Get a Life, Be a Genetic Engineer

Starting a few years ago with “SimCity” and progressing through a pack of other “Sim” programs, the programmers of Maxis have carved out a wonderful computer gaming niche for themselves. No one comes close to the clever, entertaining “software toys” of the inventive Orinda, Calif., firm.

The latest is “SimLife,” an intriguing and challenging genetic engineering game that explores ecology, evolution and artificial life. Your job is no less than the creation and sustaining of life itself.

It’s as hard as it sounds. The program controls--and expects you to manipulate--a host of variables, from climate to food chain to behavior. You also have the power to create fantastical plants and animals with genetic traits uniquely suited to your newly created world.

“SimLife” includes some preset scenarios--transforming a barren desert world, for instance--and two free-form experimental modes. Each mode of play has five difficulty levels. In none, however, will you be able to simply sit down and start playing.

This game will take some serious study of the 204-page manual and plenty of experimenting with the controls.

At the heart of “SimLife” is some pretty sophisticated computing--artificial life programming that is being used to study biology and to accelerate and experiment with evolutionary changes. Until now, few folks this side of a Caltech supercomputer had the chance to take a look at this emerging field of computer science.

As it is, you will still need a fairly advanced machine for “SimLife.” The game ran rather sluggishly on our 386SX but quite well on the 486.

SimLife

Rating: ****

IBM and compatibles; 386, 16mhz, 2MB RAM, hard disk, VGA required; 4MB RAM, mouse recommended. List: $69.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.