Computing

This will eventually become THE place (well, one can dream, can't one?) to look for selected software reviews, industry comment and anything else to do with computing in general. Until I get going, I shall simply introduce what I hope to be a regular personal view of the computing world.

Review -- Monster Truck Madness 2

hese days, more and varied types of game are appearing for the IBM PC (and it's clones) where once there weren't much more than the odd simulation and a rather shoddy platform game or two. It also wasn't so long ago that if you wanted anything much else, Nintendo and Sony were the only other choices. But the humble PC is beginning to catch up and although the consoles are always likely to be one step ahead of the game, there is much to offer the discerning PC owner. Driving games are particularly well supported although MTM2 is less a driving simulation and more an arcade game based around bigger cars than usual!!

For those who already have the first Monster Truck Madness, the gameplay of the second will be quite familiar. Since my subsequent comments are based around the differences between the old and new, I shall briefly describe MTM for those not familiar with Monster Trucking.

Monster Truck Madness

In the original, there were four types of gameplay:

• Drag Racing, where you have the chance to race against the clock - and another opponent - in one short burst of speed.
• Circuit, a loop of several laps in a variety of tracks.
• Rally is little more than a much longer Circuit but fixed at a single lap.
• Tournament allows the combination of all of the above. Apart from the supplied combinations, you can also set up your own and save them.

At first, the Drag Racing quickly loses its appeal. A few short seconds of (supposed) adrenalin and then it's all over. When you start getting better and not losing all the time, it becomes a little better, but just playing drag racing starts out as that - a drag.

Driving the trucks has a different feel to other car games presumably giving a fairly accurate simulation of how cumbersome these beasts are, but after you master the handling, it becomes necessary to up the skill level - of which there are only three. But the courses are quite short and one simple mistake can have you at the back of the field for quite some time.

Rallies are more or less much longer circuits with only one lap - if you miss a gate and keep going, you can drive around again if you really feel the need! In many ways I prefer these because there is more variation during the race.

Tournaments allow you to combine the three different races into a non-stop ride of variation and enjoyment. And when you get bored of what they supply, youcan either play around with the number of laps, or even create your own Tournaments using any combination of track you feel like.

Of course, the fun doesn't stop there. Explore a little and you find all sorts of hidden treasure. Hidden villages, secret shortcuts, roads in the middle of nowhere! You can literally spend hours just driving around. Dring down the railway, or up a river is quite a challenge! Of course you lose the race, but who cares!

And finally, you can even download new tracks from the internet. OK, I only managed to find three - two circuits and one rally - but they were a great addition to an already impressive set of courses to try.

Monster Truck Madness 2

Better sounds, different trucks, more vocal encouragement from Army Armstrong, even harder racing, weather conditions including snow, fog and rain (although the latter looked exactly like "fog" to me!) and more inter-action with the elements that are nothing to do with the game-play. I particularly like being able to push coaches and tents off the cliffs (together with the sounds of screaming this involves) or pushing mooing cows across a field.

In the farmyard circuit, the railway line now boasts a moving train which I even tried exhaustively to jump onto the top of. Sadly, when I finally succeeded, the developers clearly didn't think of this posibility and the train simply slides underneath you until it's gone when you plop ungracefully to the ground.

This thoughtlessness is, however, a recurring theme. Clear indications that the developers were concentrating on the ambience and the game-play, but weren't actually engaged in any serious "thinking". Away goes the ability to set up your own races - by far the best part of MTM. The trucks slide around much more anyway, so many of the races become impossible or at least unpleasant to complete, and the courses are in any case less enjoyable. Even finding the hidden door on one of the levels thereby activating a new course on the menu only seems to revitalise the game briefly.

Sequals are a tricky animal - they either flop dismally or generate huge amounts of interest. I don't remember seeing MTM2 in the charts for very long and - no wonder!

Rants and Raves

he computing industry is in many ways entirely unique.

Take the analogy between computers and household goods which has been cited many, many times before, but certainly deserves repeating. If you buy a television, you expect to get it home, plug it in and for it to work first time. If it goes wrong, you expect to take it back to the shop and for some very nice man behind the counter to take it and repair it or replace it with a cheery smile - and if there's no smile forthcoming, mentioning the Sale of Goods Act (certainly in the UK) usually does the trick.

But buy a computer and you're on a totally different planet. The punter is assumed to be an idiot and the salesman is no less than a god. The goods being sold are perfect and any faults found are the direct responsibility of the purchaser. Beware the customer who is new to the game because there aren't very many rules, apart from one fairly important one: if you don't know any better, you WILL be blinded with technobabble and you WILL NOT win.

My PC has just come back from the suppliers. It was originally supplied with a faulty LS-120 drive (Superdisk) but the guys in the shop initially tried to say that the set-up was to blame. It wasn't until the third attempt that the drive problem was corrected. Other minor problems also existed, but the most important problem was the reason for the latest return.

