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Quake II, Next Tetris and Klustar By Chip and Jonathan Carter Tribune Media Services QUAKE II, FOR N64 � Though this series has gotten a bad rap in recent months, the fact remains that the original was one of the greatest shooters ever � and II tops it by a mile. It's still the same stalk and blast action as before, but this time around there are some awesome new multiplayer modes that let you have two-, three- and four-player competitive and co-op team matches. It's a fantastic new feature that adds a whole new dimension to Quake. The one-player game has improved, too. The Strogg are a cybernetic race bent on taking over Earth. You're a space marine on a recon mission, determined to find the Strogg weaknesses ... and take out as many of them as you can along the way. The action and graphics are, to say the least, intense. But hey, that's what makes it Quake. JONATHAN SAYS : Love it, love it, and love it, especially the mutliplayer modes. Don't want to hear no sermons, don't want to hear it's gonna make me crazy, don't want to hear it's gonna make me blow up my school. I like my school. It's a video game, people. A+ CHIP SAYS : Every negative thing that's ever been written about video games has been written about Quake, and it's true, this series is exceptionally gory and violent. But please allow me to point out two salient facts: (1) This is make-believe, pure and simple, and (2) while players do make short work of tons of bad guys with a stunning array of weapons designed to do as much damage as graphically as possible, you do happen to be a marine on a mission to save Earth. These aren't humans you're blasting, they're not classmates or teachers or postal workers � they're evil, evil beings. When Tom Hanks and his band of GIs blew away a bunch of threatening baddies in "Saving Private Ryan", we all stood up and cheered. This is just a story � pure entertainment. A+. OVERALL RATING : A+ � BUY IT FOR AGES 12 AND UP KLUSTAR, GAME BOY COLOR � This one goes Tetris one better. Instead of just giving you moving blocks of multiple shapes and colors, this one has the entire board moving too. Standard Tetris-type blocks drift in from the left and right, one at a time. You start with a single, moveable block in the middle of the screen. As the pieces start to come out, you actually move that block and catch them, creating a matrix that you can flip and flop in any direction. Your goal is to find spots for the new pieces that keep coming out. When you match them up by color, grids of blocks disappear and you get points. If they get backed up � well, you know what happens. Graphically, this one's fine � any Tetris-type game is perfectly suited to Game Boy, color or not. JONATHAN SAYS : The drawback to not having a fixed grid is a kind of rootlessness that's sometimes hard to get around. This is not enough of an improvement on the classic old Tetris to warrant investing in it. And whoever chose the music � "Home on the Range" for gosh sakes � should be subjected to slow and painful torture, because that's what listening to it is. C-. CHIP SAYS : It's kind of hard to figure out what's going on here. The scoring seems random, or there are so many possibilities that it appears to be random, because you can't keep track of them all. That being the case, you're not really sure what to do with the little pieces that keep drifting in from the side, so you just kind of lick them and stick them anywhere and see what happens. Not my idea of a great time. C-. OVERALL RATING : C- � SKIP IT THE NEXT TETRIS, FOR PLAYSTATION � If you're looking for a tweaked Tetris, look no further. At last, PlayStation owners have a chance at a new version of Tetris, as well as the classic original. The new version features the same shapes as the original, but they're in different color patterns. Some individual pieces are more than one color. Now you can match straight lines across the screen, or line up groups of like-colored blocks to clear the screen. Graphically, well, hey, it's Tetris, you know? It's blocks and more blocks. Sure these sometimes bend and swell and teeter like something in a daycare center, but it's basically the same old game with a few new twists. JONATHAN SAYS : If you don't have any other version of Tetris, then by all means go ahead and pick this one up. The new modes are interesting but not essential. B. CHIP SAYS : It's still hard to beat the original if you ask me and including it here was a good idea. Anything else seems to be just extra bells and whistles. When you start making Tetris too complex, you lose the beauty of it � which is the sheer simplicity. That said, I had fun with this one, but I agree with Jonathan � the new version is interesting, not essential. B. OVERALL RATING : B � RENT IT FOR AGES 6 AND UP TIPS AND TRICKS Try these cool codes for Quake II for the N64: For a bonus multiplayer level, enter the password FBBC VBBB FBBC VBF7. For low gravity in the multiplayer mode, enter S3TL 0WGR V1TY???? And to reach the last level in single player mode, enter F60? VQCH?BHF DQQL. Looking for something new to do? Sign up for our new Bitstorm Internet Listserv. It's a new part of our web site that'll deliver up-to-the-minute gaming news in your e-mailbox, and let you stay in touch with us and other gamers. Best of all, it's free! To sign up, go to any of these URLs: http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/ecol/next_level/ http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/bv/next_level/ http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/fyiowa/next_level/ http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/hamptonroads/next_level/ Chip & Jonathan Carter are a father/son gaming team who've been twiddling their thumbs professionally since 1990. For more tips, tricks, reviews and news, check us out on-line at http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/ecol/mainpage . Or e-mail us at [email protected] . Got a question? An inside tip you'd like to share? Write to Chip and Jonathan Carter in care of this newspaper. While they cannot respond individually, they will answer questions of general interest in their column. (C) 1999 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA