Apollo 18 Mission Simulation

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Review: Apollo 18 Mission Simulation

The game ships on two CDs--a training disk and a mission disk. Your first hint of trouble comes when, after installing the training disk, you can't launch it.

If you do eventually succeed in accessing it, you'll click on a topic in the menu and find yourself watching a slide show of static, low-resolution screen shots. The topic itself is discussed in the vaguest and most general of terms, with no mention of specific keystrokes.

"I must be missing something," you think, so you consult the hefty 200-page manual that ships with the game. With page after page listing mission steps for each procedure, it offers, incredibly, no corresponding keystrokes. The manual would be entirely useless but for a glossary that contains clear, concise descriptions of such terms as "Antenna Mast Omni" and "Pericynthion."

And don't bother consulting the "readme" sections included on either of the CDs for help. They are wrong, and maddeningly vague on top of it.

You can launch an Apollo 18 mission on the Mission CD only after demonstrating your mastery of all relevant procedures. You're required to master five simulation sequences from initial launch to lunar landing--but before the program will allow you to access these simulation sequences, you must pass a 20-question exam.

You don't have the answers to these questions. The manual is no help here either. It lists procedure steps, not specific descriptions and explanations of equipment.

In exasperation, the clench-jawed armchair astronaut will at this point decide to throw caution to the wind and load the "launch" game included on the Mission CD. This bypasses all training steps, and initiates the full Apollo 18 game experience. You sit through the countdown, Mission Control queries your command capsule and you type in responses--only to have to the game end abruptly, dumping you to a black screen of death.

This is unquestionably a "no go."-- Carl Reed / GamePro