Daily News from New York, New York • 734

an. am -(? lllmgm Honor Mart imps into sof faare gamme gatay TEST DRIVE Compaq's notebook feels, sounds like winner Each week in TechZone, the editors of Home Office Computing magazine review new technology. This week, it's a Pentium II notebook. By ROY BASSAVE Knight-Ridder Newspapers Compaq Presario 1810 www.compaq.com (800) 345-1518 Price: $3,500 RAM: 64 MB Hard disk: 6.4 GB Drive: DVD II Modem: 56 Kbps PC Card Notebook weight: 7.6 pounds Rating: -k-k-k (out of four) TIPS: Weapons fire can conveniently alter the terrain around you and that can be used to your great advantage. Use cover as much as possible.

Waist-high obstructions, such as crates and window sills, exist throughout the levels. Quick use of the crouch command can keep you alive while allowing you to blast away at your opponents. Always switch to blade weapons for close combat The Bat'Leth is deadlier than any disrupter when you're up close and personal. THE VERDICT: Because of the Klingon factor, this is the best "Star Trek" adventure in years. PRODUCTINFO Kingon Honor Guard Developer: MlcroProse http:www.microprose.com (800) 656-5443 Formats: Windows CD-ROM.

PC Minimum system requirements: Pentium 166 MMX with 3-D accelerator (Pentium 266 II without), 32 megabytes RAM, 250 megabytes disk space, 24-bit graphics, 4X CD-ROM, DirectX-compatible sound card. Price: $49 Rating: Vl (out of four) a starship to achieve a goal, such as uncovering vital information or killing a traitor. Missions are never boring because there's always some action occurring in the background. Whether it's a prison break or an unstable reactor, you have to deal with far more than enemy units. Good points, bad points: Klingon Honor Guard does an excellent job of bringing the fictional Klingons to life.

At its heart, the game is still a shoot-'em-up, but it has enough detail to keep the game-play fresh. The game uses the programing engine from Unreal, but this time the developers did some nice work with the lighting and shading effects. The game makes excellent use of altered lighting and fog to simulate those dark, smoky environments people expect from the Klingons. And the classic Unreal earthquake effect is put to good use to simulate both unstable ice terrain and starships under duress. The game's soundtrack is movie-quality and includes the famous Klingon battle music made famous in the "Star Trek" films and TV series.

The minimum system requirement is a Pentium 166 MMX and is designed for Windows 95. It is prone to crash on slower systems as well as on the newer Windows 98. lingon Honor Guard is based on "Star Trek: The Next Genera- tion." You start the game as a new inductee into the Klingon i i kl Honor Guard, a group of elite warriors. Before you can advance in your training, a bomb explodes in the chambers of the High Council, killing several people and seriously injuring Gowron, the High Council's leader. All signs point to a traitor.

As the newest inductee, only you can be trusted to expose the enemies of the Klingon empire. You explore 19 levels set in seven 3-D environments, including the Klingon Bird of Prey, Rura Penthe Prison and Tong Vey Klingon City. Annihilate your enemies using the deadly Bat'Leth blade or D'k Tahg knife. Many familiar 'Trek" elements feature prominently in the game, with mission briefings between levels and voices by veteran TV "Trek" actors, including Tony Todd as Capt. Kurn, Robert O'Reilly as Gowron, Barbara March as Lursa and Gwynyth Walsh as B'Etor.

Each level is actually a mission where you are sent somewhere either to a planetary installation or on i. he mantra of the Compaq designers must have been "Work hard. Play hard. Feel soft" The Presario's 1810's rounded case is protected by a thin but pliable rubberized coating, which makes typing on and lugging the notebook a joy. And the Presario 1810 not only feels good, it also sounds good.

Compaq has installed JBL Pro speakers behind large contoured grilles under the palm rest, with small bass ports on the side panels. The result is fantastic audio with a palpable 3-D effect Even routine Windows 98 beeps and alarms sound impressive. This is one notebook that doesn't need any external speakers. To complement its great sound, our test unit included a second-generation DVD drive for playing movies and reading all types of CD-ROM discs. The DVD player software was slick, but we couldn't get the fast forward to work correctly, and the software-based Mediamatics video decoder delivered jumpy motion at times.

Normally, the Presario's screen displays images at resolution. To increase performance, the DVD player switches to 800-by-600 mode, yet keeps a full-sized image. Afterward, it switches the display back. Under the hood, our Presario had 64 MB of RAM and a generous 6.4 GB hard disk. In our performance tests, the system finished in second place, just a single percentage point behind the pace-setting Dell Inspiron.

The Compaq has a number of nice little features. You can use the DVD drive even while the system is closed and shut off, which means it's easy to use the notebook as a CD music player while traveling. We also liked the sideways-mounted, space-saving universal serial bus port, but had one problem which way is up? Against that, we had some problems with the Presario. For example, there's no reset pinhole; if the system completely freezes, you must disconnect the AC power and remove the battery to reset it It lacks a TV-out connector for presentations. And, although its 13.3-inch screen is smaller than most of its rivals', its battery life is a lackluster 2.4 hours.

Still, the Presario 1810 offers a tempting combination of features designed to handle both home office work and play. With its soft, curvy contours and incredible sound, it's the most comfortable notebook we've seen. C1998, Home Office Computing i fit, yT ------------It 9 NEXT GENERATION: Phase into the world of elite Klingon warriors like Commander Worf..