About the only reason to own a Jaguar
Written: Feb 04 '04 (Updated Feb 05 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Intense arcade shooter; great sound; fantastic graphics
Cons: Control is hard to get used to at first
The Bottom Line: Simply the best title available for the Jaguar.
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| HawgWyld's Full Review: Tempest 2000 for Jaguar |
I've been a fan of Atari since the late 1970s, but one thing separates me from the rest of Fuji faithful -- my absolute hatred of the miserable Jaguar console. That particular 1993 system was touted as a 64-bit console which would blow the then-current Super Nintendo and Sega Geneis out of the water. On paper, the Jaguar was certainly much more advanced than the aforementioned 16-bit systems, but the vast majority of games available for the Atari were garbage. In fact, I'd argue some of the worst games of all time were released for the Jaguar.
Because Jaguar games tend to be so horrible, Tempest 2000 came as a complete surprise. What's even more surprising is the fact good Jaguar games tend to be both quite rare and expensive to buy, but Tempest 2000 is inexpensive and common as sin.
In short, this title is a faithful port of the Arcade title of the same name, but it's much better. Now, Atari had attempted to "upgrade" a classic arcade game for the Jaguar before and failed miserable (remember how rotten that "improved" version of Missile Command was?) In Tempest 2000,, however, the improved version of the game is actually much better than the original (both are available on the cartridge).
For those not familiar with Tempest, it's a vector-based, three-dimensional shooter which is quite challenging. The player controls a ship at the end of a wire-framed, three-dimensional object (typically a round tube, although "square" shapes and triangles are used, too). Enemy ships, power-ups and shots will fly down the tube at the player, and enemy craft will attempt to progress to the end of the tube where they can pester the player and he can't shoot at them. The player, for defense, has only his rapid-firing cannon, the ability to whirl around the tunnel quickly and a "superzapper" for defense (the superzapper, which is best reserved for emergency use, zaps all the enemies on the screen).
The "enhanced" version of Tempest here adds power-ups (such as a computer-controlled drone which will join the player in fighting enemies) and some mind-boggling graphics. When enemies explode, they send shards all over the screen. The tunnels are shaded quite well and the game just looks downright pretty.
One thing I should mention here is that the Jaguar was infamous for its inability to push polygons. The Sony Playstation is a much better console for three-dimensional games because of it's ability to display 3D polygons and move them around with ease (well, it moves them around well compared to the Jag, at least). While the Jag can display polygons, it's very limited in its ability to do so. In Tempest 2000, however, polygons are used exclusively and the Jag can handle them just fine -- these are simple, geometric shapes with no shading, so they don't tax the hardware so much. Anyone who's played 3D games on the Jaguar knows a polygonal title which works well is a rarity (put on a copy of I-War, for example, if you want to see how bad a 3D title for the Atari can be).
Heck, this title even has great sound -- a rarity for the Jaguar. You've got a high-energy techno soundtrack built in, but an add-on disc can be purchased which plays in the Jaguar's optional CD drive. The CD is quite amazing, too, and one of the only reasons to purchase the hard-to-find add-on unit. Even the firing sounds cool, and the female voice announcing "Superzapper recharge!" between levels fits in well.
The only flaw in this game -- and it's a minor one -- has to do with the control. The arcade game provided the player with a knob which could be rotated slowly or quickly to move his ship out of harm's way. Although a controller featuring the knob can be purchased for quite a bit of change for the Jaguar, most people will have to put up with the console's standard controller. The standard controller works out well in this game, but it's not quite as effective (or fast!) as using the knob. The controller takes some time to get used to, but it works out fine in the end.
All in all, had the Jaguar featured more games like this, it might have fared better in the face of competition from the Super NES and Genesis. Heck, it might have even been able to compete with the more-sophisticated Sony Playstation or Nintendo 64. Alas, however, games this good are few and far between for the Jaguar, so you'd better grab them when you can if you still own one of those consoles.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
HawgWyld
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Member: Ethan C. Nobles
Location: Benton, Ark.
Reviews written: 1428
Trusted by: 494 members
About Me:
The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient.
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