Jul 21, 2014

The International 2014: must-watch games from day three

Dota 2

Missed yesterday's report? Read it here.

The bloodiest day of The International 2014 began with a run of the tournament's best matches. Then, after a run of upsets in a tournament that has been defined by upsets, one team emerged that will face Newbee in the grand final today. It's certainly not the grand final I'd have expected a week ago, and if you'd told me these results a month ago at ESL One I'd have called you crazy. I'd also have asked what it was like in the future and if you could help me skip the queue in the Secret Shop, but that's another matter.

Below I'll be listing off the must-watch games from yesterday as well as talking about some of the day's stranger moments. You can find statistics and videos for all of these matches on the official International website, and you can also look up the matches in-game via the 'Watch' tab.

Cloud 9 vs. Vici Gaming, Game 2

Cloud 9 had arrived at the main event as underdogs and made a statement by eliminating Na'Vi from the tournament on Saturday. Having dropped their first game against Vici, I was interested to see how they'd react. One of the familiar narratives of professional Dota concerns the teams that lead the metagame, the teams that follow, and the teams that do their own thing. I wanted to see a little bit of the latter from Cloud 9, and that's what they delivered in game 2.

Picking Meepo for SingSing was a fast way to win an already supportive audience. The pushing and farming power of the micro-heavy hero was, as is now traditional, bought space and time by b0ne7's Clockwerk, pieliedie's roaming support Bounty Hunter, and Aui_2000's Skywrath Mage. This was against a very strong draft by Vici Tidehunter, Death Prophet and Luna for the early push and teamfight presence, with Jakiro and Earthshaker as counters to the Meepo.

C9 established a lead on paper but that's what you are expected to achieve with a Meepo pick. In some of the best and bloodiest teamfights of the tournament especially a drag-out battle around Rosh at the 24 minute mark neither team really seemed to have an advantage. Vici's more metagame-friendly draft would look like it had the edge, and then SingSing's Meepo would appear to enormous roars from the audience to blow up Vici's core heroes.

Cloud 9 held on by steadily outplaying Vici to the point where the latter had to resort to a base race. If b0ne7's one-man defence of Cloud 9's ancient stands as the pinnacle of a run of outstanding plays by C9's offlaner, then watching SingSing's Meepo demolish Vici's base shows why the crowd was so excited to see the hero played. Cloud 9 might not have been able to finish the job in game 3, but they can be proud of what they achieved in game 2.

Other highlights from this set: Game 3. Cloud 9's tournament hopes came down to a single call. In Nature's Prophet, Luna and Enigma, they had a draft that could risk a level 1 Roshan attempt. The strategy is enormously risky at a live LAN event: even in a soundproof booth you can tell when the crowd is excited, and Dota crowds like risky plays very, very much. Vici had everything they need to sweep in and punish Cloud 9 hard, taking three kills in the early game. Honestly, the match was probably over for C9 then and there and Vici went on to demonstrate exactly why.

If SingSing's Meepo won game 2, Sylar's Morphling was the unstoppable force in game 3. He's famous for his skill with the hero as it is, and that great start followed by superlative farm made him an absolute monster. Watch the last ten minutes of the match to see just how much a supercharged Morphling can achieve: Sylar not only seizes map control for his own team but demolishes the heroes intended to do the same for Cloud 9. b0ne7's Nature's Prophet had absolutely nowhere to go. C9 fought to the last, but when a rampaging water elemental was taking barracks unopposed, the game was over.

Team DK vs. LGD, Game 3

Talk about teams playing their own kind of Dota. DK's draft in game 3 was a statement to LGD: we're taking this set, and we're doing it on our own terms. It looked like a list of the team's personal favourite heroes: Mushi's Shadow Fiend. LanM's Earthshaker. Iceiceice's Elder Titan. MMY playing Lion. Only a pointed ban kept Burning from his legendary Anti-Mage, but Weaver suited DK's armour reduction strategy better.

I have to admit: I'd been rooting for DK throughout the tournament and that draft sealed it for me. Mushi is great to watch on Shadow Fiend (which is why Valve made a Source Filmmaker clip of one of his biggest plays.) He'd secured a Mekansm in seven minutes, giving the glass-cannon hero even greater presence in the early part of the game. DK transitioned into a series of coordinated pushes that took advantage of the zoning power of Elder Titan and Lion to keep LGD's defence on the back foot.

