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The year is 2052 and Anti-Gravity Racing is the hottest thing on the planet. Winners of these races walk home with fame, fortune, and glory. The losers stagger home with a bad case of whiplash. Fortunately, you’ve got your pick of the four fastest sleds on Earth. It will take all the skill and timing you can muster to finish high enough to be the circuit champion.

WipEout will take you through six different race courses located at all points of the globe. Each track is unique in look, feel, and racing surface, and you’ll want to figure out which sled works the best with your own style of racing. In addition to simply turning left or right, you’ll sometimes have to incorporate your left and right air brakes to make the tight turns. Also, you’ll have control over the up and down tilt of your sled, which should be used when you are going up and down steep hills.

Without the shackles of gravity, your sleds will reach speeds previously attainable only in your dreams. The sleds move fast all by themselves, but the courses are also riddled with boost pads which will thrust you forward so fast you can almost feel the skin stretching back on your face. Be careful, though, because if you hit a boost pad while from the wrong angle you might be rocketed right into a retaining wall.

You job will be to finish ahead of the other seven racers on the track. In addition to fancy driving you’ll be able to grab some power-ups that can put you one step ahead of the competition. There are dumb fire missiles, two types of homing missiles, and mines you can use to smite your foes. There is also a shield for protection purposes, and a super booster which, when properly used, can shave some major seconds off of your time.

The game on its own is 1-player, but if you happened to have the PlayStation’s link cable you can play head to head against a friend. If you can’t get enough high speed action, wipeout is definitely a game you should try.

Toshinden is the ultimate battle of the underworld. Some have come to fight for glory, others for more personal reasons, but they all have come to see who is the best. In Battle Arena Toshinden the odds are against you, but with time and practice you too can rule the underworld.

The overall look and feel of fighting games is changing, and Toshinden is just another example of the evolution of video games. This game takes 3D fighting to the next level with the addition of lateral movements around a 3D field. What this means is that when you press one of the top left or right buttons your character spins in the appropriate direction to either side of your opponent. This enables you to avoid ANY attacks if you time your movements perfectly.

Toshinden is a benchmark in fighting games not only because it excels in graphics and sound but in play control as well. Battle Arena Toshinden’s use of over 90,000 polygons not only shows off the PlayStation’s graphic capabilities, but reminds us what 32-bit gaming is all about – fun and entertainment. The true name of the game.

In many ways, Monster Rancher 2 is a different game, but the addiction it inspires is just the same.

As a sequel to one of the most widely overlooked PlayStation titles on the market, Monster Rancher 2 shows true signs of growth, and once again delivers a unique gaming experience that sets the standard for all virtual pets to follow. With Pokemania sweeping the nation, and the new Monster Rancher cartoon airing on BKN Kids Network, there’s a chance that Monster Rancher 2 may actually become a mainstream title rather than a sleeper hit.

For a game that could have been an update, Tecmo went back to the drawing board and redesigned this product. One of the big complaints with the original was the overabundance of loading. Every little action, like heading to the shop or placing a monster in a training exercise, was bogged down with obnoxious loading delays. In Monster Rancher 2, this problem has been not only addressed, but eliminated. To accomplish this feat, Tecmo was forced to trash most of the 2D artwork and replace it with streaming polygons. The traditionalists out there may not like it, but the 3D aspect actually works quite well. You really can’t whine about the increased speed, and the incorporation of new camera angles certainly doesn’t hurt the play either.

Considering its strange demands of additional games and CDs, it seemed likely that Tecmo would change the way that players receive new monsters. But alas, this is not the case. To get the rare beasts, you’ll still need to track down specific music CDs and games. Tecmo has also made save game files from the first game compatible, and a handful of monsters can also be bought at the shop. Many of the creatures that battled in the first game are back and, of course, are joined by a slew of new species.

Other than developing a parental link to your monster, which you come to love like a child, the sole purpose of this game is to train your critter to become the ultimate fighter. The life span of these beloved monsters is once again short, lasting roughly four to five years. In this time, you’ll need to power-up your monster’s attributes through several different training exercises. Since all of the training was 2D in the original, it has been overhauled with a 3D appearance that is lightning quick and loaded to the hilt with different animation sequences, one for success, failure, cheating, truancy, and greatness. Another way to power-up your beast is to send it on expeditions. As expected, these missions are quite different than those in the first game and are now constructed as hilarious real-time movies. The only part of this sequel that has not been reworked or partially tweaked is the combat. Sure, there are new moves and attacks, but the fighting dynamics are unchanged.

