Terracon - Sony PlayStation
Terracon is an arcade-like action-adventure. You play the character Xed, whose alien race has been wiped out by the evil Terracon machine. This machine had become too powerful for everybody's liking and Xed's race (the Greys) decide to shut it down. But the Terracon has other ideas and, instead of going to the junkyard in the sky, it murders its creator, destroys the Greys' home world and wipes out the entire Grey population. Xed is the only survivor.
It is not the most original of stories (videogame stories rarely are), and the game itself will not set the world on fire, but it is competent. You view the action from the third-person perspective, although you can switch to other views, which is essential when shooting at airborne enemies. Xed must pick up "Genergy" to power his weapons. He can use the "Genergy" to rebuild objects like bridges, or make stepping-stones to cross water, or to build bombs and vehicles.
An on-screen arrow points Xed in the right direction, but you are free to roam where and when you like. Xed must battle against the hordes of robots unleashed by Terracon and ultimately battle the warped machine itself. In order to defeat Terracon, Xed must collect all the launch codes to fire the planetary defence system and blow it up.
There are a lot of games better than Terracon, but there are an awful lot worse and, while it can't be recommended wholeheartedly, its only sin is that it has been done before many times.
Grind Session - Sony PlayStation
Extreme sports are quite a popular gaming genre. Mountain biking, snowboarding and skateboarding have all made appearances on Sony's ubiquitous console. Grind Session tries a new take on skateboarding.
The only problem is that Tony Hawks's Pro Skater has pretty much sewn up that particular genre. If Grind Session manages to sell as well as Pro Skater, it will be a big success. Anyone likely to buy Grind Session will probably have a copy of Mr Hawks's game in the first place and, while this is certainly a great skateboarding game, it seems destined to languish in the shadow of the original.
There are four self-explanatory modes of gameplay: Training, Tournament, Open Skate and Endurance. The "Skaters Eye' view allows the player to see a translucent line where there is a natural flow section in the environment. When you and I see a handrail, we see just that, but the "Skaters Eye" attempts to show us how it looks through the eyes of a skateboarder.
It has other subtle features that are unique to the genre, but if imitation is the best form of flattery, one suspects Tony Hawks is a very flattered man indeed.