¢A PLEA ON BEHALF OF THE JAGUAR¢¢by Daniel Baverstock¢¢¢ Atari seem to be doing it again! Doom - The Special Edition is one of the few great games on the Jaguar right now. A game that looks as though it's taking advantage of the Jags capabilities. Iron Soldier and Alien vs Predator are the only other games that really show what the Jag can do, and they're all the same type of game!¢¢ Most of the other current games are let down in one area. Whether it be graphics, gameplay or music, the games aren't doing the Jaguar any favours. Atari is clearly trying to fill the shelves rather than show off the machine capabilities.¢¢ Here's a list of all the recent new releases, with a comment / percentage from a reviewer beside each:-¢¢Air cars - Shoot'em'up sim - the graphics look very poor.¢¢Burn out - a cycle racing game - the graphics are poor and speed is "slug slow".¢¢Troy Aikman NFL Football - the gameplay looks involving - the graphics look crap.¢¢Kasumi Ninja - Quite good graphics, with good depth effect in the backgrounds - Abismal gameplay - 38% Ultimate Future Games.¢¢Sensible soccer - great gameplay, OK graphics - Some moves are made harder with the "House-brick pad!" (the joypad). Very overpriced at 55 pounds - 88% Ultimate Future Games.¢¢Double Dragon 5 - THE WORST GAME EVER! - ABSOULUTE CRAP! - 23% Ultimate Future Games.¢¢Syndicate - great game / many huge levels - slow and difficult to control as Joypad spoils the game control - 68% Ultimate Future Games.¢¢Val d'Isere - a snow boarding game - it's very fast and gameplay is OK. Not what you would call 64 bit graphics / not much to do - 66% Ultimate Future Games.¢¢ Only a few new look good, including the following (although they are all still in production):¢¢Fight for Life - Atari's answer to Virtua Fighter - it looks quite good and moves well - still in production.¢¢Hover Strike - Like Battlezone. Hovering across a planet in a tank; 3D rendered landscapes; animated 3D enemies - looks quite good - still in production.¢¢Rayman - great looking platform - great graphics, animation and sound - nearing completion.¢¢Ultra Vortex - Kasumi Ninja had very bad reviews - This is another beat-em-up akin to Mortal Kombat, etc. Great backdrops, characters - still waiting to see what gameplay is like - still in production.¢¢ I played Tempest 2000 the other day and quite frankly thought the gameplay was crap and repetitive - it certainly DIDN'T deserve the 97% someone gave it, nor the title of 'Game of the Decade'! However the MUSIC is brilliant(!) and some of the melting effects are quite good.¢¢ Very few of the current games do any justice to the Jaguar's capabilities. Atari have succeeded in cocking it up again so far. If they don't act soon then it will be too late, for Sega and Sony will take the upper hand.¢¢ In my opinion we need the CD-ROM add-on NOW and with some mindblowing games! It has been lumped as a cart machine, when it should be known as a CD-based machine.¢¢ I shall be writing to Atari soon, hopefully with a load of fellow Jag and Atari owners' letters to see if Atari can have some sense kicked into them before it's too late to do anything.¢¢ Anybody who is interested should write a letter to Atari about their feelings toward Atari and the Jaguar and anything that they feel would add weight to my argument that the games aren't using the Jag to it's full potential.¢¢¢Send your letters to:¢¢Daniel 'ODI' Baverstock,¢199 Mackie Avenue,¢Patcham,¢Brighton,¢East Sussex¢BN1 8SE,¢England.¢¢¢...as soon as possible!¢
