's speed will decrease. The music in Streak is made up of standard rock and techno tracks, but it's decent nonetheless.

There are several other aspects of Streak that I haven't covered such as the scoring methods, but nobody likes to read a review which is just a regurgitation of the instruction booklet, right? Streak is a very interesting racer with good graphics, a decent soundtrack, and interesting play mechanics. What keeps it from being an excellent title is the steep learning curve. Controlling the various characters in Streak is much more difficult than it should be, and this is exacerbated by the narrow tracks. With a lot of practice I think it's very possibly to master the control in Streak, but those of you with a limited amount of patience and time would find Streak to be a frustrating experience. If you've got plenty of time and patience you should definitely give Streak a try; otherwise you should probably steer clear of it.

    Title: Invasion From Beyond
    Platform: Playstation
    Genre: Shooter
    Publisher: GT Interactive
    # Of Players: 1
    Dual Shock/Analog Compatible: Yes

Yawn. Farmers just outside of Washington, D.C. are being abducted and crop circles have been discovered. There's an alien invasion on the way. As a pilot of Earthlink it's your job to stop the Martian invasion. Talk about a generic plot, huh? Well, that's the plot for GT Interactive's Invasion From Beyond. Is the game as generic as the plot? Read on and find out.

From the opening screen it was apparent to me that the graphics in Invasion From Beyond were average at best. After picking my ship from the three initially selectable ships and equipping it with some weaponry in the docking bay, I started the first mission. The first mission is nothing more than a series of training exercises. These were somewhat helpful, but they were more tedious than anything else. Aside from annihilating all of the invading aliens, you must also do various sub missions throughout the game. You'll know when Earthlink Command wants to talk to you because a loud beeping noise will sound. By pressing select you can read the instructions from Earthlink Command. In order to better navigate the various stages there's a large radar screen at the bottom center of the game screen. Different colors are used to indicate different objects, such as red indicating aliens and purple indicating human civilians. You can also pick up things from the landscape using your ship's Suck-O-Matic such as alien technology, scientists, and civilians in distress. By rescuing scientists and returning them to your base you can put them to work on developing new weaponry for your ship. Throughout the game you'll encounter over twenty different varieties of aliens all with their own unique craft, weaponry, movement patters, and objectives.

The music in Invasion From Beyond is extremely dull and repetitive. Tinny sounding drums accompanied by annoying chimes is about the extent of the music. The sound effects are also equally poor. The gameplay is poor as well, in that it's overly simplistic and monotonous. You fly around, shoot things, and pick things up. The one plus is that the game does run at fifty FPS, or frames per second, which is a very good frame rate. However, this didn't keep me from becoming bored with the game very quickly.

Like so many games on the market today, Invasion From Beyond is chock full of options but falls extremely short. As I've said before, the bottom line for any game is fun factor. If it's not fun it's not a good game. However, being that Invasion From Beyond doesn't even have good graphics or sound, all it really has going for it are some extensive options and a good frame rate. Those options and that frame rate don't even come close to making up for the poor graphics, sound, and gameplay. I think Invasion From Beyond could've been good had it utilized a different game engine and had it had vastly better graphics and sound than it has. However, it is what it is, and that's a game that should be avoided at all costs.

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Copyright © 1998 Ian Johnston

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