Begin to use your computer now

Begin to use your computer now

Steven Moy
T -minus 36 days and counting
ATLANTA
November 6, 1998

It's been nearly two months now. You're well into the Fall Quarter, maybe you've picked up an intramural, you've probably dropped a couple courses already. You've had less than 24 hours of sleep in the past two days. You are totally fried! Perhaps going to that last lecture wasn't the best idea. You're desperate for something to relax your frizzled brain.

Now, take a look over to your desk for a second. What do you see? Something that vaguely resembles a television screen? The Magic E-mail Box? The Matlab Torture Device? No, no, it's just your computer. Now, wait a second, I know what you're going to say. You don't want to spend any more time than necessary chained to your desk, but hear me out. I'm about to tell you about something that will relax your mind, ease your aggression, and do something useful with that two-thousand dollar radiation box for no additional cost.

NO, DON'T THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW. Just go to these sites and download these three files and you'll be well on your way to escaping all your troubles: Blood 2 - www.the-chosen.com/home.asp Heretic II - www.hereticii. com/ Trespasser - www.avault.com/pcrl/adventure_temp.asp? game=trespasser&size=29.77

The idea here is to give you something to do to get your mind off of school. What you'll find at these sites are demos of games that are slated for release in the next few weeks. The beauty of the demo concept is that you get a taste of how the game will play without having to shell out forty or fifty dollars for the experience.

First up is Blood 2 from Monolith Productions, who also created Shogo, covered in a previous issue of the Technique. In short, Caleb, through whose eyes you see the world in Blood 2, has walked the Earth for years, trying to discover a way to resurrect the original three Chosen: Ophelia, Gabriella, and Ishmael. With their combined force, they can retake the Cabal and help Caleb return to his former position of power as the Cabal's supreme leader, a position which he feels is rightfully his.

From a press release from Raven Software, the developer, and Activision, the publisher, "Heretic II sets players on a quest through dark, labyrinthine environments as they search for a cure to a deadly evil plague before all is lost."

As Corvus the character from Heretic who has been banished to the Outer Worlds by D'sparil, players perform a variety of acrobatic, swimming and climbing maneuvers in order to penetrate the mystery of the plague. Exploring city, swamp, canyon and dungeon levels, gamers use a variety of offensive and defensive spells such as the Sphere of Annihilation, Repulsion and Fireball in conjunction with a magical bow and staff to defeat a multitude of insane plague-ridden denizens of Parthoris.

Finally, Dreamworks Interactive presents Trespasser. Based in Jurassic Park, Trespasser offers a promising combination of exploration and dinosaur combat to pull you into 'site B' now in ruins after the Lost World fiasco. Trespasser is the first 3-D game to feature a complete physics engine allowing the player to stack crates to climb over a wall, push a trailer home on its side or even use a rifle as a club when you run out of ammo.

Well, there you have it. Three more ways to procrastinate from studying, each interesting in its own way. Whether as a creature from the underworld, or a mythical leader from a fantasy world, or a scientist trapped on an island of dinosaurs, you're sure to forget your responsibilities for at least a few hours. Go ahead; do something useful with your computer for once.

Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board

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