Inexplicably, the system would stop dead in the middle of some operation whether it be to play a sound or draw a dialog box. The system I'd decided upon was based around a Matrox graphics card but the salesman convinced me to buy an ATI Xpert @ Work card. This also gave me the opportunity to add the ATI TV Tuner Card which I felt I couldn't pass up. So when on the first day I got the machine all set up, I was most disconcerted to fall foul of the problem immediately - while trying to tune in the stations.

I suspected the TV card, but I was advised that this was unlikely to be the problem. One re-installation of the display drivers and the Direct X drivers, the problem still remained. This prompted the first return of the machine. However, a short time after it came back, the problem was as evident as ever.

The point of all of this - other than to belly-ache about the quality control (or lack of) from this company - is my experience of a few days ago. Working in the industry, I have used hardware from a number of sources, but only a few graphics cards. Of the ones that have given the most trouble were ATI and one of the best was Matrox. I know my way around a PC and do the odd bit of maintenance for friends and acquaintances, and I tried a number of things to cure the problem, including downloading and installing the latest ATI drivers, but without any success. So when delivering my Windows 95 disk and manual so that Windows could be re-installed (badly, I might add) I inquired what the next steps would be. I was told by the owner himself that the graphics card was not the problem, in fact resetting the drivers to the original had actually provided the cure - but they were going to install Windows anyway. The owner refused to accept that the ATI card was to blame since the majority of cards they shipped were ATI of one form or another (I wonder if they get a hefty discount?)

I called two days later to be told that the machine was in pieces on the workbench but would be available for pickup that evening and sure enough the prognosis was a faulty card. I haven't reached a full twenty-four hours yet, but so far it all looks fairly stable. I'm still waiting for the first signs of trouble although I'll be very happy if that time never arrives!!

The moral? Beware computer people. If you want to buy a system, bring along someone who knows more than a little about them and for god sake do the same if you need to take the system back for a repair. Don't let them make it sound like it's your fault and certainly don't let them get away with a hasty explanation that will eventually turn out to be false.

One day, Joe Public will know as much about PC's as they do about TV's, but until then do me a favour and be careful!

Previous Rants and Raves

've been aware of this Web "thing" ever since a colleague at work gathered together any that were interested into a room to show off this brand new "technology" he'd just discovered.

In a room where thirty people could have sit quite comfortably, there were precisely five of us!

But there was no denying that the Web was an emerging, growing entity that was likely to become a very important part of life. Of course it's very easy to say now that it is established, but even then it was quite clear what the future was to hold.

Since you're reading this, it's clear that I'm prepared to accept new technologies and as I work in the industry anyway, you would think that I would be all for it. The 'Net is certainly a wonderful place but to what end?

Sadly there appears to be a pervasive and misguided belief that the Web will become the single-most important feature of computing since the introduction of the PC. After an initial rejection of the Web, even the mighty Microsoft chose to reverse course and embrace the Internet almost to the exclusion of anything else.

Windows 95 was something of a culture shock for 3.x users, but Windows 98 is a complete joke. It professes to provide the ability to use new hardware such as DVD and fully integrates USB, but in essence it is merely an excuse to make the interface behave as a global browser - and probably swell the Microsoft coffers. In the process, they've made the previously marvellous interface clunky, difficult to navigate and blindingly SLOW! I use IE4 but without the desktop upgrade and I will strenuously avoid Windows 98 until a given piece of hardware or software I desperately need to use refuses to work under '95.

By incorporating a browser into the heart of the operating system shows a totally misguided faith in the future of the 'Net. According to some, the Web and the Internet in general will in one way or another become part of the lives of everyone on the planet eventually. In itself, this is somewhat frightening, particularly since unless you happen to be the owner of a the server, communication speeds are highly unspectacular.

I have two separate bank accounts both with PC Banking facilities. The First Direct offering is Web-based while Barclays use an off-line preparation method with dial-up transfer of data and requests. There are obvious differences between the way that requests are serviced, but ignoring this fact for a moment, the most apparent problems are based around how data is downloaded and requests made. In the case of Barclays, I can view my transaction details, make multiple bill transfers, set up numerous standing orders and even send messages, all in my own time and without worrying about transmitting mistakes. With First Direct, I have to go through a lengthy logging in process before I can so much as check a single transaction and only then is it possible to do anything. Even bank messages are difficult to both read and then reply to without using up valuable (and expensive) minutes. To illustrate still further, I am able to do a large number of operations and transmit them in around a minute with Barclays, but to even the simplest thing using the First Direct solution, I will typically be connected for anywhere around 10 minutes - and this is assuming I stay on-line long enough to get there!

The 'net is still in its infancy perhaps, but to rely on it so completely is foolhardy and premature. It has a lot of growing-up time to go and like all children, it is temperamental, badly behaved and difficult to live with. Until it grows up a bit, use it for the world-wide repository of information and opinion that it is, but don't make your operating system into a browser, don't use it for e-commerce and DON'T trust your life, wealth or health to it!

'Nuff said (for now!!!)

Copyright © 1999   Marvin-PA