The tail end of 1993 was a good time to be a PC gamer. Future Publishing had been running PC Format (1991-2015 - RIP) for a couple of years when the company decided to launch a dedicated gaming mag in the form of the still-extant PC Gamer. Whereas both of these titles covered the wide gamut of PC games, it would take a more specialised effort to cover the genres more traditionally associated with the DOS format (simulations, adventures and strategy as per the cover tagline), and Maverick Magazines had just the thing: PC Player.
Coming in at a respectable £2.25 and 116 pages including the covers, even this slightly battered example retains the quality feel that I remember from back in the day. Lasting only eleven issues, this was a good looking mag for the time and (in my humble opinion), still retains certain sense of style.
The front cover is dominated by a close up of the nose of an F-22 Raptor to accompany the review of TFX. There's also a round up of flight sims (which is what prompted me to pick up this issue all those years ago), as well as coverage of Privateer, Flight Sim 5.0, Frontier: Elite II and more. But as always, the news comes first.
There are six pages in total, and include a mix of titles you might remember, and some that have been lost to the mists of time. Dungeon Master II is a 256-colour sequel promising some cutting edge artificial intelligence. Rebel Assault looks gorgeous, but time would prove pretty graphics doth butter no parsnips, or some such metaphor mix-up. Archon Ultra is the sequel to a C64 game that somebody must have asked for, while Fantasy Empires aims to be the first D&D game where the computer is the dungeon master.
Bethesda have something called The Eldar (sic) Scrolls - nope, never heard of them either...;-) - which seems to be targeting the well-off gamer in that although a 386 would do, it would look pap on anything less than a decent 486. Delta V is something cyperpunky, and Evasive Action is a dogfighting fighter sim through the ages.
Star Trek warrants a good chunk of column space since the enhanced version of 25th Anniversary is due out - with actual cast voices too! And hopefully a slight drop in difficulty... Star Trek 2: Judgement Rites carries on the brand's gaming efforts, whilst Starfleet Academy promises to be an SVGA space flight sim.
Other mentions include a trio from Psygnosis (Microcosm, Hired Guns - already out on the Amiga - and Innocent - released as Innocent Until Caught), Dynamix expanding their Aces series with Aces Over Europe and Aces of the Deep, Ultima VIII, Harpoon II, a new Police Quest game from Sierra, Litil Devil, and Subwar 2050. There's a lot going on, and those looking for future delights would be well served with the updates provided here.
The big group test is next, and there are ten (10!) flight sims awaiting judgement (with star ratings ranging from 1 to 5) in the categories of Detail, Missions, Presentation, Ease of Play, and Realism, before being awarded an overall score (also out of five). Each category has explanatory text as to why a particular score was given, whilst each game also receives a mini review with lots of screenshots. There's additional expert opinion provided by Mark Hanna of The Old Flying Machine Company (who also receive a two-pager after the group test) for a soupçon of additional flavour.
Strike Commander is the first to be covered, and is of note because, as you'd expect coming from the Wing Commander paddock of Origin Studios, it both looks amazing for the time, and will bring even the most powerful of contemporary machines (50MHz 486 if you had one states the review) to their knees because of that. Sadly, although it scores highly for looks, it's only average in the other areas, so ends up with a 3/5 score.
The highest rated is Falcom 3.0, which is no surprise to anyone who knows their flight sim stuff. It could run on a 16MHz 286 with 1Mb of RAM, but was really comfortable with a 33MHz 386 and double the memory. This is something of a pattern in the genre, where those, mostly older sims, that could be run on as 12-16MHz 286 (Harrier Jump Jet, F117A, ATAC, Jetfighter 2: Special Edition, and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat), only Chuck was truly happy on such a machine, and for the rest, you'd need some flavour of 386, at 33MHz or better recommended. AV8B Harrier Assault, and Tornado demanded a 16MHz 386 as a minimum, and only F-15 Strike Eagle III was strict with its minimum requirements matching the recommended spec as per the article. As for Strike Commander's minimum? 33MHz 486 and 4Mb of RAM.
TFX is a flight sim classic, getting a proper drilling over six pages, and ending in a five star rating. Rightly so. What is interesting, at least to me, are the comments about the specs required. Basic says a 25MHz 386, but 2Mb is not enough, four being really the minimum. As for the processor, a 486 would be better, and there's a lovely little chat with Martin Kenwright, Managing Director of developers Digital Image Design, which you can see below:
In his opinion, the 486DX 33MHz is the "most common format," and the 386 has to have allowances made for, but basically, get a DX/2 66 if you can!
Privateer is up next, and another space sim from Origin Systems. Not quite as sublime as Elite it seems, acheiving a 4/5, but at least that 8-bit wonder didn't need a DX/2 486 to run well. Also, can you see a pattern forming here about recommended gaming specs?
Return to Zork (4/5) tries to bring life back into a long-running franchise, and does a decent job, even if you need a good spec to handle the video sections, but that would also require you to have the CD-ROM version. For those still rocking the floppy, you got the game with more limited animations, lost 25Mb of drive space, and you had to rattle through the 12(!) floppies for the pleasure.
Speaking of specs, there is a feature asking "Is your 386 enough?" where industry peeps are questioned on the long term prospects of Intel's chip. And, gentle reader, it does not make easy reading. Essentially, the UK developers are aiming at the US market, and that was far more advanced than the UK one. Sales figures support the push for the 486, certainly from EA's point of view, with Strike Commander selling around 150,000 units already! The 486 is the future. As a neat demonstration, four games are detailed showing what the extra power could deliver.