In many ways, Monster Rancher 2 is a different game, but the addiction it inspires is just the same.

Spring training is over, and baseball has begun another epic 162 game season. For every sport there are thousands of couch jockeys who feel that they could play the game better than the professionals and run the team better than the managers. For these people, there is video baseball, where anyone with some skill can be an All-Star. To fill the baseball void on the PlayStation, Konami is releasing another game in their sports line-up called Bottom of the Ninth (BOTN).

BOTN features all rendered players and stadiums. They have acquired the MLBPA license, so you’ll have over 700 genuine baseball professionals with which to play. They even have pictures of the players which appear when you are batting or pitching. In addition, some of the top players have signature moves such as Nomo’s high reaching wind-up and Edgar Martinez’s bat waving stance. Unfortunately, the MLB license was not secured so you’ll be playing in imaginary stadiums with the Minnesota Buildings and the New York Statue of Liberties.

Play mechanics are rather innovative. The top and bottom split-screen pitching mode keeps the batter from knowing what the pitcher is doing and vice-versa. Once a pitch is released, the batter will see a cursor which gives a general location of where the pitch will cross the strike zone – curves, sliders, and other breaking pitches will cause the cross hairs to move, so be careful. At this point, the batter moves a target and times his swing in an effort to hit the ball. You can also practice everything from pitching and batting to running and fielding in the Training Camp Mode.

Bottom of the Ninth seems to be one of the most interesting baseball titles to come down the pipe in quite some time. Fans of the great American pastime or ordinary schmoes looking for a good time will want to check out this game.

Interplay originally believed that the PlayStation version of Descent would be just as popular as the PC offering. They even loaded their warehouse full with thousands of copies to ensure that no one would have a hard time finding one. Well, at the time, the PlayStation was growing enormously, but the consumers that bought the unit picked it up to play MK3, or some kind of fighting or sports title, not a complicated first-person war simulator. So Interplay is to this day stuck with an abundant amount of Descent, but that didn’t stop them from giving those who live off games like this another shot. Thus, Descent Maximum is upon us with a handful of new features and the oh-so-familiar disorienting gameplay.

While this `Maximum’ offering is basically the same as Descent 2 for the PC, a few things have been added and taken out as well. The new options are mainly level upgrades, but for a Descent junkie this is all that’s needed. Descent Maximum is in a way easier to understand than the original offering. Parallax Software added a new Guide Bot feature, which on certain levels will help you find keys, power-ups, and whatever you command it to find. The mission objectives are basically the same. Once again, you’ll need to either destroy a reactor or boss (which there are more of), and then find the exit before the whole mine blows.

Solid control is the key to success in this game, and luckily, Interplay has kept the user configure option in the game. Finding a suitable controller configuration will help ease the burden of being completely out of control on a new level. Most of the time you’ll find yourself in a state of disorientation, you don’t know what is up and what is down.

Descent Maximum is a surprise to all of us since Descent sold so poorly, but we love the game, and we hope that this time around you’ll come and see how much fun it can be. Plus, it’s one of the few games left to still use the prehistoric (or thought to be so) Sony Link cable.

Originally released on the PC in ‘94, X-COM is a complex game of strategy and resource management. Aliens are mysteriously appearing all around the globe and it is your job, as a member of Extraterrestrial Combat (X-COM), to do everything you can to stop them. Build bases, outfit your men, manufacture an air force, and research alien technologies and you just may have a chance. X-COM is a difficult game that takes patience to master, but the fruits of your work are plentiful. Unfortunately, this game is best when played with the PlayStation mouse, so make sure you have one or are ready to make the investment!

The original PC version of Wing Commander 3 may have been one of the best games of its time but was crippled due to its straining system requirements and massive load times. Translation to the Playstation has solved both of these problems but only at great cost to the game’s detail. The cinematic scenes are just as acceptable as they were before (although some of the more grim scenes have been cleaned up a bit (Angel’s death for one), but the action itself has suffered a fair bit. Missiles are downright “Afterburner” and there is no true cockpit view (the art for the details of the cockpit isn’t there), but there is less loading time and PS-X owners not biased by the PC original will probably have a good time.