It turns on a single play, right at the end. MMY used a Force Staff to shunt Mushi out of the trees on the Radiant bottom lane just as LGD drop a Serpent Ward trap, effectively wasting that powerful area denial spell as Mushi surges right into an explosive Requiem of Souls. That play led to DK taking the bottom lane of barracks and ultimately the game: a single fantastic moment turning into a hammer-drop of a finish.

Other highlights from this set: DK's return to form in game 2 is also worth a watch. It was a more traditional draft, but DK demonstrated that they learned their lesson from the night before: specifically, about breaking base when the opportunity presented itself rather than trying to farm out a great advantage. Not that they needed to: DK were strong in the laning phase, with iceiceice getting an incredible 22 minute Blink-Refresher combo up and running on Tidehunter.

DK vs. Vici, Game 1

There was a buzz around DK as they went straight into their elimination match against Vici. That finale against LGD made it feel like they could win with any draft at all, but Vici had their number. DK went for another 'them' lineup Beastmaster, Tinker, Undying while Vici laid their cards on the table with Razor, Pugna, Leshrac, Shadow Demon and Nature's Prophet. This wasn't a subtle strategy they may just as well have taken to the stage to proclaim "WE ARE GOING TO TAKE ALL OF THE TOWERS NOW" to the audience but it demonstrates just how well Vici understand the game at the moment.

It's often nice to watch teams win because of individual players or plays, but the International title is ultimately always going to go to teams that understand the game best at that particular moment in time. This year, that's Vici and Newbee. After getting a head start by killing Burning's Anti-Mage after a rare misplay by him, Vici started taking objectives everywhere. A back-and-forth at Roshan looked like it might help DK fight their way back into the game, but they were terribly behind. When VG took another teamfight later in the game and eliminated not just DK's cores but also their courier which was carrying Mushi's Manta Style at the time things looked really grim.

In Pugna, r0tk secured a hero that could keep DK from turning the game around with teamfights and pickoff kills. If they ignored him, they'd lose towers. If they focused him, they'd waste time trying to kill a slippery health-draining skeleton imp rather than dealing with Vici's other heroes. It was a great pick, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him again before the tournament ends.

Other highlights from this set: Watch game 2 for another lesson in why you don't let Sylar get a personal 10K gold advantage on Morphling. You should also watch it for one of the tournament's silliest moments around 22 minutes, when DK's Faceless Void and Vici's Shadow Shaman hide inches from each other in the trees for an age without either team realising that they're both lying in ambush for each other.

EG vs. Vici, Game 1

There was no doubt which way a large part of the home crowd wanted this to go. EG are the unstoppable prodigal sons of North American Dota, single-handedly bringing the scene further on the world stage than it has ever been. Vici were playing after a successful but extremely long day. It didn't seem likely that they'd achieve much against a rested EG in the first game; maybe game 2.

In an extraordinary performance, Vici played as close to a perfect game of Dota as this tournament has seen. Countering Arteezy's Templar Assassin with Razor, Vici secured an advantage in mid that was reflected in the other lanes. On the offlane, a rare mistake by Universe fed first blood to Sylar's Nature's Prophet, setting him on the course for an incredible farming game. He picked up his Orchid by ten minutes and his Necronomicon 3 by 13. EG found themselves facing a highground push at the 12 minute mark, trying to hold on with an underfarmed and underleveled set of core heroes that couldn't sustain a defence for long. Utterly outplayed, the home side tapped out in less than fifteen minutes.

EG vs. Vici, Game 2

This is was the comeback the crowd was looking for from EG. For a start, their lanes went much better: Arteezy secured a comfortable advantage on Viper, a hero he doesn't generally favour, and Universe did well on the safelane with Faceless Void. As with DK earlier in the day, the key to EG's win over Vici was armour reduction and physical damage supported, in this case, by game-turning teamfight ultimates: Void's Chronosphere and Enigma's Black Hole.

But it wasn't a stomp. Vici made EG work for their advantage, particularly with an early Aghanim's Scepter on fy's Ancient Apparition that meant they could threaten EG's cores anywhere on the map. Vici's plan was still to push their way to victory, but every time they did they needed to contend with Universe's unmatched Faceless Void and zai's Enigma. For a time, it felt like the game might slip away from EG that those flashy plays might ultimately give way to a slow victory for Vici but the day hadn't drained its supply of huge plays quite yet.

