Ultima 9 Reviews – PC Format & PC Gamer

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Pix

Spoony’s review of Ultima 9 from a day or two back appears to have divided viewers while rekindling some old arguments about the merits of the game. Speaking for myself, the review did a better job of being irritating than funny and went on for way, way too long as a result. That isn’t to say I can’t understand where he is coming from.

I thought I’d dig out some reviews to see what the UK press thought at the time. I only found a couple but the reaction wasn’t actually all that bad and appears to depend largely on how many bugs the reviewers ran into rather than the gameplay/storyline. The game was held back until after the final patch before release in the UK but this review from the February 2000 PC Gamer is of the original US release:-

Despite the low score the review is actually extremely positive and they suggested a score of 94% if it had run perfectly. They are a little less keen by the time the promised update arrived in the May 2000 issue:-

I can’t say I’ve ever found the game to be anywhere near as buggy or slow as the above review suggests and I’m clearly not alone in that. This far more generous review comes from the February 2000 PC Format which at 91% puts it ahead of Thief and System Shock 2 for this reviewer:-

Serpent Isle – Snake Cover Art Proof

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Pix

This is another of my favourite items from the collection, a proof & negatives for the snake cover art as featured on the Serpent Isle box cover. Someone at Origin clearly wasn’t happy with this proof as it has some notes on it to bring out more detail in the darker areas. I can’t honestly say these areas are any less dark on the final cover though. I’ve got a second set of negatives where this may have been attempted but I don’t have a proof printed from this second set to compare.

I’m unclear as to whether it’s the original painting or another proof but the Origin Museum is in possession of one or the other which can be seen here courtesy of Razimus Dragon.

Bioforge Review – PC Format

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Pix

This review of Bioforge comes from the May 1995 PC Format. They clearly loved the game with the only complaints being occasionally getting stuck and the linear nature of the story:-

Also from the same issue, a brief mention of Cybermage and Crusader debuting at ECTS. They question the decision with Cybermage to release another Doom clone and in hindsight they were probably right but it was still a great game even if hardly anyone played it:-

Wings Of Glory Review – PC Gamer

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Pix

This is a review of Wings Of Glory from the March 1995 PC Gamer. It gets a fairly average reception with Dawn Patrol coming out on top once again:-

Mark Hamill’s WC3 Flight Suit

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Pix

One of the collectibles that you occasionally see on Ebay is a Wing Commander flight suit as worn by one of the cast. I’ve bid on one or two of these myself, although I’ve never been prepared to pay quite enough to actually win the auction. They are invariably in the USA and the thought of paying all that customs duty never helps out. It appears that the one everyone really wants (Mark Hamill’s) is probably here in the UK though as it was up as a competition prize in the March 1995 PC Gamer magazine. The competition refers to the interactive documentary on the February issue (which I don’t have), but any Wing Commander fan should be able to reel off the answers. So does anyone want to admit to owning this?:-

I’ve a couple of things to catch up after being away the last week. First yet another X-Wing scan I found in the February 1995 PC Format:-

My Man On A Mission DVD arrived while I was away. There are some welcome extras with a handful of interview segments and the “Apogee Of Fear” short film. In case you haven’t heard of this it’s a sci-fi/horror movie shot entirely on the space station by Garriott and is as such the first feature ever shot in space. It’s only about 5 minutes long and the quality is about what you would expect when asking a bunch of astronauts to act. It’s stretching it to call it a movie but it’s far from serious and still entertaining because of it. A DVD commentary track would have been nice but it’s still not a bad package at all. My second dose of Origin DVD’s (Wing Commander Academy) was sent 3 days back also so I should in theory be getting it around the same time as most of the USA which is a welcome bonus. Expect a full review in due course.

Finally, I’ve been messing about with the site theme in the hopes of fixing my SEO problems and have reverted to a slightly modified default theme on the off chance it might help out. It could stand some improvement but it will do for now.