Review: Game Wizard PCI Graphics Accelerator.

By: Kirk Hiner

It's on rare occasion that I can admit to something "blowing me away." Recently, I only remember it happening upon my first listening of Brian May's "Another World" CD and after eating my friend Suzanne's stuffed shrimp. However, neither of those really fit the Applelinks review qualifications. What does fit, and what did blow me away, was Micro Conversions, Inc.'s Game Wizard PCI Graphics Accelerator.

I could detail here how the card works, speaking of BOPS, MIP-mpas, Z-buffered pixels and the like, but most of you would probably have no more idea of what I was saying than I would myself. The point is that games that take full advantage of this technology are, as Cartman would say of his Cheesie Poofs, "Sweeeeeeeet."

I tested the Game Wizard Voodoo2 PCI card on three games that support 3Dfx acceleration; "Myth," "Tomb Raider 2" and "Unreal." Although the degree of improvement varied with each game, it was decidedly noticable across the board.

"Myth" saw the smallest improvement. The rendering of the landscape and shadows was quite a bit smoother, and the terrain sported more detail. Compared to software acceleration on my 9600/200, however, I noticed no improvement in speed. The 3Dfx gamma was also considerably darker than normal, even at it's brightest setting. Not a big deal, but it did take a while to get used to.

"Tomb Raider 2" looked much better with the Game Wizard, and it performed a bit better as well. The speed boost wasn't tremendous, but Lara herself was much smoother, and isn't that what we're all really after here? A smoother Lara? "Tomb Raider 2" is a great game to use to show off the card because you can disable 3Dfx support with the push of an F key during game play.

But if you really want to show off the Game Wizard Voodoo2 card, you've got to do so with "Unreal." Whereas "Myth" and "Tomb Raider 2" both use 3Dfx acceleration, only "Unreal" was designed specifically for the Voodoo2 chip set technology. (The Voodoo2 card supports both Rave and Glide games.)

Before Voodoo2, I was only able to play "Unreal" at 640x400 resolution with the sound at 22KHz. Even then, with 96MB allocated to the game, the graphics sometimes slowed down during the fight sequences. I'm now playing at 1024x768 with Voodoo2; the sound is back up to 44KHz, and the game only takes a speed hit in wide open areas. More importantly, what was a gorgeous game before is now simply stunning. Gone forever are the blotchy pixles from the landscape; the sun shines through the clouds; light auras emanate through mist; water ripples and flows with fluidity; shadows flicker under crackling torches. Playing "Unreal" without the Game Wizard card is like walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art with sunglasses on and a thirty pound weight strapped to your back. (I really must work on my analogies.)

By now you may be wondering, "But Kirk, how much work do I have to go through to make all this happen?" Never fear. To install the Game Wizard Voodoo2, you need only insert the card into a PCI slot, connect your old video driver to the Game Wizard, and connect the monitor to the Game Wizard. Done. The card then works in conjunction with your previous acceleration, only kicking in when called upon. This way, you don't lose any 2D acceleration when running other apps.

If you install a game after the card, it should recognize the card and automatically turn on the 3D acceleration. If you install the card after the game, you may have to point out that help has arrived. This was simple enough in "Myth" and "Tomb Raider 2"; a simple click of a toggle switch and a punch of an F key, respectively. In "Unreal," however, you have to dig pretty deep. Make sure you read the "Read Me" or check MacSoft's website for instructions on how to do this.

Your next question, most likely, is, "But Kirk, how much is all this going to cost me?" Well, the good news is that Micro Conversions recently dropped the price of the card from $349 to $199 (special thanks to all those who took time to notify me of this). That places 12MB of Voodoo2 3Dfx acceleration at your fingertips for only $100 more than the cheapest card using the normal Voodoo chip set; three times the performance at only twice the cost. True, few games currently take advantage of Voodoo2, and early copies of Dark Vengeance don't work with it at all (this will hopefully be remedeed before the game sees mass release), but you have to know that the gaming industry will soon be taking full advantage of this technology.

Besides, you people are Macintosh users. You're used to paying a little extra to get the best, right? What's the point in having the best system if you're going to skimp on the peripherals? Take all those gifts back that you really didn't want anyway and use the return money to purchase the Game Wizard. Don't worry about what the original buyers think of you; once you have this card, the only friends you'll want to have are the ones who'll play Steal the Bacon with you at Bungie.net.

But all this praise does come with a little concern. Whenever technology matures in this manner, content seems to deteriorate. I hope that gaming companies don't come to rely too much on the effects and therefore allow gameplay to suffer. This hasn't been the case thus far, but the market is young. You can rest assured that if the gameplay suffers, I'll be right here at Applelinks to let you know.

I mean, provided I'm not still trying to get Lara out of Venice safely. I wonder if she makes stuffed shrimp.

Raised on Intellivision and "Tron," Kirk Hiner has been an avid gamer ever since he was tall enough to look through the viewfinder on the Battlezone upright. Although he makes a living using a PC (not by choice) to design websites for Dynamics Online, Inc., Kirk never strays from his 9600/200 or 3400c for computer gaming. When he's not playing the latest Logicware release, he can either be found working on his next "never to be published" novel, rereading anything by Kurt Vonnegut or watching RAW is WAR.

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February 09, 2010