Down and Dirty Reviews: Jaguar -- A - Z

Here is the world's first 64-bit system ever and its games.  How did they do?  Don't look Atari fans, it could get very ugly. If a video game system ever wants to be successful it better have good games. They don't wanna; "pull a Jaguar!" There are 17 reviews here altogether.

The scores are out of 100.

The graphics, sounds, and game play are out of 10.


Score / Name / Company and the year
68 ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (Atari/Rebellion, 1994)
Although this game received a lot of hype and attention, I was still bored after a couple of plays in this 3D corridor shooter because of the long length of the levels and lack of proper save points. It's not all bad though because this game sports some amazing graphics for a Jaguar title and you even have the option as playing as three different characters, a Marine, a Predator, or a Alien so there's tons of variety. Although Alien Vs. Predator had its moments this is for hard-core first person shooter fans only.
*Battery back up game
*Uncommon Jaguar game
For 1 player only
graphics: 8
sound: 6
gameplay: 8
Find this game on eBay here!

35 BUBSY in Fractured Furry Tales (Accolade, 1994)
Now I was one of the few that actually liked the first Bubsy game on the 16-bit systems so I had high hopes for the 64-bit version here. Ugh, I should have knew better. OK, eventhough the Atari Jaguar is suppose to be a much more powerful machine then the rival Snes and Genesis, the graphics actual look worse thanks to lame and highly repetitive environments based on old stories like Alice in Wonderland and Sci-fi worlds. Another game killer here is the difficulty is cheap as hell cause Bubsy can only take one hit before he takes a dirtnap and the stiffer controls are not up to task to help you survive the many hazards. It's not impossible but it's very tedious thanks to the overly long stages and cheap enemy placement.
*Battery back up game
For 1 player only
graphics: 6
sound: 5
gameplay: 4

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73 CANNON FODDER (Virgin, 1995)
This game really surprised me. Cannon Fodder is filled with loads of violent, but small action has you try to keep your platoon alive behind enemy lines. It's a difficult game with very tiny and not very 64-bit characters but Cannon Fodder is still recommend for strategy and arcade fans alike. Oddly enough the Jaguar port is the first time I had a chance to play this title.
For 1 player only
graphics: 5
sound: 6
gameplay: 7
Find this game on eBay here!

Total Recall Dud of the Month!
34 CHECKERED FLAG (Atari, 1994)

Here is one game that showed a lot of promise because it was a remake or sequel to Atari's cult favourite Lynx game also named Checkered Flag. What could have been a fairly good racing game for the Atari Jaguar here is ruined by many, many things. For one the controls are very touchy and overall this is a poor man's Virtual Racing with weaker graphics, boring tracks, plus who could forget the strange and annoying music. Although this polygon racer was based on the old Lynx game of the same name, you're better off with the original Checkered Flag then this awful remake.
For 1 player only
Rated Kids to Adult
graphics: 4
sound: 2
gameplay: 5

Find this game on eBay here!


13
CLUB DRIVE (Atari, 1994)
Oh boy, what piece of worthless s*&^! The idea here is decent enough. You get to drive around different areas like living rooms, highways, and other exciting places like .. parking lots... um .. yeah. You can either connect electric balls in a limited amount of time or just drive around certain tracks like a tradiational racer. Too bad the game uses extremely early polygonal visuals so it's hard to tell what's even going on here and the bad controls means you'll be sticking on to a lot of objects instead of doing any driving. Don't join this club.
For 1 player only
graphics: 2
sound: 3
gameplay: 2
Find this game on eBay here!

51 CYBERMORPH (Atari, October, 1993)
Cybermorph is a full (and somewhat dull) 3D flight/action game that came packed in most Atari Jaguar system. Your goal in this game is to search for missing items and power ups on several different planets to complete your missions. The game looks very similar to Nintendo's Star Fox (i.e. very blocky and has a low frame rate) but why is there no background music? Not your average shoot em up as it takes a lot of strategy to survive these hostile worlds and with all the stages in the game it can get quite tedious. Cybermorph is very deep game that takes a lot of commitment and some players may or may not like that.
*Battery back up game
For 1 player only
graphics: 4
sound: 4
gameplay: 8

Find this game on eBay here!


70 DOOM (ID Software, 1994)
It's the same old but vicious first person shooter hit from the PC minus the game music of course (which seems to be a pattern with certain Jaguar games). In the game you blast away at hellish demons to survive. Doom on the Jag works well here because this game lets you link up another game for some multi-player action unlike the Sega 32X and Nintendo 64 games and anyone Doom fan will tell you that's on the greatest part in this very gritty shooting series.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7
sound: 3
gameplay: 7

Find this game on eBay here!

32 DRAGON The Bruce Lee Story (Virgin, 1994)
This fighting/action game is based on the movie Dragon: the Bruce Lee story. This sounds like an exciting concept for a game, eh? Sadly, this licensed game is too hard too control to be very much fun. Simply fight the many goofy looking characters like sailors and demons from the old film and that's it.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 5
sound: 5
gameplay: 3

Find this game on eBay here!


44 EVOLUTION: DINO DUDES (Atari, December, 1993)
Evolution is a Lemming style clone with tons of levels and wacky characters. The game itself is alright at first but the main problems with Dino Dudes is the weak 16-bit look and the game itself is way too repetitive as well. Dino Dudes is a dud.
For 1 player only
graphics: 5
sound: 5
gameplay: 5
Find this game on eBay here!