Watch this game for the Chronospheres and the Black Holes: the moment when fights look lost for EG before Universe and zai sweep in and defiantly refuse to go quietly. There's nothing about the crowd in those moments, either. Being in the audience as EG fought their way back into the match was one of the highlights of the tournament for me.

Other highlights of this set: Game 3. What a strange ending. After an uncertain start compounded by a tricky draft for EG mason playing Void instead of Universe, Universe on Timbersaw, Zai getting nothing out of a heavily-warded jungle it still felt like the American team had a shot at forcing the game to go late and finding an advantage then. But Vici were out for towers and got them with Venomancer, Dragon Knight and Nature's Prophet. Then, EG fell apart. They tried to sneak Roshan and got it but ceded more ground than they expected, losing tier 2 and 3 towers were mid. Defending was crucial but when the Chronosphere really mattered it didn't work. Mason only caught one, and rOtk's Venomancer dropped a Poison Nova that might have won Vici a few million dollars. EG were facing a wipe and a lane of barracks early in the game. Looking at their booth, it seemed like they were already ready to leave. And then they gave up.

It was probably the right call the game was almost certainly lost at that point, even if it probably wouldn't have ended for another ten-twenty minutes. But it's a GG call that will be talked about for a while. It suggested a team that simply didn't want to lose slowly, that would rather get on with their day and accept third place. But that wasn't the story that a now-subdued audience wanted to hear. Watching EG tap out, I worried that the fractiousness of North American Dota had caught up with them at last. I'd be fascinated to hear what was said in that booth, although I suspect I can guess.

PC Gamer's coverage of The International 2014 is brought to you by SteelSeries. From now through July 21st, all Dota 2 and team gear is 25% off. While supplies last.

Jul 21, 2014

Microsoft job listing says nice things about PC gaming, isn’t clear if it means them

PC Gamer

Over the past few years, Microsoft's behaviour in regards to the PC gaming has more closely resembled a teen high-school drama. One minute he's Microsoft is a he in this analogy, just roll with it he's inviting us to the prom, saying we're the prettiest platform around. The next, he's run away with the console market. Sure, he still calls to tell us that we mean the world to him, but we don't really believe him at this point, do we?

Well, not really, no, but that doesn't mean Microsoft doesn't see the potential of the PC as a platform. In fact, they've outlined its dominance in a new job listing, advertising a Business Development position overseeing games on PC, mobile and tablets.

"51% of all time spent gaming is on PCs - more than on consoles and mobile devices combined," states the listing. "PC gaming itself is projected to make $25 Billion in 2014, growing 13% year over year. Across the Windows platform, including phones, tablets, and PCs, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to change the world of gaming."

Okay, yes, you'll have spotted the problem already: Microsoft are listing the PC side-by-side tablets and phones; something that continues later in the role's description. "You are the epicenter of the mobile and PC games strategy," it states, "bringing together teams across Microsoft and the field to drive flawless execution, in addition to integrating deeply with the Xbox team."

What does it all mean? Everything? Nothing? Their strategy is one that, from the outside, seems impenetrable. They didn't close Games for Windows: Live, but seemingly only to support those games that didn't bail. They say things like, "we remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future," but are providing no hints as to what that commitment might mean. Are they interested in targeting "core" gamers, or will they stay firmly in the casual market?

I hope it's the former, because Microsoft had a genuinely strong line-up over E3. Chris has already made the case for Halo's PC return, but there are plenty of upcoming exclusives that would feel right at home here. (I'm looking at you, Forza Horizon 2.) The reference to integrating with the Xbox team could be a sign that Microsoft's biggest games will be crossing over.

It would be nice to think that this is a sign of change, but let's be honest: we've been hurt before.

All of which leaves only one crucial question. If this is a teen high-school drama, is the PC Molly Ringwald or Ally Sheedy?

Jul 21, 2014

Eve Valkyrie preview: inside CCP’s groundbreaking virtual reality space shooter

PC Gamer

We ve all read about EVE Online s epic space battles, where thousands of ships are lost and billions in ISK, the in-game currency. Yet only a relatively small number of players get to experience these events firsthand. Valkyrie is the solution: a space dogfighting sim designed for Oculus Rift that puts the player right in the middle of that dazzling combat.

