Dark Forces
CD-ROM for Windows
LucasArts As a disgruntled expatriate of the dreaded Imperial Forces, you are
taken on by the Rebels to help bring down the evil Empire. Armed with a bevy of
weaponry and showing no mercy for Stormtroopers, Imperial Officers, and the
ever-elusive Boba Fett, you must navigate and chart the intricate, multi-tiered
mazes to successfully complete various missions. Star Wars nostalgia
aside, this game is packed with action. A joystick is required; in fact, if
you’ve already splurged on the superturbo model, this game will put it to good
use. Death to the Death Star; may the force be with you. — Carl
Bacher
Creative Writer
CD-ROM for Windows or Mac
Microsoft Creative Writer teaches the basics of graphics and page design to
your child. It is a fun program, designed for kids, but one that will excite
adults as well. This CD-ROM is an entire graphic studio, enabling your children
to make fliers and posters, write stories with illustrations, and even publish
their own newspapers. A great gift for the new generation of James Joyces and
Jann Wenners, it will provide hours of entertainment for the whole family.
— Nisa Sharma
Brother’s Keeper
D: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky; with Delbert, Lyman, and Roscoe
Ward.
Fox Lorber Home Video Thin Blue Line meets Larry, Daryl, and my other brother Daryl in
Brother’s Keeper, a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction documentary
about four elderly, dairy-farming brothers in upstate New York. The Ward “boys”
get blasted into the 20th century when Delbert gets charged with the
second-degree murder of his bedmate/brother/alleged lover William. Since living
like pigs in primitive conditions hasn’t been easy on Lyman or Roscoe either,
the trial proves absurdly traumatic and incapacitating for them. Made on almost
no budget, this film works, peering into the surprisingly eccentric
lives of Adirondack hillbillies.
— Taylor Holland
Dumb and Dumber
D: Peter Farrelly; with Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly.
New Line Home Video This movie is so dumb. I swear to god. I watched the whole thing, and these
two guys (Carrey and Daniels) drive around for two hours in a car that looks
like a dog. Stooopid. What’s even stupider is that they are doing it to give a
girl (Holly) a bunch of money the Ace Ventura guy found in the airport.
Hello? You’d have to be mental not to keep it. I especially liked this one part
where one of the guys put hot peppers on this bad guy’s burger and he died.
— Taylor Holland The Dig
CD-ROM for Windows
LucasArts I was bummed when the space shuttle flight I was commanding was taken to a
planet in a remote star system by a mysterious geometrical thingy. Relying on
my wits and my crewmates, I scouted the alien landscape to find a way home.
It’s a good thing I had a magnifying glass and a trowel in my suit. This
medium-level adventure game has mediocre graphics and logic. It’s a good
introduction to the adventure game genre, but definitely not for the
action-hungry connoisseur. — Nisa Sharma
Star Wars Screen
Entertainment
CD-ROM for Windows
LucasArts For the Star Wars fan, taking a pause in the workday was never so
interesting. You can choose from 14 screensavers or run them all at short
intervals. There are biographies on aliens in the cantina at Mos Eisely,
blueprints to Rebel and Imperial ships, a never-ending light-saber duel between
good and evil, an X-Wing careening down the Death Star trench to destroy it,
and Jawas fixing and showing their wares. I couldn’t choose, so I decided to
make my computer do nothing but sleep, so I could enjoy the screens, all the
time. — Nisa Sharma
This article appears in December 22 • 1995 and December 22 • 1995 (Cover).