: GAMES: Helo worship.

GUNSHIP!PC CD ROM 

THE original game was designed by Sid Meier and Andy Hollis for MicroProse back in 1986.

Five years later, MicroProse released Gunship 2000. Both sims were quite advanced for their time, but despite its name, the new Gunship! preserves little of the spirit of its predecessors.

Nominally a flight simulator, it's really a flight action game that won't appeal to hard-core flight-sim fans.

In fact, this is closer to an airborne version of MI Tank Platoon II, the tank sim also by Microprose.

Ostensibly, it gives you the chance to fly the AH-64 Apache, the Eurocopter Tiger and the Mi-28 Havoc in a variety of single-mission or campaign modes.

You can play as the pilot or as the gunner - although the beta version I tested had a tendency to crash the aircraft.

Nor could I shift Waypoints as you are instructed, while a failure on a mission, even in Campaign mode, isn't permitted - there's no way out but to keep flying it until you succeed.

Everything about Gunship! is clearly designed to give inexperienced flight simulation players the least possible fuss, but the flight models are far from realistic - even on "Realistic" setting.

While it has serious realism problems, that can't be said of the graphics.The terrain is impressive and really lets you feel that you are flying.

That's the major reason you should consider buying this - its a great first- person airborne shooter and it's easy to blow things up. RATING 7/10A class of their own

KLINGON ACADEMYPC CD ROM PERHAPS it's because they are a bit like rugby players - a bizarre combination of honour-obsessed samurai and zombies - but Klingons are so popular that they have spawned as many Star Trek games as the nice humans of Starfleet.

A space combat sim in nature, the latest outing for these corrugated-heads is Klingon Academy, the alien version of Starfleet Academy.

By now, there's a good chance that only Trekkies will still be awake - but give the others a nudge, it is worth it.

Starfleet Academy looked like it would be a winner, but had enough flaws to fill a black hole. The developer of Klingon Academy, 14 Degrees East, has really taken on board all the criticisms and come up with the game everyone wanted in the first place.

They manage the difficult balance between a flight-sim you can zip about in and the more ponderous manoeuvring of huge ships with hundreds of crew on board.

The events in the game are set just before the sixth Star Trek film, The Undiscovered Country and serve to explain many of the motives behind the main characters.

The most important is the one-eyed General Chang, played in the movie by Christopher Plummer, who reprises his role for the many FMV sequences that link the missions together. But , just as in the movie, I find it hard to be impressed by a man who was Baron Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music.

The game progresses through linear missions but how many objectives you complete - and the way you do it - has a major effect on subsequent missions. And you can find your own ways to win.

You also have more than the helm to worry about - communications, weapons and engineering are all playable, but you can just sit there and say: "Engage" if you want.

Of course, a lot of commands are voice-overs - so, if ever there was an excuse to learn Klingon, other than being seriously disturbed, this could be it. RATING 8/10

RESIDENT EVIL 2 Dreamcast

WORD of warning - playing this with the lights out will seriously damage your credibility, especially when you throw the controls in the air at one of the many unexpected undead appearances.

A PlayStation classic, the DC version offers the graphics souped-up "to PC standards" with high-res 3D character images that you don't usually get on consoles.

It also lets you use the VMU - Visual Memory Unit to you and me - to keep track of weapons and ammo, which is handy when you play the extra game, Extreme Battle, a level that was only released in Japan on the Biohazard 2 Dual Shock version.

The CD includes a gallery section of images, movies and 3D objects from the game to view at your leisure and, finally, throws in the Japanese version of the game for good measure. RATING 8/10

STARWARS: FORCE COMMANDERPC CD ROM

THIS is a traditional real-time strategy game that has fully three-dimensional graphics.

It intends to let you re-create the ground battle sequences from the classic Star Wars films by letting you take control of Imperial walkers, stormtroopers' Rebel defenses and more.

Sadly, it is more dated than Mir, while ineffective controls and flawed gameplay make it a disappointment.

Force Commander's 3D engine would have been considered state-of-the-art two years ago. The units range widely in visual quality - Imperial walkers, TIE fighter or Rebel snowspeeders are exactly like they appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, nothing else is.

Worst of all is the onscreen interface - a plain rectangle that occupies too much game screen. You can toggle it on or off, which takes ages, but the game is unplayable without it.

Late, sad and very annoying. RATING 4/10

CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS CHEATS DAGGERFALL

PC CD ROM

EDIT z.cfg file in your DAGGER directory and add line "cheatmode 1",in the game press the following:

ctrl+F4 - GOD mode.

ctrl+F1- All locations on FAST TRAVEL map.

ctrl+F9- Get 5000 in gold pieces.

TOMB RAIDER III

PC CD ROM

YOU may think you know all the cheats and have found all the hidden areas, but you are probably wrong. Here's how to find out the secret Lara doesn't want you to know.

At the back of the platform by the swimming pool in Lara's mansion is a switch. After pressing it, a cut-scene shows a wall revealing a lever. After you've pulled down the lever, quickly roll over, dash to the other side of the hall and do a sliding jump. Inside the next room is a collection of Lara's most treasured items, like the Dagger of Xian - and a pair of large, fake breasts.

COMMANDOS: BEHIND ENEMY LINES

PC CD ROM

BEAT the bad guys by typing 1982GONZO in the middle of a game. That brings up the cheat menu and you can then enter the following:

Ctrl+I - You Are Invincible

Shift+X - Teleport highlighted commando

Ctrl+Shift+N - End Mission

VIRTUAL SPRINGFIELD

PlayStation

HAVING trouble getting Bart around his own home town? No problem. To get the equivalent of a "beam-me-up-Scottie" teleporter, go to your map press (and hold) SHIFT+V+S. Then double-click on the location.

COMMANDO'S: BEYOND CALL OF DUTY

PC CD ROM

TYPING 1982GONZO should work in this, too, but if it doesn't then try GONZOOPERA and the cheats will be activated.

1602 A.D.

PC CD ROM

IN this game of strategy and empire building, you'll need more than Leonardo Da Vinci's genius to get your through.

Press 'Ctrl, Shift, Alt and W' during the game, type '2061'then hit 'Return'. After that, press A and 'Return' to activate the cheat mode.

Shift + M - Extra money.

Shift + Z- Loads of bricks.

Shift + K - More cannons.

Shift + H - Bonus wood.

Gold - Piles of it.

CAESAR III

PC CD ROM

TO get more funds:, build a well and then right click on it. When the box pops up press Alt + K. After that press Alt + C for more money - at 1000 at time, with a 5000 limit - or Alt+V for ultimate victory. IF the word is true, the Game Boy Color  is about to be blown out of the water. Sony, it seems, is working on a portable PlayStation called the PlayStation Dash, according to rumours.

Apparently, the machine will be a the size of a Sony Discman and will have a four-inch TFT display built in.

Some reports even go so far to claim that the unit already has a Japanese recommended retail price of 9800 yen (pounds 60).