By Sean Contin
Videa Gasse Reviews

Geek News: Disney
Raider
Video game developer

and publisher Eidos
Interactive and family fun
giants at Disney Interactive
recently announced they will
jain forces to develop three
video game titles for the
console and hand-held game
markeis based on. Disney's

- popular content. Games such

“as Walt Disney World (R}
Racing and 102 Dalmatians,
based on the forthcoming
ntovie sequel, will be created
at Eidos’ internal studio,
Crystal Dynamics, located in
Menlo Park, California.

PC Peripheral: Sidewinder

“Dual Strike (Microsoft) _
-There have been innu--
‘able attempts at crea tng
a First: Person-Shooter (FPS) y)
interface device that can.
bath handle the muldple.
tasks usually assigned to the
“PC's mouse and keyboard

and offer the intuitive hands-

¥
‘needs; Held firmly with.
ge hand, where an :

shift key to double the
strikes, often requires
enough of a stretch or hand-
repositioning to cause
unwanted character gyration.

Holding the Dual Strike
firmly with the left hand
while trying to geatly finesse
it with the right is a little dis-
tracting —~ and it won't
aiways centre properly either,
leaving your hands crooked |
in awkward positions. Still,
with some practice games
like Half-Life and Kingpin
can now be played from the
reclined position instead of
hunched over the keyboard.

The Sidewinder Dual
Strike is certainly a good
alternative for geeks like
myself who must look at
their keyboard te BPE, but
it’s not necessarily the better
alternative otherwise. Can't
rent it. Good purchase.

PC Win95/98 &
Nintendo64: | Rayman2
(Udi Soft)

An absolutely dazzling,
visually stunning addition to
the 3D Adventure genre, the

ace side-scrolling Rayman

makes a triumphant return in.

" ‘Rayman 2: The Great

Escape: Fun, family-criented
ction through 40 plus levels
offer.a good ‘mix of plat-
forming, puzzle solving aad ©
‘cartoon encounters with
charming friends axid

_ delightiul foes...

"Rayman 2 holds its own

against such euddly-wuddly

benchmarks-as Mario, Crash
_and Sonic and, more impor: .
tantly, docs so without
appearing like a rip-off game.
Ultimately The Great -

pe is all about collecting

in forces

power-ups, escaping (duh)
and saving the world, a
redundant quest, but the
ride is thoughtfully present-
ed and Sawlessly executed.
Brilliant work and fun for
the whole faraily to boot!
Excellent reneal. Great pur-
chase.

Playstation: Championship
Motocross (THQ)

Until now there has never
been a good motocross mud
mucker available for the
PlayStation but, like a
reward for the wait, there is
a great one.

Grainy and pixilated as it
is, Championship Motocress
Featuring Ricky Carmichael
offers some of the best bike
and rider animation you'll
ever encounter (excepting
the paltry crash and bail
sequences) and also boast
impeccable controi via
Sony's Dual Shock Analogue
Controller.

One sagging. flaw can be
found in the arbitrary colli-
sion detection which merely

offers a random nudge shove
or bail reaction to even the ©
tiniest contention with a wall.’

or znother rider, but if you

. avoid conflict altogether,

you re left with some of the .
t, involved and fantas- ”
oat ae fan motocross racin
out there. Better than. 989

~ Supercross Circuit and inf
 nitely betver than EA Sport’s

hopciess Supercross 2000,

‘Clampionshi P. ‘Motocross is
“the game you've been wait-

ing for. Excellent rental.”
Great Purchase.

. Dreamcast: Blue Stinger

(Activision):

Here’s a 3D horror
adventure that ties a litde
too hard to be Resident Evil
for the Dreamcast. Dumbed-
down gameplay is almost too
simplistic.

Likewise, great splatters
of blood and grotesque
monsters are none too con-
vincing, though it all lcoks
grand on the super-console
that Sega built. The worst of
it is found in the voice-over
acting that is supposed to
move the story along. ‘Too
many FMV segues with ani-
mated characters scratching
their heads while forcing
horrible dialogue can net be
bypassed. These cutscenes
musi be endured, which gets
harder ta do with each
encounter. Too bad. A fun
and easy white-bread horror
game otherwise. Great
rental. Poor purcisase.

Who says cheaters never
win? :.

Dual Strike: Program the

various buttons manually as
the accompanying software
presets are just, bizarre.

‘op Rentals
ie Rainbow 6(PSX)

2: 087: Tomorrow . Never
Dies (PSX)

23. Tomb Raider 4: The ‘Last

Revelation (PSX/PC)
4, Sega Rally 2 (DC)

5. Reident Evi 3: Nemesis.

(PSX)

“6. NBA 2K (DC)

7. Medal of Honor (PSX:

8. Donkey Keng Sf (N62)
9. Interstate, 9 (PC) :
10.- Star’ Trek: Hidden : Evil
(PC) Te

; ‘Sponscred by: InterAction
Computer Entertainment,

OE Sra § St, ‘North: Van 987 -
B “BAF...

ey mencsion.com

COLORADO'S suing Cheese incidant Kelth Moseley’
Hollingsworth, Michael: Kany, . Michael
Travis and Bill Nersh! (front) pley.th y Vag Theawe

(leit), Kyle"
in Vancouver Monday and

“quin-

% st crn 3b brought t to town by

Vancouver's: U;