2016/2/10: Jaguar: Tempest 2000

[VideoGameCritic]

I feel like this game was deserving of a better, more detailed review.
Let me know what you think.

[Rev]

Excellent review. The jaguar may have sucked but this game was excellent. This was a nice update review.

[jon]

It is a great game and great review. I think at the end of the day the Jaguar is an above average console, especially when including the CD. I respectfully disagree.

[Rookie1]

This was one of the first games I got for that system (wish I still had everything!). I really enjoyed playing it even though most of the games were pretty clunky. I always felt had that system got some good developers, it could have a solid run. Like most of the systems of this type, it was just a tad ahead of its time and the games werent refined enough to catch on just yet.

[jon]

There's so many haters, and none of them know what they're talking about. Let's see if any system could be a success with severely undermanned development teams and crap budgets. And in spite of that, 2nd generation games like I-War showed a heck of a lot of promise. I would of loved to see them further improve on their ideas. Having said that, I-War kicks ass and so do a lot of games, like Iron Soldier.

[Rookie1]

There's so many haters, and none of them know what they're talking about. Let's see if any system could be a success with severely undermanned development teams and crap budgets. And in spite of that, 2nd generation games like I-War showed a heck of a lot of promise. I would of loved to see them further improve on their ideas. Having said that, I-War kicks ass and so do a lot of games, like Iron Soldier.

Iron Soldier was one of my favorite games at the time. I was pretty behind on the gaming front back then, so that was the first time I had ever seen graphics like that on a home console.

[jon]

Iron Soldier was way more advanced than anything on a home console in 1994. In fact, I think it's revolutionary and should be viewed that way. I don't know how many people remember, but it was right smack in the middle of my childhood. 1994 was a very weird year. There were some 3d arcade games with unbelievable graphics. Games like Virtua Fighter 2, Daytona USA, Virtua Striker. I remembered Virtua Cop 2 being absolutely unbelievable, but I guess that was released in 1995, although I remember it being in 1994. But anyways, there were still no signs of any sort of technological progress for consoles. The SNES and Genesis were battling it out, not really getting my full attention since at that point I was enamored with the arcades and 3d computer games. And I was really upset at how ridiculously underpowered those consoles were, and the whole state of console gaming because I thought it should have been so much better at that point, in 1994. I mean, the most popular home console, the SNES, could barely handle a couple sprites onscreen at once compared to the 3d football games with fully rotatable cameras, realistic Indy Car Simulations, 3d roller coaster games, etc. that I was playing. So Iron Soldier and a couple other 3d games for the Jaguar were light years ahead of the SNES. I prefer the Jag's beautiful 3d graphics to anything else in the 5th generation. Of course, it barely got a chance to show them off.

[Sut]

How did Iron Soldier compare to Metal Head on 32x ?
I do admit to being curious with the Jaguar especially as emulation is still not very good for it.
I like systems that have a limited roster of good games (like the 32x) as they are not as overwhelming as the Genesis or SNES.

[jon]

That's a great point. I forgot about the 32x. I'm very interested in checking its 3d games that several posters have recommended since I'm such a nut for early 3d. It'd be interesting to see a comprehensive article on early console 3d or something like that.

[mbd36]

Jon, I don't understand why you despise the Playstation when you claim to love early 3D and mid 90s 3D arcade titles. The Playstation came out in late 1994 and could handle ports of contemporary arcade games like "Ridge Racer", "Tekken 2" and "RayStorm." Its 3D capabilities are arguably even stronger than the Sega Saturn and much closer to the arcade machines at the time than the Atari Jaguar.