by Edmond Meinfelder

Every year around 3 dozen major games appear on the shelves. A select few titles shine, gracing us with delightful experiences. Others titles waste our money. Surface Tension from GameTek is not one the select few. Taking a back seat to games like MechWarrior 2 and Wing Commander IV, expect to see this premium title selling for bargain prices before 1998 arrives.

Surface Tension is set in the future. With large guns, big spaceship, heart of steel and a sense of taste, your task is to eradicate anyone reusing trite game plots. I wish. Surface Tension has a tired plot begging, “Please! Overlook me! I am not worthy.” The bad plot comes complete with bad acting. Unfortunately, players must witness cut scenes staffed with untalented actors. The 3d rendered art in the cut scenes pleases, but hardly makes up for the pain. Thus, we skip the plot, pleased in thought we miss nothing.

After the paper-thin plot is the game. You have a game map. On the game map many things exist. If you can, blow up everything. If something doesn’t look like a rock, shoot it. Using a video communicator, a female guide sometimes gives advice. After blowing a lot of things up, you open a teleporter allowing you to go to the next game map. Though explained by the whispy-thin plot, I could not help but think, “Why would I go through the 6th teleporter when, after using the last 5, I wound up in hostile areas with everyone shooting at me?” Such luck comes standard with hearts of steel and big guns, I think.

Surface Tension has a unique, if dubious, feature – the probe. During gameplay, you can dispatch a probe to gather weapons, reconnoiter the area, drop bombs and lay mines. Used wisely, the probe adds a detailed strategic element to Surface Tension. I found the inclusion of two interfaces when the game requires one, annoying. If the game was aiming for thoughtful gameplay, having two, or more, players joining cooperatively might add some strategic depth. One players mines an area, while the other player leads the enemy into the trap. Perhaps one player lures many enemy fighters into an ambush of 4 players.

The sound effects fit, but are mediocre. The effects do not add to the game experience. Game music was average techno place-holding filler also failing to add to the experience. I find it sad when a 1997 title pales in comparison sound-wise to 1993 games, like Dune II.

Blow up enough things, enter all teleporters and you win. I lost. I suspect millions died because of failure. I am not sure, however, because I never bore witness to the results of my actions. Every time I was cruising about, minding my own business (killing things), I received a visitation by the Segfault Bunny.

For reasons unknown, I could not get very far, the game would crash every time. I have a suspicion. Surface Tension is a Direct X version 2 application. My efforts to save Tristram (in Diablo) and battle evil Meklars (in Master of Orion 2) ensured the presence of Direct X3 on my system. The Segfault Bunny knows Surface Tension is a Direct X2 application and when used under Direct X3, the Bunny wreaks havoc. Big wet raspberries to the Microsoft Direct X team for not implementing a means to adaptively select which Direct X library to use.

Take 2. Our hero, realizing the error in his ways seeks to reinstall the game with the old libraries, begrudgingly realizing he must keep swapping libraries by using installation programs. Shock. The installation program crashes. Windows ’95 gaming with Direct X is going to have an awkward growing stage; starting now.

GameTek is betting arcade-like action is the ticket to gamer’s hearts and wallets. Someone wake the tired, old executives sitting in their Ivory Towers and tell them, the PC and the arcade markets diverged years ago. Arcades and consoles rule with 3d hardware acceleration, but suffer with limited memory when compared to a PC. With more memory, PC games tend to have more complexity either graphically, with more textures, or with sophisticated gameplay. No one ever bought a $3000 personal computer to play Earthworm Jim or Mortal Kombat. Instead, people laid cash down for gaming rigs to play Ultima and Wing Commander.

Surface Tension does not have the complexity of Mechwarrior II, nor does it have the furious zen-state action of a good console game. Standing somewhere between, this game fails to entertain. The only shining points here are a passable 3 dimensional terrain engine and some quality art in the cut scenes; the gameplay bores, making Wing Commander IV seem innovative and fresh in comparison. Wing Commander IV is, by the way, neither innovative nor fresh. Wing Commander IV was fun; Surface Tension was not.

Successful action games win with simple controls and well-designed gameplay. Quake and Duke Nukem 3d show how good design and easy controls work. Surface Tension’s controls remind me of a flight simulation with complexity.

If you must have Surface Tension, I suggest waiting. Look for Surface Tension to sell at low prices in bargain bins at the computer superstores. Surface Tension will not fly with the gaming public.