With the rise to power of the high-end consoles, the action/platform genre has evolved into an entirely different entity that incorporates more exploration than it does action. Other than Naughty Dog’s award-winning Crash Bandicoot series, almost every platformer out there has changed into more of an adventure than a spastic action game. Mario 64 forces the player to find stars. Gex asks that the player find remotes. Even Donkey Kong asks that bananas be sniffed out. While Spyro sings the same song, developer Insomniac Games did its best to incorporate as much action into the mix as possible. With the sequel, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, Insomniac has perfected the balance between the two genres. If you’re not searching, then you’re either jumping across lava pits or tangling with a grizzly beast.

Insomniac has also transformed Spyro’s adventure into a more RPG-like epic. As you progress through the game, you’ll inherit new abilities, cross paths with helpful allies, and even need to backtrack to certain levels to unlock a new secret or power. In the first game, the Dragons were the stars, and while Spyro and Sparx are still the main characters in this saga, a host of new faces have been added to help the duo. Whether it be Hunter the cheetah, Zoe the fairy, or the Professor, Spyro has good company with him on his adventure, and he’ll need to interact with them throughout the entire quest. Along with these allies, every stage now features a theme and a different race of beings who are in need of your help. All characters that talk to Spyro are brought to life through dubbed voices and wacky personalities. When Spyro solves their dilemmas, the natives will reward him well, and the player will receive a special mini-cutscene for his or her work.

Spyro has grown a tad, and his voice is deeper. The new powers he can learn will allow him to snort ice blasts, propel fireballs, hover in place, climb ladders, and even swim underwater. He’ll also be asked to compete in a ton of minigames that range from roller-coaster rides to parasailing behind a jet-ski. His first adventure seems more or less like a training exercise for this new adventure. If you enjoyed the first, and love the speedy purple blur just as much as we do, we’re sure you’ll find this new journey to be one of the most action-packed the PlayStation has to offer.

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the dawn of the Madden video game era, EA Sports is here with Madden 2000. Enjoying the fruits of being the most popular sports title on the PlayStation, EA Sports might be expected to be happy with the status quo. Truth is, EA pretty much is. There haven’t been drastic changes in the game since it came to the PlayStation in 1997. Sure, there was the obligatory move to polygons and some little tweaks to playcontrol, both of which were likely fueled by additions to Madden’s main competitor, GameDay.

In the last couple of years, Madden’s features have expanded off the field with the refinement of the Season mode and the addition of the extremely popular Franchise mode. These two features, in themselves, are ahead of the competition and are some of the reasons that this game is on top. A new feature that is sure to please some Madden fanatics is called the Madden Challenge. This mode works in conjunction with the user record, keeping track of personal records and awarding points after milestones are met. One task may require playing a complete game with six minute quarters. Another may ask a player to score 21 points in a quarter. No problem with the Vikes. Completed tasks will be rewarded with secret codes for extra teams and stadiums (among other things).

Graphically, Madden doesn’t have the polished and buffed player models of GameDay, but the addition of the lineman gut and other proportional attributes are welcome. Equally welcome are some small animations, such as place-kickers readying for a PAT or the QBs throwing off balance.

Madden 2000 does offer a few new controls on the field. Ball carriers can now juke to both the right and the left. There is also a new Passing mode which lets the user audible routes at the line of scrimmage. Leading the receiver before he cuts is also new to the 2000 version of Madden.

Like its counterpart from 989 Sports, Madden 2000 isn’t filled with huge changes from last year. However, the game does give fans just enough to warrant a new look.

Featuring two styles of racing – Open Mountain and Super SnoCross – Sled Storm delivers a solid racing experience with multi-pathed tracks that are laden with short-cuts, tight turns, and lots of big jumps. In air, you can take it to the extreme and rip off numerous tricks and combos that range from the rather tame (Lookback), to the difficult (One Footed Can Can One Hander), to the psychotic (Backflip). And of course, if you can catch enough air to pull it off, any combination of the 17 basic tricks can be put together for the ultimate combo.

To add to the racing excitement, Electronic Arts put together a “rocking” soundtrack. Rob Zombie’s Hot Rod Herman remix of his popular song, Dragula, is the most notable track, and the rest of the soundtrack is filled with Econoline Crush, Jeff Dyck, and the E-Z Rollers. The Open Mountain mode allows you to buy various parts and upgrade your sled, and by beating its eight tracks under various conditions – namely at night and in fog – you are able to unlock the Stormsled, a hyped-up trick mobile. To unlock the hidden characters, you need to score a certain number of trick points while placing first in the Super SnoCross mode.

Certainly, Sled Storm isn’t the greatest racing game of all time, but its unique use of snowmobiles and tricks puts it up there with the best. Fans of Jet Moto, and multiplayer maniacs will especially appreciate it.