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GAME

Programmed by the Paranoid team, the appearance of M.A.S.H. is bound to make Team 17 feel more than a little uncomfortable about its much hyped up-and-coming Worms.

Hailed as a cross between Lemmings and Scorched Tanks, the aim of M.A.S.H. is to obliterate your opponent’s home base. The means to do this are realised through an icon-based control interface – much like Lemmings.

You control either a spud or a tank and can make use of several handy tools and weapons. The terrain between both bases can be tricky to traverse, half of the strategy being the best means of negotiation.

Weapon use is finite and playing a two-player game requires each player to take turns. If you pay the requisite fee, then you will receive an expanded version of this game which also features a split-screen so that both participants can play in real-time.

M.A.S.H. is worth ordering if only to see the power of coding groups creating games off their back. Just think about how many ‘new generation’ console owners there are who could do the same sort of thing if they so desired.


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Not a sequel, oh no, this is a different version. I’ve seen the original lots of times because it kept getting sent in as a PD offering, but I didn’t use it on the coverdisk because it’s not that good. And apart from some fancy intro screens and an improved level of presentation we’re talking the same basic game here. So I still don’t like it.

Mash is best described as a tactical blow-’em-up in that the object of the game is to get to your opponent’s base and blow it up. But while you’re trying to get there, his spud (or tank, or whatever) is coming towards you with the same intention. Your choice: either avoid him, or TAKE HIM ON.

Okay, so you have an arsenal of different weapons for each vehicle, movement and firing is mouse-click simple, and there are even (wooo) tunnels and bridge-building involved, but it’s all really boring. You’re supposed to fiddle around with the angle and power of your shots (as in Scorched Tanks or the forthcoming Worms) but your opponent's movements are predictable and you can just build a big bridge over him and make a run for it.

There’s a split-screen two-player mode, but I find it all strategically one-dimensional and so utterly pointless. (I liked it though. It’s slicker than Scorched Tanks, funnier and I preferred to face my opponent in honourable combat. And the two-player mode, with simultaneous movement and that, is a hoot. There you go, eh? - Jonathan.)