Mindscape's Cryo trio
Secret of the Nautilus, Stealth Combat and Jerusalem
Last month Mindscape announced that they had signed a deal with Cryo to distribute fifteen of the French publisher's games here in the UK, and the first of these is expected to hit the shelves on Friday. Heading up the list is Jerusalem, the second episode of the Adrian Blake trilogy, which started with Pompeii. As the title suggests, this new game whisks Mr Blake off to medieval Jerusalem, where he will be trying to uncover a plot to break the peace that has been achieved between the city's Jews, Muslims and Christians. Ah, those were the days. Moving swiftly on we find Secret of the Nautilus, an adventure game inspired by the Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Set some time in the not-so-distant future, it puts you in the role of a young archaeologist carrying out a deep sea survey aboard a nuclear submarine. You get more than you bargained for though when you stumble on the Nautilus, ending up trapped aboard the Victorian sub with a psychotic AI. Now where have we heard that one before. Sadly it's not exactly Cryo's finest hour, and from what we've seen of the game so far your biggest challenge is finding tiny objects and hot spots, most of which are indistinguishable from the murky backgrounds, as you try to work out which of the twenty drawers in the room is the one that you can actually open. Frustrating, linear and a bit simple. And finally, how about something completely different? Due out in late June, Stealth Combat is a futuristic vehicular action game which gives you the chance to pilot everything from tanks and jeeps to helicopters and amphibious units. Playing as one of two unfortunately named agents - a bloke called Streak and a woman known as Moon - you will be carrying out a range of infiltration and recon missions as well as all out assaults, with scenery varying from dusty deserts to snow covered valleys and the obligatory big yard full of crates. The graphics aren't exactly cutting edge, but it does look quite nice, and hopefully we'll have some idea soon of whether the gameplay can match. Related Feature - Cryo games defrosted