Introduction

The inaugral issue of PlayStation Max magazine from January 1999. Max was positioned as the younger-skewing, sister magazine of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine. Like the aforementioned it was also published by Future and featured a lot of editorial and staff crossover as well as being officially endorsed by Sony. Regular features like Beat the Teacher, Club Max and the celebrity interviews positioned the magazine towards school-age children which bucked the trend at the time of the teenage/young-adult focused PlayStation magazines found on British newsagents shelves.

Note: This issue features a preview of Earthworm Jim 3D which would never see release on PlayStation only on N64 and PC.

Contents

Cover

Crash Hits! - The Bandicoot bounces back!

Thrash your Mates! - Packed full of tips to make you the ultimate player

Michael Owen - Max meets England's Gal-den Boy and you can win his footy shirt... SIGNED!

Tomb Raider 3 - It's a Lara double whammy! TR3 REVIEWED and TIPPED!

Inside - Sppyro The Dragon, Cool Boarders 3, TOCA 2, Brian Lara Cricket, Actua Soccer 3, FIFA '99, Metal Gear Solid, Roll Cage, Legacy of Kain 2, Ridge Racer 4, Gran Turismo 2, FFVIII and Loads More... Get Stuck In!

Inside

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.

Previews - Listed below.

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

Reviews - Listed below.

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.