THINK YOU'VE SEEN EVERYTHING?
A Review of Gearheads
by Michael J. Bertrand
I've been playing video games for most of my life. In fact, I've been playing video games for just about as long as they've been around. I played the original Pong. (Ooooh!) With such a long and distinguished history in the field, it's easy to get jaded about the possibilities for new games. You get used to seeing everything in terms of its genre. The Combat game. The RPG. The Simulator. The Platform- Jumping game. The Doom clones. You start to think that you'll never see a new kind of game, just more and more refinements on the familiar theme. But then a game like Gearheads comes along, and makes its own little genre for itself, and makes you remember that there's always room for something new.
OK, here's the idea. You have a toybox full of these weird little wind-up toys, and the object of the game is to get 21 toys across the table to the Other Guy's side, whilst he tries to do the same thing to you. Sounds pretty simple, right? But check out some of these toys...
There's Presto, a little roly-poly wind-up toy magician who disappears and reappears at regular intervals and random places. Then there's Orbit, a purple flying saucer that can zip around the toys in its way quicker than you can say My Favorite Martian. Then there's Clucketta. She lays eggs. Plus nine other whimsical, wacky little numbers.
The only control you have over the action is what toy from your toybox you release, when, and what part of your side of the table you release it on. Once those toys are let go, they're on their own. But this doesn't make the game slow-paced or boring. Noooooooo. Playing even on the easier levels, the screen is quickly populated with these products of some toymaker with too much time on his hands. This makes the game quite exciting and unpredictable. I'd liken it to high-speed Chess, because you have to keep in mind how each of the toys moves and behaves and make split- second decisions to protect your side of the table or seize the offensive initiative.
As you might have guessed, I like this game. The combination of fast pace, simple rules, and lots of possibilities is always a winner. I have been playing this game daily since I got it, which is a good indication of its ability to addict. And it's refreshing to see someone do something entirely new like this. Another plus : this game is almost entirely non-violent. Anyone timid enough to be shocked by toys fighting is probably too busy cowering in a bunker somewhere to be worried about video games anyhow. So this game is appropriate for nearly all ages.
There are a few minor snags with the game. The music and sound effects, although well done, get very repetitive after a while. Each toy has its own noise it makes when released, and when the game gets going at a rapid pace, these noises quickly becoming a babbling racket that grates on your nerves a bit if you play for more than a little while. But turn down the sound on your sound card and it becomes just a dull roar. And occasionally when things get truly frantic, on my 486/66 the game slows down a little and the graphics start to flicker. But trust me, this is more mercy than anything else! And one last thing : this game is shipped on a CD-ROM, yet they only included 4 different types of table to play on. It seems to me they might have come up with a few more.
So if you're looking for a fun, addictive, exciting game, or you're just looking for something truly new, give Gearheads a shot. You may never look at the toy store the same again.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Gearheads |
| Company: |
Philips Media
|
| Cost: |
$39.95 |
System Requirements:
Windows 3.1 or 95, CD-ROM, Windows-compatible sound cards supported, 486/33 or better required
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 5
Graphics 3
Sound 3
Interface 4
Replayability 4
Overall Score:
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