Windows

Gearheads

After just a couple of hours play you'll suddenly find that Gearheads is not only totally brilliant, but also utterly addictive: the only problem is trying to explain this to anyone who hasn't played it. It neatly combines the planning skills of Tetris with a sixth sense for the unexpected and has loads of options to keep you entertained for days, such as different playing areas, numerous wind-up toys and bizarre power-ups. But a word of warning: after a few rounds of losing, it won't be just the toys who are getting wound up.

So if you're looking for a fun, addictive, exciting game, or you're just looking for something truly new, give Gearheads a shot. You may never look at the toy store the same again.

This is the kind of game there should be more of, especially for Windows, especially for newcomers to computer gaming. It's exactly what the subtitle says it is, "a furious war of wind-up toys." The animation for all the included toys are marvelous, and the tactics for each one are distinctly different. It's got all the fun of a Command and Conquer-style real-time tactical game (scaled down dramatically, of course), with all the AI that game never had.

Mit Gearheads ist Philips ein äußerst kurzweiliges Spiel gelungen, das mit den gelungenen Grafiken, der einfachen Bedienung und vor allem der originellen Spielidee bei Spielern aller Altersklassen für Kurzweil sorgen kann. Allerdings sorgen auch hohe Schwierigkeitsgrade und Power-Ups nicht für allzuviel Abwechslung, so daß nach relativ kurzer Zeit Langeweile eintritt.

Although Gearheads looks and sounds great, the action moves too quickly to control easily using the keyboard. Still, it's convenient that the game runs directly from the CD-ROM drive, and it's even nicer that you can play it in a small, relatively unobtrusive window on your desktop.

It must have seemed like a wonderful idea when the developers at R/GA Interactive teamed up with Philips Media. In fact, dreams of producing a mega-hit like Lemmings must not have seemed too far away. However, somewhere along the long road to shipping a product, the producers of Gearheads must have realized that their dream wouldn't quite come true.

Dann hapert es an zwei entscheidenden Stellen. Nummer eins: Es gibt keine Speicherfunktion oder Paßwörter für den aktuellen Level. Nur drei der etwas spärlichen 40 Stufen im Wettkampf-Modus lassen sich anwählen, und dann auch nur, wenn man sie bereits geschafft hat. Das zweite Problem ist das bregrenzte Arsenal an Spielfeldern und - figuren. Dadurch ist auf Dauer Langeweile vorprogrammiert. Mit etwas mehr Feinschliff hätte Gearheads ein Denkspiel-Klassiker werden können.