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Show A-10 The Park Record Saturday, September 7, 1996 omelFiB New product reviews by Sean Fulton HOME PC MAGAZINE Giving blood? Beware the red crossfire Cyberia 2: Resurrection l2 Zak is back. When the hero of Cyberia emerges from a cryogenic state for this sequel, he finds the Free World Alliance literally out for his blood: Zak's red stuff contains con-tains an antidote for the evil FWA's biological weapon, the Cyberion, which the group created creat-ed from Zak's tissue in the first game. Now with the help of Novelle, a sexy female rebel, and Graham, a brilliant young hacker, it's your job to keep Zak out of the FWA's clutches. And if you didn't play Cyberia, that's all you really need to know about the plot Cyberia 2 is more about shooting than storytelling. Reminiscent of the best-selling Star Wars Rebel Assault, Cyberia 2 offers 24 challenges, including puzzles and action sequences that pit our hero against hyperactive aircraft and land mines. Between these diversions, Zak predictably bickers with Novelle, takes direction direc-tion from Graham and advances by mowing down all his enemies. But what you'll think of Zak depends on whether you value his intellect or his trigger finger; the puzzles essentially rehash old standbys such as number-, tone-and tone-and color-matching games, but the shooting segments are fast-paced (if also a bit repetitive). Cyberia 2 also gets points for its vividly rendered graphics, but if you want to appreciate them, ignore the stated minimum system requirements of a 50-MHz 486 PC with 8 megabytes of RAM; you need at least a 100-MHz Pentium-based Pentium-based system with 16 MB of memory mem-ory for the game to soar. $49 (Windows 95 CD-ROM, DOS CD-ROM) from Xatrik Entertainment, (800) 874-4607, (714) 833-1999, http:www.xatrik.com. You were expecting Revelations? Charlton Heston's Voyage Through the Bible: Old Testament Some disks simply have more dazzle than data, and that's rarely entertainment, education & productivity a divine mix. While Voyage Through the Bible: Old Testament is a beautifully executed execut-ed CD-ROM with stunning color photography, more than 60 minutes of video recorded in the Middle East, classics by Bach, Mozart and others, and original music from composer Leonard Rosenman the program doesn't shape those elements into anything any-thing particularly useful. There's no mistaking the presence pres-ence of Oscar-winning actor Charlton Heston, who narrates in his best biblical voice (reminiscent of his Moses in "The Ten Commandments" or John the Baptist in "The Greatest Story Ever Told"). Heston command-ingly command-ingly guides us through on-screen Holy Land tours and reads a dozen stories from the Bible's Old Testament, including The Creation, the Garden of Eden. Cain and Abel, and The Flood and Exodus. (A disk exploring the New Testament was released in November 1995.) However the program isn't of much use even as a casual Bible reference. You can't research cita- inn tions or compare texts, and there's no glossary, no definitions of obscure terms and no historical perspective on the highlighted stones. The program may be best suited suit-ed for children, who will likely enjoy Heston's beautifully dramatic dra-matic readings. Otherwise, it's little lit-tle more than a rehash of the Arts & Entertainment network's cable-TV cable-TV miniseries, "Charlton Heston Presents the Bible," transplanted to your computer with a few enhancements: You can explore the 3-D reconstructions of temples tem-ples in Capernaum, Jerusalem and Thebes on your screen, and admire a database of religious art featuring masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and others. In the end, you'll likely leave this lovely disk wondering why you didn't just wait for A&E to rerun the miniseries or perhaps, show "The Ten Commandments." $39.95 (Windows 3.1 CD-ROM, CD-ROM, Macintosh CD-ROM) from Jones Digital Century, (800) 435-7390, (303) 792-3111, http:www. digitalcentury.com. Dynamic for duos GeoSafari Multimedia Plunk a kid down alone to answer the trivia questions in GeoSafari Multimedia and nothing noth-ing special happens. Twelve-year-old Russ propped his chin in one hand as he idly worked his way through the game by himself. him-self. But have kids square off in a competitive contest, and the program pro-gram instantly becomes more thrilling than a Michael Jordan slam dunk. "Yes!" shouted a suddenly enthusiastic Russ after just one successful round against his sister, sis-ter, 14-year-old Diana. The more kids gang up at the keyboard, the more fun the program pro-gram becomes. The action in the Kids' Lab was as fast and furious as a TV quiz show when players tried to pick the answers to various vari-ous questions from the grid of famous portraits, monuments, icons, newsreels and pictures before time ran out. It's an ideal pastime for families, parties, classrooms indeed, any social situation. "C'mon, Jon. C'mon," 11-year-old Alex begged his friend Jonathan, also 11. "Choose a subject!" The game's one drawback is that in fast-action play kids run through the content quickly. The program has more than 3,000 quizzes in 45 categories, but after a couple of hours, Diana saw that it was "repeating a lot of the same questions." The repetition is a good way to memorize facts, she conceded, "but there are only so many facts you really