I see Valkyrie as the Halo of Xbox or the Tetris of the Game Boy, says Chris Smith, lead designer. We want to show that virtual reality is the next generation of gaming, and I think this is the game to do it. We had 2D, and Mario was the 2D master. Now we ve moved into 3D with polygons, and EVE and World of Warcraft and first-person shooters are the established games for this period in the history of gaming. Now we have VR, which is as big a transition as 2D to 3D was.

CCP s Newcastle team had been helping to develop Dust 514, but now they ve been shifted to Valkyrie, hiring new talent including Mirror s Edge senior producer Owen O Brien. The game s development is curious in that it began life as a tech demo, EVE-VR, which was shown at Fanfest in 2013. The project had been created by a team of 12 CCP developers in their spare time, but after an overwhelmingly positive reaction from players and press, it was decided to turn it into a full game. The original demo was created in the Unity engine using mostly existing EVE assets, now it s running on Unreal 4 and has its own dedicated art and design team. CCP are clearly taking VR seriously, and their enthusiasm is undeniable especially that of Smith, who fizzes with excitement as we talk.

That moment at the end of Star Wars where Han saves Luke from Vader in the Death Star trench, then says Let s blow this thing and go home! most games will script that and make sure it happens, but we re not doing that. In CCP tradition, part of the design is to make it modular and deep so that these moments just happen. If we have a mission with a similar setup, and someone has that Han Solo moment, we want them to think, man, that was just like Star Wars! EVE is zoomed out, but we re magnified right down. We re the little buzzing fighters around those 14km Titans.

The fact that you re sitting in a cockpit really helps with the sense of presence, adds O Brien, now Valkyrie s executive producer. We deliberately moved the hand position so it mimics your hands holding the controller. If your hands are doing something different, you d think, well, that isn t me. The space combat genre really helps too, because you re seated, and you re in space, so there s no concept of up or down or gravity to worry about. A WWII dogfighting game would be great to play in VR, but it would be more challenging to make, because players could hit the ground. The sci-fi setting gives us immense freedom in terms of user interface, so we can create things that work in VR and it doesn t feel weird or constrained. We re in space, so we can do whatever we want within EVE lore.

The titular Valkyrie are an elite squadron of Guristas pirates led by a pilot called R n, voiced by Katee Sackhoff, who played Starbuck in the Battlestar Galactica remake. She s a voice in your head, relaying objectives and storyline as you play.

Even though Katee Sackhoff isn t that famous, she has a great voice, says Smith. If you hire actors who don t get science fiction, there s a chance they won t take it seriously and treat it as a bit of a joke. But Katee understands sci-fi and why it s important. She plays a strong female character that you believe is strong and powerful. She actually tried to change her shooting schedule to come to Fanfest in Reykjavik, but her agent was like Stop being so enthusiastic! We need to negotiate! She brings a layer of quality to the game and an understanding of the universe.

The EVE-VR demo was very much based on a Battlestar Galactica kind of fight, says Andy Robinson, lead artist, and member of the original EVE-VR team. We wanted to give you that feeling of being the pilot and being in the ship, with those walls of bullets streaking past. EVE has a huge amount of sci-fi influences. We love Blade Runner and stuff like that, but Battlestar is one of the most overt ones.

I ask Smith why, of all the factions, they chose the Guristas. The short version is that pirates are cool. They steal from everywhere, and stealing is a great way to get technology. If we were one faction we d be limited, but by being the Guristas and them stealing tech, it allowed us to be a bit freer with the gameplay.

We re very conscious that EVE is this great tapestry and backdrop for us to play with, O Brien says, but accessibility is a big thing for me, so you don t have to know anything about EVE to play this game. That s why we chose the Guristas, because we can just say to someone You re a space pirate, and that s all you need to know. The pirate fantasy and setting gave us a lot of freedom. We aren t locked to a specific type of ship or anything like that. We re pirates, so we can do whatever we want.

R n s story arc will impact the other games as well. It s a story that will bring the games together. If you aren t interested in it, that s OK. But if you play Legion, EVE and Valkyrie, you will get more out of it. Having all of the EVE assets and lore has made our lives easier. It s why we can make this game with 25 people. We ve got ten years of art, ships, designs and storylines to work with.

