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PITFALL
Sega, Super NES, Mac, PC
(Activision)
Pitfall has been brought back to
life in a thoroughly updated form.
This new version pushes 16-bit
technology to its limit, delivering
some of the best graphics, action,
and sound available to date.
Like the original, the main chal-
lenge is making your way through
the game by using or avoiding ob-
stacles. You swing across vines,
shoot down zip wires, bungee jump
and bounce off kickers. You even
skate in one level. Unlike the origi-
nal, you also fight against a variety
of enemies thrown in to make your
life even more complicated.
Pitfall is a super-addictive game
that never gets repetitious. Where
in one level you might be trying to
make your way through the jungle
treetops, in the next you might find
yourself riding a mine cart, and in
the next exploring an ancient ruin.
There are plenty of hard to get to
bonus items and secret rooms,
including a room that contains the
entire original version.
RADICAL REX
Pitfall stands out as
a unique game that
combines the best
elements of its prede-
cessor along with the
best of today's game
designs. -Dom Callan
Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Super NES
(Activision)
I had high hopes for Radical Rex
since the main character is a skate-
boarding dinosaur. I began to sus-
pect things were amiss when the
title screen opened up with a rap
song so cheesy that only corporate
America could have possibly creat-
ed it. Sadly, the dinosaur featured
in Radical Rex is of the gentle, her-
bivorous variety (you don't get to
charge around the tundra ripping
the heads off other animals) and
unfortunately the skating action is
weak and has little or no bearing on
the sport as we know it.
Basically, the idea is to find the
evil Sethron and destroy him before
he can doom all of the dinosaurs to
extinction. Rex skates down hills,
launches off kickers, and skates up
weird halfpipe transition things. He
can get off his board and run, jump,
and climb, as well as shoot his deck
out from under him to kill enemies.
Radical Rex also roars (smart bomb)
and breathes fire (stun) and kicks
his enemies into submission.
Pitfall
059 044
x20
In general, Rad Rex looks and
plays okay, but ultimately is repeti-
tious and dull. -Dom Callan
BALLZ
Sega Genesis, Super NES
(Accolade)
Here's a groovy new game whose
name provokes a lot of bad puns.
Ballz is a fighting/combat game
with several original twists that real-
ly make it worth checking out. Ballz
is a three-dimensional video game
with some fairly unorthodox graph-
ics. The characters in Ballz are com-
posed of many small spheres that
all get blown apart when you lose.
This gives the game a more fluid.
style even when the action gets
fast. Rather than being graphically
violent, Ballz is more likely to make
you laugh than cringe. The humor-
ous side of this game really comes
out in the two-player mode. Ballz
scores high in the areas of graphics,
entertainment and playability. The
worst thing I could say about this
game is that is a new spin on the
same old fighting game. Don't get
me wrong though, my friends and I
had a great time testing our Ballz.
On a scale of one to ten, Ballz gets
a solid eight. -Denny Leonard
What you do
when you
fire-breathing
see
skateboarding
karate-kicking, out-of-control
dinosaur
24 THE
Around the World
Far East Skateshop
From Tokyo
GET OUT OF HIS WAY.
SALIFORNI
STREET
CA NA
7-3 Daikanyama
Shibuya, Tokyo
03-3461-9725
radical He's the raddest
baddest fire-
breathing
Tyrannosaurus
ever to shred
prehistoric
pavement! This
Mesozoic-bad-
REX
boy-on wheels is out to kick some
butt, rescue his main squeeze.
and save the dinosaur race.
Rex keeps you
groovin to the
freshest tunes
while you keep
him movin' past
Twenty of the
meanest pre
toric narties to
rock his dino world
Check Rex
thrashing on his
board sportin
his flame-
breath
on v
Excellent
Slam through ten wild levels
of jammin jungles, freaked-
out forests, primeval swamps,
haunted dino-graveyards.
piranha-infested underwater
caverns and the belly of a
giant dinosaur! No sweat for
the Rexmaster - 'cuz
he's too hip to be extinct!
ACTIVISION