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Industrial Revolution by Andrew Sage

Strategy game taking place in England during the industrial revolution. Each turn you can build a factory or transportation and then send products to the four cities on the map. You can invest in new technologies and there are disasters to keep things a bit more random. Doesn't seem to be a point to the game other than making more and more money.

Gameplay: Good (4)  Like the game even with no victory conditions.
Graphics: Average (3)  Good enough to tell what's going on.
Sound and Music: Good (4)  Has theme music and some sounds.

ShineBug! by Charles Goran

You control a drunken mosquito. The objective is to get to the end of the level before you lose your buzz (it's like fuel). You get more buzz by getting bubbles (with or without cans). Avoid logs and hornets. There is no scoring system and only the one level.

Gameplay: Average (3)  Rather simple and no scoring mar this game.
Graphics: Excellent (5)  Everything is rendered very nicely.
Sound and Music: Good (4)  Hick twangy music and lots of sounds.
PictureFrameX by Alan Dickinson

Solitaire card game. Place cards on a 4x4 grid and you have to place face cards on the edges (in specific places). Once the grid is filled you can remove pairs of non-face cards that add up to 11. Objective is to fill up the edges without getting to the point when you can't place a face card. There is scoring and a high score table.

Gameplay: Good (4)  Some strategy but mostly mindless cardplay.
Graphics: Good (4)  Solid card graphics, nothing fancy.
Sound and Music: Poor (2)  No theme, appropriate card sounds.

Goldgeiger by Kemal Yun

One to four player turn-based prospecting game. You start out buying equipment -- dynamite, ladders, diving gear, backpack, and boots -- then start digging into an approximately 20x12 grid. The lower you go there more there is. Things that can block you include soft rock which can be dynamited away, hard rock which is impassable, water which is passable if you own a diving suit, and gas veins which explode once and destroy any gold you are carrying. There is also a loan you have to pay back (and it accrues interest) and you use up one gold per turn. Game ends when the mine is cleared. Very fun game.

Gameplay: Excellent (5)  One player puzzle or multi-player competition.
Graphics: Good (4)  Nice graphics, easy to tell what is what.
Sound and Music: Good (4)  No theme, lots of sounds, end theme.
Copyright (c) 2004 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: November 14, 2004
Page Last Updated: November 14, 2004