want to learn." $49.95 (Windows 3.1 CD-ROM. CD-ROM. Macintosh CD-ROM) from Educational Insights InteractiveMaxis, (800) 336-2947, 336-2947, (510) 927-3900, http:www. maxis.com. For early math, Nick's got the knack Nick Jr. Play Math! 12 ribe ElDSC and save $3 off our annual subscription rate Year subscription rates: In Summit County. $32 Out of County. $60 Bring in this ad or mention it over the phone for a discount off the above prices. You will receive 104 issues of The Park Record over the next 12 months. Subscriptions can be ordered by calling The Park Record office at 801-649-9014 Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm or by stopping by our office at 1670 Bonanza Drive. All subscriptions must be paid for in advance. Young fans of Nickelodeon won't realize they're learning about numbers as they play with all their TV friends in Nick Jr. Play Math. The program weaves its lessons expertly through games that are as lively as the hit characters charac-ters kids already know from the popular children's television network. net-work. Twenty-five learning games in the program are linked to portraits por-traits of characters on the wall that kids can click on. Or they can click on a door that takes them to the Playground, Picnic, where they'll find more games behind the picnic's participants. By clicking click-ing on a picture of cartoon twins Brie and Brae, for instance, players play-ers can help the pair sort food from the refrigerator putting all the square slices of bread on one table and all the round slices on another. Each activity offers positive reinforcement, praising children's efforts when they answer correctly correct-ly and encouraging them to try again when they're wrong. Some activities supplement their skill exercises with creative exploration. explo-ration. "Look what I made! A flower!" declared Laura, 6, after she'd selected a flowerpot on the screen, dropped a seed into it, watered it and opened the window; win-dow; the sunlight made it bloom and Laura was beaming. $29.95 (Windows 3.1 CD-ROM) CD-ROM) from Viacom NewMedia, (800) 469-2539, (970) 339-7103, http: www.viacom.com. Stock performance Utah company stock performance for Aug. 29- Sept. 5 Name Close 95 Close 829 Name Close 95 Close 829 ALTAGLD 3.62 AMSTORES 40.25 ANESTACP 12.00 BALLARDM17.75 CENTMINE 1.31 CROWNENG.750 COVOLTEC 9.00 CYCL03PS .91 DAWTECH 3.87 DELTAAIR 66.87 DYNATEC 3.62 EFIELEC 1.00 EQUITYOL 3.25 EVANSSUT 21.75 FIRSECCP 27.37 FRNKQUST 18.37 GENVSTL 4.12 GULLLABS 4.37 INTRLNRE 1.81 INTLAUTS 9.000 IOMEGACP14.37 IONLASER 13.75 LARDAVIS 8.25 LUCASIND 3.68 MARKERIN 7.37 MERITMED 7.62 MITYLITE 7.75 MONROC 4.87 NATRSUN 22.37 NOVELL 10.44 3.56 PSTVANS 3.19 3.25 41.63 QUESTAR 37.00 36.25 11.87 RESRCHMD18.00 17.88 16.87 SIMONTRK 14.00 13.75 1.03 SKYWEST 16.75 17.00 .750 SMITHSFD 28.25 29.37 9.62 SOSSTAFF 12.37 11.87 1.06 SOWSTAIR 21.37 22.75 3.87 SUMITFAM 4.62 4.62 72.12 4HEALTH 6.62 6.62 3.87 TELSCORP .56 .66 1.00 THERATEC10.75 11.25 3.50 THIOKOL 45.00 43.75 23.00 UTDPKMIN 13.12 13.25 26.81 UTAHMED 12.12 12.25 18.37 ZIONBKCP 85.75 86.69 4.25 4.62 1.50 Dow Jones averages 11.000 14.87 14.50 30 INDUS 5606.96 5647.64 8.50 20 TRANS 1995.41 2057.34 3.65 15UTILS 212.83 216.32 7.12 8.12 7.75 This Utah stock report is 5.00 provided by Derrell Reeves of 23.00 Paulson Investment Co., Park 10.38 City. CyberDice is a success Continued from A-9 the computer does it for you," said Beil. The "Lucky Seven" deal is "an impressive commitment com-mitment for any industry, but unprecedented in the gaming industry," said Hersch, who was in Park City last week to attend a bar mitzvah. Hersch is CyberDice chairman and principal of Los Angeles-based Hersch and Company. CyberDice will create at least three all-new games for Hasbro. But, says Hersch, "our intention inten-tion now is simply to exploit my stable of home games" which encompasses an amazing 23 titles, though only Outburst and Taboo are sure to be among the games converted for Hasbro. Two of CyberDice's first three products are Hersch creations, the game maker says, but Beil will be largely responsible for their conversion to cyberspace. "Everyone sees this incredibly nice guy in Beil," said Hersch. "They don't realize the incredible talent he has. Not just as an agent but in a creative capacity." Hersch said Cyberdice's creations which will all be Internet-ready, so players can compete with each other even when separated by thousands of miles represent a departure from the standard run-and-shoot fare created by other game makers. "Most computer-game makers know how to make a computer do a thousand things per minute," said Hersch. "But almost everything up to this point has been: you move through a landscape land-scape and shoot things move and shoot, move and shoot. The question is, 'Can they make an intelligent game that will challenge adults?'" CAN YOUR CABLE GIVE U. . . THIS? n Tanner Satellite Over 10 Years In Business. AMERICA'S TOP 40 CET , VS. COMPARABLE PROGRAMMING If nv'ifi DISH NttWOrfc DHKTVUUI Hi. InrfUHt 9 o)lo) jyy DISH Network's Standard System l- I "sm INSTALLATION EXTRA 0u QVG. mm iiw mm m w CUitk VI I inmwiNtf iwmav rasps gpL ESI J ospan mm The 30 channels of C&quatlyiMHic! n&Z (to M KTLA TMKlNrauMl LOSMKEUS (M m lElV 4ri Serving Summit County nnct 1880 Park Record NO mm. ssm. : .- DQES raex 0H H B wq wm. &z & 7.9 FINANCING AVAILABLE PARK CITY, UTAH expires 83196 |