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Jovian Chronicles, the Gundam-esque world of giant robot action published by Ianus for Mekton II, has just been completely redesigned and released by Dream Pod 9, and I for one think that it is a winner. The care that DP9 is known for putting into its Heavy Gear game certainly shows through here. The game, which has been completely rewritten to use DP9's Silhouette house engine, is one of the best mecha games that I have ever seen.

The book itself is laid out in a clear and concise manner, and is sprinkled with illustrations from Ghislaine Barbe, DP9's house artist. One of the few problems with this book is that important information isn't as "set out" as it could be, making some lists a little hard to read. This is more than made up for by the full-color section at the back of the book, which captures the "anime" spirit of the game perfectly.

The rules themselves will be very familiar to Heavy Gear players, since they are simply a revised version of the Silhouette engine used in that game. It is skill based, with attributes supplying a modifier to skill checks. Another feature that HG players are familiar with is the inclusion of rules for running wargames, including rules for air and space combat. The new space combat system is especially interesting. It handles realistic, vector-based movement with the use of a "movement counter" which shows the future destination of the vehicle in question. Instead of doing complex math calculations, all you do is adjust the counter to show the new destination.

The true improvement, however, is in the background, something which the basic HG book was regrettably short on. The entire gaming universe, which spans the solar system is described in detail, along with information on the "exo-armors", or giant robots, that are the focus of the game's action. The background is chronologically later than the first edition, and takes into account almost a whole year of new events.

Perhaps the only thing that I miss is the vehicle construction system, which was one of the strong points of Heavy Gear. They will be out in a later JC supplement, but it is still just a bit annoying. However, the increased space for background more than makes up for it.

The new Jovian Chronicles is a great game and a great read, and I recommend it to any fan of mecha games or space combat - or to any gamer at all, for that matter. It looks likely to be one of the hits of the year.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Jovian Chronicles
Author: DP9 Staff Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Reviewed by Trent Di Renna on 08/04/97. Genre tags: none	Jovian Chronicles, the Gundam-esque world of giant robot action published by Ianus for Mekton II, has just been completely redesigned and released by Dream Pod 9, and I for one think that it is a winner. The care that DP9 is known for putting into its Heavy Gear game certainly shows through here. The game, which has been completely rewritten to use DP9's Silhouette house engine, is one of the best mecha games that I have ever seen. The book itself is laid out in a clear and concise manner, and is sprinkled with illustrations from Ghislaine Barbe, DP9's house artist. One of the few problems with this book is that important information isn't as "set out" as it could be, making some lists a little hard to read. This is more than made up for by the full-color section at the back of the book, which captures the "anime" spirit of the game perfectly. The rules themselves will be very familiar to Heavy Gear players, since they are simply a revised version of the Silhouette engine used in that game. It is skill based, with attributes supplying a modifier to skill checks. Another feature that HG players are familiar with is the inclusion of rules for running wargames, including rules for air and space combat. The new space combat system is especially interesting. It handles realistic, vector-based movement with the use of a "movement counter" which shows the future destination of the vehicle in question. Instead of doing complex math calculations, all you do is adjust the counter to show the new destination. The true improvement, however, is in the background, something which the basic HG book was regrettably short on. The entire gaming universe, which spans the solar system is described in detail, along with information on the "exo-armors", or giant robots, that are the focus of the game's action. The background is chronologically later than the first edition, and takes into account almost a whole year of new events. Perhaps the only thing that I miss is the vehicle construction system, which was one of the strong points of Heavy Gear. They will be out in a later JC supplement, but it is still just a bit annoying. However, the increased space for background more than makes up for it. The new Jovian Chronicles is a great game and a great read, and I recommend it to any fan of mecha games or space combat - or to any gamer at all, for that matter. It looks likely to be one of the hits of the year. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)