Evolva PC CD-Rom, £34.99
Evolva is a third person perspective shoot 'em up with a difference. You take control of a team of four geohunters. You can directly control any one of them at any given time and issue orders to your three team members while trying to save a planet from parasitic life forms intent on exterminating all indigenous life.
What is a little odd about Evolva, apart from its distinctly alien setting, is that your geohunters can evolve and mutate by absorbing DNA from dead animals. Because you have some control over how they mutate, it's unlikely that other players will have a team of Geohunters quite like yours. A nice facility is the ability to email your geohunters. It is not the best game of all time, but it has some brave ideas. Hopefully it will mutate into something a little better next time round. Recommended: Pentium 300mhz/64MB/3D card/Win 9x/
Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles
Sony PlayStation, £34.99
Choose your Jedi, Ob-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Plo Koon or Adi Gallia, and wield your lightsabre to neutralise the threat of the Trade Federation and protect the interests of the republic in this latest Star Wars game.
Lucas Arts has created many fine Star Wars games in the past - particularly on PC. X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Dark Forces and Epi]sode 1 Racer, which appeared on PC, PlayStation and the N64, were games worthy of their Star Wars connections.
This cannot be said of Jedi Power Battles. Indeed, it's only because it is a Star Wars game that it merits mentioning at all. While there are Jedi power-ups and secrets to unlock by gaining Jedi points, the gameplay is fairly repetitive. More irritating is that once you initiate an attack with your lightsabre there is no changing your mind, as your animated character will continue your manoeuvre regardless. This lack of "feel" means you are never in full control.
Not recommended.
Sega Dreamcast owners will be glad to hear that they will be receiving the acclaimed online multi-player Chu Chu Rocket! puzzle game for free if they register their Dreamcasts on the Dreamarena website. Sega is also organising a European competition for the game, in which the top four players (scores will be logged on the Dreamarena website) in each territory will compete in a National Final and the European Final will take place in London's Millennium Dome.
games@irish-times.ie
