Cerebral it ain't

Ground Control, PC CD-Rom, £34.99

Ground Control, PC CD-Rom, £34.99

Ground Control, with top-class graphics, is unusual for a real time strategy (RTS) game from Sierra, in that there is no resource management, no "purchasing" or building of troops or military hardware. Thus, connoisseurs of RTS games might scorn its simplicity, but those who enjoy more action and intuitive controls will find it more accessible.

It maintains this simplicity for online games too, with the "drop-in" mode. You don't have to "meet" in a game lobby; you can just dive right into the middle of the action. Ground Control can become repetitive, and hardcore RTS fans might not enjoy it. But all must agree that it looks good.

Recommended: Pentium 400mhz/64MB/3D card/Win 9x/

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Destruction Derby Raw, Sony PlayStation, £29.99

This is the third instalment of the Destruction Derby series. For the uninitiated your goal is to smash up other cars while preserving your own. The cars' handling has been improved, and visible damage can be seen in engine fires, dented panels, oil leaks and a whole lot more. There are plenty of gameplay modes including Skyscraper and Pass Da Bomb. In Skyscraper a bunch of cars are placed on top of a sky-rise building and you have to push each car off while trying to stay on terra firma yourself. Pass Da Bomb is Destruction Derby's version of "you're it", and when you are tagged with the bomb you must pass it on to another car by running into it, before the thing blows. Not the most cerebral of games but enjoyable at times.

Cheats

Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

Start the game with the -console parameter by modifying the desktop shortcut and add -console to the command line. C:Vampirevampire.exe -console

Press " to bring up the console, and enter any of these codes:

Code Result

god 0/ 1 - 1God Mode on, 0God Mode off

cash E - Change cash to E

dropcash E - Drops cash amount E

xp E - Add E to your experience points

freecasting Cast disciplines without using blood

ai - Turns off AI for enemy and your party

addalldisciplines E - Increases all disciplines to E

revive - Full health, even after death

vault - Open personal vault from anywhere in-game

freeammo - Unlimited ammo