Jack Nicklaus 4 is the latest and greatest incarnation of a classic golf game from Accolade. The game features several courses modeled after courses designed by the Golden Bear himself. Like most golf simulations, this one is easy to pick up on but tough to master. Jack Nicklaus 4 lets you play locally or with up to four other players over a TCP/IP or IPX network.

Overall control of your golfer's stance and swing was not as detailed as we would have liked, but if work keeps you far from the greens, this game will help tide you over u ntil your next tee time. --Joel Conover

ACTION GAMES
Best: Activision
Interstate '76
Interstate '76 from Activision is a 3-D automobile combat sensation. The year is 1976, and you're a muscle car vigilante trying to protect U.S. oil reserves. The game is full of '70s style phrases, cars and music. You follow a series of 30 missions on your quest. Between each mission is a really cool cut screen or short movie.

It only took a day of playing Interstate '76 to get us hooked. The single-player mode is fun, but we preferred the eight-player network melee. One useful network-play feature is automatic selection of another player as the host if the original host player must leave the game. This frequently comes into play, for example, when players exit to customize their cars. Once we had honed our skills o n our local network, we connected to Activision's Internet site, where we spent many more hours battling the bad guys in our tricked-out muscle cars. Add to this a realistic physics engine and player-customized cars and you've got one of the grooviest games going. --John Van Ert

Runner-Up: Interplay
Productions Carmageddon
In the racing genre, Carmageddon by Interplay is the extreme. Touting itself as a racing game for the chemically imbalanced, Carmageddon gets the blood flowing--literally. The object, of course, is to win the race. However, in Carmageddon, how you go about winning the race is very different from traditional racing games. You can mow down pedestrians in a fit of rage, "waste" your opponents by ramming them or take the sissy way and loop around the track three or four times.

Carmageddon's strength is that you never run out of new ways to kill pedestrians or perform cunning stunts for which you will be rewarded. Carmageddon, like other racing games, lets you save your winnings in order to buy modifications for your vehicle. Once you get good at mashing and crashing, you can change cars.

Similar to popu lar first-person shooters like Hexen II and Quake, network modes change the objectives slightly for prolonged enjoyment of the game. Network modes include "Driven to Destruction," "Car Crusher," "Accumulator," "Checkpoint Stampede," "Sudden Death," "Terminal Tag" and "Fox 'n' Hounds." Whether you're a hard-core racing fan interested in good physics engines and realistic gameplay, or just want to release some business-day tension, Carmageddon gets you--albeit bruised and bloody--across the finish line. --Gregory Yerxa

The Final Score
Best Strategy Game (Tie):
Accolade Deadlock
Origin Systems Ultima Online
Also Reviewed: Activision Dark Reign, Microsoft Corp.
Age of Empires, Interplay Productions M.A.X.:
Mechanized Assault & Exploration
Best Simulation Game:
LucasArts Entertainment Co.
X Wing vs. TIE Fighter
Runners-Up: Microsoft Corp. Flight Simulator 98 and
Sierra On-Line SODA Off-Road Racing (Tie)
Also Reviewed: Interplay Productions Star Trek:
Starfleet Academy

Best Sports Game:
Accolade Jack Nicklaus 4

Best Action Game:
Activision Interstate '76
Runner-Up: Interplay Productions Carmageddon
Also Reviewed: Blizzard Entertainment Diablo, Activision Hexen II, The 3DO Co. Meridian 59 Revelation,
LucasArts Entertainment Co. Outlaws, Interplay
Descent II: The Infinite Abyss, Interplay Productions Atomic Bomberman, MGM Interactive Machine Hunter