I'd Like To Smash This Thing Into 64 Bits
Written: Jun 13 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Could be used as a paperweight
Cons: Miserable game support. Embarrasing graphics and sound for being a 64 bit system.
The Bottom Line: If you can buy any other gaming system in the world instead of this one, I recommend the other system.
|
|
|
| Goldentoe's Full Review: Atari Jaguar |
Everyone knows who Atari is, remember them, they were the ones who made little children pester their parents into getting one of those newfangled machines that play games on the TV. You (if you're near my age) probably have at least a few memories of your wasted youth playing classics like Space Invaders and Dig Dug (Mmm ... Dig Dug). If not you were one of the teens/adults, or had friend who was sneaking threw the shadows of night to play with a child's toy like Pong. Well that was the heyday of Atari and despite repeated attempts they never were able to reclaim their glory. The Atari Jaguar could in essence be called "Atari's Last Stand."
The Jaguars Abilities
Okay, so what did Atari's Last Stand have. Well first off the Atari Jaguar was the first 64 bit video game console. What does that mean? Not much, considering that most games had graphics that were marginally better than it's 16 bit competition (SNES, and Sega Genesis). With a 64 bit processor you'd expect graphics rivaling that of a N64 or at least a Playstation, or heck even a Sega Saturn, but not so. The supposed 3D games were rather ugly and limited, with a very short viewing distance while being very plain at the same time. The experience I've had with the 2D games that I've played actually look worse than the best SNES games. They seem to be missing screens of animation and the backgrounds leave more to be desired.
The sound is pretty much an extension of the graphics, yep that's right they're just as lousy as you'd hope them to be. While they where supposed to be up to CD quality I have yet to hear it. Only the few Nazi sayings in Wolfenstein 3D even glimpsed that quality (while the rest of the game sounds like the standard junk).
The controller for the Jaguar is about the only thing it had going it's way. While appearing big and uncomfortable this monolith of a controller was actually quite comfortable in my hands. It had the standard D-pad and then 3 playing buttons. Which was the only real problem with the controller, limiting the amount of control you can have in button pushing intense games like fighters or action games. The one thing that made the controller unique is the pad of 12 buttons set up like a touch phone in the middle of the controller below the standard pause and option buttons. These buttons were good for entering codes and such, as well as giving you something to sit and press while dreaming of having a better system.
The Ammo
Well even with all those poor features for being a 64 bit system, the Jaguar still could have made a run at survival if it had great ammo for the console wars. Ammo in the form of games, this is where the Jaguar was shooting blanks, or at least only had half a clip of real ammo. Throughout it'd life it only ended up with something like 20 some games. Practically all made by Atari itself. While Nintendo and Sega may have (or had in Sega's case) enough first party power to sustain long periods of lackluster third party support Atari didn't.
With only a couple of truly worthwhile games on the system, like Tempest 2000 and Iron Soldier, they just don't justify laying down any money for this pile of crud. With the rest being little more than something that isn't done better on most other systems out today.
Man, Why Are You Being So Harsh?
I'll tell you why, it all started when I bought this sophisticated hockey puck from a friend about one year after it was released. He sold it to me for $40 with three games, and then mysteriously he lost the A/V Cables and the AC Adaptor for it (probably to avoid me finding out he ripped me off with this piece of trash), so I slowly began a search to find the connections to get this thing up and running. A couple months later I happened upon the A/V Cables, but I still couldn't get the thing to work without the right AC Adaptor (no luck with my Master Mechanic that I used to power a small keyboard, and also used to power my NES to a limited degree). Well, after a while I just kind of forgot about ever finding one, and just accepted that I'd wasted my money. That was how it was until 2 months ago when a new acquaintance of mine (even more obsessed with gaming systems than I) hooked me up with an unofficial AC Adaptor to start up my long dead system.
With glee I rushed home to see what the investment I made so many years ago had reaped. Then I get this, this miserable debacle of a system with it's less than stellar, no stellar isn't the right word, less than #@%^y library of games. With sound and graphics that look and sound like puke compared to almost every other system I've ever played (maybe I've just been spoiled by my PS2).
Don't You At Least Have Something Nice to Say
Okay, I am glad I did buy that AC Adaptor, by chance it also works perfectly with my NES (which is now getting tons of use, in spite of my PS2). If it weren't for that I'd consider my whole Jaguar experience to be a loss. Well why don't you just try to find some good games for it? You may ask, well for one thing if I did try that it would have to be through the internet and with S & H it just wouldn't be worth it, especially while I'm trying to keep my money on hand for stellar new games like Gran Turismo 3. Nor do I care to search for the CD add-on for the Jaguar (pictured) which would add a few more quality games, but is it really worth the effort? No, especially since there are better games on better systems out there begging for me to play them. So, just in case you didn't catch anything I've said before, unless you want little more than Icebreaker in conversations (if you see this slick looking system that you've never seen before you're sure to ask what the hell it is), or unless you want to give the hobos something to burn in a barrel fire, then their's not much use for the Atari Jaguar.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Goldentoe
|
|
Member: James Lowenberg
Location: Mayberry, Iowa
Reviews written: 59
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
Uh...What should I say?.... Hi?!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.