We knew we wanted to make something slightly different with Valkyrie, says Robinson. By focusing on the pirate factions we ve been able to take the EVE universe and just put a little twist on it. We re changing it ever so slightly, giving us that little bit of freedom to dirty things up and rebel a little bit. We took a standard EVE cockpit. Y know, nice and clean. Then we started sticking aftermarket modifications on it. A Gurista pirate inside that ship, what would they do to it? They d mark it, decorate it, rip things out, rewire it. It was once a beautiful, clean fighter, but now it s been altered to personally fit this person. We want it to feel like yours and yours alone.

Smith adds: I don t think Valkyrie would feel this solid at this stage in development, or as polished, without ten years of EVE. With big universes like Star Wars or Warhammer 40K, their games always feel more established because they have this history. We think about what exists in the EVE universe that we can pull from. It s EVE s lore that influences our game design. We ll look at weapons and technology, and that will inform the gameplay.

It s not in there yet, but in the final game you re going to see your body twist as you move, and hear the creak of the leather. There ll be differences between cockpits, depending on their role, whether it s heavy, fighter or support. In the fighter you re a predator, so you re looking forward. To your left and right you ll see your guns spinning up and pumping as they fire. You ll be able to see if they re overheating by looking at them. We re putting a lot of subtlety and gameplay into just looking around.

While Valkyrie won t be explicitly connected to EVE Online you won t be fighting in the same battles being fought by EVE capsuleers there are similarities in both games design. The most powerful thing about EVE is its ability to generate stories, and the Valkyrie team want to bring that over to their game. EVE allows players to create the gameplay and create the history, says Smith. The developers give players the tools, then see what they do with it. The universe has changed through players, and I think CCP have been surprised many times by how they ve impacted it.

When designing our maps, we look at the history of EVE. We look for famous events, both created by CCP and players. We might have the remains of a famous battle, or the ships that humans first arrived in New Eden in. People might be able to see their ship, or their corporation s ship.

Valkyrie still has a long way to go, but I was able to play an early multiplayer demo running on Unreal 4. When the press play developers at their games, they usually go easy on us, but not the Valkyrie team. I found myself on the tail of one of their testers, only for him to turn sideways and fly effortlessly through a narrow gap on a huge Amarr temple. I tried to follow, and slammed stupidly into the structure, losing him. But the more I played, the more I got a feel for how my ship handled, and soon I was squeezing through that gap myself, throwing my pursuers off. Unlike a lot of space shooters, there s a lot of stuff in Valkyrie s maps to use to your advantage, from asteroids to colossal wrecked ships.

To give a sense of speed, you need a sense of scale, says Robinson. By passing smaller objects and larger objects, it immediately gives you this sense. As a fighter you re a smaller part of a larger battle. There are ships a hundred times your size around you doing things, and we want to sell that as much as possible. It s also that visceral feeling of being able to punch in and out between asteroids and debris and smashing through gaps. It s a VR playground.

The future of VR, even with Oculus s much publicised $2 billion Facebook buyout, is uncertain. Anyone who s tried the Rift, myself included, will tell you with complete conviction that it s the future of games, and not just a flash in the pan but will the public accept it enough to propel it into the mainstream? If they do, Valkyrie has the potential to be the killer app that sells the hardware. EVE Online has always been, perhaps unfairly, seen as elitist and inaccessible. Valkyrie is the antidote to that: an immediate, accessible entry point into the rich, storied universe of New Eden.

Jul 21, 2014

Elite: Dangerous team outline plans for post-launch expansion packs

PC Gamer

Hey, you! Space fan! Are you excited for Elite: Dangerous. Well stop it, there's no time for that its creators are already looking toward Elite: Dangerous's expansions. Be excited for that instead.

Yes, despite the main game being in beta, the Frontier team are already planning ahead to Elite's post-launch future. In the latest news letter update, they've shared their vision for the game.

"We plan to continue to significantly enhance the game via further expansions after the launch date, using the same incremental development philosophy that we ve used so far," writes the Frontier hivemind. "Major new features will include planetary landings and even walking around inside ships, stations, and planet surfaces with time."

Landing on the surface of planets would seem to be the ultimate goal, and each incremental expansion will take them a step closer to achieving it.

"That means rich, varied experiences," the newsletter continues. "Not just landing pads, but rich content on the surfaces, surface vehicles, the ability to stash things there, to explore. Clearly doing it right like this will take time, but we have a plan and will get there via a series of meaningful releases.

