Maximum Overdrive - News section featuring the Christmas Top 5, three new horror games incoming (Silent Hill, Parasite Eve and Messiah), V-Rally 2 and Motorhead 2 announced (the later was eventually cancelled), PocketStation announced and a bunch of smalll sections on other upcoming games.

Star Interview - Michael Owen - An interview with England footballer Michael Owen to advertise the upcoming World League Soccer '99. Unsurprisingly, the notoriously boring striker has little real opinion on video games.

Beat the Teacher - introduction to the ongoing feature where a child tries to better their teacher(s) at various video games.

Club Max - A subscription programme where members also get free gifts, competitions and offers.

The Hit List - A small database of key titles available for the PlayStation. As this is the first issue here is a list of the games that received Gold awards (scoring over 90%) - Alundra, Bust-A-move 2, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Destruction Derby 2, Die Hard Trilogy, Doom, Final Fantasy VII, Formula 1, Formula 1 '97, Gran Turismo, ISS Pro, ISS Pro '98, Kula World, Oddworld Abe's Oddysee, Rage Racer, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Ridge Racer, Smash Court Tennis, Soul Blade, Street Fighter EX Alpha, Super Puzzle Fighter 2, Tekken 2, Tekken 3, Tomb Raider 2 & Tomb Raider 3.

Max Tactics - Cheats section including single page guides for Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and Tomb Raider III.

Precious metal - Platinum reviews listed below. Additional short reviews were given for previously re-released platinum games

To the max (Letters)

Contents, Maximum competition, Max the Dog Cartoon, Next Month, Quick Quiz.