It’s April of 1998, but NextGen isn’t doing the April Fools Day nonsense. Instead, they have a preview for another big game from Hideo Kojima (appropriate considering Kojima just announced a new game as of this writing).
Cover: The cover game is Metal Gear Solid, which is getting a preview, and NextGen’s staff is asking if it’s the last great PS1 game – I will note that as of this issue, we’ve got two more Final Fantasy games coming out, plus a Dragon Quest game, and Silent Hill, so the PS1’s got a lot of life in it.
Industry Interview: The interview this issue is with Chairman & CEO Greg Fischbach of Acclaim. NextGen grills Greg on how Acclaim nearly tanked themselves with over a half-decade licensed shovelware, with Greg’s excuse being “Retail wouldn’t take our games without an established brand. Now that game criticism is more entrenched we can’t just crap out this licensed crap anymore.” That said, it is possible to make licensed games that don’t suck (I liked Alien 3, for example), so the question remains, why did yours suck so bad?
News: VM Labs is still working on Project X, which, after a little research, I’ve learned will become the Nuon. Also, Howard Scott Warshaw is putting together a documentary on the history of Atari (which has been finished and you can get it from (among other places) GOG.
In the Movers & Shakers column, columnist Colin Campbell states an odd statement: “No company has ever succeeded at (transitioning to a new platform)…” That’s patently false. Sega not only successfully transitioned from the Master System to the Genesis/Mega Drive – they thrived. Nintendo barely lost a step in the shift from the NES to the SNES. While neither attained market dominance with the Saturn & N64 respectively, they are both still in the market, and the N64 is arguably gaining ground. Yes, NEC is out of the picture, and Atari couldn’t successfully go from the 7600 to the Jaguar, but that’s not what Campbell said. He said “No one”, and not only is that false, but the Big Two have done it.
What Went Wrong: We have a list of case studies for various video games that failed, from the notorious (Pac-Man 2600, ET for the 2600, Toonstruck), to the relatively less known (Rise of the Robots, Fight For Life), and a few that fall in between (Battle Cruiser 3000 AD). The article has some odd takes, like “Rotoscoping is clumsy and bad” (it’s not – and has been done very well in games, like Karateka, Prince of Persia, and Out of this World), and “Athletes should never be cartoon characters” (Space Jam has already proven you wrong).
Some of this, I suspect, is born by the fact that while NextGen is published in the US, and has something of a focus on the US industry, has a staff that is geographically weighted towards the UK, with cultural biases that go with that. So, for example, their take on Shaq Fu – while it is definitely a bad game – is also clearly from the perspective of a staff who say outright they don’t know about basketball, and definitely don’t know who Shaq is.
Alphas (Previews): The big one here is a preview of Metal Gear Solid, which includes a rundown of a bunch of the mechanics and how the graphics will work with that, a timeline of earlier games in the series, and interviews with both Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa. There’s also a 3D adventure action game with the eye-catching title of Space Bunnies Must Die.
Finals (Reviews): Only one N64 game, with Snowboard Kids, which I had fun with on an episode of Nintendo Power Retrospectives.
The PS1, on the other hand, is bringing the heat. There’s the shooter Einhander. There’s Final Fantasy Tactics and Gran Turismo. There’s also Children of the Atom, which doesn’t fare as well, as there were some corners that had to be cut for the PS1 release.
Only two games for the Saturn, but they’re both RPGs and they’re both powerhouses – Shining Force III and Grandia.
The PC has a couple sims as standouts this time – Red Baron II from Sierra On-Line, and Wing Commander Prophesy – the final game in the series.
Letters: Nothing really of note this issue, this time.