67 IRON SOLDIER (Atari, 1994)
Iron Soldier is a cool and almost Japanese-like 3D mech shooter with very basic polygon graphics but rock solid game play. In the game you use your enemy's prototype 40 ton Iron Soldier mech to destroy their invading armies before it's too late. Life is very different inside a giant robot so the control take some getting use to but the game works well enough in the end.
*Battery back up game
For 1 player only
graphics: 5
sound: 6
gameplay: 8
Find this game on eBay here!

Total Recall Dud of the Month!
40
KASUMI NINJA (Atari/Handmade, December 24, 1994)

If you judged the book by it's cover then Kasumi Ninja would be a excellent game, right? This game is packed with some very realistic backdrops and great looking life like characters plus this Jaguar game also has some rather decent background music in some stages which is a very rare thing for a game on this system anyway. So do all these great things add up to a playable game? No way! Only a few fighters can really be controlled because the awkward fighting system is that bad plus what's with all the pointless use of blood here? You can also forget about finishing this game too because it has a really stupid ending. "It could have been a great brawler that would have really helped the Jaguar, but it wasn't meant to be!" KN is a extremely limited 2D fighter.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 8
sound: 7
gameplay: 2

Find this game on eBay here!

SECOND OPINION!
Kasumi ninja is not that bad to me its one of the best looking jaguar games around if you take the time you will learn the control to be quite simple and no that bad at all you need to take time on this game. The WORST jaguar game is sensible soccer it looks like a God dam SEGA master system :)
-GameMaster196

72 RAIDEN (Atari/Seibu Kaihatsu, November 1993)
It may be old but it's still good. This is a fun enough translation of the arcade shooting hit because it's saves the high scores at least and there is even some new music added to the mix as well. The graphics suffer from a poor frame rate if the screen is full of enemies, there is no rapid fire option, and the sounds can get pretty annoying but the classic shooting action still holds up at least. Where is Raiden II though, I wanted that one instead! Raiden for the Jaguar is good but Raiden Project for the Sony Playstation kills this.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 5
sound: 6
gameplay: 6

Find this game on eBay here!


82 RAYMAN (UBI soft, June 1995)
Here is a simply amazing looking 2D game that's not only fun to play but it's also very challenging too. The game is a little linear at times but it should keep Jaguar fans happy for a good few weeks. This is actually a must play on any game system plus there are no loading scenes either unlike the Saturn and Playstation games but the graphics and music are not quite as good though.
*Battery back up game
For 1 player only
graphics: 9
sound: 7
gameplay: 7

Find this game on eBay here!

StarSoldier Game of the Month!
BEST ATARI JAGUAR GAME!
88 TEMPEST 2000 (Atari/Yak, 1994)

This fully loaded update to a classic 1981 arcade hit proves that not all Jaguar games are void of great sound. In the game you shoot down invading aliens entering a enclosed vector web, simply destroy them all to exit to the next level but be careful not to get hit or captured. With its 3D vector graphics, its very cool techno music, over 100 levels and loads of modes too, this game will keep anybody busy for awhile. Tempest 2000 became a solid hit for the Jag.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 8
sound: 10
gameplay: 7

Find this game on eBay here!


28 TREVOR MC FUR in the Crescent Galaxy (Atari, 1993)
Cool, a classic 2D shoot em up! Sadly Crescent Galaxy is a really basic space shooter with little strategy involved in the actually game itself. Being a fan of shooters like Gradius and R Type I noticed the problems right away like most of the enemies you encounter are just random objects shattered across the screen and it feels sloppy. There is no in game music either (no surprise there since this a Jaguar game after all) and it really kills the excitement when you only hear sound effects through most of the game. Despite some nice rendered graphics here and there, "Trevor Mc Fur in the Crescent Galaxy just screams bad programming!" One of the first games for the Jaguar and it shows.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7
sound: 3
gameplay: 6
Find this game on eBay here!

66 ULTRA VORTEK (Atari, 1995)
Here is game I always wanted to play but I never had the chance because of the title's rarity. That is till now of course. Anyway was it worth the wait? Well, first things first the game is your typical one on one fighter where you get to pick from 7 oddball characters like a robot with mounted buzzsaws or a hot chick that good with fire. The animation is a little choppy but the graphics are very stylist in very punk kind of way and the controls are fairly decent too. Each fighter as a lot of moves, the action is fast paced, and the music fits the theme as well. Ultra Vortek does nothing new but at least it's better then other lame live actor beat em ups like Way of the Warrior or Kasumi Ninja.
*Battery back up game
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7
sound: 6
gameplay: 6
Find this game on eBay here!

70 WOLFINSTIEN 3D (Atari/ID software, 1994)
Here's another oldie! In the game you help an American soldier destroy the Nazi empire from the World War II era in this totally uncensored (unlike the lame Super NES version) 3D shooter that was the prequel to the Doom series by ID software. The game is still a lot of fun and the game play is super fast but it looks fairly outdated compared to other shooters released for the Jaguar here.
*Battery back up game
For 1 player only
graphics: 5
sound: 6
gameplay: 8
Find this game on eBay here!