ZEPHYR

by

NEW WORLD COMPUTING

FORMAT: PC/CD-ROM
DATE: DECEMBER 1994
PRICE: US $79.95

According to New World Computing, the future will be a time where Megacorporations will be powerful enough to be above the control of the governments. Zephyr, one of the latest games from the company, offers you the opportunity to see what awaits us in this future.

Everything started in the 21st century when mineral resources became exhausted and in order to prevent Earth from a major disaster, the United Earth Government formed the Planetary Battle Circuit (PBC). This was a place where the top six companies had to fight each other to win the rights to Earth's natural resources. With technology improvements throughout the years that enabled space travels, the PBC evolved into the Interplanetary Battle circuit (IBC). The game starts in the year 2365 when Megacorps shows their latest challenger, the Zephyr, a hover battlecraft.

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Your role will be to pilot one of these powerful fighting machines for one of the six companies mentioned above. Each of them will propose to you tanks specially modified with devices according their respective specialties. For example, Unlimited Power Supply is the best company for energy storage devices, Positronix is the leading manufacturer regarding weapons, and Vertix Shielding is your best choice for shields.

The action takes place on several alien worlds ranging from Earth type, aquatic planets through desert and icy worlds. Each world comes with its own textures and backgrounds, and the music also changes as you move from one battle circuit to another. The game in itself provides the player with a classic first person perspective view with several instruments available on the screen of the cockpit. Damage screens, radar, compass, countdown clock and other useful devices will give you information in the battle arena.

The controls are similar to those used in the other games of this type, except of course you can not jump or crouch with your hovercraft. However, you can move up and down and then, and you need to be at the same height to fire upon your opponents or other targets. In the battle arena, there are also bonuses randomly placed that will provide you with better weapons, upgrades for your missiles and other things like battery recharge.

The graphics used in the battle arena, are not as realistic as they are in games like Doom or Dark Forces. They sometimes look too colorful and when you are very close to the walls, you get huge blocks of colors on the screen.

Conclusion:

Despite this lack of realism, Zephyr is still fun to play as you compete in this arena trying to survive and complete as many laps as possible. The multi-player support (not available at the time of the release) should add new excitement for players who get bored after many hours, since the game only includes eight different worlds.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

486 DX-33 MHz or better,
Min 8 MB memory,
MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
Hard drive required,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
VGA 256 color graphic card and monitor,
Microsoft Mouse or 100% compatible,
All major sound cards supported, 16-bit audio and VR headsets.

Ratings and Publisher

                                    New World Computing Inc.,
 GRAPHICS ------------------ 80%    P.O. BOX 4302,
 SOUND    ------------------ 80%    Hollywood, CA 90078.
 MUSIC    ------------------ 82%    Tel: 818-889-5600
 GAMEPLAY ------------------ 78%
 INTEREST ------------------ 82%

 OVERALL ------------------- 80%