March 2002 Volume 83 Number 3 "serving the protectors"
Edited By John Ballantyne

Wipeout Fusion 2150
Format: PlayStation 2

This latest version of the cult anti-gravity racing game is set almost exactly 100 years after the original.

The year is 2150 and the Federation – the organization behind previous incarnations of the Wipeout anti-gravity racing leagues – decides it’s time to use recent advances in technology to create a whole new racing experience.

This latest version of the game comes with a huge range of new features – new tracks and locations; new, more sophisticated craft; and a new array of devastating and spectacular weaponry.

Eight new teams have been assembled from all around the world, and the very best drivers have been recruited.

New tracks boast new features, from jump ramps and trigger pads, crossroads and short-cuts to vertical air-jumps and even an anti-gravity pad that instantly flips your ship to race on the underside of the track’s roof.

The biggest tracks are three times longer than any previous Wipeout circuit. Key features include:

• 32 ships’ models.

• 16 different pilots in eight teams.

• 45 different tracks on seven different courses (which include jungle, desert, city and mountain settings).

• Six single-player modes.

• Five multi-player modes.

• 26 different spectacular weapons to take out opponents.

Ecco The Dolphin:
Defender of the Future
Format: PlayStation 1 and 2

This compelling game is based on a story by award-winning science fiction author, David Brin.

Hundreds of years in the future, the integrated civilization of humans and dolphins have created an ideal world on Earth.

But, realizing that their true destiny lies in the stars, both humans and dolphins depart for the outer reaches of space, leaving behind a small group of dolphins in supposed innocence as caretakers of Earth.

All is well until the arrival of a mysterious foe who threatens to change the past with the aid of a time-tunnel and to meddle with the dolphins’ psyche.

Ecco must ensure that history is restored to its former course by returning all the dolphin skills that have been stolen and scattered through time by the evil foe.

Throughout the adventure, Ecco finds himself inadvertently creating alternative history lines.

Whether these timelines produce happy worlds or nightmare realities, depends entirely on the skills and brains of this friendly dolphin.

The game consists of four episodes (Paradise Island, Man’s Nightmare, Dolphin’s Nightmare, the Foe’s Lair) and is set in a stunningly realistic underwater universe of beauty and wonder, accompanied by powerful and evocative music.

Headhunter
Format: PlayStation 2

Headhunter incorporates elements of stealth, hand-to-hand combat, gunfights, puzzle-solving and motorbike riding.

Renegade Headhunter, Jack Wade, is the hero.

The setting is a near-futuristic California, where gang warfare and soaring crime have led to a crack-down by a neo-fascist dictatorship.

In this new world, good health and great wealth have become life’s highest priorities, resulting in an insatiable demand for body implants, to replace worn out organs.

There is a particularly lucrative black market in the trade of human body organs.

Leading the war against crime is the Anti-Crime Network (ACN) – an elite force of privatized law enforcers.

Wrongdoers suffer “clipping”, with experimental implants or confiscation of their body parts to prolong the lives of the law-abiding citizens.

In this dark future of deceit and betrayal, where human organs are currency, Jack Wade sets out on a journey to investigate the murder of his mentor and former ACN chief Mr Stern.

Accompanied by Stern’s stunning daughter Angela, Wade must become adept at a variety of skills, tactics and weapons in order to find the truth.

X-Files screenwriter Phillip Lawrence has set the plot with script-cut scenes featuring real actors.

An orchestral soundtrack adds to the cinematic feel of the game.

Rez
Format: PlayStation 2

Rez is an endorphin machine that releases the essence of trance through futuristic sound and visuals.

Players shoot digitial enemies to release their “frequency”. These “essence sounds” are multiplied upon themselves to create rhythm, and the rhythm then changes the graphics of the game itself. This enables the player to create original music, which in turn controls the very shape of this virtual world.

By engaging in combat in Rez’s visually arresting environment, players will experience a dreamscape of intertwined colour, form, movement and sound.

Fantastic Computer Game Offer:
Win either Wipeout Fusion 2150 or a handsome box set containing three computer games, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, Headhunter and Rez. On the back of an envelope, write down your preference along with your details, and send the envelope to Computer Game Comp, SA Police Journal (168).

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