Need For Speed: Road Challenge, Sony PlayStation, £34.99
While every racer awaits the release of Gran Turismo 2, there are few games which can quench their need for speed. A timely arrival then is Need For Speed: Road Challenge and it puts far more emphasis on fun than realism.
It does pay attention to car physics but it just doesn't bother with all the intricate details in the way Gran Turismo does. There are various modes of gameplay including test drive, single race, tournament, hot pursuit, special events and, with two players, a High Stakes Mode.
If you're successful in the tournament mode and have purchased, and perhaps souped-up, a Lamborghini Diablo, Aston Martin DB7 or Ferrari 550, you can race it against a friend (using the memory card) in a winner-takes-all duel.
Need For Speed is best known for its "hot pursuit" mode, in which you can choose to be on either side of the law. You can choose your vehicle and try to outrun the police or jump into the police car and chase after those dastardly speed merchants. Need For Speed is a highly enjoyable game which oozes playability but lacks depth and complexity. Perfect when you want 10 or 15 minutes of adrenalin-filled action.
R-Type: Delta, Sony PlayStation, £34.99
Originally released in 1987, the original R- Type was immensely popular in arcades. You controlled a craft, scrolling from left to right on screen, gunning down swathes of enemies as they approached.
"Power-ups" were an essential part of the game. At first, a player had little more than a pea-shooter but if you collected enough powerups, you could unleash multipleangled laser bursts with roughly the energy of, let's say, three-and-a-half times the earth's current stockpile of nuclear weapons. Once you lost a ship, however, it was back to the peashooter. The idea was to stay alive long enough to regain enough power-ups to be once again a threat.
R-Type: Delta is much of the same with enhanced graphics, three types of craft (plus one bonus enemy craft) and even more outlandish weapons.
It's a rather simple game, but still manages to be infuriating and addictive. It sometimes requires as much of your memory as it does of your dexterity with a joypad. Fans of the original will love it and, others will feel tempted to play it again and again and again.
Eidos, the company behind the highly successful Tomb Raider series is collaborating with David Bowie in a new adventure game scheduled for release in October. Bowie will compose the music for the game Omikron: The Nomad Soul and is also likely to make an appearance in the game. Set in a three-dimensional fantasy world, the game has been in development for the last couple of years and will incorporate 400 different sets, four hours of dialogue and 140 characters.
Bowie will contribute eight new songs for the game. "I moved right away from the stereotypical industrial game music sound," he says. "My priority in writing music for Omikron was to give it an emotional sub-text." Hopefully this combination of those responsible for Lara Croft and Ziggy Stardust will conjure up something special.
Sega and British Telecom have announced they will provide Internet access through the Dreamcast console.
The deal means the new console will come complete with free Internet access as well as a built-in modem and Internet browser. Initially the service will only be available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the rest of Europe to follow "at a later date."
During the Cricket World Cup, Electronic Art's new cricket game, Cricket World Cup, has a special feature: players can log onto the EA SPORTS "Live" dedicated website and download up-to-the-minute weather conditions, teams, injuries, news, as well as the current form of players. These variables will then be automatically incorporated into the game. Howzat!
games@irish-times.ie