The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 65

Thursday July 15 1999 The Guardian 6 1 online coming prequel, Pharaoh (www.pharaohl.com). I St I If a iv Mr-mm You may also need the 1 I 1 Iwatch multi national effort. Pure is British, 'f he said Following the huge success of Driver, the 70s-style car-chase game for the Sony PlayStation (Gameswatch, June 24), GT Interactive has started work on a sequel. It seems the original will also be converted to run on other machines, with a PC version appearing in September. Driver has already shipped a million copies, mainly in Europe, and has just been released in the US along with a TV advertisement featuring Antonio Fargas: Huggy Bear from Starsky Hutch.

There's also a website at http:driver.gtgames.com (you can skip the Flash intro). Adobe PDF file or Caesar's manual and installation instructions. Meanwhile Westwood Studios has posted a few screen shots of Nox, a role-playing game that is expected later this year. Go to: www.westwood. comgamesnox land say hello to Hecuba (below).

JackSchofield hunched and lumbering, runs like a man with an urgent toilet appointment. Like a foggier Twin Peaks, Silent Hill is frustrating, confusing and unsettling although, unlike said TV classic, you'll eventually understand what is going on. GregHowson bout of thuggery. Communicating is important, especially for gang recruitment, though it would have been nice to have more varied language. Going in all crowbars blazing is not advisable: far better to hire a couple of meatballs to do the dirty work.

A moody rap soundtrack enhances the feel, and in the atmosphere-creation stakes Kingpin is perfect. Unfortunately the game itself isn't. The limited vocabulary restricts plot development. It's also rather short with experienced hoodlums achieving Kingpin status relatively quickly, although there are sufficient grisly tasks to keep rookie ghetto gangsta's occupied. It's certain that Kingpin will get highlighted as an example of moral degeneracy in games.

The violence and language is raw but no more so than films like Goodfellas and hopefully doors will now open for similarly adult titles. Underneath all the outcry, Kingpin is an excellent urban thriller, which simply dares you to wash its mouth out with soap and water. GregHowson Top 10 UK games ReflectionsGTKPSX) Mindscape is American, Sony is Japanese, and the Shockwave cartoons are being created by Silicon Artists Inc in Madrid, Spain. munch-king You can stop playing Pac-Man now. Billy Mitchell from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has scored the maximum 3,333,360 points while playing at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, according to US reports.

This magnificent achievement will be recorded in the next edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game Pin-ball Book of World Records. Free Caesar Impressions is now giving away Caesar, its six-year-old city government game, for those willing to undertake the modest 800KB download (www.impressionsgames.com), partly to promote its forth church. As expected, these locations are far from innocent, which only adds to the unnerving charm. Despite the game's eerie ambience, things are not perfect. The graphics, while atmospherically murky, do serve to hide the perfunctory backdrops.

Harry, all Violent fun Kingpin: Life of Crime PC CD-Rom (18-rated) Interplay 29.99 Who said crime doesn't pay? It certainly does in Kingpin where violence, robbery and intimidation are all part of a day's work. Yes, this is the game your mother warned you about. Set in an inhospitable ghetto, this is an expletive rilled first person affair. Becoming the Kingpin involves recruiting gang members and indulging in gratuitous violence. A desire to emulate Marlon Brando also helps.

It's all very ugly. The graphics, however, are technically lovely with realistic skin textures and gritty environments. The inhabitants are unsightly with numerous vest-wearing goons and that's just the women.Stylish Godfather suits are replaced by baggy strides and sawn-off shotguns. The level of graphical detail extends to matters lavatorial. Kingpin isn't just a violent Rough ride F-1 World Grand Prix II Nintendo 64 39.99 In this updated version of last year's racing simulation, even Michael Schumacher would most likely skate across a gravel trap and slam into a wall of tyres.

But then his car would bounce around a bit, tyres would fly through the air, and he'd be able to get back into the race without having lost too many places. Realistic? It's a good job the cars are resilient, because in this official F-1 World GP II title they're absurdly twitchy, so it's almost impossible to stay on the track. Some of the hairpins are virtually undriv- Rats! Sony will unveil the first of sLx animated cartoons about the Scratch Cats tomorrow on its website at www.playstation-europe.comscratchcats The cartoons (above) are designed to promote Pure Entertainment's game, Rat Attack, which Minsdscape plans to publish for the PlayStation in September. Pure is hoping to make its felines a by launching another six Scratch Cats games and licensing them for comics, toys and television. It's a Infogrames (PSX) Infogrames (PSX) Fdx7ElectronicArts(PC) Sony(PSX) TalonsoftTake Eidos Interactive (PC, PSX) SquaresoftSony (PC, PSX) ChartTrack andELSPA even with a flashlight.

Town houses and alleyways appear from the gloom and a variety of demonic creatures cause big problems. Inadequately armed, youll spend much of the game counting bullets and avoiding strange noises. The search for Cheryl takes in a deserted school and HHHHHflHI able, so be gladyou can take shortcuts across the grass. The way ahead becomes somewhat fuzzy with the N64's limited graphics, so there's often no way to see which way the road goes, unless you're following another car. Still, overtaking is no problem: you can just barge other drivers out of the way.

And if you're really anti-social, you can drive the wrong way round the track and stage spectacular head-on crashes. Yes, you can have fun with this game. But if you want to play it seriously, allow a couple of weeks to learn how to drive and to memorise the 1998 season's 16 F-1 tracks: your friends will be amazed, though they'll probably be amazed you bothered. JackSchofield 2 V-Rally2 3 Bugs Bunny Lost In Time 4 Aliens Vs Predator 5 GranTurismoV 6 Hidden Dangerous 7 Colin McRae Rally Tomb Raider 2 9 Star Wars: Racer 10 Final Fantasy VII Chart supplied by CKartTrack The trouble Silent Hill Sony PlayStation 34.99 KonamiSony Harry Mason. Ordinary name, extraordinary situation.

Taking his young daughter Cheryl on vacation to Silent Hill had seemed like such a good idea. It had been the perfect opportunity to do the quality time thing. All had seemed well until, at the foggy city limits, a bright glare caused the car to crash. Harry woke up alone. Where was Cheryl? Stepping into Harry's shoes, your aim is to find his daughter before suing the travel agent that recommended the trip.

Actually the legal case can wait as finding Cheryl takes a lot longer than anticipated. Resident Evil started the "survival horror" genre and Silent Hill picks up the thread while throwing in some extra psychological nastiness. Controlling Harry youll uncover some particularly weird goings-on in a town blighted by perpetual mist. This fog is instrumental as you can see only a fewyards ahead," '888.