"We believe that each stage will be incredible, and the result truly breathtaking. What you will see on the worlds will be a mix of procedurally generated content, particularly the landscapes, cloudscapes, compositions and so on, mixed with hand-crafted elements."

One of those steps involves being able to walk around your ship's cockpit something that Frontier have shown in a new video.

"Of course walking round your ship will be nice, but it is the just springboard for a very significant expansion of gameplay you will be able to experience the inside of starports and interact with other players and AI characters, and even board other people s ships in space and take them by force, as shown in this concept piece."

As nice as it is to know the eventual shape of the finished Elite, that isn't entirely the reason for Frontier's update. As an early access release, there's an element of salesmanship too. Frontier are currently selling a Lifetime Expansion Pass essentially a DLC season pass that guarantees all future updates. But added to the already expensive beta access price, it's a lot to ask for content that could be a long time from release. The Lifetime Expansion Pass is on sale until 29 July.

Jul 20, 2014

Jazz Jackrabbit review June 1995, US edition

PC Gamer

Every Sunday, Tyler publishes a classic PC Gamer review from the '90s or early 2000s, with his context and commentary followed by the full, original text from the archived issue. More classic reviews here.

It's unbelievable now, but PCs were once seen as less-attractive gaming machines than Nintendo consoles. Heresy! But it's true. I'd probably never preface a review with 200 words of context, but I'm glad our 1995 review of Jazz Jackrabbit gives us some perspective. Sadly, Cliff Bleszinski's new studio is not making a new Jazz Jackrabbit, so we still don't have it that good.
Jazz Jackrabbit CD-ROM review
Sell your Super Nintendo Jazz Jackrabbit proves your PC is also a
top-notch video game machine.

Required: 486DX; CD-ROM drive; 4MB RAM; VGA; Joystick
We recommend: Four-button joystick or gamepad; Sound Blaster compatible sound card
M.S.R.P: $49

PC gaming old-timers remember the day when their computers were barely considered viable platforms for entertainment. If you really wanted to play games in the mid-1980s, you got a Commodore 64 or that brand-new machine from Nintendo. It didn't matter that those 8-bit machines were outclassed in power and speed by the 16-bit PC IBM's creation had almost no sound capabilities, and 16-color graphics were still a pretty new option. There were a handful of good games for the PC, but video-game thrills were almost impossible to find.

I remember comparing the PC adaptation of the classic arcade game Contra with the one a friend of mine bought for his Nintendo. That came as a real shock. The cartridge version wasn't a knockout but compared to the one that ran on my PC (with its acid-trip CGA color scheme and beep-beep sound effects), it might as well have been the arcade coin-op machines.

Fortunately, those days are over and so are the days when PC gamers looked down on shareware games the way my friend with the Nintendo looked down on my PC. Jazz Jackrabbit started out as shareware, but it stacks up well against the best of today's cartridge-based video games and the enhancements Epic has added for the CD-ROM version make it a terrific deal.

Jazz's plot is vintage video game: You're Jazz Jackrabbit, a space hero from the planet Carrotus, and you've got to save your beloved Eva Earlong from the clutches of an evil tortoise known as Devan Shell. You'll pursue Devan and Eva through the galaxy, stopping at one planet after another to run, jump and shoot your way through more than 90 levels of smoothly scrolling arcade action (that includes 30 new levels added to the CD).

Jazz is a wonderful imitation of games like Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, complete with breakneck speed, daring leaps and secret passages. There are even bonus levels these are done in a 3D perspective, with the kind of rapidly scaling and rotating background that Super Nintendo owners are always bragging about.

The graphics are terrific, with vibrant colors and excellent animation. Jazz runs, skids to a stop, ducks, and tumbles head over heels through the air in perfect cartoon style this is an arcade game hero with more personality than all the Street Fighters and Mortal Kombatants who ever appeared on a PC.

The sounds are well done, too especially the funky, video-game music, which uses the same technology that helped make Epic Pinball so impressive. It's based on digitized samples, so it's head and shoulders above the usual FM synthesis you'll hear from most Sound Blaster-compatible games it even sounds better than some wavetable music.

PC gamers get to play the deepest, most sophisticated games going, but every once in a while we all crave some simple, old-fashioned video game action and there's no better cure for that craving than Jazz Jackrabbit. Dan Bennett