Mini-Review
Shattered Light
PC	From: Simon & Schuster

The premise for this RPG is actually quite promising as it proclaims itself to be completely customisable with the ability to change parameters on the fly, and it is. It's not much fun to play though. The graphics are poor and though that's forgivable, the quests you'll find yourself involved in are exceedingly dull. The game also enables you to make your own game worlds from the bottom up, with your own characters, maps and quests, but because the game's so poorly implemented it's doubtful you'll ever persuade someone to join you on the net. There are dozens of more imaginative and enthralling RPGs around and Shattered Light simply doesn't cut the mustard in the latter half of 1999. Avoid.

FG verdict

30%

Mini-Review
Star Trek: Starship Creator
PC	From: Zablac

This one should have appealed to every Trekkie in the universe, but it won't. The idea's to design and build your own wacky starship and populate it with characters from the Star Trek series and then send it out on missions. Sounds groovy so far. Sadly, designing and building your spaceship isn't half as much fun as you'd imagine because you're not actually given much flexibility. The mission's are dreadful too, because more often than not you won't be able to complete them because you haven't fitted a vital bit of kit, which you didn't know you needed until you got to the mission objective. And it moves really slowly too. No, really, really, really slowly. This is absolute tosh and nonsense. Even the most anally-retentive Star Trek fan would do better to draw pictures of their made-up spaceships and run around the bedroom going, "Shhwwwhoosh, phatoom!" Employ avoidance routine A1 for this.

FG verdict

20%

Virus / X Files