Here's the first of an irregular series in which we offer our readers the chance to air their opinions on some of the biggest games of recent months.

If you've been playing a game (preferably one that's been reviewed in Future Gamer) and would like to tell the world what you think of it, email Andy Smith for more details.

Kicking us off are some N64 and PlayStation reviews. Let's have some more PC voices speaking out next time, eh?

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (N64)

The best bits of Shadows of the Empire were undoubtedly the snowspeeder sections, and thankfully someone told Factor and LucasArts this. The game starts off being fairly simple, shoot all the probes and get to the next level. But things get more interesting from here on in.

The missions that follow are the standard 'protect convoys, disable things'-type affairs, but they are all done so well, you can't help but love it. After every mission you get graded on things like time, number of friendlies survived, enemies destroyed etc and you get a bronze, silver or gold (and platinum?) medal. No doubt if you're good enough to get golds on all of the 16 missions, it'll open up something worth playing for.

The fighters that you play with (X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, V-Wing, Snowspeeder) handle very well and are well balanced, as you'd expect them to be. They turn and roll super-smoothly and the controls themselves are very simple but require practice to get the best out of them.

The terrain is very realistic and the skies are beautiful, the ship and buildings are very solid and this is all without the RAM Pak. Fogging is evident but maybe the RAM Pak will sort this out. The inclusion of biographies for all the main characters and a storyline that is faithful to the trilogy will more than satisfy Star Wars nuts. For the more casual gamer, the hi-res intro screens and overall polish will make them happy they spent their money.

If you're wondering which game to buy after Zelda, or you live and breathe Star Wars, then this has to be the one for you.

Luc



F-Zero X (N64)

Once you've got past the cartoonish appearance and the very cheesy music in this cyber racing sequel, N64's F-Zero X offers the player many thrills and spills. The game is extremely fast and the tracks complement this, enabling you to reach ridiculous speeds. With many tracks and vehicles included in the game, F-Zero X is certainly worth a look. It remains to be seen as to who will come first in the cyber-racing genre with Wipeout 64 just around the corner.

Gavin Ogden