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No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags
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JAGUAR.PWR
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Text File
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1985-11-20
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10KB
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187 lines
THE
JJJJJJJ AAAAAA GGGGG U U AAAAAA RRRRR
J A A G U U A A R R
J AAAAAA G GG U U AAAAAA RRRRRRR
J J A A G G U U A A R R
JJ A A GGGGGG UUUUU A A R R
REVIEWED BY A PROUD NEW OWNER : PETER SHILLING
===========================================================================
It's official POWER readers, I've got a spanking new ATARI JAGUAR and now,
I'm going to review it for you, review the game that I got with it and tell
you a bit about it.
=====
For ages now, POWER has been supporting the release of the ATARI JAGUAR.
POWER had all the information on it before the glossy mags even had a
little news section on it and the other disk magazines didn't even know
what a JAGUAR was. Now, the glossy magazines can't write enough about this
glorious new machine and I don't blame 'em!
=====
The machine has been hyped up more than enough now and as soon as I read
about it in POWER, I knew that I MUST have one and decided there and then
that as soon as I saw one, I would buy one. I discussed it with the wife,
she disagreed with me shelling out for a games system but being the man of
the house, I told her that I was going to get it whether she liked it or
not (well, actually, I acted as a servant for her for three and a half
months!).
=====
Just one week ago, I was strolling around town when I saw a big sign in a
computer shop called 'GAME ZONE'. It was advertising the JAGUAR saying
that it was on sale there. I ran in faster than Sonic The Hedgehog where I
was greeted with a big shelf full of the beauties. I stared and as if it
was a God send from heaven, a big bright light focused on it as some choir
singers sung. In a frenzy, I ran upto the front desk and asked them
how much it cost, expecting the reply of, "£199.99 Sir" which was the price
that had been advertised so much. However, the reply was £100 more than
this. I found out later that this was due to it not being officially
released over here in Britain yet, instead, this was an American import and
so cost £100 more. Well, I wasn't going to wait around, even though this
was £100 more than expected, I couldn't wait one second longer after seeing
that lovely machine. I left the computer shop and ran to the nearest
women's wear shop I knew. I bought a lovely dress and then got some roses.
I drove home breaking every law in the book and presented them to my wife
as I knelt down on one knee. She was just about to faint with disbelief
when I said that I was going to be spending 100 quid more on the console
than expected. Without waiting for an answer, I got back in my car and
sped off at light speed so as to get my hands on that JAGUAR.
=====
I got to the computer shop and asked the shop assistant to give me a
JAGUAR. I asked in as loud a voice as possible so that everyone would hear
me. He got it down and I gave him a cheque for the golden sum of £299.99.
He started to package it up but I stopped him...I wanted everyone to know
about what I had bought!
=====
I got home with the beast of a console. Nobody was in, I thanked the
Lord...A house to myself to play with my new toy (oo-er!). The house was
silent but I intended to change that when I plugged that JAGUAR in. I
ripped the packaging to bits and picked up the JAGUAR. At first touch, I
knew it was a quality machine. It felt good, heavy and strong. It felt
great and as if it would last a lifetime, even if it was driven over by a
ten ton truck.
=====
I picked up the manual, looked at the front cover and then threw it across
the room. There was no time to read the manual, anyway, how tricky could
it be. I put in all the wires and sockets that seemed appropriate and
within seconds, it was all ready. I put a plug on the wire and then
plugged it into the socket. I switched it on but for some reason it didn't
come on. I fiddled around with the wires, checked the plug and did
everything I thought was possible. In the end, I had to result in
referring to the manual. I picked up the flimsy little thing and read it
from top to bottom but it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know or
tell me how to do anything I hadn't already done. I couldn't believe
it...I'd been sold a dud JAGUAR. I sat down infront of the T.V. feeling
destroyed, I went to turn on the T.V. but wait a minute...Nothing was
happening...I tried again but still, nothing. After noticing that the
stupid little clock on the video wasn't on either, I realised that it was a
power cut...My JAGUAR wasn't broken!!!
=====
As I waited for the power to come back on, I was getting more and more
restless, pacing the floors, up and down, up and down. It was getting
worse, tension was building up. My breathing became irregular, my heart
rate increased...When all of a sudden, the T.V. switched itself on. Either
I had a ghost in the house and was having a 'GHOSTLY EXPERIENCE' (remember
that old series of mine anyone?!) or the power was back on. I ran to my
JAGUAR and switched it on once more and this time, there was joy, the
little LED light came on on the front of the machine and with my free game
carefully plugged into the machine (a game called Cybermorph), I stared at
the screen.
=====
I then went onto play one of the best, most addictive games I've ever
played in my life. I was expecting a lot from the JAGUAR, but what I got
was a hell of a lot more. The 17-button joypad graced my hands and unlike
I thought, this massive joypad actually fitted snuggly into my
hands...Infact, it is more comfortable than using a joystick or any other
joypad I have tried in the past.
=====
Cybermorph is a game where you control a spaceship which can change shape.
It's a shoot 'em up but what a shoot 'em up it is! This game is simply
amazing. The fractal generated backgrounds flow past smoother than beer
flows down my throat. The speeds it got upto were quite amazing,
especially taking into consideration that not only was the detail in the
spaceship and background incredibly detailed and 3D, but it is also full to
the brim with garaud shading which as you probably know is where an
imaginary sun or light source is positioned in the machine's memory so that
as you move, the shadow changes accordingly instead of having those normal
fractals which don't change in shade. This provides much more realism.
=====
The graphics are brilliant and with all the sampled speech and good sound
effects, the audio side of things is also very good. Playability doesn't
let the game down either. The game play is beautifully varied with so much
taken into account and so much blasting to do that you simply can't NOT
enjoy it. You are so in control of your spaceship with all 17 buttons on
the joypad being put into good use and believe it or not, it isn't
complicated, it's very easy to get to grips with and once you do, you won't
be off this game at all.
=====
When I bought the JAGUAR, I intended to buy at least one new game to play
with it within a week after purchase, however, at the moment, there simply
is no point. I am playing CYBERMORPH every second of the day (I don't even
have time to write this!). It is amazingly addictive and there's 50
massive levels of it to enjoy. At the moment I can only get to level 6 but
I don't think I can ever get bored of this game and I'm going to keep
playing until I complete the game.
=====
At present, on American import, the machine costs £299.99 but I am informed
by the shop that this will go down to £199.99 when it is officially
released in Britain. Games will also go down by roughly ten quid. I am
bloody happy with my machine at the price that it costs at present so at
£199.99, you really can't go wrong and if you've got that much spare, you
should get hold of a JAGUAR A.S.A.P.!!! I got my JAGUAR from a shop called
GAME ZONE which I am led to believe is quite a big chain of computer shops
so if you have one near you, check it out to see if they sell the JAGUAR.
=====
The JAGUAR has fulfilled my high expectations and gone onto smash them to
pieces. This is an amazing piece of hardware and brings new life to the
console market and quite frankly, whether it is advertised or not, I don't
see how this thing can't take off, it's just so amazing and I think it will
be a long time before SEGA, AMIGA or NINTENDO get anything out to beat this
beast.
=====
POWERFUL:
Everything about it!
POWERLESS:
Nothing about it!
RATING : 99.9999%
COMMENT: I'm amazed and completely over the moon with this console and you
will be too if you buy one. What more can I say?