For context, you could get a basic 486SX running at 25MHz for less than a grand including VAT, as evidenced by the adverts from a handy copy of Personal Computer World dated September '93. 386's were even cheaper, with Evesham flogging practically end of line Amstrad 7386's for under £650 - not a long term investment to be sure, but not too shabby either. As always, the more you spent, the better the spec. A DX/2 66 was closer to a grand and a half by the time you added the bells and whistles.
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| Worth spending the extra £100 plus VAT. |
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| That £60 spare from a grand would get you a sound card... just nothing to hear it with. |
Continuing with the games reviews, Lost in Time is as an adventure game from Coktel Vision that looks all fancy but suffers from niggling issues, resulting is a 3/5 score, which is the same rating as CyberRace, a futuristic racer that taxes anything under a 486DX, and even then can struggle.
Flight Sim 5.0 also suffers a hammering (3/5) for being too similar to version four, despite the 256-colour graphics, making it one for only the most dedicated of fans.
Hex is the word when it comes to V for Vistory: Gold-Juno-Sword, a traditional wargame that, in your author's humble opinion, looks absolutely fantastic, and get a proud 4/5.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons gets an airing in Dark Sun - Shattered Lands, but maybe shouldn't have with a disappointing 2/5, a result of being overly reliant on combat.
A pair of NFL games (must be the simulation genre), give fans of the sport options, with NFL Coaches Club Football (3/5), and Front Page Sports Football Pro (3/5) being both somewhat average and packing overly long titles.
Chess fans (this is more your traditional PC game, surely?) are given the treat of Kasparov's Gambit (3/5), along with some seriously moody shots of Gary. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.
Meanwhile, World War II: Battles of the South Pacific plays nothing like a game(!) for the faint of heart as it takes an overly comprehensive view of that theatre of conflict and is off-putting for those unwilling/unable to put in the effort. 3/5.
Page 82 has an opinion column whose tone is as feisty as mine can be when I find a suitable soap box. The un-named author berates the fascination of CD-ROM being the future, noting that although it offers a great deal of storage (for the time, you understand), that space is being wasted on flash graphics and full motion videos, instead of code for gameplay. Can't say I disagree with the point of view. That would change, but yeah, flashy video and naff all fun was very much a thing back then.
A short round up of games takes up the next two pages, from The Lord of the Rings (4/5) to the disastrous Street Fighter 2 PC port (1/5). A quick gander at the minimum specs for eachs show just one (Classic Golf - 4/5) able to play on 286-based machines, whereas all of the others need 32-bit chippery.
Two player's guides provide advice and help for those tackling Tornado and X-Wing, before we arrive at the previews section where Alone in the Dark 2, Frontier: Elite II, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, Beneath a Steel Sky, Stonekeep, Dreamweb, and Fables and Fiends: The Hand of Fate are revealed to the world.
Betwixt these is another column, this one penned by Stephen Harper and he's not a happy chap either - originality in gaming is a rare thing and maybe accountants shouldn't decide which games are published, e.g. samey sequels etc. Oh, Steve, bless. He wasn't wrong then, and isn't now, but these days, the indie developer scene is very much an antidote to the cookie cutter AAA-titles that populate the charts.
That's it for the editorial gubbins, so now to the adverts!
The inside cover has a two-pager from Special Reserve, a multi-store retail club which was a go to shop when I had my Amiga. It's all PC stuff here, and the prices are pretty decent. Membership was £7 for the year at this point (it was something like £4 when I first joined), and, ooohhhhh! Speaking of membership, check out that Mega PC offer - yours for just £499, guaranteeing you a place in the UK Retro Gaming Youtuber Society! I mean, it's pretty much de rigueur for wannabe members to do a video on this box, so there we are. Also, check out the prices - £30-ish for new releases equates to about £65 now, so like for like, they were slightly better value than modern day titles, although there's a load of caveats here too... dev costs, packaging, retail route etc.
Magic Media is trying to pimp up your box with soundcards and CD-ROM drives galore. £58 for a basic Sound Blaster card is cheaper than even the Special place, but adding a ROM drive was a tad pricey. You could slum it with that single speed (150KB/s) Mitsumi drive for £135, but you'd be far better off with a double speed (300KB/s) doofer. The Panasonic is only £40 more, but other brands were double the Mitsumi's price, which does make one wonder just how popular they were.
There's a couple of smaller mail order games retailers and publisher specific ads, including this one for Kingmaker. I've never played the computer version but have had the pleasure of a few games back in the day with the TWATS (Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society). The physical game can be a riot, so I may have to investigate the computer version further, although I very much doubt it could replicate the feeling of a four player pub session...
There's also a trio of ads from Silica - cos it ain't a 90's computer magazine without Silica.
First up is this one for Citizen printers... like, duuuuuuude! It's a games mag!
Next is this one for CD-ROM drives, and that trusty Mitsumi number there. The Panasonic offering was the much better value of the two though.
If you have a CD drive, you must also want a sound card, and Silica have the Sound Galaxy range for you to choose from. Personally speaking, I'd always pick a genuine Sound Blaster, but buyer's choice.
The final ad of note is this one from Computer Exchange. Yep, this funky looking effort is a print ad for CEX long before it was called CEX. Small acorns and the power of franchising.
So that was a look through issue one of PC Player. Great production values, very good writing, and pitched perfectly to sixteen year old me (even without a suitable PC), this read through brought back memories. I did have all eleven issues before the sudden and saddening termination of the mag, although I've no idea where those copies went, and it was only by chance I picked up this example for a totally not stupid price (as I write this, there's a buy it now offer for a copy of issue one on e-Bay for £24.95!). That being said, if you want to check out more issues of PC Player, the Out of Print Archive has the first five issues to view and download (with permission as well). They also have a massive array of other publications too, so definitely check them out.
I shall leave you with a couple of images of previews for titles that are today considered absolute classics:
